It’s easy to drown in dashboards. A handful of well-chosen numbers, checked regularly, tell you whether your marketing is working.
At a glance
- Start with business results, such as enquiries, bookings and sales, then work back to the marketing numbers that drive them.
- Google Search Console reports clicks, impressions, click-through rate and average position for your site.
- Email open rates are less reliable than they used to be, because some email apps load images automatically for privacy.
- Clicks, conversions and unsubscribes are usually more useful email measures than opens.
- Compare results over time and against your own past performance, not against generic benchmarks.
Marketing numbers are only useful if they help you decide what to do next. Instead of tracking everything, pick a few measures that connect to your business goals and review them regularly.
Start with the outcome
Ask what you actually want from your website and emails:
- Phone calls or contact form enquiries
- Bookings or appointments
- Online or in-store sales
- Newsletter sign-ups
Then track the marketing numbers that lead to those outcomes.
SEO: what Search Console tells you
Google Search Console’s Performance report shows four key numbers for your site in Google Search:
| Metric | What it means |
|---|---|
| Clicks | How many times people clicked through to your site from Google |
| Impressions | How many times your pages appeared in search results |
| Click-through rate (CTR) | Clicks divided by impressions |
| Average position | Roughly where your pages appeared in results, on average |
Useful checks:
- Rising impressions suggest your pages are showing up for more searches.
- Low CTR on pages with many impressions suggests titles and descriptions need work; see our guide to title tags.
- Queries show which searches bring people to you, and can inspire new content.
Email: look past open rates
Open rates used to be a favourite email metric, but they’re now less reliable. Some email apps load images automatically to protect privacy, which can record an “open” whether or not the person read the email.
More dependable email measures include:
- Click rate: how many recipients clicked a link.
- Conversions: sign-ups, bookings or sales from email visits, tracked with UTM parameters.
- Unsubscribes and spam complaints: rising numbers suggest content or frequency problems.
- Bounces: a sign your list needs cleaning.
Try this
Write down one sentence after each monthly review: what changed, and what you’ll try next. Over a year, those notes become your most valuable marketing record.
Avoid common traps
- Comparing against generic benchmarks. Industry averages vary widely; compare against your own past results.
- Reacting to short-term noise. One bad week rarely means a trend.
- Changing everything at once. Change one thing at a time so you know what made the difference.
Keep it simple
A short monthly report with clicks and impressions from Search Console, email clicks and conversions, and your enquiries and sales is enough for most small businesses. For the basics of the channels themselves, see our guides to SEO and email deliverability.
Questions readers ask
What’s a good click-through rate?
It varies widely by industry, position and type of search or email. Track your own trend and try to improve it, rather than chasing a universal number.
Why did my open rate suddenly jump?
Privacy features in some email apps can register opens even when a person hasn’t read the email. Treat open rates as a rough signal and focus on clicks and conversions.
How often should I check my numbers?
A monthly review suits most small businesses, with a quick check after each email campaign. Daily checks often show noise rather than trends.
Do I need Google Analytics?
It’s useful for seeing what visitors do on your site, but not essential for every business. Search Console, your email platform’s reports and your own sales records cover a lot.
This guide is general information, not legal advice. Platform rules and CASL guidance change, so check Google’s documentation and the CRTC’s guidance before you rely on it.