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Your website is your brand's digital storefront, and it's where most of your potential customers will go to learn more about what you have to offer them.
You may have a beautiful website with all the bells and whistles, but if it's not generating the results you're looking for—then it's not serving its purpose.
A good website that's well-designed, easy to navigate, and provides a great user experience will help you engage and retain visitors. Most importantly, it helps drive traffic into conversions—helping grow your business.
Analyzing the visitors to your website and discovering how they engage with it can give you insights into what is working for your business—and ways to improve things.
One of the best tools for analyzing web traffic is Google Analytics, which comprehensively overviews who's visiting and what content most engages them. It's a window into your visitors' minds that provides valuable insights into how users interact with your website.
Google Analytics is a free, easy-to-use platform that gives you metrics into who's visiting your website, what they're doing, when they're there, and how you can optimize your website to increase engagement, conversions, and, ultimately, sales.
The wide range of metrics in Google Analytics can be beneficial—but it's also easy to get lost trying to figure out where best to focus.
In this blog post, we'll explore the 15 key metrics you need to track in Google Analytics so that you can use them to analyze how your website is performing.
Google Analytics is a web analytics service from the Silicon Valley giant Google that measures traffic patterns and analyzes site traffic.
With a tremendously broad base of users worldwide, Google Analytics offers marketers a robust tracking platform. What's more, it's completely free to use!
This powerful marketing analytics tool that has remained unchanged in almost every marketer’s tool kit.
To get started with Google Analytics, you need to sign up for an account and install a tracking code on your website to start collecting data.
Google Analytics uses cookies and other technologies to collect data about user interactions with your website, such as page views, time on site, and sources of traffic.
Once the data is collected and processed, it can be viewed in your Google Analytics account, where you'll find various reports and metrics to help you understand how people use your site.
In Google Analytics, a metric is a quantitative measure of a particular element of your website's performance. These metrics are grouped into different categories—such as engagement, conversion, and audience metrics—to help you understand your website's performance in depth.
For example, the "bounce rate" is an engagement metric that measures how many visitors leave your website after only visiting one page.
As a marketer, it's essential to measure the right metrics in Google Analytics to gain insights into your website's performance—and make data-driven decisions.
While GA offers a wide range of metrics and KPIs, not all of them are equally effective—some may be too broad or irrelevant to provide actionable insights into content performance.
To help you focus on the most important metrics, we've compiled a list of 15 key metrics and KPIs that you should be tracking:
Let’s take a closer look at each of these metrics to better understand.
Number of Users and Sessions are two core metrics in Google Analytics that measure the number of visitors to your website and their interactions with it.
A user is defined as a unique individual visiting your site, while a session is a collection of interactions a user has with your site during a set period.
Why is the Number of Users metric important to measure?
The number of users metric provides a high-level view of your website's traffic and engagement, helping you understand how many people visit your site—and how frequently.
If you track the number of users and sessions over time, you can see if your website is growing in popularity or attracting new visitors—or whether there are any declines in traffic.
How to view the Number of Users metric in Google Analytics?
To calculate the number of users and sessions, go to the “Audience” section of your Google Analytics account and view the “Overview” report.
The number of users is displayed as the sum of unique visitors over a set period, while the number of sessions is the total number of interactions (such as page views, clicks, etc.) during that period.
To get a better picture of how visitors interact with your site, you should also have a glance at additional metrics such as bounce rate, average session duration, and pages per session.
Best practices for improving the Number of Users and Sessions metric:
Increasing the number of users and sessions on your website can be achieved by utilizing the following techniques:
The bounce rate metric in Google Analytics measures the percentage of single-page sessions on a website. In other words, it tells you how many visitors leave your site after viewing just one page.
Why is the Bounce Rate metric important to measure?
Bounce Rate is an important metric because it gives you an idea of how effectively your website engages visitors. If a high percentage of visitors bounces, it could indicate that they find your site difficult to navigate or use—causing visitors to leave quickly.
How to view Bounce Rate metric in Google Analytics?
To view Bounce Rate in Google Analytics, go to the "Audience" section, and select "Overview."
OR Behavior > Site Content > All Pages.
Best practices for improving the Bounce Rate metric:
To reduce your site's Bounce Rate, consider the following tips:
The Average Session Duration metric demonstrates how long visitors stay on your website on average during each session. This metric is a good indicator of how engaging and valuable your website is to visitors.
In Google Analytics, this metric is displayed in seconds and calculated by dividing the total duration of all sessions by the total number of visits/sessions. Learn more about the average session duration metric at our MetricBase—a place to stay informed about SaaS metrics all-in-one place.
Why is the Average Session Duration metric important to measure?
A high average session duration indicates that users find your website content interesting and valuable, which is a good sign for your website's performance.
Alternatively, if your site has a low average session duration, it may indicate that users are leaving quickly—possibly due to a lack of relevant content or poor user experience.
How to view the Average Session Duration metric in Google Analytics?
You can view Average Session Duration in Google Analytics by going to the "Audience" section and clicking on "Overview."
