Design & Marketing Blog

Google Analytics is sure to be one of the most important tools you will use as an internet marketer and website owner. With that being said, at first glance, it can appear a little confusing. All the numbers and graphs are enough to give some people a headache - but fear not, here’s some insight that will help you better understand Google Analytics, and your website traffic.

First things first, if you haven’t already, go and register your website with Google Analytics (or have your web designer do so). There are a few steps to take before getting started, such as verifying your website, but not to worry, these aren’t very difficult.

Once you’re all up and running, log in to Google Analytics, and you will see a pretty robust dashboard. The analytics dashboard is broken up into the following components:

• Site Usage
• Visitors Overview
• Map Overlay
• Traffic Sources Overview
• Content Overview

Site Usage:

The Site Usage section covers the traffic/usage elements of your website’s statistics/metrics. The most important stats are visits, bounce rate and average time on site.

“Visits” are the total number of visits to your website,  over the time period specified (can be adjusted using the drop down menu found at the top right of your screen. Larger time periods will provide better quality data overall).

“Bounce rate” is the percentage of visitors who visit your website, and leave after visiting only the page they entered at.  An average/acceptable bounce rate varies based on your industry, but keeping it between 30-45%, is a pretty safe bet, that you’re doing okay.

“Average Time on Site” is pretty self explanatory – this is the average time each visitor spends on your site. Aiming to increase this figure over time and get visitors to “hang around”, should be an important goal for the overall success of your website.  One of the preferred ways to accomplish this, is through the use of video. Video engages visitors more than simply offering text, and will keep them on your website longer.

Also, in the site usage area you will find the % of new visits. These statistics provide you with insight as to how much of your traffic is new visitors, as opposed to returning visitors.

Visitors Overview:

At first glance, this is a simple line graph, displaying how many visitors you’ve had over the specified time period. This area also provides information, as to what browsers are being used to access your website, and the internet connection speeds of your visitors (which will affect the best type of content for your site). Furthermore, insight as to what operating system they’re using, what screen resolution is being used (very important in ensuring your website displays properly to visitors), and their preferred language. Simply click the “view report” link to see more in-depth information on these visitors.

Traffic Sources Overview:

This is the most valuable information found inside Google Analytics,  as it reveals where your website’s traffic is coming from. This overview shows you the percentage of traffic originating from search engines, referring sites and direct visits.  In most cases, a website owner hopes to increase their percentage of visits from search engines (whether through organic SEO, or Pay-Per-Click campaigns).

Again, clicking the “view report” link offers in-depth data on the traffic sources. This area also lets you have a look at the keywords that are performing in search engines, so you can better optimize them (if you haven’t already done so).

Content Overview:

The Content Overview area shows you what your visitors are looking at (the “/” represents your home page). Often times, you’ll realize that your visitors spend most of their time on your internal pages, which means ensuring the content on these pages is accurate, relevant and informative is very important.

Those are the basics of Google Analytics. As a website owner, the metrics mentioned above are the most criticial. Although the application offers so much more, the rest you will learn more about, as you begin to poke around and gain more interest in how your website is performing.