So, you just launched your company’s website, set-up your Google Analytics account, and installed the code on each webpage. Are you now scratching your head asking yourself, “what do I do now?” If you’re not familiar with Google Analytics, it can seem pretty daunting at first. You start clicking around, view some numbers, click again, find more data, keep clicking… oh, hey, look, more data! With so much data to dig through and reports available, it’s hard to know where to find the most important metrics and actually understand what that data means. Not to worry though, we’re here to help! To get you started, let’s explore some essential Google Analytics Reports you should be looking at:
Audience
Who visits your website? This section tells you everything you want to know about your target audience. It contains multiple subsections that provide information about demographics, including age and gender, the location of website visitors, insights into their interests, the browsers and devices they use to visit your website, and how frequently or recently they visit your website.
- Bounce rate – Given as a percentage, this represents the number of visitors that leave your website after interacting with just one page.
- Session – The periods of time that visitors spend on your website. A session ends after a user closes the browser or is inactive for 30-minutes.
- Channel – The source a user used to find your website. For example, the default groupings include – Direct, Organic Search, Referral, Social, and Email.
Acquisition
People are visiting your website, but where is this traffic coming from? Get all the answers here. This section will show you how people are arriving at your site – whether it be through a search engine, typing in your URL, clicking a paid search ad from Google AdWords, social media site, a referral link from another website, or an email marketing campaign.
- CPC (Cost-per-click) – Refers to people being directed to your website by clicking through your paid ads.
- Keyword – The word or phrase somebody entered into a search engine to find your website.
- Landing page – The first page a user views on your website during their session.
Behavior
How are people using your website? This section helps you understand the user flow of your website and what content your visitors find the most valuable. Discover what your most visited web pages are, how long users stay on a page, and how frequently they repeat their viewing sessions.
- Metric – Data that is presented as a number or percentage that may refer to things like page views or users.
Conversions
Conversions pay the bills, right? Here, you will find valuable data that will show you the path your customers are taking from the moment they land on your website to making a purchase or becoming a lead – from completing a purchase, filling out a contact form, or engaging with your most essential web pages.
- Goals – Objectives you can set up for your website to track things like online transactions, filling out contact forms, or clicking specific buttons. When a goal is met, it is called a conversion.
Feeling a little analysis paralysis?
Now that you’ve had a chance to explore your Google Analytics dashboard, how are you doing? Feeling a little overwhelmed? If you’re finding it hard to dedicate the time to your website’s analytics, or you’re just totally confused about analytics, let us know! Array offers web analysis as a standalone service and can provide a customized report that provides immediate insight into the performance of your company’s website.
