When it comes to your website, the more you know, the better off you are. Whether you have an e-commerce site selling physical goods or you’re a service provider trying to schedule appointments, Google Analytics can help give you the information you need to grow your business. Here are just 4 of the cool things Google Analytics can tell you.
Google Analytics (GA) is one of the most foundational website analytics tools. The first version of GA was released in 2005 and has since gone through various re-launches and upgrades. The purpose of GA has always been to allow website owners a better look at how site visitors experience the website, but more recent versions have allowed an even better look at who these visitors are and what their UX journey is.
New vs Return Visitors
When a website visitor interacts with a website using Google Analytics, a cookie is placed on their browser. This allows GA to then know which visitors are returning versus those who are interacting with the website for the first time. Understanding new versus returning visitor numbers can help to explain why growth has increased or stalled, when more marketing efforts may be needed, and the frequency of return by existing visitors/customers.
Page Path Behavior
When a person visits your website, where do they go? It’s likely they start at the home page, but then which pages do they visit? While simple WordPress analytics plugins can provide information about how many times a page has been viewed, Google Analytics allows you to see that and much more. If you have a site with a lot of interconnected pages or landing pages that lead to the same end result, GA will allow you to see just how your pipeline is working and what results are being produced.
Source/Referral Information
Knowing where your traffic is coming from is important if you’re looking to attract more users. If you’re operating an e-commerce website and you see that a substantial amount of your high-converting traffic is coming over from a specific source, you’ll know to continue or increase the resources you dedicate to that channel.
While most of this Source/Referral information is passed automatically, when you’re looking to create new partnerships with other websites or are working on affiliate link campaigns, it’s a good idea to use UTM-formatted links. GA will then automatically show the information from the UTM into your GA account allowing you to easily understand which campaigns or sites are offering the best return.
Visitor Demographics
Understanding who is visiting your website is key to achieving a high conversion rate and more positive results. GA allows you to understand where your site visitors are geographically located, what language they speak, age and gender breakdowns, and more. With advanced configuration, you’re also able to see remarketing data which contains info into what your site visitors are interested in or actively searching to do/buy/know.
Getting started with Google Analytics is easy with our Google Analytics Guide or hourly WordPress web development to help get you started. Contact us today to learn more about how you can reach more customers and get more results for your website.
