Important Google Analytics data you can use to optimize your website

10/05/2021

We’ve all heard the quote “knowledge is power”. This has never range more true than it does these days. Analytical data is being monitored for all facets of day-to-day life, including the Internet. As a website owner, you can take advantage of this data as well with the power of Google Analytics.

Below you will find a few useful areas of the Google Analytics admin panel that can help you optimize your website’s performance in the eyes of your visitors.

Audience > Overview

From here you can get some useful general metrics on traffic to your website. You can check Users, New Users, Sessions, Number of Sessions per User, Pageviews, and Pages / Session. Along with that, you can see new vs returning visitors to gauge how effective your website is at getting people to come back. This paired with a useful line graph representing Users over the evaluation period makes this both visual and data-rich.

Audience > Technology > Browser & OS

Historically browsers haven’t always played nice with one another. What I mean by that is, just because your website looks beautiful on Google Chrome does NOT mean it will look that same way on say, Internet Explorer. Using this data will allow you to determine what browsers are most used by your audience. You can then work with your development team to ensure the experience is perfect across specific devices. At PSPINC we always test our web development projects on all modern and supported web browsers.

Audience > Mobile > Overview

From this view, you can gauge how many of your users are visiting via desktop, mobile, and tablet. This will help you determine how your website visitors view your website to ensure it is optimized for those experiences. If you need help ensuring you are delivering a seamless experience regardless of the device your visitors use, let us know - we can help.

Acquisition > Overview

So far we have talked about getting data out of Users once they visit your website. This page helps you determine where your traffic is coming from. Which are extremely useful metrics when it comes time for you to determine a marketing plan. If you see a lot of traffic from Social, well it may be time to investigate running a Facebook ad campaign. Getting a lot of organic search traffic? Amp it up by running some Google Ads! With this page, you get higher-level details on whether your traffic is Direct, Referral (linked from another website), Organic Search, or Social sources.

Acquisition > All Traffic > Source/Medium

This report will further break down the sources and by default arrange them in the order of most Users provided. Here you will see a report on direct traffic, organic search, and each referral source. And for each of those, you will know the number of Users, New Users, Sessions, Bounce Rate, etc. Knowing how users find your site and the exact numbers behind that is powerful information that cannot be overlooked.

Acquisition > Social > Overview

This page will break down your social (media) value. If you are posting to multiple social media platforms consistently, this information can provide information on which of those are most helpful in getting you referral traffic. Each website audience is unique, and just because a specific platform is popular globally, doesn’t mean it is helping your website bring in new business. With information like this, you can determine which are worth investing more time in, and which you could be doing more to increase your website audience.

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We have just scratched the surface. Google Analytics is a data-rich platform. Whether or not you use this data daily or just occasionally, you should be tracking it. If you don’t have Google Analytics installed on your website and need some help, please let us know. We can help get you up and running in no time.

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Pacific Software Publishing, Inc. is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington and provides domain, web, and email hosting to more than 40,000 companies of all sizes around the world. We design and develop our own software and are committed to helping businesses of all sizes grow and thrive online. For more information you can contact us at 800-232-3989, by email at info@pspinc.com or visit us online at https://www.pspinc.com.