Measuring whether your website is actually working

Start with Search Console, not Analytics

Most people install Google Analytics first. Google Search Console (opens in a new tab) is more useful for a small business and simpler to act on.

It tells you which searches you appear for, where you rank, how many people clicked, and which pages Google could not index. That last one alone justifies the setup time — a page Google cannot index is invisible no matter how good it is, as covered in technical SEO basics.

It is free, requires no cookie banner because it collects nothing about your visitors, and takes a few minutes to verify.

The numbers worth watching

Four, checked monthly.

• EnquiriesForm submissions and calls. The only number that pays your wages. If you track one thing, track this.
• Search impressions and clicksFrom Search Console. Rising impressions with flat clicks usually means your titles and descriptions need work rather than your rankings.
• Which pages get visitsOften surprising. Pages you consider secondary frequently attract the most traffic, which tells you where to spend effort.
• Mobile versus desktop splitConfirms how much your mobile experience matters — usually more than owners expect. See mobile and responsive design.

The vanity metrics

Total page views look impressive and rarely mean anything on their own. A thousand visitors who leave immediately is worse than fifty who enquire.

Bounce rate is widely misread. A high bounce rate on a page that answered someone's question completely — your opening hours, say — is a success, not a failure.

Time on page is similarly unreliable, since it cannot measure the last page someone viewed. Treat these as weak hints, not scores.

The privacy part

Analytics that sets cookies or otherwise tracks visitors needs consent in the UK under PECR, which in practice means a cookie banner that genuinely blocks the tracking until someone agrees.

A banner that loads analytics before you click anything is not compliant, however common it is. There are privacy-focused analytics tools that avoid cookies entirely and can often be run without a banner — worth considering if the compliance burden is unappealing. This is covered properly in cookies and privacy.

Sources and further reading

• Google Search Console (opens in a new tab)GoogleFree. The first thing to set up.
• GA4 setup guide (opens in a new tab)Google Analytics Help
• Guide to PECR — cookies (opens in a new tab)Information Commissioner's OfficeThe UK regulator's own guidance on analytics consent.

Common questions

Do I need Google Analytics?

Not necessarily. Search Console answers most small business questions without any privacy implications. Add Analytics if you have a specific question it answers, not by default.

How often should I check my analytics?

Monthly. Daily figures are mostly random variation, and reacting to them leads to changing things that were working. Monthly is enough to see a genuine trend.

What is a good number of website visitors?

There is no universal answer, and it matters less than you think. A local tradesperson getting two hundred well-targeted visits a month may do better than a business getting five thousand irrelevant ones. Judge by enquiries.