Website
Performance
Analysis
📅 6 Feb – 5 Mar 2026
📊 Google Analytics 4
🌐 VisitGympieRegion.com.au
vs 3 Jan – 3 Feb 2026
Prepared for
Visit Gympie Region
Prepared by
Gravity Projex
3 Feb – 5 Mar 2026 vs 3 Jan – 3 Feb 2026. Reported GA4 figures shown; bot-adjusted real figures noted where relevant.
1,200
↓ from 1,900 Jan (−36.8%)
Real humans: −9.4% only
1,300
↓ from 2,400 Jan (−45.8%)
Bot-inflated in Jan
34s
↑ from 26s Jan (+30.8%)
Visitors staying longer
93
↑ from 73 Jan (+27.4%)
Loyalty signal improving
5.5
↓ from 5.7 Jan (−3.5%)
Content depth stable
The headline story is engagement, not traffic. Despite fewer raw users, the metrics that reflect quality all improved: average engagement time jumped from 26s to 34s (+31%), returning visitors grew from 73 to 93 (+27%), and bounce rates on the What’s On page dropped from 34% to 24.2%. The February audience is smaller but meaningfully more engaged than January’s bot-heavy total.
Active Users (reported)
1,200
Jan: 1,900
↓ −36.8% (bots −35%)
Avg. Engagement Time
34s
Jan: 26s
↑ +30.8% ✓
Engaged Sessions / User
0.56
Jan: 0.64
↓ −12.5%
Returning Visitors
93
Jan: 73
↑ +27.4% ✓
New Users (reported)
1,300
Jan: 2,400
↓ −45.8% (bots)
Total Events
6,800
Jan: 11,000
↓ −38.2%
Events per Active User
5.5
Jan: 5.7
≈ Stable (−3.5%)
Direct Sessions
612
Jan: ~1,200
↓ ~−49% (biggest drop)
What actually declined vs what improved: The metrics driven primarily by volume (total users, total events, direct sessions) all fell — consistent with January’s bot-inflated baseline and end of peak summer season. The metrics driven by genuine visitor behaviour all held or improved: engagement time up 31%, returning visitors up 27%, What’s On page bounce down from 34% to 24.2%. This is a healthier audience profile despite the smaller number.
February–March 2026 in Context
Looking at the two GA4 snapshots side-by-side, the February–March period tells a nuanced story. The headline user count dropped from 1,900 to 1,200 — but once bot traffic is adjusted for (January carried 727 bot users vs 137 in February), real human traffic declined by just 9.4%. That context changes the interpretation of almost every metric in this report.
The most meaningful positive shift is engagement time, which grew from 26 seconds to 34 seconds (+31%). This is the clearest indicator of audience quality: the February visitors are spending noticeably more time per session despite being fewer in number. Returning visitors grew from 73 to 93 (+27%), a small but consistent signal that visitors are coming back. These two trends together suggest the site is beginning to build a more committed regular audience.
Traffic source behaviour shifted meaningfully. Direct sessions roughly halved (from ~1,200 to 612) — this is the biggest MoM change in any single channel and is partially explained by the loss of bot traffic that GA4 was attributing to direct. Google organic sessions held relatively firm (464 → 383, −17.5%). The biggest referral story is the arrival of rallyqueensland.com.au (15 sessions) and muster.com.au (12 sessions) as new referrers, signalling early Muster season audience activation. Conversely, gympie.qld.gov.au (21 sessions in Jan) and chatgpt.com (18 sessions in Jan) dropped out of the top sources — both worth monitoring to see if they return.
The 404 “Page Not Found” error page persisted as the second-most-visited page in both months (239 views in January, 218 in February) with high bounce rates (80% in Jan, 74.5% in Feb). This is not a new problem — it existed across both reporting periods and is consistently costing the site real visitor traffic. Finding and redirecting the broken URLs driving these visits remains the most urgent technical priority.
Organic impressions data from GA4’s Search Console panel shows a notable shift: the homepage’s impression share fell slightly (38k → 32k) while subregion pages grew significantly — /subregions/gympie/ grew from 2.8k to 5.1k impressions (+82%) and Cooloola Coast from 2.6k to 3.6k (+38%). The site is building organic visibility across its destination content, not just its homepage.
