As mentioned in my previous post, Google Analytics is a must have tool that Blue Zoo installs on every site we build. With so much information available about metrics, it can be confusing to know what is important to measure and track.

Here are my tips on using Google Analytics metrics.

The first thing you see in Google Analytics is the Audience overview.

Google Anaytics

In the last post I talked about Visits, Pageviews, Pages/Visit and Avg. Visit Duration. These metrics cover how many people are coming to your site and how they are interacting with your site.

This post will cover % New Visits, Unique Visitors and Bounce Rate.

% New Visits tells you how many visitors to your site are first time visitors. As you first launch your site, this number will be very high. After you get some age on your site, it should level out. What is a good percentage for each metric? It depends on what you’re doing. If you have new products or services that you’re offering and you’re promoting them online, this number should be high. If you’re appealing to existing customers then the reverse should be true.

For more detailed information about New Visits, Look under Behaviors > New vs. Returning and look at the Avg. Visit Duration column. Are the Returning Visitors spending more time on site than the new visitors? If so, they might have a favorite category or section of the site that they’re revisiting. Explore the data to look for the engaging content. If the new visitors are spending more time on site than returning visitors, then you might not be updating your site enough or offering enough information that is different from the existing information on your site.

Bounce rate is the percentage of visitors that leave or “bounce” from your site on the first page. If you have a high bounce rate it might mean that your initial page is not compelling and needs to be redesigned. Try using A/B testing and mouse tracking to determine what keeps people reading on your site and clicking further into the site.

It could also mean that the content for the page doesn’t match the keyword that brought the visitor to the site. Ideally, each page on your should have just one focus so this doesn’t happen.

If you need help interpreting Google Analytics, social media, mouse or online ad tracking, or any other web metrics, please contact us for help.

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