How to tell if your website and marketing are working

How do you know if your website is working?

Your website is working if it brings you contacts from real people: phone calls, messages, form entries or visits. Visitor counts alone do not tell you that. A site with few visitors can still be useful, and a site with many visitors can bring in nothing.

So begin with one question: what do I want a visitor to do? For most local businesses, the answer is call, send a message, or come in. Count those things first.

Which numbers matter most?

Pick a small set and watch them every month. Here is a good starting list.

• Phone calls. How many calls came in, and how many were from new customers?
• Form messages and emails. How many people contacted you through your website?
• Google Business Profile actions. How many people called, asked for directions or clicked to your website from your profile?
• New reviews. How many came in this month, and what was the average rating?
• Jobs or sales. How many new customers did you win, and how did they find you?

The last item is the most useful one, and it is also the simplest. Ask each new customer how they heard about you, and write the answer down. A notebook by the phone works.

What can your Google Business Profile tell you?

Your profile shows how people interact with it. Google's technical documentation lists these measures:

• Clicks on the call button.
• Clicks on your website link.
• Requests for directions to your location.
• Message conversations.
• Bookings made through Reserve with Google, if you use it.
• Views of your profile on Google Search and Google Maps.

One thing to know: a click on the call button is not the same as a finished phone call. Someone may tap and then hang up. Treat it as a sign of interest. Compare it with the calls you actually receive.

Look for the performance numbers by searching for your business on Google while signed in to the account that manages your profile.

What can Google Search Console tell you?

Search Console is a free tool from Google. Its performance report shows four things about your site in Google Search:

• Impressions: how often someone saw a link to your site.
• Clicks: how many times people clicked it.
• Click-through rate: clicks divided by impressions.
• Position: an average of where your link showed in the results, where 1 is the top.

Position is an average across many searches, and results can differ by person and place. So use it as a trend, and not as a score.

Google says traffic from its AI Overviews and AI Mode is counted in this same report, in the normal web search numbers.

You may notice impressions rising while clicks stay flat or fall. This can happen. A Pew Research Center study in March 2025 found that people clicked a regular result link in 8% of visits when an AI summary appeared, compared with 15% when it did not. So a lower click count is not always a sign that something is broken.

What can Google Analytics tell you?

Google Analytics is a free tool that counts what visitors do on your site. It can track "key events," which Google describes as actions that are particularly important to your business. A submitted contact form is a typical example.

You do not need to read every chart. Ask whoever sets it up to track the few actions that matter to you, and show you the monthly total.

How long does it take to see results?

Longer than most people hope. Google says changes to a site typically take weeks to months to show measurable results in search. Do not judge a change after one week.

Be wary of anyone who promises fast, guaranteed results. Google says no one can guarantee a number one ranking, and it lists guaranteed rankings as a warning sign. It also suggests asking any SEO professional what results to expect, in what timeframe, and how they will report changes to you.

What should a good monthly report look like?

A good report is short and plain. You should be able to read it in five minutes. It should include:

• The few numbers you picked: calls, messages, profile actions, reviews.
• A comparison with last month, and with the same month last year if there is one.
• A sentence or two, in plain words, on what changed and why it might have changed.
• What was done this month.
• What will be done next month.

Be cautious of reports that are long, full of jargon, or only show a rise in "impressions" or "traffic" with no mention of calls or customers.

Also remember that some numbers cannot be known exactly. Phone calls made by typing a number by hand, or visits from people who saw you and called later, may not show up in any tool. This is one reason to ask customers how they found you.

Quick checklist

• I know what I want a visitor to do: call, message or visit.
• I count calls and write down how new customers found me.
• I check my Google Business Profile numbers once a month.
• I know my Search Console numbers, or someone shows me them.
• My website tracks form messages as key events.
• I count new reviews and my average rating each month.
• I get a short, plain report I can understand.
• I compare month to month, and I give changes time to work.
• I ask for plain answers when something is unclear.

What should you do next?

Pick three numbers, write down this month's totals, and look again next month. That one habit tells you more than any dashboard.

If you would like help with this, ask your Liftofly representative or contact us.