Google Analytics provides marketers with a plethora of data sets and tools that provide valuable insight on website performance; and when interpreted correctly, can provide business owners with real-time data on their website. Some datasets may be easier to understand but it can be tricky to comprehend this information and use it to take action to improve your website.
If you’ve ever worked with Google Analytics before, then you’ve most likely come across the terms “Bounce Rate”, “Conversions”, “Sessions” & “Average Session Duration” this blog will focus on these topics in greater detail, but will give you insight on some important metrics regarding Google Analytics & your digital performance!
Bounce Rate
The bounce rate or the number of bounces on a page is determined by the number of visitors who visit your site without navigating to any other pages. Depending on your industry, having a high bounce rate might not mean the end of the world but for some bounce rate is a very important statistic and can help determine which pages on your site are performing well and which are not. While it can depend on the industry and goal of your website, it is an industry-standard that anywhere between 40-60% is an average bounce rate.
Conversions
A conversion is some sort of action taken on your site by a user. Based on your business/industry these conversions will differ depending on what your specific goals are. A conversion can include but is not limited to the following:
- Click to call
- Filling out a contact form
- Click to email
- Signing up for a newsletter
- Requesting Directions
- Using A Livechat
- Requesting a Free Quote
- Product Page visits
This information is crucial to a business owner as it shows how clients are contacting you as well as giving you a better idea of which aspects of the site are performing better than others.
Sessions
When you are looking at the data that Google Analytics provides, it can be useful to learn about your users and how they interact with your website. This information can provide you with relevant data on traffic flows to your site on a daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly basis. This data can help you to determine trends in your industry, slow periods, and can also show you if users found your site through organic or direct means. Traffic flow is important because it can help you determine the effectiveness of your current SEO strategy / how users are finding your website. Below is a brief breakdown of Organic and direct traffic, for a more detailed overview of each, please click here!
Organic: Organic sessions is when a user finds your site using keywords relating to your business in a search engine that provided your website through the keywords.
Example Company “Boiseplumbers.com”: user finds a plumbing company in Boise Idaho using the search terms “Plumber in Boise Idaho” > finds Boise Plumbers > enters site
Direct: Direct sessions are when a user navigated to your website with no referring website/URL and no referring keywords.
Example Company “Boiseplumbers.com”: users types in boiseplumbers.com > enters site
Average Session Duration
While Average Session Time is more straight forward to understand as it reflects how long users are spending on your site, it is important to understand how it fluctuates on your site will tell you a lot. Depending on your industry and the purpose of your site, this will vary. From a quick search on the web, it is estimated that a normal, average session time should be anywhere between 2-3 minutes. Unusually high session durations can be contributed to spam traffic coming to your site, as well as not setting up proper filters to block your own IP if you spend time on your website. Not having these filters in place can skew information and provide you with inaccurate data.
Boston Web Marketing: SEO and Marketing Professionals
Boston Web Marketing can work alongside your internal team of Marketing professionals when it comes to optimizing your business and getting your website back in front of the eyes of those you are trying to reach. Need a site consultation? If you are interested in growing your business online, give Boston Web Marketing a call today at 857-526-0096!