The Key Metrics Of Google Analytics
These metrics will help you find out just how successful your site really is.
There are times when Google Analytics can feel like more trouble than it’s worth. Sure, data is all the rage these days, and we know that applying data in the right way can prove invaluable in improving your online arsenal. But with the crazy amount of information available from Google Analytics, it can be really tough to know where to start. How’ do you work out which metrics are important?
“How Many People Are Coming to my Site?” or, “The Artist Formerly Known as Unique Visitors”
Find it in Audience -> Overview
It doesn’t take a genius to know that almost anything you try to accomplish on your site – exposure to new customers, newsletter sign-ups, selling your wonderful wares, increased readership, etc – requires your URL in people’s browsers. There is a Google Analytics metric for that – “Users” – which provides you with the cold, hard numbers: how many people are coming to your site? This used to be called unique visitors, but Google Analytics opted to simplify it. Ideally, your number of Users will increase over time; even more ideally, this number will increase after you’ve done something to attract more traffic. Did you just start a bangin’ new ad campaign? Check to see if it’s worked by looking for an increase in Users. Have you been investing in some rock star pay-per-click status? Get on Google Analytics and ensure your investment is paying off. When you start to see a plateau or a dip in numbers, you know it’s time to talk to the marketing creatives to start brewing some new ideas and continue pushing your Users number up.
“How are People Getting to my Site?” or, “The 1471 of the Internet”
Find it in Acquisition -> Overview
Like a clever cat tracing crumbs of cheese back to a wily mouse’s home, Google Analytics is able to breadcrumb your users’ journeys to determine how they arrived at your site. Pay attention to how your users are getting to your site, which will likely fall under one of these categories: organic search, direct, social, and referral.
- Organic searches are from those users who have used a search engine to get to you, and that should indicate that your keywords are working the way they should.
- Direct traffic results in users typing your website address directly into their browser, or by clicking a link in an email or a PDF document.
- Social includes those users that are coming to you via social media, whether it be Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, or any other platform.
- Referral visitors are from links on other websites – perhaps you have a buddy that has posted your URL on their site.
Aim for a diversified portfolio of traffic sources so that if one suffers (which can happen due to anything from a poor ad campaign to a drastic change to Google’s algorithm), your site traffic won’t suffer a devastating blow.
“Are Users Visiting More than One Page on my Site?” or, “Does my Site have the Same Success Rate as a Bad First Date?”
Find it in Audience -> Overview
Bounce rate is what Google Analytics calls the number of people who visit one page and one page only on your site, and then leave. Again, no Einstein required here: the higher this number, the more site visitors are lacking engagement with your site and the more you need to encourage them to check out your other pages. Unless, that is, you have a site that is exactly one page and one page only – then your bounce rate will always be 100%.
If you’re just starting out with Google Analytics, the metrics above are a great starting point. As you get more familiar with the cogs that churn out Google Analytics’ digital data, you will naturally find ways to apply this wealth of information to your advantage. Need help setting up with Analytics? Check out this blog post.