Confused by your Google Analytics report? Want to know how to use this information to make your website better? This document will try to take the mystery out of your Google Analytics report and provide solid advice on how to respond to various metrics.

1. A Guide to Understanding
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How to access, schedule,
and interpret reports for your website.
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2. Dashboard
It is important to note that all reports can be adjusted to reflect any date range you like. At the top right
of your screen you will see the currently selected date range. In this image, the range is set as
September 5th – October 5th. To alter this range, select the dropdown arrow near the date.
The Dashboard contains a snapshot view of several reports. You can customize which snapshots appear
here by simply selecting the Add to Dashboard button at the top of any report.
At the top left is your main reports menu. By default,
you will automatically be on the ‘Dashboard.’ To get
to another screen, simply choose the appropriate tab.
With most of these reports you can toggle between graph styles to get the best visual representation of
the information. Just look for this box:

3. Visitors
This tab has some of the most useful information. It allows you to gather information about how
many people are coming to your site, how long they’re staying, and even where they are located!
Benchmarking is a separate service which allows you to compare your site to with similar industry sites.
In order to do so, you would first need to give permission to share your information with Google and
anyone who requests the same service.
Map Overlay allows you to see where in the country (or world!) people are accessing your site from. You
can zoom in to a specific area and discover where the majority of your page views are coming from.
Below you will see the report of North Dakota views; the bigger the circle, the more page views.
You can click on any circle, or the
information below the map, to learn
more about these statistics.
You can use this to track the success
of an ad campaign in a specific region
or to gather more information about
your online customers.

4. New vs. Returning allows you to differentiate between first time visitors and those who have been to
your site before. This helps you to define where your repeat visits are coming from, as well as track the
average time each group spends on your site. As you see below, this feature also charts the percentages
for new vs. returning visitors.
The Site Usage information appears on each page, and
may reflect slightly different information depending on
which report you are viewing. For an overall Site Usage
report, refer to the Dashboard.
Bounce Rate: The percentage
Pages/Visit allows you to see how Similarly, Avg. Time on Site is a of single-page visits (the
many individual pages the average good indicator of how valuable the person left your site from the
user clicks through. It is safe to average visitor finds your content. A entrance page). This can
assume that a higher number higher number is a good indicator indicate that your site was not
equates to a more engaged visitor that your content is useful; a really what the visitor was looking
high number may indicate that your for, or that the content/design
navigation is cumbersome! did not encourage them to
stick around.
Languages indicates whether you are getting a large amount of visitors from foreign areas (i.e. fr
indicates visits from France, while .com indicates US visitors). If you notice a high percentage of visitors
who speak a language other than English, you may want to consider offering a translated version of your
site for their convenience.
Visitor Trending provides a graphic representation of information already seen elsewhere; namely it
shows visits, pages/visit, avg. time on site, % new visits, and bounce rate.
Visitor Loyalty provides some great statistical information. Here you can find out how many return
visitors you have, how long they are staying at your site, and how ‘deep’ they are going into your site
(how many pages they click through after the initial landing page).
Browser Capabilities informs you of what internet browsers people are using to access your site. This
can be very helpful in determining how to design specific content, and allows you to more accurately
test newly designed information. Below you can see that the vast majority of our visitors are using
Internet Explorer. This tells me to be certain that the site’s pages are displayed well when being viewed
in this browser. I also see that I need to test for accessibility within Firefox, Safari, and Chrome.

5. Operating Systems tells you whether people are using a Windows, Mac, or another operating
system. This helps not only in designing content, but by analyzing this information about your site
visitors and online customers you can determine a bit more about their personality and habits. For
example, if you had a large percentage of people accessing your site via Android or Blackberry, you may
deduce that they are fairly tech savvy and are up to date on the latest trends.
Screen Colors and Screen Resolutions can provide important information for your site designer. This
allows you to ensure that the majority of your viewers are able to interact with your content without an
issue by designing your pages to fit within their technological parameters.
Network Properties can tell you what network provider people are using for their internet service (such
as Consolidated or Quest) as well as their connection speeds. While knowing the connection speed can
help you in deciding how complex to make your pages, knowing the service provider may help indicate
appropriate places to advertise. Assuming that most people get their cable service and internet service
together, you can determine appropriate cable providers with which to place advertising!
Mobile tells you what mobile devices people are using to access your site (such as an internet-enabled
cellphone, or Ipad) as well as their service provider (Altell, Verizon, etc.)

