Decipher – And Use – Your Google Analytics

The Sprocket Report

This article has been updated on 9/13/2022 with the article entitled “Google Analytics Is Great – If You Actually Look at the Numbers Once in a While.”

Every website should have some kind of traffic measurement, and many websites actually do! Google Analytics is a popular tool because it’s free to install and it offers incredible insight into your web traffic. But if you never look at the reports or can’t figure out what they’re telling you, Analytics can’t help you.

Remember “hit counters?” They racked up how many “hits” your website received. But marketing people wanted to know more. Where are those “hits” coming from? Is this the first time they “hit” the site? Did they only “hit” the Home page? How long did they stay? When you answer those questions, you have a much better idea of what you’re doing WRONG on the website so you can make it RIGHT.  

Google Analytics tells you all of that – and much, MUCH more. But for most busy small- to medium-sized businesses, too much detail is simply too much to deal with. Let us share with you a few of the reports we feel are most useful to our clients and why we think they deserve attention.

Audience Overview Report
This at-a-glance report hits the highlights like the number of Visits, the number of Pages Viewed Per Session and Visit Duration. By comparing the number of Visits from month to month, you can tell if your marketing efforts are working or if you need to step up your game. The amount of time Visitors spend on your website tells you how well you have caught their attention. If they don’t stay long or look at many pages, your website needs some work.

All Traffic Report
Knowing where your traffic is coming from helps you decide where to focus your marketing efforts. This report tells you what percentage of your Visitors use mobile devices rather than desktop computers. You can also see if you get more traffic from Facebook or from Twitter or from some website you never even heard of before. You can even tell if more Visitors come from the Facebook app on their mobile phone than from Facebook on their computer.

Organic Search Traffic Report
Users don’t get as much information here as they used to (unless paying for advertising) but you can still see a sampling of the search terms that Visitors use to find you when they search online. These are the words to make sure you put in your content.

All Pages Report
This is another report that’s important when creating content because it tells you what pages Visitors look at the most. Maybe it’s your coupon page. If so, you might want to try posting new coupons more often. Maybe it’s a particular blog post you wrote, which is a good sign that your Visitors want to read more on that topic.

You can also follow the path a Visitor takes from page to page, see on which page they landed first, from which page they are leaving, and so much more. But rather than be overwhelmed, it’s best to focus on a couple of measurement points and study the trends. Then act on what you’ve learned and see how the numbers change. Eventually you’ll want to dig deeper as you start seeing success.

If you aren’t seeing your Google or other web analytics, ask your web developer for help in accessing them. It’s really an amazing opportunity for a business owner to be able to work with these detailed reports and we love giving people this powerful insight. Call us if you have installation or analysis questions. We’re always happy to help!

Kate GingoldKate Gingold

I have been writing a blog with web marketing tips and techniques every other week since 2003. In addition to blogging and client content writing, I write books and a blog on local history.

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Full biography

I have been writing a blog with web marketing tips and techniques every other week since 2003. In addition to blogging and client content writing, I write books and a blog on local history.

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