Not All Metrics Matter: 3 Numbers That Probably Aren’t Worth Worrying About

On paper, big numbers look impressive.

Unfortunately, looks can be deceiving.

There are a lot of metrics that can matter for digital marketing, but some are duds.

It gets more confusing because a metric that's vitally important in one situation could be totally useless for another.

A high click through rate, a ton of impressions, or even a high quantity of backlinks for SEO, can all be great signs — or, these numbers could be totally meaningless.

Do those clicks, impressions, or links tie into actual sales and revenue?

Sometimes, they do.

Each click documented in a CTR metric could correspond to a sale.

But it might not.

A ton of people clicking to your home page, then leaving without buying anything, aren't really any better than no impressions at all.

In a recent post from Kissmetrics, the author explains why click-through rate (CTR), impressions, and backlinks can all potentially act as vanity metrics.

CTR

CTR. The glorified metric that drives everyone from PPC to SERP “growth hackers” crazy.

Look at me, I’ve got a 66% CTR!

Oh cool, how many conversions did that get you? Two out of 4,000 clicks? Make it rain baby!

Ok, on a more serious note, here’s why CTR don’t mean $#!* in the real world:

[image source: Kissmetrics]

Take a look at that AdWords table.

The highest converting, highest traffic keyword/ad group has the lowest CTR (by far).

YET… also the highest conversions (by far).

Paying a low bid on the keyword and spending less money = lower positions = more competition = lower CTR.

But, conversions are still sky-high.

The whole account has an average total CTR of 3.49%. That’s “not good.”

Except, the average Cost per Conversion is 5x lower than the average sale revenue.

I’ll take that deal any day of the week.

CTR ain’t the gold standard. I don’t care what your CTR is if it doesn’t bring in conversions.

Impressions

Let’s say you own a brick and mortar store. You sell shoes.

It’s launch day and you get 40,000 people to walk in and out of your store that day.

Those ads must be working!

You’re checking ‘the books’ and you see the following sales numbers: $500. Total.

Now do you get it?

Impressions are cool and all.

“Hey, (insertbossesname), our product was seen by 100,000 people today!”

But at the end of the day, they don’t matter if (can you guess what’s next?) they don’t lead to sales, conversions, or goal completions.

[image source: Kissmetrics]

Total Backlinks

Backlinks are good. They help with ranking metrics and credibility.

But total backlink quantity is over-emphasized.

Constantly we see people worrying about how many links they can get, however they can.

*Queue Oprah Gif: You get a link! You get a link! And you get a link!

If your backlink profile is spammy:

[image source: Kissmetrics]

… then those links don’t mean anything.

URL’s with low DA’s that are known for spamming or giving links like it’s candy on Halloween aren’t going to get you to the top of Google (anymore).

Ideally, you want a nice backlink profile from relevant, editorially-based sources that don’t just hand over easy links willy nilly.

[image source: Kissmetrics]