"Six months have passed since our site redesign, but to be honest, we don't know if inquiries generated through the website have actually increased. The agency was supposed to have set up analytics, though..."—we frequently hear this concern from business owners who outsourced website production. Upon inspection, while pageviews are recorded, crucial events like inquiry submissions are not being tracked at all. When this happens, no matter how much traffic increases, you cannot tell if it is producing real business outcomes.
Agencies often report that they "installed the tracking tags." However, placing a tag and accurately counting inquiries or resource downloads are two entirely different tasks. If a site is delivered with this configuration missing, it may be running online, but performance measurement is effectively zero. In this article, we explain the essential tracking points clients should verify post-launch using minimal technical jargon.
"Traffic is tracked" is not the same as "results are tracked"
When you install a web analytics tool (most commonly GA4), which pages are viewed and how often is recorded automatically. Getting to this stage only requires adding a single tag. The issue lies in what comes next. Actions that provide real value to a business, such as submitting an inquiry form or clicking a resource download button, will not be recorded as conversions unless you explicitly configure the tool to count them.
In other words, tracking pageviews does not mean you are tracking business outcomes. The first thing a client should verify is whether the analytics tool reflects an increment when a single inquiry is submitted. The fundamentals of GA4 are detailed in our beginner's guide to GA4, but what matters here is not navigating complex settings, but confirming this single point: is each result being counted properly?
Four checks clients can perform themselves
Even without technical expertise, you can verify whether tracking is set up correctly by asking your agency the following questions.
| What to verify | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Does an inquiry submission record one conversion? | If submissions are not tracked, your results will continue to be recorded as zero |
| Is the "Thank You" page included in tracking? | Tracking the completion page is the most reliable method, yet frequently forgotten |
| Are actions from the same user being counted twice? | Duplicate tag installations can inflate numbers beyond actual performance |
| Are inquiries from smartphones being recorded? | Configuration errors where desktop tracking works but mobile tracking fails are common |
A particularly frequent issue is forgetting to track the post-submission "thank-you page" (completion page). Anyone can test this: simply submit an inquiry yourself and check if that count appears in the analytics data the next day. If no conversion is recorded after submitting, you can assume the site is currently failing to measure its outcomes. If users are dropping off within the form itself, addressing form optimization (EFO) will also be necessary.
Don't leave tag management entirely to the agency
Another pitfall occurs when tag management is handled exclusively inside the agency, leaving the client with zero visibility into the setup. The moment points of contact change or the contract with the agency ends, no one can modify tracking settings, leaving advertising tags and conversion tracking stranded. While tag management methods (primarily Google Tag Manager) are explained in our introductory guide to GTM, what is vital for clients is not mastering the tool, but ensuring administrative ownership of the account resides with their own organization.
Website redesigns or agency transitions are high-risk moments when tracking configurations frequently break. Redesigning a site only to see traffic and conversion metrics suddenly stop is a common pitfall. This consideration overlaps with our guidance on how to execute a redesign without losing incoming traffic, making it crucial to establish a tracking handover plan before commissioning the project.
First, submit a test inquiry yourself
If you cannot evaluate site performance using data, you cannot determine what to optimize next, and improvements will continue to rely on guesswork. Before diving into complex analyses, start by sending a test inquiry through your site's contact form and check if it reflects in your analytics. If this baseline is missing, no amount of web traffic will clarify your results.
"Analytics are installed, but we have no idea how many inquiries came through," "Tracking is left entirely to the agency and no one internally understands it," or "We revamped our site and can no longer track performance"—if you share these concerns, please feel free to reach out to GleamHub's web development and website optimization support. We will help rebuild your site's performance starting with proper measurement.
