What Marketing Numbers Should a Small Business Track?

The short answer

Track eight marketing numbers: relevant visits, where visitors and leads come from, useful actions, leads by source and quality, conversions, cost per lead, cost per new customer, and revenue and margin compared to marketing cost. Pull them from your Google Business Profile (GBP) performance report, Google Analytics, your call and form tracking, and your customer relationship management (CRM) system.

What this tells Google and AI

These numbers measure the output of everything else in this guide. Your GBP performance report shows the searches people used to find you and how many called, asked for directions, or clicked to your site. If a service gets views but few calls, the profile or page may not match what people want, which is a relevance problem you can fix. Rising reviews and mentions over time show prominence. AI tools don’t report traffic the same way, so see 19.13.6 Tracking Traffic From AI Tools.

Why it matters

Without the right numbers, owners judge marketing by feel or by likes. A salon might cheer for 10,000 social views while its booking page gets five visits. Tracking from visit to paid job shows what’s working and where to spend.

21.2.1 Traffic

What it means: visits from people who could become customers.

How to do it: in Google Analytics, look at visits by city or region and by landing page. Filter out your own visits and known spam. Compare service page visits from your service area month over month.

Common mistake: celebrating a traffic jump that came from another country.

21.2.2 Source

What it means: where visitors and leads come from.

How to do it: use the traffic acquisition report in Google Analytics for website visits. Use your GBP performance report for profile views and actions. Use tracking numbers and “how did you hear about us” for calls (see 12.3.3 Call Tracking and 15.8 Lead-Source Tracking).

Common mistake: crediting every lead to “Google” without knowing if it was an ad, the map, or the website.

21.2.3 Engagement

What it means: useful actions, not vanity numbers like likes alone.

How to do it: Google Analytics counts a session as engaged if it lasts longer than 10 seconds, has a key event, or has two or more page views. Pick actions that point to buying, like viewing a pricing page, starting a form, or tapping to call.

Common mistake: using time on site as proof of interest, when a confused visitor also stays long.

21.2.4 Leads

What it means: inquiries, counted by source and quality.

How to do it: count calls, forms, messages, and bookings in your CRM. Mark each as qualified or not (see 16.3 Lead Qualification). Report leads by source each month.

Common mistake: counting spam forms and robocalls as leads.

21.2.5 Conversion

What it means: the action you want people to take.

How to do it: in Google Analytics, mark the actions that matter as key events, like a form submission or booking. Google says key events are events you mark as important to your business. Divide the number of those actions by visits to get a conversion rate.

Common mistake: marking every page view as a key event, which makes the numbers meaningless.

21.2.6 Cost per lead

What it means: marketing cost divided by leads.

How to do it: add spend and fees for one source in one month and divide by its leads (see 20.10.1 Lead cost).

Common mistake: leaving out tools and fees.

21.2.7 Customer-acquisition cost

What it means: cost per new customer. Full method is in 20.10 Paid-Job Economics.

Common mistake: dividing by leads instead of customers.

21.2.8 Return

What it means: revenue and margin compared to marketing cost.

How to do it: for each source, divide margin from its customers by what you spent on it. Use margin, not just revenue (see 20.10.6 Contribution margin).

Common mistake: reporting return on revenue alone, which can make a money-losing channel look good.

When to get help from a pro

An analytics specialist can set up key events, filters, and call tracking so the numbers are clean. Questions to ask:

• Are my key events set to real buying actions?
• Is my own traffic and spam filtered out?
• Can these numbers connect to booked jobs in my CRM?

Bill’s note

[Bill: add a short note. For example, the one marketing number you check first for a local business, and a vanity number you tell clients to ignore.] If you’d rather have this done for you, SiteSmarty sets up Google Business Profile and website tracking.

How I did this for SiteSmarty

• [Date I did this:]
• [What I actually did, step by step: which reports I pull each month and how I connect them]
• [What it cost and how long it took:]
• [What surprised me or what I’d do differently:]
• [Screenshot or photo to add, with private info blurred: GBP Performance page and Analytics acquisition report]
• [Result so far:]

Questions people ask

What is an engaged session? In Google Analytics, a visit that lasts longer than 10 seconds, has a key event, or has two or more page views.

Where do I see calls from my Google Business Profile? In the profile’s Performance section, which shows calls, directions, website clicks, and searches used to find you.

What are vanity metrics? Numbers that look good but don’t connect to sales, like likes or raw page views.

How do I measure marketing return? Compare the margin from customers a source brought in to what you spent on it.

Audit check

Outline line	Question	Pass looks like	Fail looks like	Evidence to collect
21.2.1 Traffic	Is relevant, in-area traffic tracked?	Filtered, by area and page	Raw totals	Analytics report
21.2.2 Source	Are visits and leads tracked by source?	Source per lead	“Google” for everything	Acquisition report, CRM
21.2.3 Engagement	Are useful actions tracked over vanity numbers?	Buying actions tracked	Likes only	Event list
21.2.4 Leads	Are leads counted by source and quality?	Qualified flag in CRM	All inquiries counted	CRM report
21.2.5 Conversion	Are key events set to real buying actions?	Few, meaningful key events	Every page view	Key event settings
21.2.6 Cost per lead	Is cost per lead calculated with all fees?	Full cost	Ad spend only	Monthly sheet
21.2.7 Customer-acquisition cost	Is cost per customer tracked?	Customers as divisor	Leads as divisor	Monthly sheet
21.2.8 Return	Is return measured on margin?	Margin-based	Revenue only	Monthly sheet

Where this fits

Do this first: 13.7.1 Analytics Setup and Measurement Plan, 15.8 Lead-Source Tracking

Do this next: 21.3 Sales Metrics

Related pages: 14.9.8 Performance Data, 12.3.3 Call Tracking, 13.7.3 Form Tracking, 19.13.6 Tracking Traffic from AI Tools, 20.10 Paid-Job Economics, 21.5 Dashboards, 21.7 Funnel Review

Sources

• Google Business Profile Help, "Understand your Business Profile performance and insights" (checked October 17, 2026)
• Google Analytics Help, article on engaged sessions and engagement rate (checked October 17, 2026)
• Google Analytics Help, "Conversions vs. key events in Google Analytics" (checked October 17, 2026)
• Google Business Profile Help, "Tips to improve your local ranking on Google" (checked October 17, 2026)

This page explains general rules and Bill's own experience. It is not legal, tax, or insurance advice. Talk to a qualified professional about your situation.