Google Analytics can do so much more than just traffic data. It has a very large variety of features that most marketers don’t know about and are not taking advantage of. By taking full advantage of Google Analytics, you’ll be able to know where traffic is coming from, what visitors are doing while there, and be able to make effective online business decisions. Here are six ways you should start using Google Analytics.
Create a Custom Dashboard
A common annoyance about Google Analytics is having to dig through an abundance of menus and data in order to find the information you are looking for. Luckily, there is a feature where you can create your own custom dashboard to see your search analysis within widgets. At the top of the menu, click Dashboards, then New Dashboard. Then add and customize widgets with all of the metrics you wish to see. This feature also allows you to create multiple dashboards.
Dashboards > New Dashboard > Add Widget
Find Your Worst Performing Pages
While we all love looking at the most popular pages on our site, it is also important to look at the least popular pages as well in order to keep users engaged. Go to Behavior tab, then Exit Pages. This will show you the pages where users are most often leaving your website. You can use this information to analyze your worst performing pages and come up with ways to keep users on these pages. A simple redesign of the page or a re-write of the content could help keep users engaged.
Behavior > Exit Pages
Monitor Site Speed
With today’s fast-paced technology, we have less patience than ever when it comes to loading websites. Slow load times tend to send users away to other sites, losing potential customers. Under the Behavior tab there is a menu item for Site Speed, which provides a list of your sites fastest and slowest loading pages, and information regarding loading times. Google even provides suggestions to help speed up your pages and load times. Thanks Google!
Behavior > Site Speed > Speed Suggestions
Study Behavior Flow
The behavior flow shows visualization of the behavior on your website. Although it may look confusing at first, it is extremely valuable once you learn how to use it. It shows the most common patterns of behavior on your website, which page users land on most, where they go from the landing page, and what page they are on when they leave the site. All of this information helps identify which pages keep users engaged, and which pages send them away.
Behavior > Behavior Flow
Start Using Intelligence Events Alerts
By setting up Intelligence Events, you can set up automatic emails or text messages that alert you when specified events occur, such as a spike in traffic. This way you won’t have to be constantly checking analytics.
Intelligence Events > Overview > Custom Alerts
Use In-Page Analytics
In-Page Analytics allows you to see where visitors are clicking on each page. You can look at your site and see the number of clicks each link gets. This can be used to spot trends and check if any links are not being seen on a page.
Behavior > In-Page Analytics