The basics (and best bits) of Google Analytics - 2017 Edition

The basics (and best bits) of Google Analytics
A jargon-free mini-guide
Adam Vincenzini
August 2018

Introduction
Google Analytics, at its core, provides users with data about
website performance.
It isn’t perfect, especially when used in isolation.
But, it can help you make informed decisions that can
contribute to continuous improvement.
This document provides you with an overview of what it can
do and how you can use the best bits to your advantage.

Who and why?
Google Analytics is used by:
Ecommerce Professional
services
Government News / media Info portals Bloggers

Who and why?
The ‘why’ can vary, but here are some examples:
To better understand
content cut through
To improve user
experience
To measure impact of
campaigns
To help sell advertising
To sell more products
To improve lead
generation efforts

Who and why?
The ‘why’ for agencies:
Insights to inform
strategy
Track results and
impact
Improve and optimise
performance

What can it uncover?
(The best bits)

The good stuff
Google Analytics can tell you a lot, including:
Visits / sessions Time spent Visitor locations Traffic sources Devices used Popular content Conversions Social media
impact
Your data ‘cocktail’ will be influenced by the goals you’ve set for your site.
(more on that later)

Your dashboard: Home
You can customise this part of Google Analytics to give you a snapshot view of the data that is most important to you.
https://analytics.google.com/analytics/web/demoAccount

Your dashboard: Home

Digging deeper
The ‘snapshot’ dashboard is great, but you’ll often want to dig a little deeper. But, be warned, it can
be like going down a rabbit hole.
Here are some of the more useful ‘deeper’ areas…

Acquisition
Acquisition data is important because it tells you where your visitors have come from. If your aim is to increase visits then
understanding which sources are generating the least traffic is an insight that might inform your future activity.

Acquisition
Visits with no referring website.
A visit that started with a search engine query..
A visit to your site from another site that isn’t a search engine e.g. news site.
Traffic generated from a social media post ‘click’ e.g. Facebook.
A visit from a paid search result.
Affiliates are normally only a source of traffic for ecommerce websites.
Visits from digital advertising e.g. banner ads.
Traffic that doesn’t reflect the above criteria / sub-catoegories.

Acquisition: Referrals

Acquisition: Organic search
In 2011, Google Analytics turned off it’s most loved feature: Organic search insights. This data could
tell you which keyword phrases people were using to find you. Now, only a raw number is provided.
However, a tool called Google Search Console has bridged the gap (slightly) and is worth investigation
once you’ve mastered the basics of Google Analytics.
https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/

Behaviour
Behaviour data is important because it tells you what your visitors are looking at / engagng with. In most cases, there will be
pages that you want people to view more than others and this data can help you achieve these goals.

Behaviour

Live demonstration

Getting familiar…
Visit the Google Analytics demo account
Set yourself a fictional goal
Review selected metrics against that goal
1
2
3

Read, watch and listen…
https://www.youtube.com/user/googleanalytics

@adamvincenzini
Adamvincenzini.com
Adamvincenzini.net

The basics (and best bits) of Google Analytics - 2017 Edition

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