6 Reasons Your Business Should Be Using Google Analytics

Is your website not performing?

Have you recently improved or redesigned your website, but it still doesn’t make the phone ring?

Do you think your website is doing okay, but you are just not sure?

Do you have a website that needs some love, but you’re not sure where to begin?

If you answered Yes to any of these questions, don’t throw money away on any so-called solutions until you have all the facts!

One way to ensure you know where your website is falling short (and where it is working) is Google Analytics.

By now most of you have at least heard of Google Analytics. Many of you may even have it set up but aren’t sure how to use it or how to interpret the data.

Now is the time to educate yourself.

Why? Because your competitors are!

Firstly, what does Google Analytics do?

Simply put, Google Analytics is a web analytics tool that provides insights into a website’s and app’s online performance. You can access several useful data from how much time your visitors spend on each page of your site to what devices they use to browse to the number of individuals accessing your website.

Google Analytics has different versions and features that suit your needs. The newest version is Google Analytics 4 (GA4), which offers advanced tools to improve your analytics experience. This next-generation measurement solution has replaced Universal Analytics, as it provides comprehensive analytics and advanced features to measure engagement.

Google Analytics provides a wealth of information in so many areas, including:

• Direct traffic (where visitors type in your exact URL into their browser)
• Referral traffic (where visitors click links to your site from other websites)
• Search Engine Traffic
• Identifying your most viewed pages
• Identifying pages with high exit rates
• The amount of time spent (or not spent) on certain pages
• Which particular pages are bringing the most traffic to the site
• Which Keywords or Terms bring the most “qualified” leads to your site… and much more.

So, why should your business use Google Analytics?

1. It is completely free to use!

Google Analytics is a free service. You can use it for free if you are a small or medium-sized business and want access to the basic features. You can get everything from real-time data to mobile device tracking, app tracking, custom reporting, and advanced segmentation without paying for them. It is also very easy to install, so it’s no wonder most businesses use this cost-free tool.

2. You can understand user behaviour

You can get all the data that improves your site’s understanding of what is happening. For example, here are some questions you can answer when using Google Analytics.

User Insights

• Which pages on your website are the most popular?
• How did your visitors discover your website?
• Are you successfully converting your visitor’s visits into desired outcomes, such as sales or newsletter subscriptions?
• Are there any overlooked pages that receive minimal traffic?
• How are visitors navigating through your site?
• What is the average duration of your visitor’s session?
• Do first-time visitors or returning ones exhibit higher conversion rates?
• What is the navigation path your users take through your site?

Demographic insights

• What is the age distribution of your website visitors?
• What is the gender breakdown of your visitors?
• From where your visitors are coming?
• What are the interests of users based on their online behaviour and preferences?
• What is the device usage distribution among your visitors?
• What are your visitors’ preferred language?

3. You can make business decisions according to real metrics

Google Analytics offers many metrics you can use when making your business decision. All you need to do is identify the key performance indicators that align with your objectives. It can be website traffic, conversion rate, bounce rate or revenue.

For example, you can set up conversion tracking to monitor actions such as newsletter sign-ins, purchases or submissions to understand the conversion funnel. After understanding the issue, you can identify the bottlenecks and work on optimising the user experience.

You can easily utilise the segmentation feature of Google Analytics to dissect your data by segmenting your audience based on demographics, geography, behaviour, or acquisition channels. This will help you get valuable insights into various customer groups and preferences. Also, you can customise reports and dashboards in Google Analytics to focus on the metrics that matter most to your business.

4. It improves search engine optimisation

You can gain deeper insight into your SEO performance by linking Google Analytics with Google Search Console. It can be about finding out how your site appears in search results or understanding the queries that bring them to your site. Then, once you understand the scenario, you can adjust your SEO strategies depending on what’s driving the most traffic.

5. It opens up new opportunities for your business

Google Analytics offers businesses a wealth of data and insights. With Google Analytics, you can track the performance of multiple marketing channels, including social media, email and search engine marketing. So, when analysing the performance, you can work on allocating your marketing budget more effectively while focusing on channels that bring the best return on investment.

Google Analytics also provides insights into the sales funnel, including shopping behaviour, product performance, and checkout process efficiency. All these data help a business to optimise its operations for upselling and cross-selling. With Google Analytics providing real-time data, businesses can respond quickly to trends and issues while addressing problems before they escalate.

6. Integration with other tools is also possible

You can link Google Ads and Google Analytics. Yes, you heard it right. Integrating both accounts, you can import data from ads while sending information to boost your campaign performance. You can keep all the data in one place while thoroughly monitoring each performance.

One crucial Google Ads report within Google Analytics involves assessing the final URLs designated for ads. This provides valuable insights into user engagement on landing pages and conversion generation. It offers an invaluable understanding of what enhances your website’s appeal and empowers you to optimise it for visitors. Also, using Google Analytics to track campaign data provides an integrated overview of data that boosts the success of your ads.

In addition to Google Ads, you can import customer data from your Customer Relationship Management system into Google Analytics. Also, you can add Google Analytics tracking code directly to your CMS (Content management system) theme files. Some email marketing platforms offer direct integrations that sync data with Google Analytics.

Final words

There are other tons of benefits that make Google Analytics a valuable resource for businesses to grow to the next level. So, if you have Google Analytics set up for your website, learn how to interpret the data (or find someone who can) and take appropriate action on what it tells you.

If all this sounds Greek to you, relax and call WebAlive. We can help you implement Google Analytics on your website, advise you on its meaning, and improve your website in failing areas.