Taking Action with Google Analytics

There are several reports and metrics from Google Analytics that have helped me get a better idea as to what content goes onto my website and how it is presented. Below are a few of my preferred reports that have helped me alter areas around my site. Keep in mind that I have only just begun experimenting with the tools Google Analytics has to offer. This report only skims the surface of a vast ocean of information.

Unique Visits

It is interesting to see the amount of unique visits versus returning visitors. Google defines Unique Visitors as a cookie or a piece of data. This means that for every time a visitor visits a site Google Analytics checks for the cookie. If the cookie exists then GA knows the visitor has been to the site before. If the cookie does not exist GA sets the cookie and increases the unique visitor count. Since the majority of traffic consists of unique visitors outnumbering returning visitors, it is possible that this can be a processing issue. Or these results show that the reason returning visitors are so low in comparison is because of lack of advertising, word of mouth referrals, or lack of content.

Traffic Sources – Referral

Evaluating a website’s referral pages is easily done and essential to knowing what sources are giving your site traffic. GA shows a list of traffic referrers ranking them by most frequent visits. This data can be interpreted that tagged key words and photos linked to Google images are drawing new users to the site. Knowing where your traffic came from gives you an idea of where your target audience spends their free time. 

For example, my top referrer is Facebook. This makes sense because of I am broadcasting updates to a large audience who I have personal connections with. Seeing that the Facebook audience has visited my blog tells me that they are information seekers who like to learn through social activity. They did not search out the site, it was there waiting for them on their newsfeed.

Traffic Sources – Social Network Referrals

By examining the amount of visits from a social network, one can determine the interest level of the audience. If content is presented differently depending on the social networking platform, the amount of success from each network can determine if the company is using the channel to its maximum potential.

Jonathan Mumm of Banyan Branch Social says that tracking social network activity can be quite the challenge through Google Analytics because Google Analytics treats links clicked from Twitter and Facebook like a normal referral link source and URL shorteners appear as “Direct/None” traffic.  Mumm continues to recommend that using Segments can help improve the tracking of social media while still using Google Analytics. The benefits of using Segments are that Segments do not change any of your incoming data and they are easy to create and modify at any time. Segments allow for the analysis of historical data. One important factor to keep in mind is that Segments do not pull in any additional data, they use what Google Analytics already has and presents it in a different format.

Another method to track social media activity is using a custom campaign tag to the links shared on social networking sites. These campaign tags allow for Google Analytics to increase insights as to how well various social networking site presences are working for the campaign. GA offers users a custom URL builder, which allows for the creation of links for each of the assigned campaign.

Once the campaign tags are set, Google Analytics then give more information based on how people use your customized links. By knowing how the links are being used, one can gain And gain a better understanding of referral traffic and adjust the social media marketing for ideal results..

Traffic Sources – Keywords

Through analyzing the set of key words or phrases searched by users, one can gather what topics are of interest to the target audience. This metric can help businesses determine what key phrases to use in search engine optimization campaigns, like Google Adwords.

Behavior - Frequency and Recency

Marketing consultant Andrew Edwards says “Frequency and Recency are important because this is how you begin to understand how “interesting” your site is to the folks who visit." While the difference between Frequency and Recency can be confusing, David Crankshaw has helped me understand it better saying, “The Recency report measures the time between a visit and the immediate prior visit.  The Recency report does not distinguish between visitors who came to your site many times and those who came by fewer times. That’s the job of the Frequency report”.

Upon analyzing the Frequency and Recency report on my site, it can be seen that the users’ activity is more frequent and they do not wait long before returning to the site. This tells me that I should update content more frequently in order to increase engagement levels.

Demographic – Location – City

Knowing where your audience lives can aid any business or individual with targeting their website or altering its content. Google Analytics shows a list of cities that reveals the site’s demographic. The city that visits my site the most is Morgantown. My reasoning behind why this is the highest number is because I have posted about local Morgantown businesses and several of my followers on social media platforms currently live in Morgantown.  

To conclude, Google Analytics offers a wealth of information for potentially any type of business. It is always a good idea for businesses to listen in on what their consumers are saying and doing in order to improve upon their business practice. The combined use of tools and report ultimately depends on the specific goals of the company.