Understanding Google Analytics: Improve Website Traffic and Conversion Rate

The internet’s a big place. And if you don’t know where to look, it can be hard to know what your competition is doing and figure out how to win the game.

But Google Analytics has all the answers – or at least most of them. It gives you detailed stats on how people behave on your site – from where they’re coming from, which pages they’re looking at and for how long, what their interests are (based on what sites they visit), and more!

Google Analytics is a powerful tool for understanding your website traffic to help you improve conversion rates.

However, it can be challenging to decipher the data in Google Analytics reports and determine what’s working and what isn’t.

This article will break down some of the most important metrics and how you can use them to make improvements on your site or blog.   

What is Google Analytics?

Google Analytics is a free service that tracks and reports website traffic. It’s one of the most popular tools for marketers and is used by over two million websites worldwide, including big companies like Microsoft and Dell.

Google Analytics gives you a wealth of information about how your website is performing – from how many people visit it each day to where they come from, when they visit, what they do while there, whether or not they convert on a goal you’ve set up, and more.  

It is a powerful tool for analyzing the data from your website and putting it to work for you.

How to sign up for Google Analytics

It’s quick and easy to set up a free account with Google Analytics. You don’t even have to be technically minded! All you need is access to the back end of your website or blog and an email address.

1) Log in to your account or create a new one at Google Analytics.

2) Click on the Admin tab.

3) Click ‘Create New Account’ and fill out the form that appears. 

4) Check your email for the administrative message from Google Analytics and click on the link it contains to confirm your email address.  

5) You’ll be taken back to the Overview page, where you will be able to access all of your analytics data.  

Once you have an account, you can begin setting up goals, alerts, and notifications, and filtering reports to give more relevant results based on what you want to see.

How to set up goals in Google Analytics

Once you have your account set up, you’ll need to ‘tag’ the pages on your website so that GA can track them and gather data on how people are using them. Tagging involves adding a bit of code (or ‘tag’) to each page you want to be tracked. This allows you to monitor specific pages and track the performance of goals (more on these below) in Google Analytics. You can do this by going to your Admin page, clicking ‘Goals’ under the View section, and then click ‘Create a Goal.’

Once you’re there, it’s pretty self-explanatory!

To better understand how this works, let’s look at some of the key metrics that Google Analytics tracks.

1) Website traffic – where it’s coming from and what pages they’re looking at

Google Analytics reports on website traffic, showing you the number of visits to your site each day (or the average over a period of time), how many are new visitors (people who have never visited before), and how many are returning visitors.

It also tells you which pages your users visit most often, as well as popular entry and exit points to your site (i.e., which pages they started and finished on, respectively). This can help you plan new content that will engage them further in their browsing experience. And if they start leaving after only visiting one page, then it might be worth thinking about how other parts of the site could be improved to keep them on the site longer.

2) Lead conversions – who is converting on what? 

One of the biggest challenges for marketers is understanding what makes customers buy products and why they don’t convert to others. However, with Google Analytics, you can track specific actions that people take on your site, known as ‘conversion points,’ and see which ones are most effective at helping you achieve your business goals. 

3) Where do they leave – what pages do they abandon?

One of the biggest challenges marketers face is understanding why customers aren’t converting on their site, only to find out too late that it’s because they left after clicking on a particular page (e.g., the checkout page).

With Google Analytics, however, it’s easy to see where users exit your site so that you can identify any trouble spots that might be causing them to leave and work on improving these pages, thus encouraging them to complete their buying journey. 

4) How engaged they are – how much of your site do they explore? 

These reports tell us where users stop engaging with particular sections of the site, so it’s easy to see which parts of your content are least effective at converting visitors into leads or sales. 

5) Tracking transactions & sales over time

Google Analytics can track purchases made on your website, as well as the amount of money spent by each individual customer. This is particularly useful for e-commerce sites, letting you see how much revenue has been generated over a period of time and identify any potential problems along the way before they become bigger issues down the line (e.g., if very few people are buying something).

Analyzing and Interpreting Your Data

Once you’ve got all this data, how do you analyze it to find out what’s making the most difference? This is where having a clear understanding of your business goals comes in.

Is your main goal to increase brand awareness and generate more leads? Or are you trying to get people through the checkout process and make more sales?

Once you know this, it’s easy to identify which metrics are the most important – for example, if your goal is to generate more sales, then you’ll want to focus on looking at your top converting pages.

If your goal is to drive people through the checkout process and make more sales, it makes sense to review which conversion points have been most effective.

You can also use Google Analytics to track specific events as they happen on your site, such as when someone signs up or makes a purchase. This information can help you understand what motivates users and appeals to them so that you can tailor content that best fits their needs in the future.

Lastly, it’s worth remembering that while data helps improve understanding of what’s happening on your site, it’s only one part of the equation.

You also need to understand why things are happening and what you can do about them as well – so be sure to use Google Analytics alongside other research methods such as user testing (e.g., watching people interact with your website) and surveys.

Google Analytics is a powerful tool that enables marketers to take an in-depth look at their websites for insight into improving popular page content, increasing lead conversions, and generating more sales by tracking which pages users have abandoned partway through the checkout process.

But this information is only useful if it helps you meet your business goals, so remember to keep them in mind when analyzing data and ask yourself: Are we meeting our business goals? If not, which metrics can help us improve them?

Why should you use Google Analytics?

There are several ways that Google Analytics can benefit your website traffic and conversion rate. Here are just a few:

• It gives you insight into how people behave when they come to your site – what they look at, how long for, where they click etc. so that you can tailor your site more effectively to their needs.

• You can find out which keywords generate the most traffic to improve your content and get more people to your site.

• You’ll be able to monitor specific pages and track the performance of goals in Google Analytics.

• It lets you identify where your customers exit from your site, so you can work out why they’re leaving and make changes accordingly.

• You’ll know how much revenue has been generated over a period, which is particularly useful for e-commerce sites

Improve Website Traffic and Conversion Rate

You can use the Google Analytics data to track which pages your visitors are looking at and performing best (i.e., bringing in the most conversions) and therefore determine whether you need to create more like them or better promote the popular ones.   

Additionally, if you have new content planned or a product launch, tracking these results over time will show you how website traffic changes as you implement these improvements and inform future plans.

Using Google Analytics to see which keywords generate the most traffic will help you improve your content and bring more people to your site.

You’ll be able to monitor specific pages and track the performance of goals in Google Analytics, meaning you’ll know how much revenue has been generated over a period of time, making it particularly useful for e-commerce sites.

Blend in Other Marketing Techniques

Hopefully, you now have a clearer understanding of how Google Analytics works and what it can do to help you generate more leads. 

However, as with anything in marketing, the most valuable insights come from blending your research with other techniques to get an overall picture of what’s going on.  

So if you’re serious about using data to drive success on your website, I’d also recommend focusing on making sure it meets user needs at every step of the buying journey – whether that’s attracting visits, converting visitors, or encouraging repeat business.

Remember that while analytics can tell you where people are dropping off (and why), only user research lets you know how they feel about your site and your product. So don’t forget to make use of all two legs of the research stool!

In Conclusion

So there you have it, a brief explanation of how to improve your website traffic and conversion rate by using Google Analytics.

As long as you keep your business goals in mind when analyzing the data and remember that no tool is guaranteed to work for everyone, then Google Analytics can help you make informed decisions about what changes or improvements need to be made to your site so that it maximizes conversions and keeps visitors coming back for more.

So, now that you know how to use Google Analytics reports to improve your conversion rates and better understand what’s working on your website or blog. Get started today! What are you waiting for?

And if this blog was helpful in any way, feel free to leave a comment below!