⏱
Avg. Engagement Time
34s
↑ +30.8% vs Jan
Jan: 26s — best quality metric
🔁
Returning Visitors
93
↑ +27.4% vs Jan
Jan: 73
👤
Active Users (reported)
1,200
↓ −36.8% vs Jan
Jan: 1,900 (incl. 727 bots)
📊
Events per User
5.5
≈ −3.5% vs Jan (5.7)
Content depth stable
🚫
404 Page Views
218
Jan: 239 — still #2 page ⚠️
74.5% bounce (Jan: 80%)
🤝
Engaged Sessions / User
0.56
↓ from 0.64 Jan
−12.5% — worth monitoring
🔍
Google Organic Sessions
383
↓ −17.5% vs Jan (464)
Held firm relative to traffic drop
📋
Total Events
6,800
↓ −38.2% vs Jan (11k)
Proportional to user drop
📈
Engagement Time Up 31%
Average session time grew from 26s to 34s — the clearest indicator that February’s smaller audience is more genuinely engaged than January’s inflated total. This is the most encouraging metric in the comparison and suggests content relevance is improving for the visitors who are arriving.
🎸
Muster Pipeline Activating
rallyqueensland.com.au (15 sessions) and muster.com.au (12 sessions) appear as new referrers in February that were absent in January. Both are associated with the Gympie Country Music Muster audience — early organic traffic from the event season building toward the Muster is arriving with zero deliberate promotion effort.
⚠️
404 Error Persisted All Period
The “Page Not Found” error was the #2 most-visited page in both January (239 views, 80% bounce) and February (218 views, 74.5% bounce). This issue has been present across both full reporting periods. The bounce rate did improve slightly, but 218 sessions hitting a dead end every month represents consistent wasted traffic.
Sessions by Source — Feb vs Jan
Session Source Comparison
| Source | Feb Sessions | Jan Sessions | Change |
|---|
| Direct | 612 | ~1,200 | ↓ ~−49% |
| Google Organic | 383 | 464 | ↓ −17.5% |
| queensland.com | 90 | 135 | ↓ −33.3% |
| Bing Organic | 58 | 60 | ≈ Stable |
| Visit Sunshine Coast | 32 | 39 | ↓ −17.9% |
| rallyqueensland.com.au | 15 | — | NEW ✓ |
| muster.com.au | 12 | — | NEW ✓ |
| m.facebook.com | — | 24 | LEFT top 7 |
| gympie.qld.gov.au | — | 21 | LEFT top 7 |
| chatgpt.com | — | 18 users | Watch ↓ |
Direct traffic halved — but bot attribution is the main driver. The ~49% drop in direct sessions is the single largest channel change between the two periods. January’s direct sessions included a significant proportion of Ashburn and Lanzhou bot traffic that GA4 attributed to “direct / none”. Once those ~590 bots are removed, the real direct traffic decline is significantly more modest. Bing organic held almost perfectly flat (60 → 58 sessions) — this is the most stable channel across both periods and shows consistent Microsoft Edge users finding the site regardless of season.
💡 Opportunity
ChatGPT sent 18 users in January (visible in First User Source data) — an emerging AI referral channel. This is a small number but notable: it means the Gympie Region site is appearing in ChatGPT responses when people ask about things to do in Gympie or Queensland destinations. As AI search usage grows, ensuring the site has clear, factual, easily-indexed content (operator names, experience descriptions, location details) increases the chance of appearing in AI-generated travel recommendations. This channel is worth tracking monthly.
High-engagement referral sources in January included maryvalleyrailtrail.org.au and maryvalleyrattler.com.au (both 100% engagement rate) — these did not appear in the February top sources. As the Mary Valley Rattler tourist railway is a strong regional attraction, maintaining and deepening that cross-link relationship is worth a direct conversation to ensure the site continues to receive those highly engaged referrals.
