If you’re like many business owners, you’re probably not particularly comfortable inside the Google Analytics dashboard for your website. The Google Analytics tool provides you with a wealth of information you can use to understand your website visitors, their behavior, and whether or not your business is headed in the right direction.
You may have eight different options in the left-hand navigation tab, but by focusing on just three – Audience, Acquisition, and Behavior – and really learning them, you’ll be able to make effective use of Google Analytics right away.
Audience
Do you know who’s visiting your website? The Audience section gives you some detailed statistics about who is actually coming to your site. Location data tells you where your audience is located, including city and country. Under “Mobile” in the Audience section, you can see what percentage of your visitors is accessing your site via desktop, mobile, or tablet devices. If you have a high number of searches from a mobile device, it is important to have a mobile-friendly website.
You can check “New vs. Returning” under “Behavior” to see how many visitors are returning compared to new visitors. Lastly, don’t neglect the “Engagement” tab under “Behavior” to see how long visitors stay per session.
Google Searches and Acquisition
You can learn more about the sources of traffic to your website and how they Search using Google in the Acquisition section. Do users find you through Google searches, paid search (such as Adwords), social media, referrals from other sites, or directly (typing in your URL or loading your site from a bookmark).
All of this is important to track because you want to emphasize the sources that are making the biggest impact. One crucial tab to look for under “Channels” is “Landing Page,” which tells you not just where the traffic originated, but which individual page the visitor landed on.
Google Searches and Behavior
What do the people who arrive at your site actually do? Look at “All Pages” under “Site Content” in the Behavior section to see how long viewers stayed on each page during a session. From blog posts to product pages, you’ll be able to tell which parts of your site are holding visitor interest for the longest time.
How to Use Google Dashboard
If you are interested in learning more about your Google Analytics dashboard, or if you are unsure if you even have Google Analytics installed on your website, please contact me and I will help you get the answers you are looking for.
