Before using Google Analytics for this blog, I had only
watched tutorials on how to use the tool and read over some of the free lessons
Google provides on using its analytics tool online. I’ll be the first to admit that I had no idea
what I was looking at during the first few times I attempted to review some of
the reports and metrics. As I began to
click through more and more of the reports, I also However, as time went on I
slowly but surely began to put some (and still no where close to all) of the
pieces together and finally understand how valuable the tool can be. Now, not only have I discovered how valuable
Google Analytics can be for bloggers, but also how valuable it can be for
marketers and companies in nearly any industry.
Through custom reports and filters, Google Analytics allows you to track
the data you want to track in order to reach the goals you set.
Although fully understanding how to utilize all or even most
of the data available through Google Analytics would take a lot longer than the
few weeks I have spent using the tool, I have already come across quite a few
measurements and reports that I feel are valuable for a blog such as this
one.
Google Analytics standard reports are broken into three
sections; audience, acquisition, and behavior.
According to Google Analytics online support, the Audience reports help
to better understand who makes up your audience, how the audience is reaching
your site and consuming your site’s content, and their level of loyalty and
engagement (About the Audience reports, 2013).
The Acquisition reports give insight on how you acquire users, how users
behave on your after you acquire them, and user conversion patterns
(Acquisition overview, 2013). And last
but definitely not least, the Behavior reports can provide you with the
necessary information you need to create effective content and improve your
overall site in order to meet visitors’ expectations (About Behavior,
2013).
Here is an overview of some of the reports and metrics I
have found to be the most helpful:
·
Demographics/Interests:
These reports can tell you a lot about who your visitors are. Demographics are broken down by age and
gender and interests are broken down into affinity categories, in-market
categories, and other categories. “This data is also
available in custom reports, and you can use it as the basis for segmentation,
which lets you evaluate how your users' behavior varies by demographics and interests; for example, do males interested in automobiles convert more
frequently or read specific types of content more than females who are
interested in athletic apparel” (Overview of Demographics & Interests
reports, 2013).
·
Mobile:
The number of smartphone and tablet owners is continuing to grow and as
technology continues to develop, consumers are becoming more and more
comfortable with using their mobile devices to perform activities they may have
previously only done on a desktop.
According to Keizer (2013), in April of this year, “mobile browser
usage—a combination of browsing from smartphones and tablets—surged by 1.4
percentage points to account for 13.2% of all unique visitors to the 40,000
websites that California-based Net Applications monitors for clients.”
Analyzing the mobile traffic to your site can help you determine whether or not
your site’s design should accommodate mobile devices. Navigating the desktop version of a website
can easily become frustrating on a mobile device, which could result in mobile
users having a high bounce rate because they quickly after discovering there is
no mobile site or the mobile site has not been set-up for an optimal user
experience.
·
Channels: This a new acquisition report that allows me to view visitors’
Acquisition-Behavior-Conversion (ABC) cycle for each channel driving traffic to
my site. GA provides all users with
eight default channels which include direct, email, generic organic search,
referral, generic paid search, social, and other (New Acquisitions Reporting,
2013). Not only will this data show me
which channels are acquiring the most users, but more importantly, which
channels are acquiring the most engaged users and which channels are acquiring the
most users that result in a conversion (New Acquisition Reporting, 2013).
·
Referrals: This report is important because it shows me
the sites referring traffic to my site, the landing pages for each referring
site, and the referred visitors interactions with my site. From this information I can determine which
sites are sending me the most valuable and least valuable visitors, which may
prompt me to build new marketing relationships and or strengthen existing
relationships with the sites sending the most valuable visitors and cut off
relationships that are continuously sending invaluable visitors.
·
Keywords: This report is important because it allows
you to see the words and terms people are searching for when they arrive on
your website. Google Analytics breaks
this report down between paid and organic. The report shows which keywords drive the most
traffic to your site but also which one’s are most valuable by showing the
average time spent on your site, the percentage of new visitors, and the bounce
rate for each keyword. Additionally, the
report allows you to see the most popular landing pages for each keyword. Knowing the keywords people use when coming
to your site along with their engagement level can help you tailor your content
to show up in a higher placement for organic searches. It can also help you tailor your paid search
strategy in order to get the most out of your money. Additionally, knowing which keywords produce
the most valuable visitors can help you generate content ideas in order to keep
these users satisfied.
·
Landing
Pages: The landing pages analysis can be helpful for a variety of reasons
but for bloggers, knowing the top pages visitors are entering your site on can
help you to better understand the general topics and or information people seem
to be most interested in. Additionally,
according to the Google article, Analysis Techniques for Google Organic Search and SEO, “Landing pages are a good signal for analyzing
organic search traffic because each landing page has likely been created around
a focus keyword, product, or theme. As a result, incoming keyword searches
generally relate to the focus of the page. You can see which organic searches
on Google relate to which landing pages on your site.”
References:
About behavior. (2013). Retrieved from
https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/2404517?hl=en&ref_topic=1120718
About the audience reports. (2013 ). Retrieved from
https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1012034?hl=en
Acquisition overview. (2013). Retrieved from
https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/3196960?hl=en&ref_topic=3125765
Analysis techniques for google
organic search and seo.
(2013). Retrieved from https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/3306157?hl=en&ref_topic=1308589
Audience: Mobile. (2013). Retrieved from
https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1011360?hl=en&ref_topic=1007027
Keizer, G. (2013, March 25). Mobile's
browser usage share jumps 26% in three months. Retrieved from http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9237855/Mobile_s_browser_usage_share_jumps_26_in_three_months
New acquisitions reporting &
channels shows a more complete picture of your users & marketing. (2013, October 09). Retrieved
from http://analytics.blogspot.com/2013/10/new-acquisitions-reporting-channels.html
Overview of demographics and
interest reports.
(2013). Retrieved from https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/2799357
Referral traffic. (2013). Retrieved from https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1247839?hl=en
Nice post Elizabeth...good overview of the tools!
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