You’ve probably heard about Metrics for Google Analytics and wondered how they can be useful to your business. There are literally hundreds to choose from and it can help you build an influential and profitable website.
Listed below are some of the most common metrics that you can track with Google Analytics.
These are all valuable for any growing business, and tracking these is an important part of getting started. However, there’s more to Metrics than meets the eye.
Calculated Metrics for Google Analytics
Google Analytics has just made it easier to calculate data from your website’s data. By using calculated metrics, you can generate custom insights in Google Analytics without exporting data.
Instead, they are presented in your Analytics report alongside existing system data. This allows you to segment and compares the information. You can enable calculated metrics in your Google Analytics account in the Admin area of your site.
It is a similar process to selecting variables from Google Tag Manager.
The first step in setting up calculated metrics is to brainstorm what information you want to track. Some metrics you can use to track include conversion rates for goal conversions and page views per user.
You can also use standard reporting to track the number of sessions on your website.
Begin by deciding what metrics are important to track for the vision of your company. Then create reporting around those specific metrics to see changes month after month.
Continue the process until you are happy with the results in those particular areas. After you are satisfied, you can move to other metrics and work on their improvement as well.
To learn more about calculated metrics, read Google’s guide.
Custom Definitions and Dimensions
Google Analytics allows you to add custom dimensions to your reports. These custom dimensions can be sent to Google Analytics by using the Linkfire plugin.
To enable this feature, you must first log into your Google Analytics account and select the Admin tab.
Next, find the property you wish to send custom dimensions to. Then, click on Custom Definitions and Custom Dimensions.
You’ll be given the option to name your dimensions. Once you’ve selected the custom dimensions you want to send, click Save.
One example of this working well, is a nonprofit organization offering quality education to underprivileged youth.
To increase its conversion rate, they used LunaMetrics and Google Analytics. The two companies create marketing lists based on applicant information.
After importing this data into Google Analytics, this company then marketed to their audiences when they were searching for related content.
As a result, conversion rates increased by 57 percent.
Average Time on Webpage
The average time on the page in Google Analytics is a key metric that tracks the amount of time that users spend on a website.
While Google Analytics is a commonplace to find this information, you can use any of the numerous services available for tracking this metric.
To get started, log in to Google Analytics and choose Behavior > Site Content > All Pages. You will then see how long people spent on each page.
Depending on the type of website you have, you may be able to determine which types of traffic are more likely to spend time on your site.
To determine if this metric is appropriate for your website, start by checking the number of exit pages.
Many exit pages end a user’s session. Exit pages include order confirmation pages, which are explicitly designed to end a user’s session.
The average time spent on a page is a valuable metric, but it should not be used as a sole measure of success.
Bounce Rate of a Webpage
A high bounce rate on a website could be the result of poor website design, including the use of gateways and landing pages, which force users to do something before they leave.
This information can be helpful in identifying a website’s bounce rate, which is the percentage of visitors who leave without performing any action.
However, the default Bounce Rate is alarming when it comes to e-commerce websites, which could potentially result in lost sales.
The bounce rate for Google Analytics is calculated by dividing total page visits by the number of single-page sessions.
The data is then rounded to the nearest whole number, which gives the percentage of single-page sessions.
If the bounce rate is lower than 20%, your tracking setup might be faulty or you may have a tracking issue. If the percentage is higher than 80%, you may need to make some changes to the webpage.
Otherwise, you may need to consider implementing a better navigation strategy or improving call to action placement.
Average Session Duration
The average session duration for Google Analytics is a key performance indicator, but it’s not particularly helpful in isolation.
While it shows how long a user has spent on your site, it doesn’t consider the time spent on an exit page.
If your site is geared towards improving conversions and site optimization, you’ll probably want to supplement the data provided by average session duration with a behavior analytics tool.
When calculating the average session duration for your Google Analytics reports, you should consider how much time visitors spend on each page, including the home page.
This is especially important when you want to measure the number of people who spent more than a minute on your site.
Generally, the average session duration is between three and seven minutes, though some sites can record less.
This statistic is more useful than you might think. This is because it is based on the total time a user spends on your website, whereas time spent on exit pages is only measured at one or two page views.
Building Profitable Business Websites
Looking for a professional website that will make your business more profitable? Jeremy McGilvrey and his team build profitable websites and help with Google Analytics tracking. You can put into practice all the tools talked about in this article.
