There is no denying that data science helps with online content but for many and most content publishers is often unattainable with their current data sets. Vanity metrics may be readily available but are less flexibility. For instance vanity metrics may not be able to tell you about unique users. Aggregated pageview counts are generally not enough to demonstrate growth and stickiness. Beware of Vanity Metrics (HBR) can also point to the other pitfalls of relying on counting beans on the surface. Most likely, medium to large content publishers are moving from or adding metrics to WordPress plugins or Google analytics tools.[1]