What information is provided by Google Analytics?
Google Analytics provides a lot of information, but it takes a lot of time to go through it all and understand what it means. As a starting point, we will consider the information provided under the Behavior tab, in the Site Content section.
The information provided on the Behavior > Site Content page includes:
The information provided on the Behavior > Site Content page includes:
- Page views – the total number of times that the page was viewed.
- Unique page views – number of unique page views (e.g., if a visitor lands on the Home page, clicks to the Info page and then goes back to the Home page, then the Home page would have 2 pages views but only 1 unique page view).
- Average time on page – the average time spent on a page; the longer the visit, the more engaged the visitors.
- Entrances – the number of times that the visitor entered your website using the page.
- Bounce rate – percentage of visitors who entered your website on the page and left site without navigating to any other pages (i.e., the number of single page views divided by the total number of page views). If a page has a high bounce rate, you should re-consider the content on the page. If a visitor is reaching the page but then leaving, they might be looking for information that your page is missing or information that is there but they cannot find it. Consider increasing the number of relevant links to other pages on your site (e.g., through in text links, call to action buttons, image links) or the amount or content or the content organization (e.g., is the most interesting content at the bottom of the page and visitors are not scrolling down to find it?).
- % Exit (Exit rate) – percentage of visitors who leave your site from a page (i.e., the number of exits divided by the total number of page views). This is similar to bounce rate, but includes visitors who visited more than one page during their visitor.
How to use Google Analytics to improve your website
Consider an example where a website has only one visitor. If the visitor spends 2 seconds on a single page and then leaves, the bounce rate would be 100%, the average time on page would be 2 seconds, and the exit rate would be 100%. This visitor has not engaged in your site content and you should ask yourself if something is missing from the page (what information was this person trying to find and why didn’t they find it?).
Now let’s consider a second case of one visitor who spends only 2 minutes on one page and then leaves. In this case, the bounce rate and the exit rate would still be 100%, but the average time on page would be 2 minutes. This visitor may have read all of the content on the page, found what he/she was looking for and then left. That is a reasonably engaged visitor, but there is still room for improvement. Ideally, you want your website visitors to interact with multiple pages on your website (e.g., through more internal links or call to action buttons).
Finally, consider a third case where one visitor spends 2 seconds on the Home page, then navigates to a second page (let’s call it the Info page). In this case, the bounce rate and the exit rate for the Home page would be 0%, and the average time on page would be 2 seconds. On the Info page, the exit rate would be 100% and the average time on page would be 2 minutes (the bounce rate is not relevant here because the visitor did not enter your site from the Info page).
If you are interested in tracking the behavior of website visitors from a specific city or country, you can use Google Analytics filters to include or exclude specific regions. Filters can also allow you to exclude unwanted (spam) traffic from your Google Analytics reports, as well as traffic from your home or business networks.
There are many other ways that you can use Google Analytics to improve your website. Contact KJD Freelance to discuss how we can work with you to improve your website content to increase visitor engagement.
Now let’s consider a second case of one visitor who spends only 2 minutes on one page and then leaves. In this case, the bounce rate and the exit rate would still be 100%, but the average time on page would be 2 minutes. This visitor may have read all of the content on the page, found what he/she was looking for and then left. That is a reasonably engaged visitor, but there is still room for improvement. Ideally, you want your website visitors to interact with multiple pages on your website (e.g., through more internal links or call to action buttons).
Finally, consider a third case where one visitor spends 2 seconds on the Home page, then navigates to a second page (let’s call it the Info page). In this case, the bounce rate and the exit rate for the Home page would be 0%, and the average time on page would be 2 seconds. On the Info page, the exit rate would be 100% and the average time on page would be 2 minutes (the bounce rate is not relevant here because the visitor did not enter your site from the Info page).
If you are interested in tracking the behavior of website visitors from a specific city or country, you can use Google Analytics filters to include or exclude specific regions. Filters can also allow you to exclude unwanted (spam) traffic from your Google Analytics reports, as well as traffic from your home or business networks.
There are many other ways that you can use Google Analytics to improve your website. Contact KJD Freelance to discuss how we can work with you to improve your website content to increase visitor engagement.