How to Know If Your Website Is Actually Working

Short answer

Check these four things: how many people visit, where they come from, what they do while there, and whether they take action (buy, call, sign up). If people visit but don't act, the website isn't working.

The 4 metrics that matter

1. Traffic — are people finding you?

Check in Google Analytics or Search Console. Monthly visitors trending up is a good sign. Flat or declining means your SEO or marketing needs attention.

2. Traffic source — how are people finding you?

Organic search — people found you on Google (good, sustainable)
Direct — people typed your URL (existing customers know you)
Social — came from social media
Referral — linked from another site

If 90%+ is direct traffic, you're not reaching new people.

3. Bounce rate — are people staying?

A high bounce rate (80%+) means people arrive and immediately leave. Causes: slow loading, irrelevant content, poor mobile experience, misleading title/description.

4. Conversions — are people taking action?

The most important metric. Set up goals in Google Analytics to track:

Contact form submissions
Calls (use a trackable phone number)
Purchases
Email sign-ups

Quick health check

Google your business name — does your site appear?
Google your main service + location — do you appear in the first page?
Open your site on a phone — does it look good and load fast?
Check Google Analytics — are visitors going up over 3 months?

Tools to use

Google Analytics (free) — traffic and behavior
Google Search Console (free) — search rankings and technical issues
PageSpeed Insights (free) — load speed