Refine your website performance with Google Analytics
By Stephanie Oley

So, you’ve set up Google Ads and are ready to review Google Analytics to see what’s working. But where to start? Let’s take a closer look at the three broad Analytics areas to focus on.

So, you’ve set up your website and marketing activity, and are ready to review Google Analytics to see what’s working. The challenge is that Google Analytics 4 – or GA4, as it’s known by practitioners – is so information-rich that newcomers sometimes don’t know where to begin. This is especially because GA4 is vastly different to Universal Analytics, its predecessor over the last 10 years.

Deciphering Google Analytics data correctly is important, given the value of online search to modern business. Online search now accounts for around two-thirds (68 per cent) of all website traffic globally. According to Forbes, Google accounts for 87.5 per cent of search traffic in the US, making it the lifeblood of most online businesses.

By comparison, even Bing ranks a very distant second in popularity, attracting 7.4 per cent of searches. Other platforms, such as Baidu in China or Ecosia for ethically-minded users, have their own niche following. Which brings us back to the sheer scale and reach of Google.

One of the greatest advantages of Google Analytics is that it not only monitors offsite and onsite information relating to your website, but also lifts your understanding of user behaviours on your website. That in turn will give ideas on how to tweak your business offering to attract more value. Let’s take a closer look at the three broad Analytics areas to focus on.

Understand how your content is faring

The first core metric that Analytics tracks on your website is events, defined as any kind of action on a website – a user’s first visit, page view, clicking on content, watching a video or some other action. Google Analytics also captures actions specific to that website, such as filling out a form or clicking on a phone number, both of which are considered conversions since you now have contact information).

It will also monitor metrics such as engagement rates (how long people remain on your site), average session duration (how long they stay) and pages per session (what else they browse). This will reveal how helpful or effective your content is.

Analytics will also identify your site’s most popular content, helping you determine what to offer more of in future campaigns, or which trending topics to weave into your content.

Better understand your customers’ browsing behaviours

Next, Analytics will help you understand customers better by tracking their behaviour flows. A behaviour flow, as defined by Google, is the path that a user follows from one interaction to the next on your website.

You can use Google’s path exploration function to follow the main pages that new users open after arriving at the home page and any potential problem areas.

For example, if your small-business accounting firm is experiencing lower than average engagement rates, you can probe whether it’s a content problem (such as poor design or lack of relevance) or a technical one (for example, broken links or navigation issues).

Alternatively, if you’re an online retailer, you may find that customers are loading items into their shopping basket but not making it to checkout. Are technical errors occurring? Is the checkout too long or confusing? Or are the shipping terms too pricy or lengthy?

Again, understanding this will help you determine what areas might need to be changed and tested on your website, or potentially to adjust your business model.

Google Analytics also gives insights on user demographics and in turn buyer behaviour once you set up Google Signals. Around one-fifth of all users on average are logged in while browsing. If your site receives hundreds or thousands of visits daily, this sampling will be meaningful enough to help you understand behaviours and make some broad conclusions.

For example, do older buyers prefer premium products compared to younger buyers? Do women buy more for other family members, compared to men? Do customers in outer suburbs buy different products compared to those in beach suburbs?

Gain new ideas to serve your customers

After reviewing the data, cross-check any insights using your preferred form of complementary research. These include customer interviews, focus groups, competitions and surveys. All will help uncover the customer motives underlying the data revealed by Analytics.

For example, the buying behaviours of different customer segments vary quite markedly for most brands. That’s why you’ll see fast-food chains promoting novelty menu items for their core audiences, but health-themed content aimed at the parents of younger children. Probe into your customers’ motives, and you’ll gain ideas on how to serve them.

As we can see, Google Analytics helps businesses to understand visitor behaviour, and in turn optimise their content and offerings. The tool is constantly being updated, but a one-day course will help. Get better insights into your visitor behaviour, and your business will start to unlock new opportunities for growth and engagement.