This one’s very simple: “Total users” is the total number of users who visited your website over a given time, whether they engaged or not. Repeat users are only counted once in this metric.

This page is the first result when you want to increase your website’s total number of users. That said, it’s more important to have a high ratio of active to total users than simply more users—that is, you’d rather users stay on and engage with your website than visit for a moment.

Q: My agency’s website isn’t getting the expected traffic. How can I increase the total number of users?

A: The key to increasing total traffic on your site is to get as many people as possible. To do this, you must invest in both on-page and external updates. Here are some potential solutions:

• Improve your content with keywords: Finding relevant keywords for your agency using your dashboard will help visitors find your content using search engines like Google. You can also use Google Search Console results or online SEO tools like Ahrefs or Semrush to identify which search terms drive the most visitors to your webpage. Use these keywords throughout your site’s content to help rank for these terms on search engines so that users can find you.


• Optimize your content for search engines: Aside from keywords, several factors affect how high your website ranks on search engines. These include:
  
  1. Page titles and headings that match what people are searching for
  2. Compelling, high-quality meta descriptions
  3. Internal links to and from essential pages

Learn more about search engine optimization that can help improve your site’s total user count >

• Create targeted landing pages: Directing visitors to a dedicated page featuring what interests them helps users engage with your website (and find it when they’re using search engines). A large part of this process is determining what pages your users are interested in—you can use GA4 analytics to find the most viewed content and go from there. Once you have that information, making what users are interested in readily accessible on a targeted landing page will bring more people to your site.
  
  Example: Using analytics, you notice that 95% of users are clicking a few related links on a page with 50+ forms and documents. Creating a dedicated page for those links, with optimized SEO to drive users to that page, will help increase reach and improve their experience.
  
  Here’s a real-life example: We put all the information about business licenses and permits onto one page and optimized SEO to drive users there. This page is the first result of searching “CT business licenses” on a search engine.

• Craft engaging, high-quality content: The best way to drive traffic to your website is to craft engaging content that answers a question or solves a specific problem. It’s as simple. A great, useful site will get more traffic than one that’s confusing or does not help users accomplish their goals. Here are just a few of the things you should pay attention to while drafting your content to ensure it’s engaging to new users:
  
  1. Attractive, accessible information
  2. Easy-to-read, jargon-free text
  3. A voice and tone that suits the audience’s needs
  4. Skimmable formatting
  5. Clear, actionable calls to action

Learn more about the following:

• Update content. Old, outdated, or irrelevant content actually “ages” your pages so that Google and other search engines don’t rank them as high in search results.
• Use emails to drive traffic: A tried-and-true way to generate traffic is via email. Email can be a powerful outreach tool to target and inform your audience and drive people to specific pages on your website. Of course, this strategy requires returning users to sign up—producing high-quality, engaging content will drive sign-ups.
• Post on social media: Social media can help you reach your audience and drive them to your website. This strategy can work exceptionally well when you use social media to advertise new content, events, or initiatives from your agency. Post regularly with updates to help drive pageviews on your site.

Learn more about successful content creation >