Top Pages by Impressions — Feb vs Jan
/ (Homepage)
32k
Jan: 38k
↓ −15.8%
/subregions/gympie/ ↑ 82%
5.1k
Jan: 2.8k
↑ +82%
/subregions/mary-valley/
3.7k
Jan: 3.3k
↑ +12%
/subregions/cooloola-coast/ ↑ 38%
3.6k
Jan: 2.6k
↑ +38%
/subregions/the-west/ NEW
2.7k
—
Entered top
/whats-on/
2.3k
Jan: 2.6k
↓ −11.5%
/getting-here/ NEW
2.3k
—
Entered top
/where-to-stay/caravan-camping/
—
Jan: 2.4k
Left top 7
Top Organic Keywords — Feb vs Jan Clicks
gympie
41
Jan: 44
≈ Stable
gympie family carnival NEW
18
—
Event-driven
visit gympie region
16
Jan: 13
↑ +23%
hopevale adventure camping
10
Jan: 9
↑ stable
things to do in gympie
6
Jan: 9
↓ −33%
gympie qld
6
Jan: 9
↓ −33%
tin can bay dolphins
—
Jan: 9
LEFT top 7
whats on gympie
5
Jan: 5
= Stable
gympie australia
6
Jan: —
NEW ✓
Subregion pages are gaining organic visibility rapidly. /subregions/gympie/ grew from 2.8k to 5.1k impressions (+82%), Cooloola Coast from 2.6k to 3.6k (+38%), and Mary Valley from 3.3k to 3.7k (+12%). Two new pages entered the top 7 impressions list: /subregions/the-west/ (2.7k) and /getting-here/ (2.3k). This pattern indicates Google is recognising the site’s topical authority across multiple destination areas, not just the homepage. The homepage impressions dip (38k → 32k) may simply reflect impression share being redistributed to these deeper, more specific pages.
⚠️ “Tin can bay dolphins” dropped out of the top 7 keywords in February (Jan: 9 clicks) and “things to do in gympie” fell from 9 to 6 clicks (−33%). Both are high-intent, non-branded search terms that represent genuine trip-planning queries. Their presence was a positive signal in January. Their decline in February may be seasonal (fewer visitors actively trip-planning post-summer) but it reinforces the case for dedicated, rich content pages targeting both these phrases — content that holds ranking year-round rather than depending on seasonal volume.
| # |
Page |
Feb Views |
Feb Active Users |
Feb Bounce |
Jan Views |
Jan Bounce |
Bounce Trend |
| 01 |
Homepage / |
982 |
687 |
40.3% |
2,100 |
31.6% |
↑ worse +8.7pp |
| 02 |
Page Not Found ⚠️
/404 — present both months
|
218 |
180 |
74.5% |
239 |
80.0% |
↓ slightly better |
| 03 |
What’s On Bounce ↓ improving /whats-on/ |
154 |
114 |
24.2% |
170 |
34.0% |
↓ better −9.8pp ✓ |
| 04 |
Gympie & Surrounds /subregions/gympie/ |
128 |
104 |
30.3% |
122 |
12.6% |
↑ worse +17.7pp ⚠️ |
| 05 |
Mary Valley /subregions/mary-valley/ |
64 (↑#5 Feb) |
58 |
33.3% |
103 (#5 Jan) |
22.6% |
↑ worse +10.7pp |
| 06 |
Cooloola Coast /subregions/cooloola-coast/ |
75 |
60 |
36.2% |
71 (#6 Jan) |
14.1% |
↑ worse +22.1pp ⚠️ |
| 07 |
Caravan & Camping NEW
/where-to-stay/caravan-camping/ — not in Jan top 7
|
57 |
28 |
33.3% |
— |
— |
Seasonal ↑ autumn |
| — |
Outdoor & Adventure LEFT
/things-to-do/outdoor-adventure/ — was #7 in Jan
|
— |
— |
— |
45 (#7 Jan) |
29.2% |
Dropped off |
⚠️ Subregion bounce rates worsened significantly across all pages. Cooloola Coast jumped from 14.1% to 36.2% (+22 percentage points), Gympie & Surrounds from 12.6% to 30.3% (+18pp), and Mary Valley from 22.6% to 33.3% (+11pp). These pages had unusually low bounce rates in January, which may partially reflect bot traffic (bots that load pages register as “bounced” or “not bounced” inconsistently). However, the shift is large enough to warrant reviewing whether any content, navigation, or CTA changes occurred on these pages between periods.
What’s On is the standout positive. The 9.8 percentage point bounce rate improvement (34% → 24.2%) on What’s On is the only bounce metric that improved. Visitors arriving at the events calendar are more engaged with it than they were in January — this is consistent with the seasonal shift toward autumn events planning (Muster, markets, festivals) and the new events content on the page driving more relevant organic traffic.
