A guide to using Google Analytics to drive business decisions
Learning outcomes
Use and interpret reports to measure what visitors are doing on your site and where they come from
Defining the purpose of your website to be able to identify quality traffic and drivers of conversions to sales or other business objectives
Track ad campaigns, search (paid and non-paid), email, social
Extract information from analytics to suggest website performance improvements
Understanding where analytics fits into your marketing
Basic understanding of Terminology
Structure
Accounts, Profiles and Users
Terminology
Navigating reports helping you find your way around Google Analytics
How to use and interpret reports
The dashboard and custom reports
How to identify quality traffic
Campaign tracking for AdWords, social, e-mail and other marketing
4. Basic Terminology 1
¡ Dimensions—A dimension is a descriptive attribute or characteristic of an object that can be given
different values. Browser, Exit Page, Screens and Session Duration are all examples of dimensions that
appear by default in Google Analytics.
¡ Metrics—Metrics are individual elements of a dimension that can be measured as a sum or a ratio.
Screenviews, Pages/Session and Average Session Duration are examples of metrics in Google Analytics.
¡ Sessions—A session is the period of time a user is actively engaged with your website, app, etc., within a
date range. All usage data (Screenviews, Events, Ecommerce, etc.) is associated with a session.
¡ Users—Users who have had at least one session within the selected date range. Includes both new and
returning users.
¡ Pageviews—Pageviews means the total number of pages viewed. Repeated views of a single page are
counted.
¡ Pages/Session—Pages/session (Average Page Depth) is the average number of pages viewed during a
session. Repeated views of a single page are counted.
¡ Avg. Session Duration—The average length of a session.
¡ Bounce Rate—Bounce rate is the percentage of single-page visits (i.e., visits in which the person left your
site from the entrance page without interacting with the page).
5. Basic Terminology 2
¡ New Sessions—An estimate of the percentage of first-time visits.
¡ Goals—Goals let you measure how often users take or complete specific actions
on your website.
¡ Conversions—Conversions are the number of times goals have been completed
on your website.
¡ Campaigns—Campaigns (also known as custom campaigns) allow you to add
parameters to any URL from your website to collect more information about your
referral traffic. https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1033867?hl=en
¡ Acquisition—Acquisition is how you acquire users.
¡ Behavior—Behavior data helps you improve your content.
7. Your Measurement Plan
1. Your Business Objectives
2. Website Goals for each Objective
3. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
4. Your Targets
5. Create Reports & Segments
8. Identify Your Objectives
What are the objectives of your website?
Generate Leads
Generate
Revenue
or something else?
9. Your Objective’s Goals
What are the objectives of your website?
Generate Leads Generate Revenue
Website
Goal:
Capture
Leads
Website Goal:
Sell Promo Tickets
Website
Goal:
Provide
Valuable
Content
10. Your KPIs
What are the objectives of your website?
Generate Leads Generate Revenue
Website
Goal:
Capture
Leads
Website Goal:
Sell Promo Tickets
Website
Goal:
Provide
Valuable
Content
KPI:
#Downloads
KPI:
Conversion
to signup
KPI:
Conversion
rate
KPI:
Cost per
acquisition
11. Your KPIs
What are the objectives of your website?
Generate Leads Generate Revenue
Website
Goal:
Capture
Leads
Website Goal:
Sell Promo Tickets
Website
Goal:
Provide
Valuable
Content
KPI:
#Downloads
Target:
150/month
KPI:
Conversion
to signup
Target:
50/month
KPI:
Conversions
Target:
100/week
KPI:
Cost per
acquisition
Target:
£5 per sale
12. Reports & Segments to Analyse
What are the objectives of your website?
Generate Leads Generate Revenue
Website Goal:
Capture
Leads
Website Goal:
Sell Promo Tickets
Website Goal:
Provide
Valuable
Content
KPI:
#Downloads
Target:
150/month
KPI:
Conversion to
signup
Target:
50/month
KPI:
Conversions
Target:
100/week
KPI:
Cost per
acquisition
Target: £5 per sale
Reporting:
Traffic Sources
Events
Reporting:
Traffic Sources
Goals
Reporting:
Ecommerce Tracking
AdWords
13. Analyse Your Data
¡ Where can we make improvements?
¡ Are there any traffic sources performing better than average?
¡ Does time of day, type of technology or geography matter?
¡ What patterns stand out?
Identify the star performers
Take action on poor performers
19. All Traffic Report Acquisition > All Traffic
What it shows:
Where your traffic & conversions come from.
20. All Traffic Report Acquisition > All Traffic
How to use it:
Identify where your key traffic sources & your weak performers.
What is this telling us?
21. All Traffic Report Acquisition > All Traffic
How to use it:
Where is your quality traffic coming from?
22. All Traffic Report Acquisition > All Traffic
How to use it:
Dig into the detail and look for patterns
23. All Traffic Report Acquisition > All Traffic
How to use it:
Compare data to look for opportunities to improve
29. Ecommerce Tracking
¡ Track revenue, transactions, product sales & more
¡ Requires code changes on your site
https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1009612?hl=en
30. Ecommerce Product Performance
Conversions > Ecommerce > Product Performance
What it shows:
Lets you see how well individual products are performing.
31. Ecommerce Product Performance
Conversions > Ecommerce > Product Performance
How to use it:
Spot best & worst performing products
Opportunities to increase order quantities
32. Ecommerce Product Performance
Conversions > Ecommerce > Product Performance
How to use it:
Drill into individual products to see if there are any sales performance
patterns
33. Ecommerce Product Performance
Conversions > Ecommerce > Product Performance
How to use it:
Drill into individual products to see if there are any sales performance
patterns
35. All Pages Report Behavior > Site Content > All Pages
What it shows:
The most visited pages on your site.
36. All Pages Report Behavior > Site Content > All Pages
How to use it:
Inform your content strategy
Understand what content appeals to your audience
Investigate high bounce rates & exits
37. What is Bounce Rate?
Enter site on
page A
Leave site on
page A
38. When is it an Exit & not a Bounce?
Enter on
page A
Go to
page B
Exit on
page B
39. Landing Pages Report
Behavior > Site Content > Landing Pages
What is it:
Identifies where people enter your website
Shows how visitors react based on the landing page
40. Landing Pages Report
Behavior > Site Content > Landing Pages
How to use it:
Are your entry pages what you expect?
Do they give the best impression of your business?
41. Landing Pages Report
Behavior > Site Content > Landing Pages
How to use it:
Which pages have above of below average performance on
bounce rate, page views or visit duration?
46. Mobile Overview Report Audience > Mobile > Overview
What is it:
Highlights the performance of traffic to your site via different devices
47. Mobile Overview Report Audience > Mobile > Overview
How to use it:
Identify issues with different device types
Highlight possible site development requirements
53. Page Timings Report
What is it:
Highlights slow loading pages which could impact SEO & user
experience
54. Page Timings Report
Behavior > Site Speed > Page Timings
How to use it:
Evaluate any pages that are taking longer than average to load
55. Speed Suggestions
Behavior > Site Speed > Speed Suggestions
How to use it:
Ask your developer to identify and fix speed related issues where possible
62. Show a Return on Your Blog
https://www.google.com/analytics/web/template?uid=q2wTA0frQ9msW3TZPefRtQ
Remember to edit the Filter for this to work for your site.
63. Stop Wasting Money
https://www.google.com/analytics/web/template?uid=SlziKUKGRvuX0Pwe1SXDbA
Remember to edit the Filter for this to work for your site.