Navigating Google Analytics in 2022
You put in the effort to create great content for your business, and it’s important to check in and see how your content is resonating with your audience.
No matter how good your content is, it’s only making a difference if your customers are looking at it.
You need to know how your content is being received. How many people are looking at your content? Did it lead them to purchase something on your site? Did it interest them enough to read more on your site? How long did they spend looking at your content?
These are just a few important questions that can be answered with Google Analytics.
What is Google Analytics?
Google Analytics is a platform the helps you analyze the web traffic on your website. It helps you measure conversion rates, engagement rates, know which pieces of your content are most effective, and it also tells you what your customers do when they click on your site.
And best of all, Google Analytics is completely free! So there are no excuses for not tracking your site traffic, conversion, target audience, etc.
Google Analytics creates reports, charts, and other metrics with the data it collects about your website so that you can easily track your progress and success.
Getting started with website analytics
Set goals
Measuring your website information only works if you set goals with measurable outcomes for yourself. Otherwise, you won’t be able to see if your website is making any improvement. Even if your goals start out as educated guesses, this is still a great way to start measuring your web success.
It’s a good idea to set SMART goals: goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely. This will ensure that you are being realistic with your goals, and that your business can make gradual but steady improvement.
For example, a SMART goal could be, “My business will strive to increase website traffic by 40% by January 2023.” Another example is, “My business will aim to have customers spend 20% more time on the website on average, by July 2022.”
You can input these goals directly into Google Analytics under the “Goals” section to help you track this information more efficiently.
If you’re having trouble meeting your website analytics goals, go back to your initial goals and tweak them to have more realistic outcomes.
Know Google Analytics terminology
Once you have set some goals, you’ll need to familiarize yourself with the terminology Google Analytics uses. These are words that will frequently pop up in your Google Analytics reports.
Session
A session is the same as a visit. Google Analytics records how many times customers visit your site. In a single session, a customer can look at several different pages of your website, purchase something from your online store, and interact with your staff through the chat function.
If a customer visits your page in the morning, and then clicks on your site again in the afternoon, they will have started two sessions with your website that day.
User
A user is someone who visits your site. Google Analytics records how many different users access your site, and it also records if the same user accesses your site multiple times.
Audiences
Audiences are the different groups of users who use your site. With Google Analytics, you can track your different audiences and see how engaged they are with your site. For example, you can see how users who completed a contact form interact with your website, or how users returning within 30 days use your site.
Page views
This number refers to the number of views the pages on your website get. Google Analytics records repeat views in this number. You can filter the results to show the page views for your entire website, or the page views for a single page on your website.
Average session duration
This number is the average time users spend looking at your site. The time your users spend looking at your content is added up and averaged with how many users access your site.
Bounce Rate
A bounce rate is the number of sessions where users only click on one page of your website. This is an important metric to track. A high bounce rate means that users aren’t finding what they’re looking for on your site, and it lets you know that you should change or update your website information.
This just scratches the surface of Google Analytics, but it will give you an idea before you get started.
Google Analytics can get complicated quickly, so our experts at Creative Coco’Nuts are here to help you with any questions you have about website analytics.
Visit our online portfolio today or contact us.
The expert designers of the Coco’Nuts’ studio are here to help!
Contact us by email at info@creativecoconuts.ca
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