Caloundra Markets, Jan 2026

01

Monthly Snapshot

Your at-a-glance summary for January 2026 — the core metrics at a single glance.

Sessions

New Users

Pages / Session

Top Page

Top Traffic Channel

4,867

3,500

1.2 approx.

GA4 equivalent: 5.3 events/user — see Section 04

Homepage
3,800 views

Organic Search
71.9% of sessions

Note on Pages / Session: Google Analytics 4 no longer reports “pages per session” as a standalone metric — the legacy figure is now replaced with event count per user (5.3) and engaged session rate (56%), which give a richer picture of how visitors interact with the site. We track and report these across all sections below.

02

Executive Summary

↗ January 2026 Highlights

Important note: analytics were connected in mid-January for domain performance monitoring and alerts (not analytics reporting), therefore insights are based on general metrics and pro-rata’d for partial month of January.

Caloundra Markets website attracted 3,500 active users across January 2026, with all 3,500 arriving as new users (this reported metric is an anomaly due to first time reporting connection and partial month analytics), demonstrating strong first-time discovery of the markets online. The site recorded 19,000 total events and an average of 5.3 events per active user, indicating visitors are genuinely interacting with content beyond a simple landing page glance.

Organic Google Search is the standout performer, driving 71.9% of all sessions — a compelling signal that the markets hold solid SEO presence for key Sunshine Coast searches. The top organic keyword, “caloundra markets,” alone generated 1,300+ clicks in January, while the homepage accumulated 28,000 organic impressions.

The main opportunity heading into February is addressing the homepage bounce rate of 59.4% and the relatively brief average engagement time of 27 seconds. Both metrics suggest visitors are finding the site but not finding what they need quickly enough, a pattern that additional content structure and clearer calls-to-action could resolve.

Noteworthy Activity on website
Website navigation menu refreshed • News page created allowing for blog style posts • “Message from Michael” news post published • General updates to all market descriptions and operating status • “Your input matters” news post published • Stallholder spotlight for Cecile’s Crepes posted • Stallholders application page created and linked to menu • New BING for Business listing created to align with Google Business Listing.

03

Standout Metrics This Month

🔍
71.9% of All Traffic from Organic Search
Nearly three-quarters of January sessions arrived via Google — without a single dollar in paid advertising. The top keyword “caloundra markets” alone generated 1,300+ clicks, and the homepage appeared in 28,000 organic searches. This is a strong SEO foundation for a local events site.

🤝
Social Visitors: 61.9% Engaged Session Rate
Despite representing only 127 sessions (2.6% of traffic), social media visitors were the highest-quality audience of any channel — a 61.9% engaged session rate, nearly three times higher than direct traffic (22%). Every social post with a direct website link is sending highly engaged visitors to the site.

🏪
Stallholder Pages: Sub-25% Bounce Rate
The Stallholders page (24% bounce) and Fees & T&C’s page (23.9% bounce) are among the best-performing pages on the site. Visitors arriving with stallholder intent are reading every word. This high-intent audience is currently not captured by any form or conversion event — a significant untapped opportunity.

04

Key Metrics Overview

📡

Active Users

3,500

January 2026

🆕

New Users

3,500

621 returning users

⏱

Avg. Engagement Time

27s

per active user

📊

Total Events

19k

5.3 per user

🔁

Returning Users

621

Loyal repeat visitors

🤝

Engaged Session Rate

56%

0.56 engaged sessions

🔍

Total Sessions

4,867

All channels combined

👁

Impressions

58,200

Organic search visibility

💡 Opportunity

58,000 impressions but only approx. 3,500 clicks — that’s a click-through rate of roughly 6%. Industry average for organic position 1–3 is 20–30%. A review and refresh of meta titles and descriptions across the top landing pages could realistically double or triple clicks from the same search volume. This is one of the quickest wins available without any changes to the website itself.

05

Active Users Over Time

Insight: Traffic peaked in the week of 6–11 January, driven by post-New Year market interest and the Caloundra Street Fair schedule. A secondary spike around 20–25 January aligns with the Caloundra Twilight Market. Traffic tapered toward month-end — proactive social posts and Google posts ahead of upcoming market dates could sustain this momentum through February.

06

Traffic Sources

Channel Breakdown

Sessions by Channel

Channel	Sessions	%
Organic Search	3,500	71.9%
Direct	998	20.5%
Unassigned	141	2.9%
Organic Social	127	2.6%
Referral	101	2.1%

Engagement Rate by Medium

Social

61.9%

Referral

53.2%

Organic

45.4%

Direct

22.0%

Insight: Organic search dominates at 71.9% — this is exceptionally strong and validates solid local SEO for Sunshine Coast market searches. Notably, social visitors engage at the highest rate (61.9%) despite driving the lowest volume (2.6%). This signals that when the social audience clicks through to the site, they’re genuinely interested — growing social post frequency could lift both volume and overall engagement quality.

💡 Opportunity

Social is your highest-quality traffic source — yet it represents only 127 sessions (2.6%). At 61.9% engagement rate, social visitors are nearly three times more engaged than direct visitors (22%). A consistent social content calendar with direct links to market pages — schedules, stallholder features, event previews — could realistically grow social sessions to 400–500/month without any paid advertising.

