When it comes to tracking metrics for marketers and business owners, Google Analytics is at the top of the list. Google’s tool for tracking website data, it measures various traffic and search engine optimization (SEO) metrics, which help marketers enhance every facet of a website.

If you’re still getting your online presence started, here is a great article on setting up and familiarizing yourself with Google Analytics.

On the other hand, if you already have a website and Google Analytics installed, here are what metrics you should be tracking and which ones you should focus on to improve your current website.

1. Bounce Rate

Ever click on a website from a search result and immediately leave because it wasn’t relevant to your search? In SEO, this is called a bounce, meaning the visitor immediately exited the page.

Logically, you want this number to be low. A high bounce rate might mean your content isn’t matched up to the keywords you’re ranking for or it’s not good enough to users.

Your bounce rate does depend on the type of page you are tracking. For example, e-commerce customers will reach a check out page, have second thoughts, and abandon their carts. As such, check out pages typically have a higher bounce rate.

However, a high bounce rate on a landing page, blog post, or even a home page might mean people visiting that page aren’t interacting with the content. Look at your landing pages and blog posts with a high bounce rate. Then, do the eyeball test. Can you tell exactly what the post is about before blinking?

2. Unique Sessions

A session is a lot like a page view. However, they differ in that a page view only becomes a session if the user stays on the page long enough. A unique session goes one step further, though.

Unique sessions only track a user’s FIRST time visiting a site. By excluding repeat visitors, marketers can gain a clear perspective as to how many new people are visiting a site each day. On top of this, a marketer can determine if remarketing tactics can be used by comparing this number to the number of regular sessions.

3. Traffic Source

Traffic source metrics are a vital cog in creating a lasting inbound marketing strategy. By knowing the origin of leads, marketers can pinpoint what channels a part of their marketing strategy are yielding the highest returns.

This is particularly helpful when testing new strategies, such as the success of blogging once a week vs once a month. It also helps you decide the best area to focus on. If your organic search traffic numbers are higher than your paid search visitors, consider focusing most all of your efforts into organic search.

4. Exit Rate

Exit rates show site interest from an overall average. But by tracking which pages on your site are getting the highest exit rates (the pages that your site visitors are viewing last) you can now easily check if there are things on these pages that are prompting them to leave.