If this is your first time using Google Analytics and tracking metrics, it can get a little confusing. Do you know where to start when it comes to Google metrics? Do you know which metrics to observe first and which ones really don't matter?
Proper use of Google metrics can absolutely make or break your online business venture. Google's Analytics tool is the choice most online businesses use to track how their venture performs. An estimated 50 million sites use Analytics to track performance.
The first thing to note is that there are three main branches of metrics to study.
Three Types of Google Metrics
While there are many metrics to look at, you can group them all into three main branches:
- Acquisition metrics
- Behavior metrics
- Conversion metrics
These three types of Google metrics determine how people discover your site, what they do when they get there, and if you're earning or reaching specific goals with those visitors. Every metric leads into one of those three categories.
Acquisition Metrics
Numbers that focus on telling you how people discovered your site and where they land are acquisition metrics. These metrics will tell you:
- Number of sessions
- Number of new sessions
- Total traffic
- Page views
- Channels
The last bit is important to dissect. Channels can refer to a wide number of factors. People can enter your pages through social media traffic, direct traffic, or referral traffic. You'll want to see if they got to your site through organic searches or from PPC advertisements.
You can also check which links drove the most traffic, or which links don't receive as much attention. You can also track which social media accounts brought in the most views and active sessions.
Behavior Metrics
Once people find your business site, what do they do there?
Do they spend time looking around? Do they find what they need, make a purchase, and leave? Is your site possibly not intuitive enough that people leave after landing on one page?
Behavior metrics can help you determine all this and more! Analytics will help you keep track of things like:
- Bounces
- Total bounce rate
- Session duration
- Page views per session
- Average exit rate
These metrics will inform you what aspects you need to improve and how useful your site's design, SEO strategy, and content resonates with your visitors and overall audience.
Conversion Metrics
People find your site and spend some time on it. Do you profit or reach specific goals when these visitors go through your pages? Conversion metrics help determine whether you're hitting the results you need to find further success.
It's first important to note that you can keep track of two different things: goals and eCommerce ratings. You can do so with metrics like:
- Conversion rates
- Total goal value
- Completion rates
Goals are things you set yourself, like reaching 10,000 blog shares or 500 comments on a post. eCommerce ratings are more complex to analyze but when set them up you can keep track of how much you earn per day, which products earn you the most, and more!
Boost Your Metrics Now
People use Google search 2.3 million times per minute. Landing on top of those searches is no easy goal. Even if you do, you need to discover if visitors interact with your site the way you want them to.
Using these Google metrics is the key to achieving these goals and better performance.
Don't wait until your site is dying to improve these metrics. Start right now and boost your performance to get more conversions.
If you don't know where to start or if you're a little confused on all the terms, contact us and we'll lead you forward with our strategies.