Why the Site Metrics are Important. Part One

7 mins read

Getting familiar with site indicators is a smart way to gauge how well future publications might perform. PRNews.io makes it easy by providing all the essential site info, from geographic data to traffic sources and SEO metrics.

You could analyze a site’s metrics yourself using tools like Similarweb, Semrush, Alexa, Checktrust, and others, but it’s time-consuming—and it’s not free. A full package from Similarweb starts at $1,099, while Semrush ranges from $99.95 to $399.95, and Alexa’s plans go from $99 to $149, to name a few.

When you’re pressed for time and need to publish a press release ASAP, PRNEWS.IO has you covered. With current data on over 10,000 publications worldwide, it’s a quick and reliable solution for finding the right site.

Main indicators

For example, let’s consider the data of the British business newspaper LondonlovesBusiness.com.

Visitor Forecast:
This shows how many people visit a site over a certain period. For example, in June, LondonlovesBusiness.com had 109,178 visitors, with a projected 109.2k visits in August. While exact numbers aren’t guaranteed, PRNEWS.IO offers stats from the past six months, helping you spot visit trends and potential, calculate an average, and estimate future traffic.

Time on Site:
On average, visitors to LondonlovesBusiness.com spend about 35 seconds per visit—just enough to catch up on news or scan the headlines for something interesting.

Pageviews per Visit:
This metric shows how many pages a visitor views in a single session. For LondonlovesBusiness.com, it’s about 1.38 pages per visit, which is common for news sites where users often come for specific articles rather than browsing extensively.

Bounce Rate:
The bounce rate reflects the percentage of visitors who leave after viewing just one page. For news sites, business pages, or single-page sites, a high bounce rate is normal, as users typically come to check out a specific article or information and leave once they’re done. LondonlovesBusiness.com, for instance, has a bounce rate of 73.63%, meaning readers generally visit, read what interests them, and then exit.

Normal bounce rates for different types of sites:

  • News / one-page site (landing) – 60-70%.
  • Online store – 30-40%.
  • Information/entertainment site – 10-20%.

Usually, if a user visits a page from a search engine (Google, Bing), then the failure rate will be lower. If you clicked on the link from the social network it would be higher.

Traffic sources and geography of visits

There are different types of traffic, and understanding each one helps you get a clearer picture of the audience—whether they’re readers or potential customers.

Search Engine Traffic:
This is from users who find the site through search engines.

Referral Traffic:
Visitors land on the site by clicking links from other sites.

Social Traffic:
This comes from social media platforms.

Direct Traffic:
These are people who either bookmark the site in their browser or type the URL directly. This group often includes returning visitors who originally found the site through one of the other sources.

For LondonlovesBusiness.com, the majority of visitors—47.42%—arrive through direct links, and 41.14% come from search engines. This suggests a specialized audience that visits the site with specific business interests in mind, rather than for casual browsing.

Referrals make up 8.04% of the site’s traffic, while social media accounts for just 1.97%. Since the site doesn’t actively use social media to attract readers, any shares or mentions online are driven by readers sharing content on their own.

Geography of Visitors:
Not all sites have a strictly local audience—many attract readers from around the world. Here are some patterns:

  • Neighboring Countries:
    Some sites are popular across nearby countries, especially those with similar languages or cultures.
  • Diaspora:
    People who have moved abroad for work or other reasons may still visit sites from their home country. For example, Chinese sites attract readers in the U.S., Singapore, Hong Kong, and Taiwan—likely members of the Chinese diaspora staying up-to-date on local news.
  • Business Interests:
    Sites focused on business and industry often attract readers from countries with economic ties.

For LondonlovesBusiness.com, most readers (61.07%) are based in the UK. However, 9.19% of its traffic comes from Argentina, a major trade partner with strong economic links to the UK. There’s also a notable number of visitors from the U.S. (8%), India (2.66%), and France (2.46%), driven by immigration ties and geographic proximity.

How to use it

This knowledge will help to choose the best platform for the publication of the press release. In different countries, the cost of publishing on similar sites may differ. Sometimes it makes sense to find an option that is more reasonable in terms of budget. Or to analyze which sites are read by a potential target audience in neighboring countries.

What is the result?

The success of a publication isn’t about any one factor—it’s the whole picture that matters. High traffic is great, but if most readers are from Guangzhou and you’re promoting discounts at a hardware store in Kyiv, those numbers aren’t all that helpful.

It’s key to look at all the metrics together: view forecasts, visitor geography, and traffic sources. That’s how you make sure a publication actually works in your favor. Numbers without context? They’re just numbers.

Reviewing publication requirements also helps you pick the best sites and lowers the chance of your article getting turned down. In our article, “Publication Was Refused. What to Do?” we go over tips to prevent this and increase your chances of getting published.

Now, let’s dive into two more PRNEWS.IO categories that can help you pick the right platform: SEO metrics and audience demographics.

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