Google Analytics Essentials: How to Use the Platform
Google Analytics Essentials: How to Use the Platform
Google Analytics is a superb resource for many different types of businesses. It offers a free and easy way to track and analyse website visitors, as well as in-depth analytics – instead of simple website page visitors.
Even if you had thousands of visitors per month, it means nothing to you if you don’t understand the intricacies of your visitors. With such in-depth analytics and reporting tools, Google Analytics enables you to get the most out of your website visitors and ultimately turn them into customers.
Aside from tracking your website’s visitors, Google Analytics also offers insights into how your site is performing. What can you do to improve the success of your website? How can you better meet your goals?
With Google Analytics, you can track everything including how much traffic your website is receiving, where your traffic is coming from, and how your visitors are behaving. What’s more, you can monitor social media activity, mobile app traffic, integrate other data sources, and identify trends.
How to Use Google Analytics for your Website
Google Analytics Essentials
Here’s a quick step-by-step on how to set up Google Analytics for your website:
1. Sign in to Google Analytics with your Google account
2. Click the Admin button on the bottom-left sidebar of your dashboard
3. Create an account or select an account
4. Click on the dropdown menu to create a property
5. Select ‘Website’ and add your site’s name and URL
6. Select your industry of operation
7. Choose your time zone
8. Click on Get Tracking ID
9. Install Tracking ID on your website
In order to track your website, you will need a <script> tracking code. Once you’ve set up your account, you will be taken to the Tracking Code section of your account. This code must feature on every page of your site that you wish to track.
Important terms you need to know
Account
This is where each property lives in your dashboard. You have the option of setting up numerous properties in one account, or you can have multiple accounts for different properties
Property
This means the website or mobile app you would like to track
Tracking ID
A unique code uploaded to your site that enables Google Analytics to track it
Conversion
A conversion is a visit that turns into a customer or potential customer. With conversions, you can track how many visitors are converting into subscribers, shoppers or customer.
Channel/Traffic source
This shows where your traffic has come from, including referrals or links from other sites, search engines, social media and emails
Session Duration
How long visitors spent on your site
Bounce Rate
Number of visitors that view just one page of your site then leave (as a percentage)
Segment
A way to filter data, whether by category or types of visitors
Acquisition
Where your traffic comes from, whether that’s search engines, social media, email marketing campaigns or links from other sites (etc). This information is accessible from the Acquisition tab.
Star Tracking
One superb feature of Google Analytics is that it offers a variety of metrics that you can customize to match your precise needs. All of these features are accessible from the left sidebar.
Sources that matter the most to your website are:
Traffic
Where exactly are your visitors coming from? What terms are they using that led them to your site?
Simply click on the Acquisitions tab to view all sources of traffic, including channels, organic searches and referrals.
Custom Reports
With custom reports, you can organise metrics based on your preferences. For example, if you run an e-commerce store, you can track traffic using metrics such as size, colour and product SKUs. You can also integrate CRM software. Simply click on the Customization tab to make your metrics.
Social Settings
Even if you’ve run a social media marketing campaign that you’re proud of, the hard work doesn’t stop there. It’s essential to track your results, and this is easy to do on Google Analytics. The platform has a ‘Social Settings’ feature, enabling you to add campaigns, monitor conversions, track individual pages and much more.
Important reports you shouldn’t miss include keywords, lifetime value and landing page.
Keywords:
What terms did your visitors put into Google or other search engines to find your website? Select Site Search, then the Behavior tab, to discover this report.
Landing Page:
This feature shows you your most popular landing pages, so you can track where your visitors are coming from, and how successful different landing pages are. These reports are available under the Landing Page column.
Active Users:
Here, you can monitor the number of visitors that are active on your website within a specified period of time (e.g., the past week, two weeks or month). Using this feature, you’ll be able to determine where and when your users are most active, and which pages are captivating their attention the most. After clicking on Active Users, this report is available in the Audience tab.
Once you’ve got your head round the basics, there’s no end to what Google Analytics can offer your business.
To discover more about the benefits of Google Analytics, contact EWM to speak with one of our digital marketing specialists.