Every time someone clicks, scrolls, or interacts with your website in any way, Google Analytics catalogs data for you about their behavior, painting a picture of how people are using your website. You certainly don’t want all this valuable information to go to waste. Tracking even just a few metrics through Google Analytics can go a long way. You’ll discover invaluable insights about what’s working about your website (and what isn’t), helping you plan for the future.
Here are three key metrics that you should be monitoring in your Google Analytics. By understanding these metrics and watching them closely, you can harness Google Analytics’ power to work for you. If you’re new to using Google Analytics, be sure to read our guide to getting started.
Sessions Per User
Every time someone visits your website, Google counts it as a “session.” Every unique visitor to your website is a “user.” So, looking at your sessions per user metric is a great way to monitor how often people are returning to your website.
This is a great indicator of how useful your site is. A growing number of sessions per user shows that people are returning to your site again and again. Bear in mind that this metric has a small margin. According to a study by Littledata, the average number of sessions per user is 1.4, and the top 20% of websites they surveyed had several sessions per user at 1.6 or higher.
Pageviews by Page
Which pages are getting the most traffic? You’ll be able to see this clearly by looking at your pageviews by page.
Keeping close track of each of your pages’ pageviews can open many doors for you. It can give you a great picture of how exactly people are engaging with your website. If a particular page is getting a significantly higher amount of page views, you know that people find that part of your site valuable.
This can show you which articles or products are garnering the most interest. Plus, as you track this over time, you will be able to see patterns. For instance, you might observe that a specific page on your website is getting a lot of traffic close to a holiday, or that another page doesn’t get used as often in the summer. This can be very helpful when scheduling social media promotions or creating other plans for your business.
Goal Completions by Source / Medium
Goals in Google Analytics allow you to track a particular interaction. For instance, one of your goals might be for a purchase to be completed or for a user to sign up for your mailing list.
Once you have your goals set, tracking them through the Source/Medium column allows you to see how users were directed to your site before completing that goal. For example, you’ll be able to see that 100 users made a purchase after coming to your site from Google, or that 50 people registered for an account after coming to your site from an email newsletter, or that 25 users engaged with your site after being referred by a particular YouTube video.
This can truly help you visualize your visitors’ journeys and help you understand which digital marketing methods are really working. For instance, if users are consistently making purchases after coming to your site through a newsletter, this is a sign that your email marketing is on track and that perhaps you should increase your efforts there.
Make the Most Out of Your Website
Google Analytics is an excellent tool if you’re looking to get more out of your digital marketing efforts and measure the effectiveness of your business’s online presence. If you’re not happy with the data you’re seeing it may be time for a website refresh. Kevin Brown Design can help you redesign your website to promote a fantastic user experience and improve conversion rates. Get in touch today for a free consultation.