The 5 Google Analytics Metrics I Check Every Month
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I open Google Analytics once a month, look at five numbers, and close the tab. That's it.
The five Google Analytics metrics worth checking are: traffic sources, top landing pages, engagement rate per page, conversions on your key pages (contact, services, shop), and top exit pages. Everything else is noise that big agencies care about because they're paid to care. You don't need to.
If you've ever opened GA4, stared at a billion charts, and quickly closed the tab, this post is the version of analytics that actually fits a one-person business.
Why monthly is the right cadence for a small business site
Daily numbers on a small site are basically vibes. If you got 14 visitors yesterday and 22 today, that's not a trend, that's a Tuesday. You need enough volume for the numbers to mean something, and for most solopreneurs, that's about 30 days of data.
Checking GA daily is also a productivity tax. You're spending mental energy on something you can't act on in real time, and every minute in analytics is a minute you're not writing, designing, or selling.
Once a month is enough to spot a real pattern. It's also infrequent enough that you'll actually do it.
The 5 Google Analytics metrics I actually check
1. Traffic sources (where people came from)
This tells you which of your marketing efforts is doing the heavy lifting. Are people finding you through Google search? Instagram? A specific Pinterest pin? A newsletter you wrote two weeks ago?
In GA4, this lives under Reports > Acquisition > Traffic acquisition. Look at the channel grouping (Organic Search, Direct, Social, Referral, Email) and ask: where is most of my traffic coming from, and where's the surprise?
The surprise is often where the gold is.
2. Top landing pages (what's pulling them in)
Landing pages are the first page someone hits when they arrive at your site. Not the homepage automatically. Often it's a blog post, a service page, or a freebie page you forgot was indexed.
Go to Reports > Engagement > Landing page. Sort by sessions. The top three are doing the work for you. The question to sit with: do those pages clearly point visitors to your offer, or do they dead-end?
3. Engagement rate per page
Engagement rate replaced bounce rate in GA4, and it's the metric I trust to tell me if a page is actually holding people. It measures the percentage of sessions where someone stayed at least 10 seconds, viewed multiple pages, or triggered a conversion.
A healthy engagement rate for a small business site lands somewhere around 55% to 70%. If a top landing page is at 30%, that page needs a rewrite or a better next step (a clear button, a related post, a call to book).
4. Conversions on your key pages
This is the whole reason your site exists, so it's wild how many people skip it. In GA4 you set up key events (formerly conversions) on the actions that matter: contact form submissions, button clicks on your services page, checkout completions, freebie downloads.
Go to Reports > Engagement > Events or check your custom key events report. If your contact page is getting 200 visits a month and zero form submissions, that's a glaring problem the rest of your traffic data won't tell you.
5. Top exit pages (where they bounce)
Exit pages show you where people leave your site. Some exits are fine (the thank you page after they book a call, the contact page after they email you). Others are warning signs.
If people are exiting on your Services page in droves, something on that page is sending them away instead of converting them. Maybe the pricing isn't clear, the next step isn't obvious, or the page just feels off.
What I ignore (on purpose)
A few metrics get a lot of airtime that you can safely skip as a solopreneur:
Bounce rate as a standalone number. It's missing context. A 70% bounce rate on a blog post where people read the whole thing and then leave satisfied isn't a problem.
Real-time users. Fun to peek at when you publish something. Useless for decisions.
Demographics and interests. Helpful if you're running paid ads with serious budget. If you're not, it's curiosity, not strategy.
Engaged sessions per user and similar derived stats. Vanity metrics dressed up in business clothes.
Average session duration in isolation. Tells you almost nothing without knowing what page and what intent.
Ignoring metrics is a skill. The fewer numbers you track, the more weight each one carries when you do look.
How to set up your GA4 dashboard in 15 minutes
The default GA4 home screen is chaos. Build yourself a custom view so the five metrics above are right there when you log in.
Here's the step-by-step:
In GA4, go to Reports > Library (bottom left).
Create a new collection called something like Monthly Check-in.
Add these reports: Traffic acquisition, Landing page, Pages and screens, Events.
Pin that collection to your left sidebar so it loads first.
Set up your key events under Admin > Events > Key events. At minimum, mark your contact form submission and any purchase or booking action.
(Optional but worth it) Set a custom date range default to Last 28 days so you're always looking at a clean month.
That's the whole shebang. Fifteen minutes once, and every future check-in takes about ten.
The one question I ask after checking
After looking at the five numbers, I ask myself one question: is there one page I should rewrite or one source I should lean into more this month?
If yes, that's the action. Rewrite the page. Pitch another podcast in the channel that's already working. Add an opt-in to the post that's pulling traffic. Pick one thing.
If no, I close the tab. Not every month needs a takeaway, and forcing a change just because you looked at data is how perfectly good websites get tinkered into worse versions of themselves.
Analytics is supposed to make your business decisions easier, not turn you into a full-time data analyst for a site you built to sell cookies or coaching or design services. Five numbers. One question. Close the tab.
Frequently asked questions
How often should a small business check Google Analytics?
Once a month is enough for most solopreneurs and small business owners. Daily numbers are too small to spot real trends, and checking constantly eats time you could spend creating content or talking to customers.
Is bounce rate still important in GA4?
Not really. GA4 prioritizes engagement rate, which is more useful because it accounts for time on page and interactions, not just whether someone visited one page. Use engagement rate as your primary signal.
What's the difference between events and key events in GA4?
Events are anything tracked on your site (page views, scrolls, clicks). Key events are the specific events you've flagged as important business outcomes, like form submissions or purchases. Mark only the actions that mean money or leads.
Do I need Google Analytics if I have Squarespace Analytics built in?
Squarespace Analytics is fine for a quick snapshot, but GA4 gives you deeper data on traffic sources, conversions, and user behavior. If you're serious about understanding what's working, run both.
What's a good engagement rate for a small business website?
Somewhere between 55% and 70% is healthy for most small business sites. Below 40% on a key page usually means the content or the next step needs work. Above 80% is great but worth double-checking the tracking is set up right.
