Before we start work on any Website, Google Analytics is the first place we look to ascertain how a Website is working, what digital marketing activities are being undertaken and what is working.
I run a lot of Google Analytics courses and 121 sessions with businesses looking at their Website stats. Most people are amazed with what can be learnt in just a few minutes. Very often, when I meet a client for the first time, I don’t have long to look at there Google Analytics and so I go straight to just one of the hundreds of available reports…
OK – here it is! The Channels report. You find this by navigating on the left hand side to Acquisition, All Traffic, Channels. The screenshot below is an example of what you get.
This report gives you an instant snapshot of which marketing channels are bringing you customers. Furthermore, it tells you which channels are bringing you successful customers.
On your report, you may see different entries, depending on what marketing activities you are undertaking but here is an explanation of the main entries.
1. Organic search – These are people that have found you using a search engine
2. Referral – These are people who have found you from another Website (NB there will be some fake spam entries in there
3. Direct – In the main these will be people who type in or autocomplete your Web address in your browser. NB – Some social media traffic is actually hidden in here as when people visit from a social media app, often it is recorded as a direct visit
4. Social – Visits from links on Social media sites such as Facebook and Twiiter
5. Email – Providing you have linked your Mailchimp or Constant Contact emails with Google analytics, link clicks from these emails will show here
6. Paid search – These are link clicks from paid advertising such as Google Adwords
7. Display – Again these are paid adverts on partners to Google Websites
So, what does this tell you?
On a basic level, it tells you where your Website traffic is coming from. This helps you to understand what is working on a basic level in terms of what is bringing in traffic to your Website. Each of the above sources of traffic that are listed can be clicked on in order to break down the stats. For instance, if you click on the Social link, it will tell you which social network is bringing you traffic.
Even on a basic level, this should help you see what is working and what is not.
Take it a step further
If you look at the stats going across the page, you will see that each line shows you things like the bounce rate (those that only look at one page), average session duration (the time they spent one your site), pages/session (How many pages on average were looked at. This helps you see whether the visitors you have were ones that stayed and looked around or simply left quickly. Basically it helps you know much more that the number of visitors/sessions but whether it was good traffic.
…and there is more…
providing you have Google Analytics Goals set up, it will tell you what the conversion rate is for each visitor. For example, what percentage of visitors from that channel bought something, made an enquiry or looked at over 5 pages on the site.
I will be honest and tell you that 95% of the Google Analytics results I see do not have Google Analytics Goals set up. This is one of the first things I do when I work with a company under one of our Digital Marketing Support packages. I need to know where they are getting the results from so we can do more or less of the various activities.
Most businesses forget about Google Analytics but there is a solution
If you find a report that you like, such as the Channels report. Go to the top of the page and click on Email. There you can set to have a report emailed to you as a PDF every month. If nothing else, it will remind you that Google Analytics exists!
We deliver training courses on Google Analytics and can offer 121 consultancy sessions. Many businesses are opting for our Total Digital Marketing packages which combine the perfect mix of Consultancy and time for us to work with you to carry out recommendations.