This is a post that’s been on my mind for a while: A guide for Website owners and managers on how to use Google Analytics to help improve and enhance your Website.
I’ve read some posts on the subject, but they don’t fully address the issue, in my opinion. (The most-recent post I saw on Google Analytics was Ari Herzog’s excellent post).
I am also going to discuss techniques particular to WordPress.
Here are the areas where I think Google Analytics can be most effective:
- Maintenance
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Audience Research/Segmentation
- Link Building
- Content Development
Let’s tackle each topic individually.
Site Maintenance
One of the most important aspects of running a site is making sure that everything is working correctly. This includes:
- Making sure as few people as possible are encountering 404 errors (pages not found)
- Making sure that visitors can easily and intuitively find information on your site
To find out how many people reach 404 pages, go to Content>Top Content and search for “404”. Here is a screen shot of the results from my site:
Not all of these pageviews are actual users reaching a non-existent page. I periodically test my 404 page to make sure it is functioning correctly. It’s a good to do this, but don’t obsess about it. But let’s look at one result:
In this case, someone reached the page “/published-writing” on my site, which does not exist, so they got a 404 error page.
To make sure this doesn’t happen again, I used the Redirection plugin in WordPress to 301 redirect users to the correct page (in this case, http://www.nooozeguy.com/josh-fialkoff-writing/).
Another way that Websites fail users is by making it difficult to find information on the site.
One way to gauge this is by looking at how people use your internal site search (you DO have one, right?). I have my site search tied into Google Analytics (this is an optional enhancement you will need to add to your site’s code).
Here is my report:
The best news from this report is that just over two percent of visitors resorted to searching my site.
But we can learn more, such as, what pages people searched from, that is, on what page did most people become dissatisfied trying to find information?
We can also look at the list of terms people searched. This information could help me decide what to write about in the future. It could also help decide how to “cross link” the site, that is, which contextual links should be added to which pages.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
The second way Google Analytics can serve as a tool to enhance your site is by providing you with a way to improve your search engine optimization.
When I discuss this topic with people, I am often asked what is a good goal for the percentage of traffic that comes from search engines.
The short answer is that there is not a specific ratio. I think the best answer is that the number should be rising. The greater exposure your site has on search engines, the greater number of new people are going to find your site.
Here is what you will see if you click on the “Traffic Sources” link on the left column of Google Analytics:
You can see that about one-third of my site’s traffic is from search engines. Delving further into the report, I can see the keywords that generated search-engine traffic:
There are a number of interesting tidbits I found in this report:
- “Grand Dialer” is the second-highest keyword referral to my site. (I wrote about this in a post on Google Grand Central.)
- “Erika Tarantal” generated the third highest number of search engine referrals to my site in the time period of this report. This is curious because the only reference I have to the WNBC-TV anchor is in a caption on my page dedicated to TV newscasts I produced.
- Terms related to David Allen’s time-management book, “Getting Things Done” generated the most number of visits overall.
I can use this data to help me determine what to write about in the future. Believe me, GTD will be a strong topic because I can see that it generates traffic.
Audience Research/Segmentation
Google Analytics provides site owners with information on general user demographic data (rather than information on specific users). You can find out things like:
- Where in the world (and down to cities) users are accessing the Internet (through their ISP)
- What organizations users may be affiliated with
- The ratio of new and returning users
I work with many companies in the B2B (busines-to-business) sector, so knowing which organizations’ employees visit their sites is especially important. I too use the data to see what companies visitors are affiliated with since I may be able to market my online-marketing services to these companies, for instance.
Personally, I think Google buries the visiting domain feature. To get to the data, go to Visitors>Network Properties and then select Network Locations. (See what I mean??).
Once you do this, you will likely see a list of ISPs like Comcast, RoadRunner and Verizon. That’s not helpful in most cases because it tells you little about your visitors. But if you export this report into Excel, you can flter out ISPs and just look at which companies’ domains users are from.
Google has added “segmentation” to Analytics. This is a feature that had been only found in high-end (and expensive) analytics tools.
So how can you use this?
You can create segments based on how people found your site (paid vs. non-paid; search engines vs. referring sites, etc). From there, you can track which channels produce the best visits (based on what the goal is for the site).
In my case, I like to see which referring sites generate the best visitors. One of my posts was referenced by ZDNet. That create a spike in traffic, but to be honest, the visitors mostly bounced from my site, so I don’t pay a lot of attention to that link.
In contrast, another link to my site generates consistently strong visits– i.e., people who view multiple pages and who delve deep into my site and submit contact forms.
Using this information, I can target which sites I will try get links from.
Link Building
Link building is the best long-term way to improve your site’s search-engine visibility and to generate traffic.
When I write posts, I often look for other blogs on the topic to see what people are saying and what questions they still have.
After I publish posts, I generally return to those sites and post comments directing people to my site.
I also try to communicate directly with bloggers who are tops in their field. For instance, when I wrote a post on using WordPress as a content management system, I reached out to others who had covered aspects of the topic to get their feedback.
My experience is that people are generally flattered to be asked their opinions and will take time to respond, even if they are especially busy. If they offer to link to your post or promote it on Digg, StumbeUpon or other social-networking sites, all the better!
Getting a prominent link on a well-ranked site accomplishes both goals of increasing search-engine presence and generating inbound links.
Content Development
The final way I use Google Analytics is to help me decide what to write about next. I alluded to this earlier, but it’s important enough to discuss in greater detail.
One of the best aspects of the Web is that you can measure and analyze how users interact with your ideas. You can see which concepts resonate best, in terms of new visitors, new links, comments on your posts and a host of other metrics, based on your long-term goals.
In the few months I have had my site operating, I have seen that GTD and WordPress generate significant percentages of traffic, so I try to satiate that demand by writing about these topics.
In addition to looking at how people find my site, I like to look at what people do once they arrive. I use the bounce-rate metric to do this.
Within Google Analytics, you can see which pages have the highest bounce rates.
You can also set up “goals” in Google Analytics. (To set up goal in Google Analytics, go to “Analytics Settings” in the left-hand column). A goal is a specific page where you want users to go. In my case, it’s my contact page, but which page(s) you consider goals depends on the purpose of your site.
This is a (relatively) brief overview of using Google Analytics to improve your site. What other topics do you have questions about? Let me know and I’ll try to help you!