Do You Know How To Read Your Website Visitor Stats?

Website visitor stats can be a great way of determining the needs of your website and learning more about how you can increase the amount of traffic to your site. This article will dive into how to see how much website traffic a website gets, why website traffic is important, and more. 

Why Is Visitor Traffic Important?

Before diving into website visitors and site traffic, it is important to understand why visitor tracking is so important in the first place. Visitor tracking is a very important part of search engine optimization (SEO), and the data you find can help boost your site to the top of the search engine results pages (SERPs), offering you even more opportunity to increase the number of visitors to your website. 

To begin, what is visitor tracking? Visitor tracking is an analytics tool that provides information on how many people visit your website, who they are, and what they do on your site. Visitor tracking measures behavior, not just quantity. Visitor tracking can help you learn how your site visitors are responding to and interacting with your content. 

Website visitor data is a great metric for measuring the popularity of your website. It can also help you evaluate the effectiveness of your marketing and SEO strategies. Page views and visits can also help you track down problem areas on your site as well as places where visitors are most engaged. 

Understanding the difference between page views and page visits is important for accurate visitor tracking. Page views are the number of times a visitor navigates to a specific page on your website. A page visit, often called a session, includes all interactions that occur within one visit by a user, including multiple page views. Analyzing both metrics together gives you a better understanding of user behavior and can help improve site performance and engagement. 

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Getting a Higher Number of Visitors to a Website

Later in this article, we will highlight how to read your website visitor stats. But no matter what your visitor data looks like, you should always be working to improve your website’s traffic and visitor numbers. So, how do you drive more traffic to your website? Here are a few simple ways to boost your numbers and improve your visitor stats: 

 

  • Search Engine Optimization: Technical SEO, which we will highlight below, is a great way to boost your traffic. 
  • Social Media: Posting online about your website, updating people about your business, and more can all incentivize your demographic to visit your site. 
  • Email Marketing: Email marketing campaigns featuring special deals, promotions, and more will attract more customers to your website. 
  • Advertising: Using social media advertisements, Google Ads, PPC ads, and other marketing channels will elevate your website’s visibility to a new level. 
  • Guest Posting: Writing guest posts on other websites is a great way to link back to your own company and bring in a new range of potential customers. 
  • Digital Marketing Agency: Hiring a team like SEO Design Chicago can help you be successful in all of these efforts and more. 

What Is Technical SEO Optimization?

As mentioned above, one of the best ways to drive more traffic to your website is through optimizing your technical SEO. If you plan to continuously monitor site visitors in order to assess your improvements, focus on enhancing your technical SEO first. So, what is technical SEO, and how can you use it to your advantage? 

Technical SEO focuses on improving the backend elements of your website to boost it further to the top of the SERPs. There are a lot of details that contribute to technical SEO, including your website’s speed, site architecture, and mobile site optimization. On-page SEO, on the other hand, involves optimizing the content on your website, including the use of keywords, metadata, and internal links, all of which impact your site traffic. When your SEO is optimized, and you are moving further up the SERPs, it automatically leads to increased website traffic. 

How Many Visitors Should Your Site Get?

Before jumping into the details of how to see how much website traffic a website gets, it is important to understand how many visitors your site should get on average. This can help with calculating your website visitor stats overall. 

It is difficult to provide a specific range or number for “average” views on a website today, given the vast number of websites that exist. However, there are a few trends that we can consider to help you gauge what drives more visitors to a website. 

Generally speaking, websites tend to have more visitors when: 

  • They have more employees
  • The site is more well-established (at least a couple of years old) 
  • SEO is stronger

When you are just beginning, it is not unlikely to get roughly 1,000 visitors in a month. However, with the right marketing and SEO strategies, you can increase this number considerably over time. 

visitors website

How Do You Check the Number of Visitors to a Site?

Tracking the number of visitors to your website is a game-changer for refining your marketing and SEO strategies. It helps you discover the most effective keywords, see which pages are getting the most attention, and identify where you can continue to improve. So, how do you check the number of visitors on your website? There are a variety of great website traffic checkers available to help you put together some solid data. Here are a few options to choose from: 

 

  • Semrush: Directly compare your own visitor traffic with your competitors, seeing what keywords they are using and where they are finding success so you can make appropriate adjustments. 
  • SimilarWeb: This extension allows you to find out basic traffic metrics for any website and dive further for more data on keywords, visits over time, traffic sources, and more. 
  • Website Traffic Checker: Simply input a URL into the traffic checker, and this website will respond by offering you estimates for organic traffic, organic keywords, domain authority, top pages, and more. 

There are plenty of other sites that accomplish similar tasks to the three tools mentioned above. These sites make it simple to look through your visitor data. However, if you are just starting out, fully understanding these data points from the jump can be tricky. This is why working with an agency like SEO Design Chicago can be a great help; they can handle the visitor tracking analytics for you, and then break down the numbers and explain exactly how to move forward with new strategies. 

What Do Cookies Do?