Best practices for improving the Average Session Duration metric:
To improve your average session duration, you can try implementing the following best practices:
Ratio of New to Returning Visitors in Google Analytics metric depicts the percentage of new visitors for all the sessions. This metric shows how well your website manages to get new users while retaining existing users.
Why is this metric important to measure?
Measuring the ratio of new to returning visitors provides insight into how well your website is attracting and retaining visitors.
A high percentage of new visitors can indicate that your website is reaching a large audience. In contrast, a high percentage of returning visitors may suggest that your website is providing a positive experience and building loyalty.
How to view this metric in Google Analytics?
To view the ratio of new to returning visitors in GA, go to the “Audience” section and click on the “Overview” sub-section.
OR Audience > Behavior > New vs. Returning.
You can also view this data over time by selecting a date range and applying a secondary dimension such as location or device type.
Best Practices for improving the metric:
Pages Per Session metric in Google Analytics that shows the average number of pages viewed during a session on your website.
This metric determines how engaged your visitors are with your website and what parts of it they explore most.
Why are the Pages Per Session metric important to measure?
The "Pages Per Session" metric is crucial because it can provide valuable insights into how well your website performs in terms of engagement and user experience.
A higher number of pages per session typically indicates that the users are engaging more while navigating among the pages of your website.
How to view the Pages Per Session metric in Google Analytics?
You can view the "Pages Per Session" metric in Google Analytics by navigating to the "Audience" section and clicking on the "Overview" tab.
Best practices for improving the Pages Per Session metric:
Pageviews or Pageviews by Page are metrics in Google Analytics that show how many times a page has been viewed within a given time frame.
Why is the Pageviews metric important to measure?
Pageviews are a vital metric to measure—whether the page content attracts new or existing users.
It also helps you see how often a page has been viewed and whether users navigate your website effectively.
The Pageviews by Page report provides the most visited and least-visited pages on your site—which can help you identify areas of improvement.
How to view the Pageviews in Google Analytics?
To view the Pageviews and Pageviews by Page metrics in Google Analytics, go to the Behavior section and click on Site Content.
Best practices for improving the Pageviews metric:
Average Time on Page metric helps you to analyze the average amount of time visitors spend on a single page of your website.
Analyzing this metric can help you gauge how engaged your audience is with your page's content and determine if visitors find that content helpful.
Why is the Average Time on Page metric important to measure?
If visitors spend a long time on your pages, it could indicate that they find the information they are looking for and are engaged with your content.
If visitors spend a short amount of time on your pages, it may indicate that they're having trouble finding what they're looking for—and may leave.
How to view the Average Time on Page metric in Google Analytics?
Average Time on Page can be viewed in Google Analytics by going to the "Behavior" section and selecting "Site Content" followed by "All Pages."
Best practices for improving the Average Time on Page metric:
The Top Queries in Site Search metric measures the most frequently used search terms on your website's internal search engine.
It delivers valuable information about what your website visitors are searching for and what kind of content they are looking for on your site.
Why is the Top Queries metric important to measure?
Measuring the Top Queries in Site Search metric helps you to analyze what content is popular among your visitors and what they are looking for on your site.
This metric's data can be used to optimize your website's internal search functionality, making it easier for visitors to find what they are looking for and your customers' expectations.
Making the necessary improvements to your website will help to engage more users, which can result in higher engagement and lower bounce rates.
How to view the Top Queries metric in Google Analytics?
To view the Top Queries in Site Search metric in Google Analytics, go to the "Behavior" section, then select "Site Search."
You'll see a report that displays the top search terms used by visitors on your site—along with the number of searches and the percentage of searches that resulted in a conversion.
Best practices for improving the Top Queries metric:
The Top Landing Pages metric shows the pages on your website that visitors land on the most often. It gives you insight into which pages attract the most traffic and serve as your website's entry points.
Why is the Top Landing Pages metric important to measure?
The Top Landing Pages metric helps you analyze which pages are acting as the gatekeepers of your website.
When you know which pages are most popular, you can identify the ones that need improvement and optimize them—so they perform better.
How to view the Top Landing Pages metric in Google Analytics?
To view the Top Landing Pages metric in Google Analytics, go to the "Behavior" section and select "Site Content" and then "Landing Pages."
You will be able to see a list of your website's pages and the number of times each page has been the first page a user viewed during a session.
Best practices for improving the Top Landing Pages metric:
Channel-Wise Sessions, also known as Sources of Traffic, is a metric that measures the different channels that drive traffic to your website.
Direct traffic, organic search traffic, referral traffic, social media traffic, and paid advertising are commonly available channels.
Why is this metric important to measure?
Knowing the sources of your website traffic is crucial to understanding your audience and the effectiveness of your marketing efforts.
Identifying which channels drive the most traffic to your website allows you to optimize your marketing strategy, focusing on the most effective channels and increasing traffic and conversions.
How to view this metric in Google Analytics?
To view this metric in Google Analytics, go to the "Acquisition" section and then click on the "All Traffic" option.
You will see a breakdown of your website's traffic sources, including the number of sessions, the bounce rate, and the average session duration for each channel.
