How to Use Google Analytics

How to Use Google Analytics

This article is intended to give you a brief overview of Google Analytics so you can understand how its features monitor what your website is doing for you. To get the most out of this article, log in to your Google Analytics account. Once you select the site you wish to analyze, each of the items listed below will appear on the left side of your screen:

The Dashboard – This is the page you come to after selecting “View Report” for the site you wish to track (if you are tracking more than one site, you will have multiple “View Report” links). The dashboard is a completely customizable ‘snapshot’ of the analytics features you are tracking. You can add or remove as many features as you want. For instance, if you are checking page visits and unique visitors each week, you will want to add the Visitors and Traffic Sources sections to your dashboard.

Visitors Section – This section tells you more about the people visiting your site: where they are located geographically, what language they speak, and what browser they are using to use the internet. No matter what business you are in, it is interesting to know more about the people that are “finding” you on the Web!

Traffic Sources Section – This section tells you where your visitors are coming from. Are they going directly to your site by typing in your website address? Are they clicking on a link to your site from another website? If so, which websites are referring them to yours? Are they finding your site using Google or another search engine? The answers to all of these questions can be found in the Traffic Resources section.

Content Section – This section measures the effectiveness of the pages of your site – which pages are getting the most visits and how long people are lingering on the pages they like.