What Is Website Traffic? And a Quick Guide on Tracking It

What Is Website Traffic?

Website postulation refers to the fig of users who sojourn your tract implicit a specified play of time, which tin assistance you recognize however galore imaginable customers you have. 

Website platforms (like Shopify) often person built-in tools that fto you presumption accusation astir your site, specified arsenic website traffic. These tools are convenient and casual to use.

But built-in tools tin deficiency elaborate oregon customized reporting. Which is wherefore concern owners and professionals typically usage third-party analytic tools similar Google Analytics to way their site’s traffic.

You tin besides effort Semrush’s Free Website Tracker instrumentality to spot web postulation for immoderate site—not conscionable your own.

Why Is Tracking Site Traffic Important?

Tracking tract postulation lets you amended recognize your site’s show and find areas of improvement—like low-performing pages.

Here are immoderate circumstantial benefits of tracking and analyzing tract traffic:

• Learn astir your visitors: See which pages are astir fashionable with your visitors, truthful you tin make akin contented they’ll apt enjoy
• Review your search motor optimization (SEO) efforts: Review unpaid (organic) tract traffic to find your SEO’s effectiveness 
• Spot areas for improvement: Analyze and reappraisal low-traffic pages to recognize wherefore they’re not performing. Make updates to amended those pages.
• Perform rival analyses: See however overmuch postulation rival sites get and usage their postulation arsenic a notation constituent to gauge however good your tract is doing wrong your industry
• Measure run performance: Review applicable metrics for traffic-boosting campaigns (like paid ads intended to make awareness) to spot however galore radical sojourn your tract arsenic a effect of the campaign 

How Is Web Traffic Measured?

Overall web postulation is measured by adding each the visits to your site.

But the explanation of a sojourn tin vary, depending connected what it is you privation to track. And you tin further measure postulation by source—meaning wherever the visits came from.

Let’s research both:

Visit Metrics

Website postulation metrics that specify a benignant of sojourn tin assistance you broadly recognize who's coming to your tract and what they're doing erstwhile there.

Metrics whitethorn include:

• Users: The fig of unsocial visitors to your tract during a circumstantial period—meaning it’s inactive 1 idiosyncratic adjacent if they permission and travel backmost later. This metric is called “Active users” successful GA4 and tin amusement you the wide size of your site’s audience.
• New users: The radical visiting your tract for the archetypal clip during a circumstantial period. The fig of caller radical tin assistance you recognize if your efforts to pull caller visitors are successful.
• Returning users: The fig of radical who’ve visited your tract astatine slightest erstwhile earlier during the specified period. Comparing caller users to returning users helps you recognize however good you clasp tract traffic. 
• Views (sometimes called pageviews): The fig of times a leafage has been viewed during a specified period. Views tin uncover your site’s astir fashionable pages.
• Sessions: The fig of browsing periods connected your tract during a definite clip range. Comparing sessions to different metrics (like views) gives you deeper penetration into what radical bash connected your site. 

Here’s however reviewing antithetic idiosyncratic postulation metrics tin beryllium useful: 

Let’s accidental you reappraisal your tract postulation and spot you person 100 users and 500 views. 

The higher fig of views suggests that visitors are exploring aggregate pages—which mightiness bespeak bully tract navigation oregon engaging content.

Website Traffic Sources

Web postulation sources archer you wherever your postulation comes from, truthful you cognize which channels to absorption connected and improve.

Here are immoderate communal postulation root types and what they mean:

• Organic search: Unpaid postulation from hunt engines
• Paid search: Traffic from hunt ads similar those launched via Google Ads 
• Direct: Traffic from visitors who participate your URL successful the code barroom oregon sojourn your tract done a saved link
• Referral: Traffic from different websites similar blogs oregon quality sites that wasn’t from ads hosted connected those sites
• Organic social: Traffic from organically placed links connected societal sites similar Facebook oregon Instagram
• Paid social: Paid postulation from societal media ads
• Display: Traffic from display ads (online ocular ads similar banner ads) 
• Email: Traffic from emails similar your newsletter 

Let’s accidental your squad has dedicated a ample information of your selling fund to email marketing.

That means reviewing web postulation from email—and comparing it to different sources meant to thrust traffic—can amusement you if your fund is well-spent. 

If postulation from email is low, you mightiness see revising your email campaigns. Or moving the fund to better-performing channels.

How to Track Your Site’s Traffic

Use Google Analytics

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is simply a communal website postulation instrumentality that gives you a broad look astatine your site’s postulation and however users behave connected your site.

One mode to set up GA4 connected your tract is done a codification snippet that looks similar this:

This codification lets Google Analytics cod data. 

And you tin presumption the information GA4 collects done assorted reports successful your analytics dashboard. Like the homepage study that displays metrics specified arsenic progressive and caller users for your site.

Clicking a metric’s drop-down lets you alteration to a antithetic metric you privation to evaluate.

You tin besides presumption page-level postulation accusation by clicking “Engagement” followed by “Pages and screens.”

GA4 is simply a robust instrumentality that’s particularly bully for much experienced selling professionals.

Use Organic Traffic Insights

Semrush’s Organic Traffic Insights instrumentality is simply a website postulation instrumentality that combines information from GA4, Google Search Console, and Semrush to show your site’s integrated postulation metrics successful 1 place.

After configuring Organic Traffic Insights, you tin entree your postulation analytics. 

The “Organic Search Traffic” conception shows an aggregate presumption of your integrated postulation data. While the “Landing Pages” conception breaks down your information for each leafage displayed. 

And you tin alteration the location, device, and clip play to reappraisal much circumstantial data.

Organic Traffic Insights is utile for teams focusing connected SEO efforts. As the instrumentality highlights integrated hunt data. 

How to Check Your Competitors’ Website Traffic

You tin cheque your competitors’ tract postulation with the Traffic Analytics tool.

Open the tool, participate up to 5 competitors’ domains, and click “Analyze.”

A study volition load with accusation connected your competitors’ unsocial visitors, pages per visit, mean sojourn duration, and more.

Scroll down to the “Traffic Journey” study and click “View each sources” to spot wherever your competitors’ postulation comes from.

Click into the tabs on the apical of the “Traffic Journey Details” conception (“Referral,” “Organic Search,” etc.) to get much details connected circumstantial root types.

Reviewing rival tract postulation on with postulation information from your ain tract helps you gauge your competitors' performance. And place whether there’s country for you to improve. 

For instance, you whitethorn privation to absorption connected SEO if competitors thrust much postulation from integrated hunt compared to your site.

Start Increasing Your Site’s Traffic 

Increasing your site’s postulation tin assistance you get much leads (people who are funny successful your company) and customers.

Grow your website and its postulation with these tips: 

1. Find low-competition keywords that are applicable to your niche utilizing tools similar the Keyword Magic Tool. Then, make pages and blog posts with your chosen keywords to effort to fertile successful the hunt results and summation integrated postulation to your website.
2. Promote contented connected societal media to summation postulation from societal media to your site
3. Invest successful paid ads on hunt engines, societal media platforms, etc., to beforehand your site’s content
4. Collaborate with influencers who tin stock your site’s contented with their audiences
5. Write guest blog posts (posts you constitute for idiosyncratic other that database you arsenic the author) connected different applicable websites. You tin sometimes see a nexus backmost to your site, which helps you summation referral postulation and physique backlinks (links from outer sites that constituent to your site) that mightiness construe to much integrated postulation aboriginal on. 

Semrush offers a assortment of tools to assistance you amended your site’s postulation utilizing the supra tactics. And makes it casual to way the postulation you get. 

Try Semrush for free to spot what it tin do.