Best practices for improving the metric:
Google Ads Analytics refers to the integration of your Google Ads data with Google Analytics data. This integration lets you view performance data for your online advertising campaigns in Google Analytics, including impressions, clicks, conversions, and more.
Why is this metric important to measure?
Google Ads Analytics helps you better understand how your advertising campaigns are performing so that you can make data-driven decisions to optimize them.
You can see how users interact with your ads and what happens after they click, and you can use this information to identify areas for improvement.
How to view this metric in Google Analytics?
To view Google Ads Analytics data in Google Analytics, you first need to link your Google Ads account to your Google Analytics account.
Once linked, you can see Google Ads data in the "Acquisition" section of Google Analytics.
Best practices for improving the metric:
Device Metrics in Google Analytics allows you to understand the type of devices your website visitors are using when they visit your site.
Optimizing your site for different devices and seeing what kind of devices—users are on can provide noteworthy information about how to enhance the user experience.
Why is this metric important to measure?
In today's world, most people use mobile devices to access the internet—so businesses and developers need to understand how their websites look and run on these devices.
How to view this metric in Google Analytics?
To view the Device Metrics in Google Analytics, go to the “Audience” Report and click on the "Mobile" sub-section. You can see the percentage of website traffic generated from desktop computers, tablets, and mobile devices.
Additionally, you can see the type of mobile devices being used, such as iOS or Android.
Best practices for improving this metric:
Cost per conversion or referral is the average cost of acquiring a new customer or goal completion through advertising or marketing efforts.
You can calculate the cost per conversion by dividing the total cost utilized for the advertising by the total number of conversions or referrals.
Why is the Cost Per Conversion metric important to measure?
This metric informs you about determining the return on investment (ROI) of your advertising and marketing efforts.
By tracking the cost per conversion for each of your marketing channels, you'll know which channels generate positive ROI—and can optimize marketing strategies accordingly.
How to view the Cost Per Conversion metric in Google Analytics?
Cost Per Conversion metric can be found in the "Acquisition" section of Google Analytics.
Navigate to "Acquisition" > "Campaigns" > "Cost" to see your cost per conversion or referral data.
Best practices for improving Cost Per Conversion metric:
Exit Pages refer to the last pages viewed by a user before leaving your website.
These pages provide valuable insights into the user experience and what could be causing visitors to leave your site without converting.
Why is the Exit Pages metric important to measure?
Exit Pages help you identify potential problems with your website, such as poor page design or slow page load speed, that may be causing users to leave your site before they complete a desired action.
You can make improvements by analyzing your exit pages that increase user engagement and reduce bounce rates.
How to view the Exit Pages metric in Google Analytics?
To view Exit Pages in Google Analytics, you can go to the "Behavior" section and click on "Site Content." From there, you can select "Exit Pages."
Here you can see a list of your website's pages with the highest exit rates—so that you can target these for optimization.
Best practices for improving the Exit Pages metric:
Goal Conversions refers to the number of times a defined action or set of actions, known as a goal, has been completed on your website. This can be anything from making a purchase to filling out a form.
This can be anything from making a purchase to filling out a form. Essentially, Goal Conversions measures your website's success in achieving specific business objectives.
Why is the Goal Conversions metric important to measure?
Tracking Goal Conversions is critical for evaluating the effectiveness of your website in achieving your business objectives. It provides insights into the success of your marketing campaigns, website design, and user experience.
By measuring Goal Conversions, you can identify areas of your website that need improvement and make data-driven decisions to optimize its performance.
How to view the Goal Conversions metric in GA?
To view Goal Conversions in Google Analytics, you'll need to set up goals in the Admin section of your account. Once you've defined your goals, you can view conversion data: Conversions > Goals > Overview.
You can also see how each goal contributes to your overall website performance by looking at the Goal Conversion Rate, which is a ratio of the number of goal conversions and the number of sessions.
Best practices for improving the Goal Conversions metric:
Google Analytics provides a plethora of data about your website’s performance, but tracking and managing them all can be overwhelming for most SaaS businesses that lack the resources or expertise.
That's where Dataflo comes in—making life easy by simplifying Google Analytics data into beautiful dashboards that are easy to use, intuitive, and above all—no coding required!
Dataflo is a powerful tool that allows you to track all of your business's essential metrics and KPIs in a unified dashboard. Sounds interesting?
Just in a few minutes, you can set up a Dataflo Custom Dashboard to track your Google Analytics data with a 2-click easy integration.
You can also set up custom automated reports sent directly to your email or in a Slack channel on the metrics that matter most to you, so you always have the latest information at your fingertips.
In conclusion, if you're looking for a way to simplify your website analytics tracking and make it easier to understand your data, Dataflo is the solution you've been searching for. So, why wait? Start using Dataflo today and take the first step towards data-driven success!
Pravinan is a physicist turned writer who's currently wearing the marketer's hat. A tech enthusiast by nature and an avid non-fiction books reader, he loves to explore the world around him and always keep learning new things. When he's not working on his latest project, he likes to spend his time writing Tamil poetry or finding out more about organic farming.