Another element of website visitor stats that you may already be familiar with is the concept of website cookies. Cookies seem to appear on virtually every website, but what are they? Cookies are small files stored on a user’s device that store information about their interactions with a website. Their primary purpose is to optimize the user’s experience while also collecting data from site visitors to help improve the website overall. 

Cookies contribute to a few different elements of website improvement and user data, such as: 

  • Behavioral Targeting: Collecting data like web pages viewed, time spent on a webpage or site, and more can help improve marketing ROI. 
  • Session Management: Identifying specific customers that return more than once and remembering their preferences from their last visit. 
  • Tracking: Monitoring specific actions taken by visitors, like what pages they visit or what items they view.

Cookies can contribute to collecting data on your visitor tracking, while also helping you out in a variety of other ways, like personalizing the user experience and remembering preferences.  

How To See How Much Website Traffic a Website Gets

If you want to check visitors to site, you have to make sure you are collecting the right kind of data. No matter the software you are using, here are the key elements to look out for: 

 

  • Clearly Defined Goals
  • Consistent Naming Conventions for Goals
  • Avoid Tracking Redundancies
  • Regularly Audit Your Tracking 
  • Implement the Proper Tags
  • Filter Out Your Own Visits

All of these details will help you accurately measure how much traffic your website is getting. If you are still struggling, consider talking to a professional at an SEO and website marketing agency like SEO Design Chicago. 

Traffic Checking With SEO Design Chicago

If you are looking to increase the number of visitors to your website, our team at SEO Design Chicago knows exactly how to help. Our team of professionals can run tests to gather website visitor stats for you and provide suggestions and solutions to help improve your site. Contact SEO Design Chicago today for new solutions to increase your site traffic and track your visitor data.

how to keep visitors on your website

FAQ: Website Visitor Traffic

1. What’s the difference between page views and website visitors?

Page views count the total number of times any page on your website is loaded, including multiple views by the same person. Website visitors (or unique visitors) count the actual number of individual people who visit your site within a specific time period. For example, if one person visits your homepage, then your about page, then your contact page, that counts as 3 page views but only 1 visitor. Understanding both metrics helps you gauge both your site’s popularity and how engaged your visitors are with your content.

2. How accurate are free website traffic checker tools?

Free traffic checker tools like SimilarWeb and Website Traffic Checker provide estimates based on various data sources, but they’re not 100% accurate. They typically give you a general range rather than exact numbers and are more accurate for larger, well-established websites. For your own website, Google Analytics provides the most accurate data since it tracks actual visitor behavior. Use free tools to get rough estimates of competitor traffic, but rely on Google Analytics for precise data about your own site’s performance.

3. What’s considered good website traffic for a new business?

For new businesses, 1,000 visitors per month is a realistic starting goal, though this varies significantly by industry and marketing efforts. E-commerce sites typically need higher traffic than service-based businesses to generate similar revenue. Focus on quality over quantity – 500 highly engaged visitors interested in your products/services are more valuable than 5,000 visitors who immediately leave. As your SEO improves and your business establishes itself (typically after 6-12 months), you should see steady traffic growth.

4. Should I be concerned about website cookies affecting my traffic tracking?

Website cookies actually help improve your traffic tracking accuracy by providing better data about visitor behavior, return visits, and user preferences. However, with privacy regulations like GDPR and users increasingly blocking cookies, some visitor data may be incomplete. This is normal and expected. Focus on the trends and patterns in your data rather than exact numbers. Implement proper cookie consent notices and use first-party cookies (your own tracking) rather than relying solely on third-party tracking for the most reliable data.

5. How often should I check my website traffic statistics?

Check your traffic statistics weekly for general monitoring and monthly for detailed analysis and strategy adjustments. Daily checking can lead to overreacting to normal fluctuations, while checking less than monthly means you might miss important trends or issues. Set up automated reports in Google Analytics to receive weekly summaries. During marketing campaigns or after major website changes, more frequent monitoring (daily or every few days) can help you quickly identify and address any issues.

6. What are the most important website traffic metrics to focus on?

Focus on these key metrics: total unique visitors (overall reach), bounce rate (percentage who leave after viewing one page), average session duration (engagement level), pages per session (content consumption), and conversion rate (how many visitors take desired actions). Traffic sources (organic search, social media, direct, referral) help you understand which marketing efforts are working. Don’t get overwhelmed by every available metric – these core indicators provide the most actionable insights for improving your website and marketing strategies.

7. How can I increase my website traffic without paid advertising?

Focus on search engine optimization (SEO) by creating quality content with relevant keywords, optimizing page titles and meta descriptions, and improving site speed and mobile compatibility. Leverage social media by regularly sharing valuable content and engaging with your audience. Start email marketing to keep visitors coming back. Write guest posts for other websites in your industry to build backlinks and reach new audiences. Encourage satisfied customers to share your content and leave reviews. These organic strategies take time but provide sustainable, long-term traffic growth.

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