The number of visitors is one way of measuring an e-commerce site’s ability to attract potential customers. But visitors and browsers-defined as visitors who view two or more pages on the same visit-don`t have the same significance when measuring the success of a search campaign, according to a recent report on search metrics from search engine marketing firm MoreVisibilty.

That makes the visitor-to-browser ratio a key measure in determining whether a search campaign has been successful and in planning future campaign spending, says Joe Laratro, CTO at MoreVisibility. That measure calculates the percentage of visitors (those who click through to a site) who go on to surf a site (view multiple pages).

An unusual spike in drop-off after one page should alert you to a potential page error, says Laratro. For example: a visitor is getting an error message on the site’s destination URL, so he can’t access additional pages on the site.

A higher drop-off with particular keywords could signal trouble with the page the keyword is sending visitors to, according to MoreVisibility`s report. For instance, if an offer in a search ad copy isn`t incorporated in the landing page the searcher may give up and leave the site without checking further. If a visitor searching for unique combs is sent to the landing page for the site’s top-selling comb, that page may not offer the variety and selection the searcher is looking for.

If variety and price selection is what the searcher is looking for, your product page will not likely encourage an immediate order-or even additional surfing, says Laratro. In that case, try swapping out the landing page for unique combs’ with a top-level category page that presents a selection of combs.