I’m working on a small website focused on the NYT Letter Boxed puzzle, mainly publishing daily hints, answers, and explanations for people who enjoy solving the puzzle.
I’ve recently started paying more attention to analytics, and I’m interested in understanding how visitors actually use this type of content. For example, I’d like to know which pages bring in the most visitors, how long people stay on an answer page, and whether users tend to visit multiple puzzle-related pages during the same session.
I’m considering Matomo because I’d prefer having more control over my analytics data rather than relying entirely on third-party platforms.
For anyone using Matomo on a content or puzzle website, what metrics do you find most useful? Are there any reports or goals you would recommend setting up to understand whether visitors are actually finding the information they need?
I’d especially appreciate advice from anyone who has used Matomo for smaller websites with mostly organic search traffic.
Useful metrics really depend on your goal, not the other way around. I don’t run a puzzle hint site, but I run informational pages, and there the hard part is knowing whether a visitor actually became able to act on the information.That’s not something web analytics alone can tell you. You either observe the actual action (like: did they solve the puzzle; or very different: did you show plenty of ads) or you ask people, and combine that with analytics data to draw conclusions.
Basic example from my experience: time on page is ambiguous. A short time on an answer page could mean “found it instantly, happy” or “didn’t find it, left frustrated”. Analytics numbers looks the same either way.
Two things that might still be useful for your case:
Returning visitors/frequency: for a daily puzzle, people coming back day after day is probably a better signal that you’re delivering what they need than any single-page metric.
Heatmaps/session recording: closest thing to actually watching user behavior on the page itself. Worth checking out, though in Matomo this requires the not so cheap Heatmap & Session Recording plugin. There’s a 30 day trial…
For a puzzle site like this, focus on landing pages, average engagement time, exit rate, and pages per session. Setting up goals for things like viewing an answer, visiting multiple puzzle pages, or returning the next day can also give you a better idea of whether the content is useful. Matomo’s search/referrer reports are especially helpful for understanding which organic queries and pages bring people in.
For a puzzle site, focus on landing pages, time on page, exits, pages per visit, and returning visitors. Setting a goal for users who visit multiple puzzle pages can also show whether your content is actually helping them.
With mostly organic traffic, Matomo’s landing-page and user-flow reports should give you a pretty clear picture of what people are looking for and where they drop off.
For a small content site like this, I’d focus on a few metrics rather than trying to track everything.
I’d definitely monitor landing pages, organic search traffic, average engagement time, exit rate, and pages per session. Landing-page data can be especially useful for seeing which daily puzzle pages are bringing in visitors.
I’d also set up a few simple goals, such as reaching an answer page, clicking to another puzzle-related page, or completing a specific interaction. This can help you understand whether visitors are actually finding the information they came for rather than just looking at traffic numbers.
Another useful report would be the user flow/session path, since it can show whether someone lands on a Letter Boxed answer page and then visits hints, explanations, or other puzzle pages.
For a smaller site with mostly organic traffic, I’d keep the setup simple initially and establish a baseline. Once you have a few weeks of data, you’ll have a much better idea of which metrics actually matter for your audience.
This is solid advice. For a small content site, I agree that keeping analytics simple is better than getting overwhelmed by too many metrics. Landing pages and organic traffic would be my priority, especially for identifying which puzzle pages are actually bringing visitors in. Then engagement and navigation data can help show whether those visitors are finding what they need and exploring the site further.