By KIM KOSAKA

Reporting and analysis are crucial parts of successfully growing a company. Reflecting on growth metrics helps you identify gaps in strategy, areas for improvement, and tactics that have worked well and should continue to be invested in.

But your metrics can only help you if you know what information to monitor and measure for your business.

Your growth metrics definition may be different from other businesses. So you need to identify the growth metrics most relevant to your business and find ways to measure that data. Here are a few examples of growth metrics you may have overlooked and how to track this important data.

Growth Metric No. 1: Your Alexa Rank
As you grow your business and establish your online presence, one of the growth metrics that can help you rate your digital authority is your Alexa Rank. An Alexa Rank is a metric that rates your site’s performance relative to other sites on the web. The lower your Alexa Rank, the more authoritative your site is (it has high traffic, a lot of page views, etc.). Conversely, the higher your Alexa Rank, the less influential your site is. So monitoring your Alexa Rank and seeing a decrease will let you know you’re growing your authority online.

To check your site’s Alexa Rank, use the free version of our Site Overview Tool. Or sign up for our Advanced Plan to get more detailed website traffic stats that includes Alexa Rank as well as metrics on the number of page views, bounce rate, time on site, search traffic, and more.

Growth Metrics No. 2: Number of Backlinks to Your Site
Another growth metric that will help you measure and monitor your online authority is your number of site backlinks. Backlinks are a vital part of an SEO strategy. Search engines typically give higher rankings to sites that have a diverse and large portfolio of backlinks. So you can monitor your number of backlinks to see if you’re succeeding in making your site more authoritative online and improving your SEO.

To conduct a backlink analysis, use Alexa’s Sites Linking In Tool. The report shows you the number of sites linking back to you as well as their Alexa Rank. The Alexa Rank of each site helps you gauge the value of each link, as links from sites with strong Alexa rankings are more valuable than links from sites with poor Alexa rankings.

Growth Metric No. 3: Number of Backlinks to Competitors
Your backlink portfolio shares important growth metrics information, and so do the backlink portfolios of your competitors. You want your number and authority of backlinks to match or supersede that of your competitors. So information about your competitors’ backlink portfolio is also important to track and monitor.

To find competitor backlinks, use Alexa’s Competitor Backlink Checker. Enter up to 10 competitors to get a report on the links pointing to the list of sites. Use the information to compare your number of backlinks to your competitors to see how you measure up to similar brands and sites.

This information is one of the most useful growth metrics for startups because it helps you monitor your success and also plan for more success. The analysis helps you find backlinks and see which sites are linking to your competitors. You can then use that information to create a plan for getting those sites to link back to your website too.

Growth Metric No. 4: Your Keyword Share of Voice
Another growth metric that helps you measure your influence online is your Keyword Share of Voice. Share of Voice is an Alexa metric that shows how much organic traffic a website owns as it relates to a specific keyword. It represents the percentage of searches for a particular keyword that is sent to a website. For example, contentmarketinginstitute.com has a Share of Voice score of 52.48% as it relates to the keyword “content marketing.” That data indicates that 52.48% of people who search for “content marketing” visit contentmarketinginstitute.com.

Researching your Share of Voice percentages for the top keywords that relate directly to your industry will help you see how much authority you have on a specific topic. To find your score, use Alexa’s Share of Voice Tool to research. Enter your target keyword, and review the list to see where you rank as well as where your competitors rank.

Another way to measure your Keyword Share of Voice is by using Alexa’s Competitor Keyword Matrix. Enter your site along with up to nine of your competitors. Once the report populates, use the filter to narrow down your results. Enter one keyword (that relates specifically to your business or industry) in the field for “Include terms.” Then scroll up to see the percentage of Share of Voice your website has versus your entered competitors. This information allows you to see how you compare with your direct competitors.

Your On-Site Engagement Stats
Popular growth metrics often include engagement metrics. So we broke down this category to list the best engagement metrics for measuring the interest levels of users on your site. You can gauge website audience interest by looking at:

#5) Visits per visitor

#6) Page views per visit

#7) Monthly page views per visitor

#8) Daily time on site

#9) Bounce rate

Each of these metrics offers insight into how engaged people are with your site. If they view a lot of pages or return frequently, they are highly interested. But if they bounce quickly, don’t stay for very long, or view very few pages, they are not engaged or interested.

To find these metrics to measure user engagement, use Alexa’s Site Overview Tool. Enter your site URL and receive a report that includes all of the engagement metrics listed above. By monitoring and tracking these growth metrics, you can measure how levels of engagement on your site rise or fall.

Uncover These Growth Metrics and More
Reporting and analyzing growth metrics is an important part of a strategic marketing plan. As you put together a list of data to collect and review, be sure to include the engagement metrics listed in this post to get a well-rounded view of your growth and results.

To get tools to help you extract this data, sign up now for a free 7-day trial of Alexa’s Advanced Plan. It includes all of the tools listed in this post along with Alexa’s full suite of other SEO, keyword research, and marketing tools.