I’m often asked what are the key Metrics to look at within the wealth of data that Google Analytics offers. My answer is this: anything, so long as you drill down to some more meaningful level.
For instance, of course Bounce Rate is a fairly useful indicator of how engaging a page is – but not particularly for your site overall. So a good, indeed essential, use of BR is say at the Landing Page Report level.
Better still, refine that report to view high traffic pages that have a BR of say over 50%, and straight away you have a hit list of pages you should look at with a view to reducing BR and pulling visitors further into your site. After all, you’ve done something right to acquire the traffic, maximise it (by adding a clear Call To Action)!