Hundreds of metrics exist. Choose a short list tied to goals, then review them weekly. Vanity metrics (likes, raw pageviews) only matter when they predict revenue or qualified leads.

Traffic / acquisition metrics

  • Users: Distinct people (approximate) who visited.
  • Sessions / sessions with engagement: Visits; GA4 emphasizes engaged sessions (meaningful activity) over old bounce-heavy thinking.
  • Views: Page or screen views.
  • Traffic source / medium / campaign: Where demand came from (requires clean UTMs for paid/email).

Engagement metrics (GA4-oriented)

  • Engaged sessions / engagement rate: Share of sessions with meaningful interaction (replaces over-reliance on classic bounce rate).
  • Average engagement time: How long users actively engage.
  • Events per session: Depth of interaction (scrolls, video plays, clicks).
  • Landing page performance: Which entry pages start good journeys.

Bounce rate still appears in some reports and older exam materials, but treat it carefully — a useful one-page FAQ can “bounce” and still succeed if the key event fires.

Conversion / outcome metrics

  • Key event rate (conversion rate): Share of sessions/users completing a key event.
  • Key event count: Volume of desired actions.
  • Cost per conversion / CPA: Ad spend ÷ conversions.
  • ROAS / revenue: For ecommerce; for lead-gen use lead quality, not only form volume.

Channel KPI examples

Channel Core KPIs
SEO Organic users, landing page engagement, key events from organic
PPC CTR, CPC, conversion rate, ROAS/CPA, Quality Score / Ad Rank inputs
Social Reach, engagement rate, CTR, cost per messaging conversation
Email Deliverability, open/click (cautiously), conversion from email sessions

Nepal practice: Report “inquiries” (forms + calls + WhatsApp) as one outcome family so festival campaigns are judged on leads, not only reach.

Case study: Picking KPIs for a news vs clinic site

OnlineKhabar-style media optimizes engagement time and pages/session (ad inventory). A clinic optimizes booked appointments and show-up rate. Same GA4 product, different North Stars — the clinic ignored bounce on a one-page “call us” lander once call key events rose.