Google Analytics – What Metrics Should You Really Be Looking At?
You installed Google Analytics, but now what?
For anyone who has ever installed Google Analytics, you know it can become a clouded maze of data very quickly. There are numbers everywhere, and a whole side bar which has subsections with more data.
To be honest, it can be very overwhelming.
But it shouldn’t be.
Google Analytics is in place for you to analyze where you traffic came from and how your traffic engaged with the site. For someone starting with Google Analytics there are four main metrics you should be looking at:
1. Bounce Rate
Bounce rate measures the percentage of visitors who enter your site and then leave without viewing other pages. Obviously, bounce rate will vary from site to site and industry to industry. Nonetheless, you should be keeping an eye on it, and be thinking of ways to keep the visitors within your site. An easy way to do this, is to hyperlink to other content (enticing clicks). An example of this would be, “If you’re looking to humanize your brand click here.” Or at the end of each piece of content, include a CTA (call-to-action), this will guide the user to interact with your site further.
2. Avg. Visit Duration
Average visit duration is the next metric in Google Analytics that you should be examining. This one is simple, it tells you how long people are spending on your site before leaving. Now, why is this important? Simple, it’s really a measure of engagement. The longer people are spending the better. This is a common sense metric, no one would stay on a website for over five minutes if they weren’t engaged with the material. If your average visit duration is very low, chances are your bounce rate will be very high. If you notice you have a high bounce rate and people are only spending 45 seconds on your site, it’s time to start looking at the content and more importantly how you can improve the content.
3. Acquisition
In Google Analytics, there is a tab on the left. This is where “Acquisition” is listed. Once you click it, the most important part will be the “Overview” tab (which is listed first). In this overview you can see how people are entering your site. This is valuable data when looking at the entries vs conversions.
4. Conversions
Conversions, conversions, conversions! This is probably the most underused metric and it shouldn’t be. Setting up goals in your Google Analytics, will allow you to track your traffic from entry to sale, or lead generation. This is very important for understanding your web costs marketing spend and overall ROI (return on investment). Without setting up goals, you’re really fishing in the dark when it comes to lead generation and online sales. If you have set up goals you will be able to make informed decisions about your website and business for the future.
Hope you guys enjoyed this!
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