Introduction:
Google Analytics refers to the free Web analytics service. It helps in search engine optimization (SEO) and marketing purposes. For this, they make use of various statistics and basic analytical tools. To use Google analytics, one need to use the Google account.
Key Features of Google Analytics:
1. It has some data visualization tools which can be used to display all changes in data which takes place with time.
2. Its data visualization tools are inclusive of dashboard, scorecards etc.
3. It also supports the sharing of information and the communication of facts and figures via e-mail.
4. It also includes custom reports
5. It is amalgamated with other products like AdWords, Public Data Explorer, and Website Optimizer.
Google Analytics is one of the important digital marketing tools. Various firms use it to measure their performance. Users can compare their performance with that of the previous year. Various individual campaigns and their success can be analyzed easily.
So, all in all, Google Analytics is a complete package of help for marketers. Experts have pointed out a few points which make Google analytics very important. Some of them are:
Comparison of all channels is feasible:
The website owners get the data related to traffic on the website. It provides the details regarding various channels which attract the visitors. Most commonly checked channels are organic traffic, various social networking sites, direct traffic, and referral links. This helps the firm to know which channel has been performing better. They, then, put extra efforts to get more results from that channel.
The rate of conversion of visitors into customers:
Google analytics provide details regarding the number of visitors who have surfed the website. It also tells to which place those users belong. Most of the websites try to know their conversion rate. It helps them to take corrective action in the proper direction. It is better to know the number of converted users than to know the number of visitors. It is because few customers are more fruitful than a large number of visitors.
It provides a variety of features:
Google Analytics has a large number of features which can be used to engage the user. The bounce rate shows the number of visitors who simply quit the website. It shows that they did not have even viewed the whole website. Required steps should be taken, in such case, to improve the situation. The average session duration shows the average time spent by the user on a particular webpage. The page session shows the number of pages a person has viewed on a particular website. All these features help in comparing the performance. Deviations can be analyzed and corrective actions can be taken.
Here are some best google analytics reports which every marketing or SEO person should know.
Google Analytics Reports Every Business Should Monitor:
1. Mobile Performance Report:
The user now uses mobile for almost everything. So, it is very important for the website to be mobile-friendly. Even Google charges some amount from websites for not being mobile-friendly. The Mobile performance report shows the effectiveness of the website while getting operated on the phone. Now the search engine rankings are decided on the basis of the website’s performance on small screens.
2. Traffic Acquisition Report:
This report shows the number of people who are actually clicking on various ads. It can be known, that is the traffic getting generated or not. Even the working of SEO strategy can be seen. Every marketer should know about this report. It is of great help. One can have a ken of the number of pages consumers have viewed. The corrective action can be taken then on the basis of the results obtained.
3. Content Efficiency Report:
This report is helpful for content managers. They can know the effectiveness of their content.
- Is the content relevant for the user?
- Do the users love the content?
To know the answers to such questions, one must prepare the content efficiency report. This report shows,
- The audience’s entrances.
- The number of page views.
- The bounce rates.
- The extent of goal completion.
Moreover, this report answers the questions like,
- What kind of content is loved by the viewer?
- Is it the image or video or GIFs which is attracting them the most?
- What kind of content is responsible for converting a visitor to regular customers?
- What is it which is being shared the number of times?
4. Keyword Analysis Report:
Every website owner tries to get more and more organic traffic from Google. Tracking the visitors is quite obvious to know the value of the website among the user. This report basically shows
- The popular keywords which get inserted by the user.
- Which keyword works best for it.
- What is the visitor metrics?
- Is there any increase in the conversion rate or not?
The website owners can also know their current conversion rate.
The new websites who have been recently launched can also make use of this report. They can check their time taken for goal completions. They can also know the exact page load time. All this ends up helping the website owner.
5. New vs. Returning Visitors Report
Many websites get a huge number of visitors. But they fail to convert them in into regular users. This report is known to provide the percentage of new visitors and returning visitors.
If a website succeeds in getting the same user, again and again, it is a positive sign. The thing to be noted is that the returned user stays on the website for a long time. This increases the page session time of the website. This will decrease the bounce rates of the website.
The increment in the conversion rates with a decrease in the bounce rates improves the search engine ranking of the website.
