A non-techy guide to reading your website stats

Your website is doing something right now, even while you're reading this. People are landing on it, clicking around (or not), spending time on certain pages (or not), and either reaching out to you–or quietly leaving.

The good news: your website is keeping track of all of this!

Most website platforms have built-in “analytics” that record your visitors' behavior.

The less good news? You might not know what to look at, feel overwhelmed, and close the tab.

Here's what I want you to take away from this post: your analytics are a story about your visitors' journey through your site. And once you know what to look for, that story is actually pretty readable–even if you'd never call yourself a tech person.

Let's walk through the metrics that actually matter.

What is traffic? And why high traffic is not the most important thing.

Traffic simply means the the number of website visitors in a certain period of time.

But that number alone doesn’t really mean much on its own.

Why? A therapy website is not an e-commerce shop or a media publication. You are not trying to reach thousands of people. You are trying to reach a small number of very specific people who are actively looking for exactly what you offer.

Let me give you two scenarios:

Scenario A: You get 5,000 visitors a month but no one contacts you
Scenario B: You get 200 visits a month but 10 people contact you

Which one is more successful?? Definitely Scenario B right? Traffic on it’s own is relatively meaningless when it doesn’t lead to new clients in your inbox.

What is bounce rate and exit rate (hint: are people staying or leaving?)

These two terms often get lumped together, but they tell you slightly different things.

Bounce rate is the percentage of visitors who land on a page and leave without doing anything else—no clicking, no scrolling to another page, no filling out a form. They arrived and they left.
Exit rate is the percentage of visitors who left from a specific page, regardless of what they did before that. Every visit ends somewhere, so every page has an exit rate—that's normal. What you're watching for is pages with unexpectedly high exit rates that suggest something went wrong.

What's a normal bounce rate?

For therapy websites, somewhere in the 50–70% range is typical. Higher than that on your homepage or services pages is worth paying attention to. Some pages–like a blog post someone reads and then leaves–will naturally have higher bounce rates, and that's okay.

High bounce rate usually means one of a few things:

Visitors landed on your page and couldn't quickly tell if you're the right fit for them
Your page took too long to load (especially on mobile)
The page didn't match what they thought they were clicking on
There was no clear next step to take (like a next post to read, another page to click on)

Which pages are people actually visiting–and are they going on the journey you are hoping for?

Most website analytics will show you a list of your most-visited pages. This is where things get interesting (and occasionally surprising).

Here are some things to look for:

Is traffic concentrated almost entirely on your homepage? It could mean your other pages aren't showing up in search. Or it could mean that people aren’t finding what they expect to find and so they leave without exploring further.
Is a random blog post driving most of your traffic? This is more common than you'd think. You write something once, it happens to rank well, and suddenly it's your most visited page—except it's about a topic that's drawing the wrong crowd. For example, a general article about anxiety symptoms might attract lots of readers who are looking for information, not a therapist. That traffic looks good on paper but isn't likely to turn into inquiries.
Are your most important pages getting visits? Your services page, your about page, and your contact page should be showing up in your top pages. If they're not, visitors aren't finding their way there.

Time on page: Are people actually reading?

Most analytics platforms will show you how long, on average, people spend on each page. This one's pretty intuitive: a page that takes 3 minutes to read should have visitors spending somewhere near 3 minutes on it. If they're spending 15 seconds, something's off.

Low time on page usually means one of a few things:

The content isn't resonating and people are scanning and leaving
The page is hard to read (too dense, too small a font, poorly formatted)
Visitors realized quickly this page wasn't what they were looking for

High time on page is generally a good sign—it means people are engaged. Pair this with what happens after: do visitors who spend a lot of time on your About page tend to then visit your contact page? That's the journey working as it should.

Keywords: Are the right people finding you?

If your website platform shows you search keywords (and not all do—more on that below), this is one of the most telling pieces of data you have.

Keywords tell you what people were searching for when they found your site. And the thing about search terms is that they carry intent. Understanding the difference can help you figure out whether your traffic is likely to ever turn into clients:

Here are some different types of intent that your visitor might have:

Informational intent. Someone searching "what is EMDR therapy" or "signs of anxiety in adults" is looking for information. They're in research mode, not ready-to-book mode. They might read your blog post and leave. That's okay, but it's worth knowing that's who they are.
Navigational intent. This is usually someone searching your name or your practice name directly. They already know you exist and are looking for your site specifically.
Ready-to-transact intent. This is someone searching "therapist in Portland for anxiety" or "online therapy for couples in Ohio." This person is actively looking for someone to work with.This is your highest-value traffic. If these are the type of keywords bringing people to your site, your SEO is doing exactly what it should.

If your traffic is mostly coming from informational searches, you're attracting readers, not potential clients. That's not bad–it builds awareness–but it helps explain why you might have decent traffic but few inquiries.

Your contact page: The part of the story that matters most!

If your analytics are telling a story about your visitor's journey, the contact page is the ending you're hoping for.

Here's what to check:

Are people visiting your contact page at all? If you have decent overall traffic but almost no one is landing on your contact page, the path there isn't clear enough. Every page of your site should have an obvious next step that guides people toward reaching out.
Are people landing on the contact page but not following through? This suggests friction in the process itself–maybe the form is too long, maybe it's not clear what happens after they submit, or maybe there's no indication of your availability or response time. A simple, warm, low-friction contact form with a clear "here's what happens next" goes a long way.
How do people arrive at your contact page? If you can see what page they visited right before the contact page, that tells you which parts of your site are doing the best job of building trust and prompting action.

What to do with what you find

Once you've read the story your analytics are telling, the next step is knowing what to focus on to improve it.

If your traffic is low overall…

This is likely an SEO issue (especially if your site has been around for a year or more).

Start by making sure your pages have clear, specific titles that include who you help and where–something like "Anxiety Therapist in Denver, CO" rather than just "Services." Each page should target a specific topic or keyword, not try to cover everything at once.

The free Therapist Website Toolkit can help you audit what your site might be missing.

You have decent traffic but your bounce rate is high…

This is likely a content and navigation issue. Visitors can't quickly tell whether you're the right fit for them. OR your page is loading too slowly.

Things to check:

Look at your homepage headline first–does it immediately say what you do, who you help and where? If it's vague or welcoming-but-generic, that might lead people to bounce. Bloomy can help you rewrite pages that aren't landing without starting from scratch.
Look at your site on desktop and mobile, is the loading time glitchy or slow? If so, your image files may be too large and taking too long to load (they should be around 250KB in size).

If you're getting the wrong keywords and wrong visitors…

Your content is probably attracting people in research mode rather than people who are ready to book.

Focus on adding more location-specific and problem-specific language throughout your site–"therapist in [city] for [issue]" rather than just writing about topics in general. A Live Support Session is a good place to map out a content strategy that targets the right searches.

If nobody's reaching your contact page…

The issue is usually that your calls to action are buried or missing.

Every single page of your site should have a visible, easy next step–not just in your navigation menu.
Add a button or a short "ready to get started?" section toward the bottom of each page and see if that moves the needle. If you want a second set of eyes on where people are dropping off, that's exactly what a Live Support Session is for.

If everything feels like a problem…

It might be worth stepping back and looking at the site as a whole rather than trying to patch things one at a time. Sometimes the most efficient path forward is a full rebuild done right. Custom website design with me means strategy, copy, and build all handled together, holistically.