2 Open Secrets of Google Analytics You Might Not Know

We all know what Google Analytics but do we all know what it does and exactly what it is capable of in the right hands?

Google Analytics

I guess we all know what the site usage screen and we think that this is all the details we really need to know about our site. The screen gives clear details about how our site has performed, how many visitors we received how long they stayed and whether or not they linked what we had to say, if they didn’t they probably bounced.

If we are feeling adventitious of Google Analytics we might take a look at our traffic sources, where our visitors came from and what keywords we used, but this is about as far as most of us go. Once you learn about  Google Analytics you will start to see that this is only the tip of the iceberg and there is so much more useful information available if you are willing to open the lid and take a look at what’s inside.

Fine More Keywords to target

If you are looking for some new keywords to target for your site then Google analytics can help! But you will need to set up a site search function first, once you do that Google will start to store all the keywords that people searched for once they got to your site. Ok it might not sound that interesting but when you think about the information this data holds, it’s giving you the keywords that people are really looking for and what they really wanted to find your site. This information can be priceless so start using it.

Find where people are clicking

Google’s in page analytics isn‘t quite a heat map but it’s not far off; it tracks what links on a page are clicked most often. This can help to give you a much better idea of how people navigate through your site and which links attract the most clicks.  Knowing how people navigate through your site will enable you to design a better funnel so you can guide people to the pages you want them to see, doing this will have a knock on effect on your conversions.

Conversions

It’s always nice to see that you made a commission on a sale or that someone else has signed up for your newsletter. Though they are good to see it’s even better to see more of them. Setting up goals conversions and funnels will give you a much clearer idea of how that conversion came to be, once you can figure out what drove those visitors to a conversion you can then replicate this on other sections of your site. Doing this will help make your site more profitable and successful.

These are just 2 of the many parts of Google Analytics that I just could not live without. Knowing how many people visited your site is always helpful. But it doesn’t really tell you any more than that, you don’t know what they did on your site what pages they liked, what pages they didn’t like and most importantly you don’t know which sections of your site are most successful.

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This is a guest post by Neil Jones who is head of marketing for eMobileScan, one of Europe’s leading providers of handheld computers including the Motorola MC75.

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