Part 1: Breaking Down the Terms & a Tour
How many different services and tools do you pay for each month that help you run your business better? I pay for seven different services each month that help me perfect my social media, email marketing, client experience and more. But one of my all-time favorite tools is FREE!
All entrepreneurs should have Google Analytics installed on their websites. Not only is this a free tool, but you can also learn so much about your website, audience, content and more.
Over the next few blog posts, we’re going to take a deep-dive into Google Analytics. I’ll show you how to navigate it, what all of those numbers mean and how you can bring this information back to your business and help you make decisions.
Installing Google Analytics
Before we get started you must have Google Analytics installed on your site. If it is installed, sign into your account and let’s get to work!
If it is not installed, follow this easy tutorial to help you get your analytics account up and running.
If you aren’t sure, use the GA Checker tool to find out.
If it turns out it isn’t installed, follow this tutorial.
If it is installed and you don’t know how to login, visit Google Analytics and try to sign in. If you aren’t sure of the login, use the recovery system. If a web designer or developer worked on your site, they could have installed analytics. Contact her and request access.
When you first install analytics, there is no previous site data, meaning you are starting from scratch. The longer Google Analytics is on your website, the more data you will have to review.
Now that you have signed into your account, I’m going to guide you through the vocabulary of Google Analytics and walk you through the various menus and reports so you can find valuable information about your website, site visitors and more.
Must Know Google Analytics Terms
I’ll be referencing these terms throughout my analytics tour, so I wanted to make sure you saw them first. I tried my best to make them easy to understand. Pro tip: If you are in Google Analytics, if you don’t know what a term means, hover over the word with your mouse and a definition will pop up.
Average Session Duration – The average length of time people are spending on your website
Bounce – A bounce is reported when a user only visits a single web page
Bounce Rate – The percentage of sessions with a single pageview
Channel – Under Acquisition reports, the different avenues website visitors use to arrive on your website: social, direct, organic, etc.
Conversion – If you have goals configured, each time a goal is met, that is counted as a new conversion
CPC – Cost-per-click, If you are using paid advertising, this is a channel you might see under Acquisition reports
Device Category – Find out if your audience is accessing your website via a desktop, tablet or mobile device
Direct Traffic – When someone arrives on your website by typing your domain into their browser, rather than arriving on your site from social or another website
Entrance – The first page someone views during a session
Goal – Track conversions or actions you want someone to take on your website
Hit – The way Google processes data before it is is processed in your reports. A hit most often refers to a pageview
Keywords – Words or phrases people use to find your website
Landing Page – The first page viewed during a session, also called entrance
New Users – First time site visitors
Not Provided – If you see “Not Provided” in the organic search column, it is because search engines do not provide that information
Number of Sessions per User – Average number of sessions per user
Organic – Visitors arriving from free links on search results pages like Google
Pages per Session – Average number of pageviews during a single session
Pageviews – Total number of pages viewed on a website
Referrals – Visitor arrival from a third-party website
Sessions – A single visit to your website consisting of one or more page views
Social – Website traffic arriving from social media sites
User – Individual website visitors
I know that’s a ton of terms to remember and the good news is, there will be no quiz on them. But if you want a cheat sheet of these terms for your desk, I’ve created one just for you!
Download your cheat sheet now!
Google Analytics Tour
Now that you have a basic understanding of Google Analytics language, it’s time for a quick tour of the interface.
Now that you have a basic understanding of this valuable tool, spend some time looking around Google Analytics and get ready to learn how you can apply the data to improve your business.
And don’t forget to download the cheat sheet of Google Analytics terms for easy reference!
I’ve been trying to learn by doing but I should have know you would have a blog post that made it all easier -thanks Katie!!