6. Traffic Sources
The information gained from this tab allows you to track how people are getting to your site. Knowing
what keywords people are searching for, which sites refer to your own, and whether ad campaigns such
as Google AdWords are effective can be a great help in steering your online marketing efforts.
Overview gives a brief snapshot of traffic source information. From this screen you can track
percentages for how people find you online, see what keywords people use when finding you through
search engines, and track which search engines are being used the most. This can be helpful in deciding
where to place online ads.
When people type in
your URL directly
Traffic linked from other sites,
such as a Facebook page or blog
Knowing which search Here we see what words visitors have searched for when coming to our
engines your site visitors site via search engines such as Google. This tells you about the content
and online customers are that people are hoping to find at your site, and also helps choose
using allows you to target
appropriate keywords when advertising online.
them more directly by
placing ads on the most If you are getting a large number of visits for a particular keyword, you may
popular search engines
not need to create an AdWord for this instance. For example, it would not
be helpful to create an AdWord campaign for ‘Dickinson, ND’ because this
search is already driving traffic to the site.
Direct Traffic shows statistics specifically for those who visit your site by directly typing in your URL or
using a bookmark they have made.
Referring Sites not only shows which sites link to yours, but which referring sites people are actually
using to find you. This information allows you to gauge the potential for partnerships between sites,

7. gives you helpful information regarding advertising opportunities, and can show the effectiveness of
your own referring sites such as a Google Places listing or Facebook Page.
AdWords Campaigns applies if you have already created a campaign. How do the people referred from
your AdWords Campaigns compare to the "average" visitor to your site? This report includes all visits
from AdWords. Click an AdWords Campaign in the table to see its component Ad Groups and Keywords.
The "Clicks" tab displays the AdWords cost, impression, and ROI data useful for monitoring the
profitability of your AdWords Campaigns and keywords.
Keywords shows the words people are typing into search engines prior to coming to your site. In the
below example, we see that the majority of people coming to www.DickinsonND.com through a search
engine arrive here after searching for “Dickinson, ND.”
Content
This tab gives valuable information about how visitors interact with your web content. Particularly
important is the analysis of which web pages are visited most, how long people view these pages, and
Top Content shows you which pages are used most. Knowing which pages visitors and online customers
use most lets you know what content is most useful to them.
Top Landing Pages records which pages of your site people are coming to first when they visit. Because
of search engines and links from outside sites, the first page people see may not be your home page. In
the example below, we learn that many people first land on the real estate page versus the homepage.

8. Top Exit Pages works similar to the above report. Here you learn which page people are on when they
decide to leave your site. While this may appear unhelpful, it can help you to discern if any of your
content is prompting people to go elsewhere. In on online retail environment, you’ll want to pay
particular attention to whether people are sticking around through the checkout process or not. If they
leave, maybe it is too cumbersome or confusing!
Site Overlay is a really neat feature of Google Analytics. Choose this option to open up a new browser
window with your site. You’ll notice that over each area a visitor can click on you will see a percentage
bar. Navigate through your site and note where most people go when visiting. This information can also
be helpful in determining if your navigation is straightforward or needs to be made easier for your end
user to get around.
Site Search is an additional feature you can install on your website. Similar to using a search engine,
customers can search your site for specific content. If you enable this feature and add a search tool to
your site, you can easily keep track of the keywords people are searching for on your site. Note that you
cannot track every search; you need to enter in specific queries you wish Google Analytics to track, such
as a product name or specific page.
Goals
This tab allows non-ecommerce sites to track specific actions, such as event registrations or downloads.
Once you have set your goals, you'll be able to see conversion rates and the monetary value of the
traffic you receive. You can also define a "funnel path" for each goal. A funnel path is the path you want
visitors to take to reach a goal. Defining a funnel path allows you to monitor how frequently visitors who
begin a conversion process actually complete it.
Examples of goals include:
 "Thank you for registering" pages
 receipts
 flight itinerary confirmations
 "Download completed" page
Sites that are ecommerce sites have the opportunity to track desired actions (customer purchases)
simply by tracking their sales. The Goals feature of Google Analytics allows other sites to define goals for
their non-paying visitors!

9. Keeping Up With Reports
Despite the wealth of information available to marketers and website content managers in Google
Analytics, it can be easy to forget to view reports regularly. Thankfully, you can set automatic emails to
be sent to as many addressees as you like with a PDF report!
While on the Dashboard tab, select the Email button (see below).
Once selected, you will see a new screen. To set up an automatic email, choose the Schedule tab. This
allows you to designate email addresses to send to, and a subject line and body to the automatic email,
and choose from daily, weekly, monthly, or quarterly reports.
Obviously the PDF report will not have all of the interactive features you will find online, it will provide a
regular snapshot of your website’s performance. Use this information to determine any necessary
changes in content and marketing practices, as well as track the effectiveness of current campaigns.
Good luck!
If you find you need additional assistance in getting the most out of Google Analytics, or to
learn more about new features, visit http://www.google.com/support/analytics/?hl=en