Most blog dashboards track 20+ metrics. Most of them are decoration. Here are the seven we track for every retainer client — and why "monthly pageviews" isn't on the list.
Most blog dashboards drown in vanity. Pageviews up 14%! Average session 2:34! Great. Did any of those numbers lead to a sale? Here are the seven we track that do.
1. Assisted conversions from organic blog traffic
The most important number on this list. Not "blog readers who immediately bought" — that's rare. The right number is "visitors who arrived on a blog post and converted within 30 days". GA4 path exploration shows this clearly. If this number is zero, your blog isn't commercial yet.
2. Cost per assisted conversion
Divide your blog spend (writing + tools + promotion) by the assisted conversions above. Compare to paid acquisition cost. If your blog's number is lower than your paid CAC, the blog is profitable. If it's higher, something's broken.
3. Search-impression growth on commercial-intent keywords
Not all keywords are equal. Ranking for "what is X" is informational; ranking for "X for SMEs" or "X pricing" is commercial. Track impression growth on the commercial half. Watch out for vanity impression spikes from informational queries.
4. Time-to-rank for new posts
Average days from publish to first-page ranking. If this is creeping up, your domain authority isn't keeping pace with your publishing volume — usually because the posts aren't internally-linked properly, or you're competing with bigger sites for queries you can't win.
5. Internal-link-driven traffic
How many visitors get to a money page from a blog post via an in-text link. Most blogs send people away (to LinkedIn, to email signups) instead of forward (to services, to product). The forward number is the lever.
6. Email-list growth attributable to the blog
If your blog has any conversion goal at all, the most likely first step is "email signup". Track signups per post. The top 20% of posts will drive 80% of signups. Write more like those.
7. Mentions and external links earned
Track which posts get cited, linked-to, or quoted by other sites. These are the posts that punch above their weight in domain authority. Most blogs have one or two of these and don't notice — let alone deliberately commission more.
The three to ignore
- Bounce rate. A 90-second bounce after answering one question is a success, not a failure.
- Time on page. Faster-to-answer is often better-written. Don't reward slowness.
- Total pageviews. 10,000 pageviews from people who'll never buy is worth less than 100 from people who will.
