Google Analytics summary traffic sources are great! As a business owner, one may question the degree of need for finding out traffic sources for the business’ website. It can even be more beneficial for one’s business. It even can be used to check on a competitor’s website for tips.
It helps better understand the website’s visitors which aids in knowing the demographic and how to provide targeted content. It measures the effectiveness of implemented marketing campaigns by the amount of traffic going in. It also identifies the channels that yield the most visitors so more focus can be given to a particular channel instead. Likewise, it can also pinpoint which channel is not optimized enough. Information from traffic can also lead to finding new content ideas.
Google Analytics
Google Analytics is one of the best tools to use when checking on web traffic. The biggest upside to it is that it is free to use. It monitors various things including how many people visited the website during a certain time, where users come from, which marketing strategies are working, and monthly sales.
One of the highly beneficial features of Google Analytics is its summary of traffic sources. Almost every internet marketing campaign has the goal of directing traffic to their respective website. So, a segmented measurement of a website’s incoming traffic says a lot about the kind of attraction one’s campaigns are receiving.
Audience Overview
When using Google Analytics, the first page that comes out is the Audience Overview. It provides the important metrics about the website. These are Sessions (total number of visits with a date range), Users (users with at least one session with the page), Page Views (total number of pages views), Pages Per Session (average number of pages viewed during a session), Average Session Duration (average length of a session), Bounce Rate (the percentage of single-page visits), and Percentage of New Sessions (percentage of new visits).
A line graph would show the progress over time. One can even click a specific point on the line and get the details of website activity for that point. One is also able to compare traffic from different time periods from either a month in between or a year.
Acquisition Reports
There are numerous reports Google Analytics produces to give important insight about the visitors coming to the website. These reports are the prime source for information needed to make decisions regarding business decisions and marketing strategies.
In order to see which channels give the most traffic to the website, one needs to check the Acquisition Report. The Acquisition Report reports on where visitors of the website are coming from. Traffic is then broken down to six major categories: Organic Search, Direct Traffic, Referral, Social Traffic, Paid Search, and Other.
Breakdown of Traffic Reports
Organic Search is visitors who go to the website because of a keyword search result.
Direct Traffic involves a user entering a URL to get to the website.
Referrals occur when a user clicks on the website’s URL that is listed on another website.
Social Traffic happens when users go to the website from links on social media.
Paid Search is users going to the website from pay-per-click advertisement.
An additional category in the Acquisition Report is Other. This is for all the sources that are not concretely identifiable. This covers traffic from unidentified channels that do not accept third-party cookies, or the users that were in incognito or private mode. Visits appearing under the “Other” category can be a result from e-mail clicks or from special, customized links used in campaign tracking.
Google URL Builder
One also can use Google’s URL Builder to create custom URLs for campaigns. After which, when reviewing analytics, one should look for the parameters created under the “Other” tab. One can see the inbound traffic and conversion performance for several simultaneous campaigns while using this tool.
Organic Search
Additionally, looking into Organic Search can pinpoint which keywords are working the best. Organic Search traffic shows the keywords users typed into the search engine to arrive at the website. The popular keyword phrases being associated with the website can be used to its full potential. Users are extremely motivated and actively seeking information; if they can’t find it immediately or they need to work to find it, they may leave the site and try elsewhere. They may not recognize the name of the company.
Social Media on Google Analytics
A simple way to boost traffic is by using social media. Social media can be a great way to convince people to read one’s content and interacting with one’s company. If the company is regularly sharing updated content through social accounts, use Google Analytics to get an overview of what channels seem to work the optimally. When preparing for a social promotion, try setting up goal tracking to better measure accomplishment across various social media platforms.
In the Real-time Report, one can see how many users are currently on the platform. This feature allows one to view the website’s visitors in real-time. It is also advisable to adjust the web site’s content when users leave a page without making what is called a “conversion”.
Behavior Report
On the topic of pages, one can also find which are the top pages. The Behavior Report displays the top pages in the website. It shows how may page views occurred, the bounce rate, the average time on each page, and the exit percentage. If one plans on adding a piece of additional content to the website and is unsure of where to place it, the top pages section will show which pages encounter the greatest amount of traffic.
If one has set up goals in the account to track sales, downloads or any other action on the website, the Conversion Report will be one of the most useful sections in Google Analytics. One can be able to track how many website visitors made a conversion in any given period.
Google Analytics provides data one needs to make smoother, and more informed business decisions based on factual information. Without analytics, one will have no way of telling what is working and what is not.
