**This is a guest post by Dean Levitt from TeacupAnalytics.com**
The jubble of data in Google Analytics is confounding to most people. While, as of now, you might consider yourself amongst that number, your confusion is about to be vaporized. Google Analytics, like most complex contrivances, ends up being quite simple once you understand how to use it to your benefit.
Gaining the most out of your website data begins with knowing what you want out of it. If you stare at data and hope for wisdom to leap out at you, well, that’s no different to rolling bones or reading tea leaves.
All analysis begins with a QUESTION. I’ve spoken to a few hundred bloggers, small businesses and website owners and I’ve asked them all, the same question:
What do you hope to learn from your analytics?
The following are the Google Analytics questions they asked, and I’m confident that you’ll share these same questions. Then, I’ll show you how easy it is to find the answers!
Before seeking the light of intelligence, with which to brighten your eye, I want to share a warning. Even if many of these questions resonate with you, please be prudent and focus on one, maybe two things at a time. By limiting yourself, you’ll find it easier to act and actually grow and improve.
QUESTION 1: Where Should I Begin With Google Analytics?
Most people begin with the so called vanity metrics, the easy-to-grasp numbers that show how many visits you had in whatever time period Google Analytics uses as the default. The next step most people take is to listlessly click around, eyes glazing over, brain turning to mushy peas.
Let’s take stock: One headache, two drooping eyelids and zero insights or ideas.
There is good news though. There is an answer and it’s a simple one. Where should you begin? Begin with the very next question.
QUESTION 2: Where Is My Web Traffic Coming From?
Understanding where your web traffic is coming from is, in my firm opinion, the best place to start your journey into Google Analytics. However, it’s not merely a good place to start. This question’s answer is worth following regularly.
To demonstrate the insights you can mine from this particular seam, I’ll be using Teacup Analytics, but you certainly can find this info directly in Google Analytics too, with some extra effort (and I’ll tell you how too).
This report is rich with insight!
For starters, when you understand where your traffic is coming from, you also understand how to help that traffic achieve your goals and make sure they’re also getting value from your website.
For example, if most of your traffic is coming from referrals, then you can easily learn what it is they’re looking for by looking at the referring website. Then, make sure that they get what they came for! Also, you might be surprised by which sites are sending you great traffic (i.e. Teacup grades of a B and higher). Perhaps there’s an opportunity to partner with those referrers or to reach out to other, similar, sites.
If, on the other hand, you spend 3 hours a day on social media but you see that you’re not getting a lot of traffic from that channel, you just gained a huge insight. You could put your energy elsewhere (like writing guest posts for top referring sites), or you could investigate why your social media efforts aren’t working and make an improvement.
See? It’s actually super easy to turn data into insights and insights into actions, all because you learned where your traffic actually is coming from.
To find this information in Google Analytics, click on Acquisition > All Traffic > Channels.
QUESTION 3: What Is My Most Popular Content?
Why do so many people ask this question? I’ll quote a Teacup customer.
I want to learn what topics do best so that I can write more of it!
A website is a like a tea party. You invite people to visit you and you have a responsibility to make sure they enjoy themselves by providing tea, crumpets and scones with strawberry jam and cream.
To convert the tea party to a website-centric vision, if you know your readers love one topic, and that they tend to ignore others, then you can write more of the good stuff!
In Teacup Analytics, you’ll find this information neatly laid out in the report called “What Is My Top Content” and in Google Analytics, you’ll find it here: Behavior > Site Content > All Pages.
The brainy thing you’ll notice in the above report is the inclusion of pageviews per visit. This shows you which content is part of your most engaged visitors’ experience. Popularity isn’t simply a game of counting eyeballs. Real “top content” is the popular content that also gets visitors exploring and engaging with your website more (see the green section in the image above).
The other tidbit that is worth your notice is the channels that bring your traffic to these popular pages (the red section in the image above). Like we covered in question 2, understanding where your readers are coming from is really useful. Here you can learn which traffic is your most popular as well as which traffic it’s the most popular with. I knew a mind like yours would grasp it quickly.
QUESTION 4: How Much Mobile Traffic Does My Site Get?
Did you know that 75% of all Americans access surf the web on both mobile and desktop? 21% go online exclusively on their phones and tablets. Well, that sounds perfectly grand and you might feel the need to rush off and commission a new website that is mobile-first and responsive and whatnot but… Not so fast!
This question might save you a bucket of cash. Before you worry about national and global statistics, you should find out if you even need to care.
Look at the above example, you can see that mobile visitors are but a fraction of the site’s visitors. In this exact example, I probably would not recommend investing in a mobile-first redesign of the website.
On the other hand, if mobile traffic is a significant segment of your audience, then understanding the quality, volume and everything else mobile-centric is vital to meeting your visitors’ expectations.
In Teacup Analytics, this is quite easy to delve into if you visit the report named What Types Of Devices Do People Use To Visit My Site? Teacup also shows you device usage alongside new/returning visitors, channels and their top landing pages too.
In Google Analytics, you’ll need to work a little harder to get the full context but the the basic answer can be found here: Audience > Mobile > Overview.
QUESTION 5: Am I Gaining Both New And Return Visitors?
Getting new visitors to pop over to your website is splendid. You should probably keep a close watch on your new traffic.
To quote the inimitable P.G. Wodehouse with some slight paraphrasing:
‘We must watch our new traffic like a lynx. Sort of wild-cat. It watches things.’
But what should you watch for? Well, you should note which channels are bringing you your new visitors and, more specifically, which channels are bringing you the highest quality new visitors.
You can learn a lot by glancing at the landing pages that new visitors arrive at. This can show you their “intent” and give you an inclination as to what your new visitors find most attractive about your site. Perhaps you’ll be inspired to write more of that magnetic content.
Now, when it comes to return visitors, you want to look for a steady upward trend, or, at the very least, not a downward trend. This implies that you’re keeping your regulars happy and convincing at least some new visitors to come back again. If you’re not seeing the upward growth, it’s time to test out ways to get people to come back. I often recommend email newsletters and social outreach as a way to get readers to come back.
Teacup has a wealth of information in the Am I Attracting Both New And Return Visitors To My Website? report. This report shows you the quality of both types of visitor as well as the above mentioned landing pages, trends and more.
Google Analytics has the basics here: Audience > Behavior > New Vs. Returning.
Google Analytics Has Answers If You Know What To Ask
All analysis is only effective if you stay focused. By asking a clear question, and letting the data answer you, you’ll see how simply this all can be. If you’d like to know what your next actions should be, ask a question, get the answer, test and measure.
Good luck!
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Born and raised on a 30-acre farm in Knoppieslaagte near Johannesburg, South Africa, Dean Levitt moved to the US in 1999 to pursue a career in music. While growing his previous company, Mad Mimi, an email marketing service acquired by GoDaddy in 2014, Dean realized that analyzing Google Analytics data could be way simpler. Dean founded Teacup Analytics to help bloggers and small businesses easily understand their audience and site performance.