Clients consistently ask how their Google Analytics results stack up to industry leaders. They’re usually interested in traffic volume — the number of website visitors in a given period. Analyzing these numbers can be a bit tricky. But after reviewing hundreds of Google Analytics accounts, we have compiled a list of basic principles to consider when looking at your results:

1. How large of an area are you targeting?
All other things being equal, a website targeting a more populated area is typically going to have more traffic than a less populated area. (In highly competitive markets, however, the opposite can be true.)

2. How long has your site been live?
Longevity, in Google’s mind, is an indication of quality. So the length of time your URL has been in existence and the continuous ranking of your site impacts your traffic results.

3. What keywords are you targeting?
In many cases, a high ranking for a particular keyword/search term will generate a healthy flow of traffic to your website — unless you have a high ranking for a term that very few people actually use…

(To find out how many monthly searches there are for certain keywords in your area, use Google’s handy Keyword Tool.)

4. How well is your site optimized?
How your keywords are structured within your site can significantly impact your results. Are they in your title tags? Page headings? Body content? Anchor text? Metadata?

5. How frequently is your site updated?
Google’s spiders looove fresh content. Websites that are updated frequently get crawled frequently, and are thus more likely to climb the rankings than static sites. Ignored/uncrawled sites don’t rank well in Google … which means they don’t get any traffic.

6. How many websites link to your site?
Referral traffic is wonderful — you get more visitors AND you can win points with Google. When a quality website links to your website, Google interprets that as a vote for your site. Note: The ‘quality’ part is key. You won’t impress Google if set up 16 empty WordPress blogs and link them to your site. Also, reciprocal linking doesn’t work either.

7. How well do you rank for your business’ name?
This impacts how much direct traffic you receive. When someone googles your business name, do you show in the top spot? For businesses with generic names (e.g., Technology Consultants LLC), this can be a challenge.

Putting the numbers in perspective

When reviewing your analytics data, it’s important to be realistic about the results you want to achieve. How many people do you think should be visiting your site? What kind of traffic are you aiming for? Again, be realistic. If only hundreds users are searching for services in your area, don’t expect huge boosts.

Traffic isn’t the only number that matters

It’s worth pointing out that traffic volume is just one metric among many. Bounce rate, average time on site, pages per visit, and conversions are probably more accurate measures of your site’s performance. If your managed services website had only 23 visitors last week, but most of them did some exploring and two of them contacted you, you’re actually doing quite well! In other words, quality trumps quantity.

To be sure, more traffic means more conversion opportunities, so it’s a worthy goal to drive more visitors to your site (provided they’re in your target market). But keep in mind that increased traffic does not happen overnight. It takes time. The best results come from consistent effort!

On a side note, Google offers certification programs in order to become an analytics expert. The online course is free to everyone, but offers an option to pay $50 to take the Google Analytics IQ Test.