There are lot of available platforms that can help you organize your key metrics and even track them on your website. However, there is one platform that stands out above the rest: Google Analytics.
Fortunately, setting up and using Google Analytics is easy and intuitive. After you have created your account and linked your tracking number to your website, you then set up any goals your wish to see within the goal section; this will help guide your analytic activities. Then, all you have to do is check your metrics consistently to see in-depth information about your website traffic and goals. We’ve previously covered which key metrics to look for and now it’s time to start tracking them with Google Analytics. Here are a few areas to pay special attention to:
Website Traffic
These statistics will show you new users, returning users, page views, bounce rate, and time spent on your site. This information is useful for overall traffic. Dig a little deeper: Google also tracks where your traffic is coming from geographically, by language, gender, age, and more. These numbers tell you a lot about your audience.
Acquisition
If you have ever wondered where and how people find your website, acquisition will give you all the details. Not only can you see which search engines led users to your site, but also if they found you through ads, social media, emails, newsletters, or other referral sites. Dig a little deeper: Connect your account to Google Search Console to learn which keywords users are typing in to search engines to find you.
Behavior
Keeping your site up-to-date with current content is the best way for users to see what is new and happening within your business. Interested in how many people actually see that updated content? This is the area where you will learn how your site is utilized. The pages and posts with the number of views will be recorded here so you can see if your information is being seen. Dig a little deeper: While it is important to see how many views your posts and pages are receiving, pay attention to the time spent and bounce rate for each. These numbers will tell you if your content is valuable to your audience, if they spend longer on a certain page, or if they skip around from page to page.
To really take advantage of all the metrics and reports Google has to offer, we suggest utilizing Google Search Console, Google Tag Manager, and Google Ads in conjunction with your Analytics account. Using all of these programs together can give you the most accurate information and make it easy to understand how you can adjust your marketing efforts for to achieve your goals.