6. Landing Pages Report:
This report shows the pages on which the users have landed the most. This helps the website to know the behavior of the user. The website owners can classify the pages on the basis of high bounce rates and fewer bounce rates. They can focus more on the pages having high bounce rates to engage the user.
The pages with low bounce rates can be maintained in the same way. Based upon the result as shown by the landing pages report, websites can make strategies. All in all, the notion is to get good traffic and that too in a higher number.
7. Bounce Rate vs. Exit Rate Report:
“Bounce Rate” refers to the percentage of visitors who visit the site to go back. They don’t do anything being at the website. Such visitors do not benefit the website.
“Exit Rate”, on the other hand, refers to the percentage of visitors who browse more than one page. Such people do some activities being on site.
The bounce rate vs. exit rate report provides the comparative study of bounce rate and exit rate. This report brings out the mistakes committed by the website.
8. Active Users report:
This report shows the statistics related to the daily website visitors. It can be daily or weekly. Some websites prefer to have monthly active users report. So it is available on monthly basis as well.
Fresh websites or startups prefer to get a daily report. They do so to make necessary improvements as soon as possible. Well established websites need not worry about the daily report. So they go with a weekly or monthly report. This report helps in identifying deviations and to take corrective actions accordingly. The website can attract more visitors by making new strategies.
9. Audience Location Report:
The website gets readers from various countries of the world. If they strive to know the place where their users belong to, they can use the audience location report. This report is known to provide the data for the top 10 places.
The website users can set the place as per the requirements. They can get data from various countries, cities or even continents. What websites have to do is to simply change the primary dimension.
The data will be displayed accordingly. The report shows the facts and figures for the overall traffic of the website. If needed, the data can also be categorized into various categories. It helps the website to know where to focus.
10. Top Traffic Channels Report:
This report is known to be the most important report. It shows the number of channels which drive the traffic to the website. It helps in knowing the channel which requires extra attention.
Basically, there are few default channels which are responsible for driving the traffic. They are,
- Organic search
- Direct
- Referral.
Some others are,
- Paid search
- Display
- Social.
This report helps the website owner to know which website is working best for him. All these marketing channels are default channels. One can explore them to be benefitted a lot.
11. Top Campaigns Report:
Many website owners prefer to organize a webinar or campaigns to attract more and more viewers. They choose paid campaigns for this purpose. Top campaigns report helps in knowing the true result of such campaigns. Are those campaigns generating results or not?
Many websites spend huge money but still end up getting nothing. It is better to know about the performance of marketing campaigns. The Campaigns report provided by Google Analytics helps a lot in this regard. This report is helpful for beginners as well. They can make good use of it by organizing campaigns and analyzing the performance.
12. Behavior Flow Report and User Flow Report:
This report helps the owner to know the flow of traffic on the website. It displays the data in the visual form. This makes it easier to understand. It shows how the user navigates on the website. It answers questions like how the user enters. Where does he land? And most importantly when he navigates to the next page?
It is known to provide the details regarding the interaction of users with the website. A user flow report performs the same way. It shows the flow of traffic on the basis of place or any other source.
13. All Pages Report:
This report shows the details related to various pages on the website. It tells which page did not get any views or has got comparatively fewer views. It helps in knowing the page with the highest views. It helps the website owner to know the rate of the average time spent by users.
It also helps the website to improve the bounce rate by providing figures and facts. This report does not show data related to organic search and advertising visits. It deals only with the views a particular page is getting. The website owner can analyze it thoroughly and can compare it.
14. Event Tracking Report:
This report is used to have knowledge about various actions which takes place on the website. It can be either downloading or submissions or videos playing etc. One needs to have a setup of event tracking.
To get specific details, one can also check the time a user has spent on the website. In short, it helps the website owner to record specific actions.
Conclusion:
Google Analytics is very helpful. It expresses everything about the performance of the website. Various website owners have got benefitted by it. One can analyze the effectiveness of the website. The results will show the efficiency of online marketing strategies. The performance can be judged on the basis of content, user experience, and the device used. All the important information required to be known for the sake of the website can be known.
Today’s world has become a world of mobile phones. Each and everything is possible with phones. This is what makes it compulsory for websites to be mobile friendly. Now, even search engine rankings are determined on the basis of this ability. Google Analytics help in knowing the device which has been used by the user to surf the site.