Sessions. Hits. Search depth. Search duration. Search exit rate. So many Google Analytics metrics — so little time. What you need is to focus on key content marketing metrics that reveal your progress, and allow you to direct efforts for maximum results.
Here are four metrics you need to track:
Average Session Duration
This will indicate if visitors are truly reading your posts. The longer, the better. The Average Session Duration is in the All Website Data dashboard in the Overview tab.
Aside from providing good quality content, you can improve your numbers by adding links to other interesting and valuable posts in relevant content. This will direct more visitors to other pages in your website, and yes, keep them exploring.
Bounce Rate
How many visitors bounce off your website after going through one page? You’ll find the bounce rate for your site under the Average Session Duration, in the Overview tab in Google Analytics.
If it’s a high number, you need to consider if this is a question of site speed or content quality.
Users
This applies to returning users as well, not just new ones. This data will tell you if your attracting new visitors to your website and retaining the interest of previous users.
Organic Search Sessions
This indicates how many people have found your website by looking up certain information. Search traffic can provide valuable insight if you need to change your keyword strategy, and if you need to develop more content for what people are looking up in Google.