How to know if your website is working (5 numbers to track)

I just relaunched my own website. And as much as I love how it looks (I'm lowkey obsessed), looks aren't how I'll know if it was worth it. The numbers are.

Most beauty and wellness pros I talk to judge their website just on vibes. Somebody compliments it, a new client says they found you online, and you figure it's doing fine. Maybe it is. But "I think it's working" and "I know it's working" are two very different places to run a business from.

The good news is finding out is free. Google gives you two tools that show you who's finding your website and what they do once they get there. I'm going to show you how to set them up, and then share the five numbers I'd check every month to know if your website's working.

What Does a “Working” Website Actually Do?

A working website does 3 things:

1. People who've never heard of you can find it
2. The right people stick around once they land on it
3. They take the next step, whether that's booking, inquiring, or calling

Notice "it looks good" didn't make the list. Looking good helps with numbers 2 and 3, but a pretty website can still be sitting there doing nothing. (If that one stung a little, I wrote a whole post on why your website isn't booking clients even though it looks good.)

Every number I'm about to show you ties back to one of those three jobs. If a number doesn't tell you about getting found, keeping attention, or getting someone to act, you can ignore it. And trust me, Google's going to throw a lot of numbers at you.

Google Analytics vs. Google Search Console: What Each One Tells You

You need both, and they're both free. They just answer different questions.

• Google Search Console shows you what happens on Google before anyone gets to your website. What people typed in, how often your website showed up, and how often somebody clicked.
• Google Analytics shows you what happens after they land on your website. How many people visited, where they came from, which pages they looked at, and if they did anything while they were there.

Search Console is before the click. Analytics is after the click. Think of them as a tag team. With only one of them set up, you'd only get half the story.

How to Set Up Google Analytics & Google Search Console

I'm keeping this part short on purpose. Google moves its buttons around constantly, and your website platform has its own instructions for where things go. What matters is doing it in this order.

Google Analytics

1. Go to analytics.google.com and sign in with the Google account you use for your business
2. Create an account and a property (a property is just Google's word for your website)
3. Add your web address when it asks. Google will give you a Measurement ID that starts with "G-"
4. Paste that ID into your website platform's settings. Squarespace, Wix, Showit, and Webflow all have a spot for it
5. Visit your own website, then open the Realtime report in Analytics. If you see yourself on there, it's connected

Google Search Console

1. Go to search.google.com/search-console and sign in with the same Google account
2. Add your website as a property. Pick the "URL prefix" option and paste in your full web address
3. Verify that you own it. If Google Analytics is already on your website under the same account, Search Console can usually verify you through that in one click
4. Submit your sitemap. For most websites, it's your web address with /sitemap.xml on the end (your platform's help page will tell you if yours is different)

Tell Analytics what counts as a win

Last thing while you're in there. Analytics can count your visitors all day, but it has no idea what you want those visitors to do until you tell it. Google calls these key events. For most beauty and wellness websites, that's somebody clicking your "Book Now" button or sending your contact form.

Heads up, this is the part that can get a little technical depending on how your booking system works. If you only get the first two connected today, that's still a win.

And I do mean today, even if you don't plan on looking at anything for a month. Neither tool can go back in time. They only start collecting once they're connected, so every week you wait is a week of numbers you'll never get back.

Five Numbers That Tell You If Your Website's Working

Give your tools about a month to collect, then look at these five things. They're listed in the order I'd check them in. (And if a report isn't where I say it is, type its name into the search bar at the top of Analytics. Like I said, Google loves to rearrange things.)

#1. How many people are visiting

Where to look: Google Analytics. It's on your home screen, labeled "Active users."

What it tells you: if enough people are even seeing your website for it to do its job. A healthy website turns somewhere between 2% and 5% of its visitors into inquiries, so 100 visitors a month works out to about 2 to 5 people reaching out. If you're getting 20 visitors a month, a prettier homepage won't fix that. You need more people first. (That's why I recorded The Driver's Seat. It's a free private podcast that walks you through six ways to get more people on your website. You can binge the whole thing in under an hour.)