07

Top Pages by Traffic

#	Page	Views	Active Users	Events	Bounce Rate
01	Home — 3 Street Markets /	3,800	2,600	12k	59.4%
02	Caloundra Street Fair /caloundra-street-fair/	724	527	1,800	32.0%
03	Caloundra Twilight Market /caloundra-twilight-market/	470	352	1,400	36.1%
04	Our Markets /our-markets/	343	265	1,100	47.3%
05	Currimundi Lake Twilight Market /currimundi-lake-twilight-market/	309	227	964	38.8%
06	Stallholders /stallholders/	192	160	571	24.0%
07	Fees & T&C’s /fees-and-tcs/	145	107	378	23.9%

Insight: The homepage carries the most traffic but has the highest bounce rate at 59.4% — over half of all visitors leave without clicking anything. In contrast, the Stallholders (24%) and Fees & T&C’s (23.9%) pages show very low bounce rates, indicating high-intent visitors (prospective stallholders) who are actively reading and navigating. Individual market pages sit in a healthy 32–39% range.

💡 Opportunity

A homepage redesign could be the single biggest lever for this site. With 3,800 homepage views and a 59.4% bounce rate, roughly 2,260 visitors per month are leaving immediately. Adding a clear “What’s On This Weekend” section, market date cards, and quick-links to each individual market above the fold could convert even 20% of those bounces into deeper visits — that’s an additional 450+ engaged sessions per month at zero extra cost in traffic.

08

Organic Search Performance

Top Search Queries — Clicks

caloundra markets

1,300

caloundra street fair

161

caloundra market

62

caloundra twilight markets

59

markets caloundra

44

currimundi twilight markets

40

sunshine coast markets

38

Organic Impressions by Landing Page

/ (Homepage)

28k

/our-markets/

7.3k

/caloundra-twilight-market/

6.6k

/caloundra-street-fair/

4.7k

/market-faqs/

4.3k

/stallholders/

4.2k

/currimundi-lake-twilight-market/

2.7k

Insight: “caloundra markets” is a powerhouse keyword generating 1,300 clicks — roughly 37% of all organic traffic from a single search term. The homepage alone appeared in 28,000 searches. This indicates the site ranks well for branded and local terms. Opportunity lies in broadening visibility for non-branded terms like “sunshine coast markets” and “things to do caloundra” to capture new audiences not already searching specifically for Caloundra Markets.

09

Audience & Geography

Active Users by City

🇦🇺

Brisbane

2,100

60.0%

🇦🇺

Sydney

627

17.9%

🇨🇳

Lanzhou ⚠️

161

4.6%

🇦🇺

Melbourne

147

4.2%

🇦🇺

Sunshine Coast

135

3.9%

🇦🇺

Gold Coast

54

1.5%

🇦🇺

Cairns

45

1.3%

User Distribution

Insight: Brisbane dominates at 60% — expected given Caloundra’s proximity and day-trip appeal from SEQ. Sydney visitors (17.9%) represent a significant interstate audience, suggesting the markets are on the radar for Sunshine Coast holiday planning. Sunshine Coast locals are only 3.9% of traffic — the local audience may rely more on social media or word-of-mouth than the website.

⚠️ Lanzhou, China Traffic Alert: 161 users from Lanzhou is anomalous for a hyper-local Australian market site. This is likely bot traffic or VPN users inflating metrics. Setting up a GA4 geographic filter to exclude this segment will ensure cleaner reporting going forward.

10

Additional Notes

1

Address the Homepage Bounce Rate (59.4%)

Over half of homepage visitors leave without clicking anything. Adding a “What’s On This Weekend” section with market dates, quick-links to each market page, and a visible phone/contact button above the fold can immediately improve navigation. The homepage needs to answer the most common visitor question — when and where are the markets? — within the first scroll. A homepage redesign would be the single highest-impact improvement available to this site.

2

Improve Average Engagement Time (currently 27s)

27 seconds is low for an event-based site where visitors need dates, locations, transport, and vendor information. Enriching individual market pages with photos, stallholder spotlights, food vendor guides, parking info, and FAQs gives visitors compelling reasons to stay longer. Longer engagement time also signals quality content to Google — directly improving search rankings over time.

3

Convert More of the 58,000 Monthly Impressions

The homepage appears in approximately 58,000 organic searches per month yet only converts approx. 6% into clicks. Refreshing the page’s SEO title tag and meta description to include specific market dates, highlights, and a clear call-to-action (e.g. “Free Entry · Every Sunday · Caloundra”) could lift CTR to 10–12%, adding 2,000+ extra monthly visits with no additional ad spend.

4

Grow Social Traffic (currently 2.6%)

Social visitors engage at 61.9% — the highest rate of any channel — yet only 127 sessions arrived via social in January. Increasing Facebook/Instagram posting frequency with market schedules, stallholder features, and event announcements (all with a direct website link) could double or triple social traffic within 60 days at no cost.

5

Set Up Event Tracking in GA4

Currently there is no visibility into key visitor actions — such as phone number clicks, map/directions clicks, stallholder enquiry form submissions, or social media icon clicks. Setting these up as GA4 custom events (via Google Tag Manager) would give a much clearer picture of how well the site converts visitors into engaged market-goers or stallholder enquiries.

6

Filter Out Lanzhou Bot Traffic in GA4

161 sessions from Lanzhou, China are almost certainly non-human traffic. Creating a GA4 data filter excluding this geographic segment will improve the accuracy of all reported metrics going forward — particularly engagement rate and new user counts.

WebsitePerformanceAnalysis

Monthly Snapshot

Executive Summary

Standout Metrics This Month

Key Metrics Overview

Active Users Over Time

Traffic Sources

Top Pages by Traffic

Organic Search Performance

Audience & Geography

Additional Notes

Website
Performance
Analysis