Caravan & Camping entered the top 7 for the first time (57 views, not in January’s top 7). This is an early autumn signal — Queensland caravanners begin planning their cooler-month trips from late February onwards. The page receiving meaningful traffic without any deliberate promotion suggests organic intent is driving it. Ensuring this page is content-rich with listings, booking links, and seasonal itinerary content would capitalise on this growing interest.
Active Users by City — Feb vs Jan
CityFebJanChange
🇦🇺
Brisbane
420
Jan: 498
↓ −15.7%
🇦🇺
Sydney
124
Jan: 140
↓ −11.4%
🌐
Ashburn ⚠️ (bot)
107
Jan: 581
↓ −81.6% ✓
🇦🇺
Melbourne ↑ big
54
Jan: 32
↑ +68.8%
🇨🇳
Lanzhou ⚠️ (bot)
30
Jan: 146
↓ −79.5% ✓
🇸🇬
Singapore NEW
20
—
Monitor
🇦🇺
Gympie (local)
19
Jan: 19
= Flat
🇦🇺
Adelaide LEFT
—
Jan: 19
Left top 7
Device Split — Feb vs Jan (with bot context)
Key device context
January desktop 69.1% was heavily inflated by 581 Ashburn bot users (crawlers almost always register as Desktop). In February, with bots down to 107, desktop dropped to 61.5%. The real human device split is likely closer to 55–60% mobile in both months, consistent with a tourism browsing audience.
Melbourne grew 68.8% (32 → 54 active users) — the only major Australian city to grow between periods. Melbourne is a key long-haul drive and fly-in market for Gympie Region, and the growth in autumn aligns with Melburnians beginning to plan warmer-state escapes for the cooler months ahead. Brisbane (420) and Sydney (124) remain the dominant markets but both declined modestly (−15.7% and −11.4% respectively), consistent with the overall traffic pattern.
1
Fix the 404 Broken Links — Active Two Months Running
239 views in January and 218 in February confirms this is a persistent, ongoing issue not a one-off spike. Identify the broken URLs via GA4 → Engagement → Pages and screens, filter for the 404 page title, then check the exact page paths. Cross-reference with Search Console Coverage → “Not found (404)” for any external sites linking to dead URLs. 301-redirect broken paths to the correct destination or homepage.
2
Investigate the Subregion Page Bounce Rate Spike
Cooloola Coast jumped from 14.1% to 36.2% bounce (+22pp), Gympie & Surrounds from 12.6% to 30.3% (+18pp). Check whether any content changes occurred to these pages between periods, whether the CTA or navigation changed, and whether the January figures were artificially deflated by bot traffic that engaged with these pages. If no content changes occurred, a mobile UX audit of these pages is warranted given the mobile audience.
3
Capitalise on the Muster Referral Pipeline Now
rallyqueensland.com.au and muster.com.au sent 27 combined sessions with zero deliberate effort. As the Muster season builds, proactively reaching out to formalise a “Visit the Region” cross-promotion — with links from both sites to accommodation, dining, and local attractions — could make this one of the highest-value referral channels before and during the event.
4
Set Up GA4 Bot Filters for Ashburn and Lanzhou
January’s 727-user bot presence inflated almost every headline metric and made the MoM comparison misleading at face value. In GA4, go to Admin → Data Streams → configure filters to exclude traffic from these known bot locations. Cleaner data from April onwards will make trend analysis significantly more reliable and reporting more accurate.
5
Build a Dedicated “Tin Can Bay Dolphins” Page
This keyword delivered 9 clicks in January and then dropped from the top 7 in February. It’s a uniquely compelling, emotionally resonant experience that should hold ranking year-round. A rich dedicated page with visitor info, feeding schedule, imagery, and operator booking links — optimised specifically for “tin can bay dolphin feeding” — would establish a permanent organic ranking that drives traffic independent of seasonal swings.
6
Monitor the ChatGPT / AI Referral Channel Monthly
chatgpt.com sent 18 users to the site in January — a small but notable first appearance from AI search. This channel is growing rapidly across the web. Track it monthly in GA4 under First User Source and consider whether the site’s most important experience pages (dolphins, Muster, Mary Valley Rattler) have content structured in a way that AI tools can easily surface when people ask about Queensland destinations.