#2. Where your website visitors are coming from

Where to look: Google Analytics > Reports > Acquisition > Traffic acquisition

You'll see your visitors sorted into groups. These are the main ones:

• Organic Search: they found you on Google
• Direct: they typed your web address in or already had it saved
• Organic Social: they clicked over from Instagram, TikTok, or Facebook
• Referral: another website linked to you
• AI Assistant: they came from ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude (Google added this one in 2026, and yes, AI is changing how people find you)

What it tells you: if anybody new is finding you. Before I redesigned my own website, 80% of my traffic was Direct and social. Translation? It was people who already knew me. Almost nobody was finding me through Google, and that's how I knew I had a visibility problem. If your Organic Search number is tiny, so do you.

#3. What people are searching for to find you

Where to look: Google Search Console > Performance, then scroll down to Queries

What it tells you: the actual words people typed into Google right before your website showed up. You're hoping to see searches for what you do and where you do it. "Lash extensions Pittsburgh." "Therapist for new moms near me." If the only searches on your list are your own business name, Google's only sending you people who were already looking for you.

You'll also see two numbers next to each search. Impressions is how many times you showed up. Clicks is how many times somebody actually picked you. Lots of impressions with barely any clicks means you're showing up and getting passed over. (Usually that's because you're too far down the page for most people to scroll to. Or you're up high enough, but the title and description Google shows for your page aren't giving anybody a reason to pick you over the results sitting next to yours.)

#4. Which pages they're looking at

Where to look: Google Analytics > Reports > Engagement > Pages and screens

What it tells you: if people are making it to the pages that make you money. Your homepage will almost always be on top. What you want to know is if your service page(s) and your booking or contact page are getting seen too. If 200 people hit your homepage and 9 make it to your services, your homepage isn't doing a good enough job of sending people where they need to go.

#5. If they're taking the next step

Where to look: Google Analytics > Reports > Engagement > Events. Look for the key events you set up earlier.

What it tells you: the whole point. How many people clicked to book, submitted your form, or tapped your phone number. Divide that by your visitors and you've got your conversion rate. So 4 form submissions from 100 visitors is 4%.

If you only have the energy to track one number, track this one. The other four are clues for why this one is high or low.

How Often Should You Check Your Website Numbers?

Once a month. Put 15 minutes on your calendar, write down your five numbers, and close the tab.

Checking every day will only stress you out. Most small business websites don't get enough visitors for a single day to mean anything, so one slow Tuesday will have you convinced something's broken when it's not. What you're watching is the direction things are heading over a few months.

Where you write them down doesn't matter. A spreadsheet, your Notes app, the back of an appointment card. What matters is that 3 months from now you can look back and see if things are going up, down, or nowhere.

And if your website is brand new (or freshly redesigned, like mine), give it at least 3 months before you judge it. Google takes a while to figure out a new website. I'll actually be sharing my own numbers once mine's had time to settle.

Not interested in adding another thing to your monthly to-do list? I get it. Watching these numbers and acting on them is part of what I do for my Visibility Retainer clients. It's important work that most beauty and wellness pros just don't have the bandwidth for.

What to Do If Your Numbers Say Your Website's Not Working

Your numbers will usually point to one of two problems.

Problem #1: Not enough people are finding you. Low visitors, barely any Organic Search, and the only searches you show up for are your own business name. That's a visibility problem, and a new design won't fix it. Start with my beginner's guide to getting found on Google, or binge The Driver's Seat, my free private podcast that covers six overlooked ways to get more eyes on your website.

Problem #2: People are finding you, but they're not doing anything. Decent traffic, people land on your homepage, and then nothing. No clicks over to your services. No inquiries. That's a website problem. Something on the page is losing them, and when it's your own website, it's really hard to see what.

Lab Tip 💡 - That second problem is exactly why I created Polished Pages Audits. I go through your website page by page and hand you a prioritized list of what's costing you clients + what to fix first.

And if your numbers are telling you the website itself has run its course? That's what Workhorse Websites are for.

Compliments are nice. But numbers are how you find out if your website's actually earning its keep.