Came across this post on econsultancy a few days ago and it got me thinking about how site design is often destiny. The article gives pageviews its due as a good metric to identify popular content on your site and then suggests several other good metrics that publishers in particular should be looking at and using to make smart decisions and grow traffic.

As some one who helps organizations re-build and re-align their sites as well as content, I find it’ important to remember that metrics have context. For example, a high pageview number might mean that content is seeing strong demand, but it might also mean:

• It’s the only piece of content that people can reach easily from the homepage.
• Your “Related Articles” or Auto Suggest tool is giving a particular piece of content too much weight.
• Someone did a better job promoting this piece than others.
• You are using auto-refresh on your pages (shame on you!)

The point is that pageviews aren’t necessarily about the content quality or demand. It’s a good metric, but you need to ask deeper questions about why the number moved and why one piece of content might have superiority over another. Your site and marketing tactics need to meet some basic criteria or this metric won’t help you.

Pageviews are a Good Metric When Navigation Balances Discovery & Promotion

Discovery is making things find-able via navigation or suggestion tools or search. Think about a Related Articles widget. With discovery, you are telling people what is there for them. Whether they look at it is a test of topicality and user-experience.

Promotion is intentionally making something stand out more. Common examples are an article carousel or strong call to action at the bottom of the page. You are telling people what they should look. A carousel with a 500px wide graphic at the top of the page will stick out compared to text links and short summaries for other articles. Accordingly, you should expect that content to get more pageviews.

Pageviews are a Good Metric When You Have a Content Strategy

If your content doesn’t align with a plan, then every piece is a gamble: You may hit big or you may get nothing for your efforts. Looking at pageviews for disparate pieces of content and deciding that something is worth pursuing can lead to a lot of wasted effort & no growth. Rather than look at pageviews, take the time to dissect the traffic sources to see what made an article a winner. With a little research, you could begin growing your traffic consistently regardless of the topic you write about.

Having a content strategy and plan can make writing easier, but isn’t for everyone. Some of us just want to write when the mood strikes us. That isn’t the best approach for a business trying to use inbound, but small sites with a niche focus should follow their muse.

Pageviews are a Good Metric When You Are Just Starting Out

You have to start somewhere. The ways to slice and dice your site are damn near infinite; and it takes time to get good at using data to make decisions. If you are just starting out, then use pageviews to see what content people are looking at. Don’t let that be your only guide, but it’s better than ignoring your numbers completely.

We Should All Look Beyond Pageviews

You probably know better than to depend on one metric to make all your decisions. But we all still do it. Publishers especially are guilty of obsessing about pageviews and impressions. Don’t fall into this trap. It might lead you to growth in the short-term, but you’ll find yourself constantly chasing traffic instead of trying to provide value.

Am I being too hard on pageviews or publishers? Let me know what you think in the comments.