Understanding Google Analytics: 5 Basic Questions Answered

Questions You Will Know How to Answer by the End of this SlideShare:

• How many people are coming to my website?

• Where are my website visitors coming from?

• Which social media platforms are driving the most traffic to my website?

• Which pages on my website are getting the most attention?

• How many people who are coming to my website are converting?

By tracking these metrics, you can monitor your website and adjust to get the most engagement.

How many people are coming to my website?

Step 1: Click ‘Audience’

Step 2: Click ‘Overview’

Step 3: Input date range

Step 3: Input date range

Step 4: Click ‘Apply’

Total number of sessions in the time period

Why This Metric Matters: Your website traffic is a major indicator of your company’s visibility. Tracking this allows you to

see if your website’s traffic (and in turn, your visibility) is increasing, staying the same, or

decreasing over time.

Where are my website visitors coming from?

Step 1: Click ‘Acquisition’

Step 2: Click ‘Overview’

Step 3: Input date range

Step 3: Input date rangeStep 4: Click ‘Apply’

Traffic Breakdown by Source

Traffic Breakdown by Source

What do these categories mean?

Where Visitors Came From.. Examples

Search engines Google, Yahoo!, Bing

Traffic Breakdown by Source

Where Visitors Came From..

No referral source

Examples

Typed in your URL, bookmarked your site

Search engines Google, Yahoo!, Bing

Traffic Breakdown by Source

Where Visitors Came From..

No referral source

Examples

Typed in your URL, bookmarked your site

Social networks LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc.

Search engines Google, Yahoo!, Bing

Traffic Breakdown by Source

Where Visitors Came From..

No referral source

Custom campaign tracking

Examples

Typed in your URL, bookmarked your site

Social networks LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc.

Search engines Google, Yahoo!, Bing

Traffic Breakdown by Source

Created unique URL for tracking

Where Visitors Came From..

No referral source

Another website

Custom campaign tracking

Examples

Typed in your URL, bookmarked your site

Social networks LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc.

Search engines Google, Yahoo!, Bing

Clicked on a link to your site from another site

Created unique URL for tracking

Traffic Breakdown by Source

Why This Metric Matters: This allows you to identify where your visitors are

coming from so you can identify which search engines, social media channels, email campaigns,

referral sources, etc. are driving traffic to your website.

Which social media platforms are driving the most traffic to my website?

Step 1: Click ‘Acquisition’

Step 2: Click ‘Overview’

Step 3: Click ‘Social’

Step 3: Click ‘Social’

Step 4: Click ‘Overview’

Breakdown of Social Media Traffic

Why This Metric Matters: This metrics allows you to see the breakdown of

traffic coming to your website from social networks, revealing which are working for you, which need improvement and which possibly

aren’t worth investing in.

Which pages on my website are most popular?

Step 1: Click ‘Behavior’

Step 2: Click ‘Overview’

10 Most Viewed Pages on Your Website

10 Most Viewed Pages on Your Website

Click ‘view full report’ to see breakdown of all pages

Why This Metric Matters: This metric allows you to see which pages on your

website get the most views. This will help you identify which pages are useful or engaging to your

audience, and which need more work.

How many people who are coming to my website are converting?

In other words, how many people who are coming to your website

are actually doing what you want them to do?

Examples: • Filling out the “Contact Us” form • Downloading a guide or ebook • Signing up for your newsletter

In order to track this, you have to set up what Google Analytics calls a “Goal.”

Step 1: Click ‘Admin’

Step 1: Click ‘Admin’

Step 2: Click ‘Goals’

Step 3: Click ‘New Goal’

Step 4: Type in the name of your goal

Step 4: Type in the name of your goal

Step 5: Click ‘Destination’

Step 5: Click ‘Destination’

Step 6: Click ‘Continue’

Step 4: Type in the name of your goal

Step 7: Copy & paste the URL of the page that indicates the

goal has been completed

For example, this may be the ‘Thank You For Signing Up For Our Newsletter’ page

visitors are directed to upon filling out the web form

signing up for your newsletter

Step 7: Copy & paste the URL of the page that indicates the

goal has been completed

Note: Do not include your domain name in the URL. Copy the URL following your domain name

www.company.com/thank-you-for-signing-up-for-our-newsletter

For example, this may be the ‘Thank You For Signing Up For Our Newsletter’ page

visitors are directed to upon filling out the web form

signing up for your newsletter

Tracking Your Goals

Step 1: Click ‘Conversions’

Step 2: Click ‘Goals’

Step 2: Click ‘Goals’Step 3: Click ‘Overview’

Total Amount of Conversions

Conversions for each goal

Converters/Total Website Visitors

Why This Metric Matters: Setting up goals allows you to quickly determine how

many visitors are doing the desired action. When your conversion rate is high, this generally means the visitors being drawn to your site are interested in your content and want to engage more. If you conversion

rate is low, this may mean the visitors you are attracting are not the appropriate audience for your

content or that your offers and calls-to-action are not prominent or engaging enough.

www.hingemarketing.com/blog

www.twitter.com/HingeMarketing

www.facebook.com/HingeMarketing

www.linkedin.com/companies/Hinge

www.hingemarketing.com 703.391.8870

Connect with Hinge

Additional Resources:

Why Your Google Analytics Data is Wrong and How To Fix It

Google Analytics: Top Metrics B2B Firms Should Monitor, Part 1

Google Analytics: Top Metrics B2B Firms Should Monitor, Part 2