If you want to get a better idea of how your website is performing, one of the best tools to turn to is Google Analytics. To help you get started, here are all the basics that you should know about Google Analytics.
What is Google Analytics?
Google Analytics is a powerful and free tool provided by Google. Anyone can use Google Analytics to view and analyze a vast amount of data about their website.
Currently, more than 28 million websites are actively using Google Analytics and you don’t need to be a professional to join them.
After you set up Google Analytics, the platform will start to gather tons of data about your site and your visitors. Some of the data Google Analytics collects includes:
- The length of time that visitors spend on your pages
- The path visitors take through your site
- The actions visitors take
- The number of visitors your site gets
- The arrival routes of visitors to your site
- The stages when users leave your site
- And more
After the platform collects all that data, it then conveniently processes it and generates reports for you. These reports are much more readable and understandable than just the raw data Google Analytics collects. You’ll be able to see (anonymous) user data and session data separately, both of which can be very useful.
What’s the Benefit of Using Google Analytics?
The information presented on Google Analytics can help you gain a better understanding of your site visitors and the actions they take on your site. From there, you can build more effective marketing and content strategies to drive sales and increase profits.
In terms of marketing, Google Analytics reports will provide clarity on how your current marketing efforts are performing. For example, you can look at the conversion rate of visitors by channel type to see which channels are most worth investing in and which you should shift away from.
You can also use Google Analytics to improve your site performance. The reports from Google Analytics will show you if any of your pages get very high or very low amounts of traffic and how long pages take to load. Any weaknesses in your site will likely become very obvious while reading the reports and from there, you’ll have a concrete area to address to prompt improvements.
How to Get Started With Google Analytics
You’re probably wondering now how you can take advantage of all the benefits that Google Analytics provides. Luckily, the process is fairly simple.
All you need is a Google account to start signing up for Google Analytics. From there, you go to the Google Analytics signup page, click sign up, and fill in some key information about yourself and your site.
Google will provide a tracking code that you add to the pages of your website. From there, you’re good to go!
Final Thoughts
Google Analytics is an essential free tool that all website owners should utilize. The broad information Google Analytics provides can help with everything from improving marketing strategies to strengthening site performance.
