Last Updated on September 2, 2022
Did you know that only around 50% of the websites on the internet track user activity on the website? It means the other 50% don’t know how to use Google Analytics.
So today, this Google Analytics tutorial will answer your question why use Google Analytics?
Why Use Google Analytics
It’s a website visitor tracking tool to help you understand how the visitors behave under multiple metrics & databases.
The tool helps you understand your user behavior by applying certain filters and seeing the pattern they make while going through certain pages of your website.
There are certain reasons why you should use Google Analytics:
- This pattern can help you improve your website’s User Experience
- Know where a visitor is closing your website
- Understand where most of your audience is located
- It tells the number of people who are interested in the bounce rate of your website.
- Check the most popular web pages
1. Google Analytics Dashboard and Layout
Your Google Analytics Dashboard might look like this. Here on the left side, you’ll see a menu that customizes and categorizes the audience on your page based on different metrics.
You can better understand your audience’s behavior by segregating these columns.
2. Real Time Option
In the real time menu, you can track user activity on the website which is happening right now.
Here you will get to see options such as…
- Overview
- Locations
- Traffic Sources
- Content
- Events
- Conversions
So based on these many metrics, you can see what all is happening right now on your website.
3. What Your Visitors Are Watching
On scrolling down on the Dashboard menu, you’ll understand which pages are being watched by your visitors right now.
Here you will see the pages your visitors are visiting. When you click on the real-time reports option, you’ll see the list of top active pages for that time.
This is where you can check your exact live website visitor tracking. If you’re running an offer on your page and run Ads on it, you’ll understand how many people are coming on the page and the time they are spending on your website. This is why this Google Analytics tutorial is a must for you to understand how it can help you.
4. Audience Option
This option helps you understand how many people visited your website and show you the demographics, language, the mobile OS they use, Users, Page Views, Bounce Rate, etc.
In the Audience section, you’ll see options such as…
- Overview
- Active Users
- Lifetime Value
- Cohort Analysis
- Audiences
- User Explorer
- Demographics – Overview, Age, Gender
- Interests – Affinity Categories, In-Market Segments, Other Categories
- Geo-Location and Language
- Behavior – New vs Returning, Frequency, and Recency, Engagement
Audience research is one of the most important factors when it comes to selling something online.
And this is how to use Google Analytics Audience section.
5. Acquisition Option
This is that part of your Google Analytics that shows you where the people are coming from on your website.
The main chart on the website shows the channels or mediums through which you’ve captured visitors.
For Example: If you have run Advertisements on Facebook or any other platform throughout the month, then you can compare how many conversions you have made and the number of people who have visited your website.
You can do the website visitor tracking before any activity – like Paid Ads – and after the activity to see how many visitors you’re gaining.
On scrolling down, you’ll be able to see how much traffic is coming from social media sharing, organic search, directly from browsers and other mediums.
Here you can understand how much ROIs you are getting from your different sorts of campaigns such as Email blasting, referrals such as Affiliate links, and display Ads.
Example: You just wrote a blog on your website and this time you sent emails to your subscriber’s list regarding this new blog. And if you know how to use Google Analytics to track visitors, that would be very helpful in understanding your returns on your efforts.
Before moving forward in this Google Analytics tutorial, do let us know in the comments section if you have any doubts.
6. Behavior Option
So this is the part of Google Analytics that tells you the pages which have been read the most along with the average time spent, bounce rate, and revenue made from Ads on those particular pages.
Most of the people don’t know how to use Google Analytics Behavior Option.
So, let us break down the Behavior option and do the website visitor tracking here.
The behavior section is divided into 7 categories where 5 are further classified
- Overview
- Behavior Flow
- Site Content
- Site Speed
- Site Search
- Events
- Publisher
This part defines the behavior based on their search history. You can also see their behavior flow like how do they land upon a certain page. What path do they follow.
You can use this data to understand their point of view and if you think you can change that to improve user experience, then you can do that as well.
Sometimes people say that they can track their website with Facebook Pixel, then why use Google Analytics?
Here are some reasons why using Google Analytics is a good decision:
- It is made by Google and when 92% of searches are coming from Google, then tracking can be accurate
- High quality tracking made easy with various metrics
- Catch real time data and track user activity on the website
7. Conversion Option
Now comes the conversion option wherein you can check how many people have done a certain activity that you wanted them to.
So, a conversion may have different meanings for different people.
Conversion can be:
- Downloading of an eBook
- Registering for an event/activity
- Watching a video
- Visiting a particular page
In the Conversion window, you get options such as:
- Goals
- ECommerce
- Multi-Channel Funnels
- Attribution
So, by now you have understood how to use Google Analytics, why to use Google Analytics, and how website visitor tracking is done.
This is majorly everything you needed to know about Google Analytics. Now, we’re done with the Google Analytics tutorial and you’re all set to install it on your website and start website visitor tracking.