Google Analytics reports are extremely valuable in helping to show users the effect of search engine optimization on their particular website or blog. As a blogger, some key measurements that are useful for me would be the “Content by Title” and the “New versus Returning” features. The “Content” section will tell me exactly which posts are being read. It also displays the “Time on Page” and “Bounce Rate” columns which will let me know if a certain page is deterring visitors from my blog. The “New versus Returning” measurement should tell me if I have any fans out there. I’ll know how many people have read a certain blog post and gain an insight into how effective my overall content has been for these visitors. These features allow me to easily judge the successes and fails of my blog and then possibly revise my content.
Visitor Acquisition Efficiency Analysis Report:
A great report within Google Analytics, that I had the pleasure of creating, is the Visitor Acquisition Efficiency Analysis Report. This particular report allows users to review the efficiency and performance across all streams of traffic to a site, including blogs. These specific streams include: Paid media (PPC, Display etc), Earned media (Social Media), and Free media (SEO, Referring Sites etc). The fact that it shows all traffic sources is important in that Google Analytics users get to have one place to see how all streams are performing. By including the input metrics, administrators can see exactly how many sessions(visits) relate to the number of unique visitors and how many existing visitors compare to the number of new visitors. For marketers, this section is important in that they would be able to see if their marketing dollars were following visits from people who have already visited the site, versus prospects. Google Analytics users are able to set goals that also appear within this particular report where anyone who spends more than a certain amount of time on the site or views a certain number of pages will be displayed so it will become easier to determine how successful the site is and how many people are actually paying attention to the site. Last, administrators can see exactly how much business value was added, as this report can help with prioritizing one's focus. Users are able to quantify their Twitter earned media efforts to determine how many cents of extra value it yielded for every visit when compared to other social media sites' earned media efforts. One can also see how much it cost to get that particular traffic to the site. More often than not, paid media reigns first for marketers in terms of prioritizing goals for the site, but the "Cost" section of this report is very encouraging for users to get cost numbers and factor in “Cost per Conversion” or “Cost per Visitor” when making decisions to be the most effective (Kaushik, 2010).
Audience Custom Report:
This particular report can also be very valuable to the success of any website or blog. It is important to understand site's demographics so that one can possibly cater it to appeal more to these visitors. Within the report there is a “City and Language Overview” and “Keyword Targeting” metric. The “City and Language Overview” section of the report shows which cities and languages one receives the most visits from and makes the most money off of (Pratt, 2012). . It could be very surprising and insightful to possibly learn that the most profit is coming from those who speak languages that the site is not even translated in yet. The “Keyword Targeting” aspect of this report allows users to view the keywords that are used by each country and the language visitor demographic and determines how profitable they are for the site. This particular metric is good for refining one's keyword targeting (Pratt, 2012). For myself, in particular, I could see which foreign languages my blog is most popular in and then translate it. In terms of link building, I could distribute the translated content for links to popular industry blogs in that particular language as well.
Keyword Analysis Custom Report:
This may be one of the more valuable custom reports run within Google Analytics. It contains three components: targeting, engagement and revenue. The targeting aspect is pretty simple and is a flat table report that places the “Page Title” and the “Keyword” that is sending it traffic side-by-side. A number of other metrics can be added to determine if users are actually targeting the right keyword on the right page (Pratt, 2012). For instance, one may be getting a lot of traffic for one particular keyword, but most of the people that visit the site are going other places and are not converting. This could lead users to perform some further testing and possibly changing which page they are optimizing for that particular keyword. The “Engagement” feature focuses on how engaging visitors are when they are visiting the site via a certain keyword. Traffic is great, but if it is not doing anything for the site, then it is no good. This report can assist in identifying problems and opportunities for keywords that have low/high engagement rates. The “Revenue” portion of the report shows exactly how much money a particular keyword is making for the site. It looks at the number of transactions, the revenue generated, and the per visit value of organic traffic for each keyword (Pratt, 2012).
Social Sources Report:
This particular report is especially important in that it shows the networks and communities that visitors are using to engage with one's content. It also shows exactly how many people are interacting based on where they came from. All in all, it gives marketers a better sense of where they should be allocating certain resources. The “Activities Stream” tab allows marketers to get an interactive look at how their content is being shared on Google's social network. Businesses would be able to identify their top influencers. This tool is extremely powerful for marketers seeking to increase their engagement plans or identify brand advocates in that it gives insight into how the content is being shared across Google (Barone, 2012). One can see who is initiating the conversations about the brand, what they're saying when they share it, and get direct access to these people. For instance, if I'm looking to build a list of brand advocates for an upcoming book that I have about to come out, I can go to the “Activities Stream” within Google and see everyone who is talking about me on Google. After selecting a post, I can view activity to be directed to the page where the mention occurred. Marketers can utilize the report to understand which networks contribute the most return on investment and to get an idea of the content that should be created for each (Barone, 2012).
References:
Barone, K. (2012). Google Analytics Social Reports Provide Huge Metrics Edge. Retrieved June 24, 2012, from http://www.convinceandconvert.com/social-media-measurement/google-analytics-social-reports-provide-huge-metrics-edge/.
Kaushik, A. (06 December 2010). 3 Awesome, Downloadable, Custom Web Analytics Reports.Retrieved June 24, 2012, from http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/best-downloadable-custom-web-analytics-reports/.
Pratt, T. (05 March 2012). Maximizing Google Analytics Insight for SEO with Custom Reports. http://www.seobook.com/maximizing-google-analytics-insight-seo-custom-reports.
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