A site can receive many visits without helping the activity for which it was created. Traffic describes a contact, while the result depends on the goal: to inform, make a document available or facilitate a request. Measures should be chosen accordingly.
I propose to define for the main pages an action or a need. In the publications section, a reader may want to recognize the theme and reach the full text. On a service page, you can search for sufficient information to decide whether to contact the company.
A hypothetical example is a highly-visited article that has a non-working link. The count of visits appears positive, but the necessary path for the reader is interrupted. Functional control remains useful along with analysis of navigation data.
Measures must have consistent definitions and recognizable limits. A recorded download does not prove that the document has been read; a short time may indicate disinterest or a quickly found response. I propose combining a few indicators with questions and route checks. Reading becomes more useful when it links numbers to what people are really looking for on the site.