How to Know If Your Website Is Actually Working

You have a website. It’s been live for a while. But is it actually doing anything for your business?

It’s a question most small business owners can’t answer with confidence. They know they get the occasional enquiry through the site, but they’re not sure if that’s good, bad, or average. They don’t know how many people visit, where they come from, or why most of them leave without getting in touch.

The truth is, your website is either working for you or it isn’t. And the only way to know which is to look at the numbers. Not all the numbers — just the ones that actually matter.

The numbers that matter (and the ones that don’t)

Website analytics can be overwhelming. Google Analytics alone has hundreds of reports, metrics, and dimensions. Most of them are irrelevant to a small business.

Here are the five numbers worth paying attention to:

1. Total visitors

How many people are coming to your website each month? This is your starting point. If nobody’s visiting, nothing else matters — you need to drive traffic first through SEO, Google Business Profile, social media, or word of mouth.

There’s no magic number here. A local plumber getting 200 visitors a month in their area might be doing brilliantly. A salon getting 200 might need more. It depends on your market and your area.

What matters more than the absolute number is the trend. Is it going up, staying flat, or declining? A steady upward trend — even a slow one — means your online presence is growing.

2. Where they’re coming from

Not all traffic is equal. Understanding where your visitors come from tells you what’s working and what isn’t.

Organic search means people found you through Google. This is usually the most valuable traffic for local businesses — these are people actively searching for what you offer.

Direct means they typed your web address directly or used a bookmark. This usually means word of mouth, business cards, or repeat visitors.

Referral means they clicked a link from another website. This could be a directory listing, a local news site, or a partner business.

Social means they came from Facebook, Instagram, or other social platforms.

Paid means they clicked an ad.

For most local businesses, organic search should be your biggest traffic source. If it isn’t, your SEO needs attention.

3. Bounce rate

Bounce rate tells you the percentage of visitors who land on your site and leave without doing anything — no clicking, no scrolling, no interacting.

A high bounce rate (above 70%) usually means one of these things: the page loaded too slowly and they gave up, the content didn’t match what they were searching for, the page was confusing or visually off-putting, or there was no clear next step (no obvious call to action).

A bounce rate between 40-60% is generally healthy for a small business website. Below 40% is excellent. Above 70% means something needs investigating.

One important note: bounce rate should be looked at per page, not just as a site-wide average. Your blog might have a higher bounce rate (people read the article and leave) while your services page should have a much lower one (people should be clicking through to contact you).

4. Most visited pages

Which pages are people actually looking at? This tells you what your visitors care about most.

If your services page is your most visited page after the homepage, that’s a strong signal — people are interested in what you offer. If your contact page gets good traffic, people are considering reaching out.

But if your homepage gets loads of visits and everything else is almost zero, that suggests people aren’t finding a reason to explore further. Your homepage isn’t doing its job of guiding visitors deeper into the site.

Look at this list regularly. If a particular service page is getting lots of traffic, it might be worth creating more content around that topic. If a page gets almost no traffic, ask why — is it hard to find? Is the content weak? Does it even need to exist?

5. Conversions

This is the number that actually matters to your business. A conversion is when a visitor does the thing you want them to do — fills in your contact form, calls your phone number, books an appointment, downloads your guide.

If you’re getting traffic but no conversions, your website has a problem. Either the wrong people are visiting, or the right people are visiting but your site isn’t convincing them to take action.

Setting up conversion tracking takes a small amount of technical work, but it’s worth it. Without it, you’re flying blind. You can set up goals in Google Analytics to track form submissions, button clicks, and phone number taps. If this sounds complicated, ask your web designer to set it up — it’s a standard part of any proper website build.

How to check these numbers

The standard tool is Google Analytics. It’s free and provides all the data above and much more. If your website doesn’t have Google Analytics installed, that should be your first step.

Google Search Console is another free tool worth setting up. It shows you which search terms people use to find your website, which pages appear in Google results, and any technical issues Google has found with your site.

Between these two tools, you have everything you need to understand whether your website is performing.

If the idea of logging into analytics tools fills you with dread, that’s understandable. The tools aren’t designed for non-technical people. But the core numbers — visitors, sources, bounce rate, popular pages, and conversions — can usually be found within a few clicks once someone shows you where to look.

Warning signs your website isn’t working

Some problems don’t need analytics to spot. If any of these sound familiar, your website likely needs attention:

You’ve had your website for over six months and can count the enquiries it’s generated on one hand. You Google your own business name and your website doesn’t appear on the first page. People tell you they couldn’t find your phone number or weren’t sure how to get in touch. You feel embarrassed sharing your website link with potential customers. Your website looks different (or broken) on your phone compared to your computer.

Any one of these is a sign. Multiple signals mean it’s time to act.

What good performance looks like

For a typical local business website that’s doing its job:

Monthly visitors are growing steadily over time. Most traffic comes from organic search (people finding you on Google). Bounce rate stays below 60% on key pages. Service pages and contact pages get consistent traffic. You receive multiple genuine enquiries per month through the website. Your Google Business Profile listing drives clicks to your site.

If your numbers look nothing like this, it doesn’t mean your business is failing — it means your website isn’t pulling its weight yet. And that’s fixable.

What to do next

Start by checking whether Google Analytics is installed on your site. If it is, look at your visitor numbers, top pages, and traffic sources. If it isn’t, get it set up — your web designer or hosting provider can help.

If the numbers tell a story you’re not happy with — or if you’re not sure what the numbers mean — we’re happy to take a look. We’ll give you an honest assessment of how your website is performing and what changes would make the biggest impact. No charge, no jargon, no pressure.