How regularly do you check your Google Analytics? Does your website even have Google Analytics installed? Google Analytics is one of the biggest and most important tools available to you for analysing data and finding areas to improve on your website. If you regularly check your Google Analytics, you’ll be able to pick up some very insightful information. In this article, I will be discussing the 4 main reasons why you need to be regularly checking your Google Analytics statistics.
If you’re in a position where you have not installed Google Analytics on your website or you have it installed but you’re unsure as to how to use it effectively, here is a very useful article - Google Analytics Guide For Dummies – 7 Things You Need To Master The Basics. If you’re still unsure as to how to use it, contact us today for help.
Let’s get started…
1. Check For Any Website Issues
The first reason why you should check your Google Analytics is possibly the most important reason. You need to check that there are no issues affecting your website’s performance which you have not yet detected. You would be surprised by just how many business owners don’t notice when there is an issue with their website. This could result in loss of traffic, poorer user experience, loss of rankings on Search Engines and most importantly, loss of enquires and sales.
To prevent this you need to regularly check Google Analytics. The stats that you want to keep an eye on are:
- Users: If you notice that a number of users takes a big drop then this could indicate that your website is having issues. By visiting your website yourself you may even be able to spot the issue (if it is an obvious one).
- Bounce Rate: If you notice that your bounce rate has increased then this could again indicate that your website or a page on your website is having some issues. Again, you will need to try and find the issue and go about getting it fixed
- Avg. Session Duration: If you notice that your average session time has dropped a lot or it’s even at 0.00 seconds, then there could be something wrong with the site. Again, you will need to check yourself and then report back to your website hosting company.
There can be cases where statistics are showing very low and this may not be down to your website. It could be the case that there is something wrong with the tracking code on your website. If you’ve checked your website and you can’t find any issues, then simply contact your website hosting company and tell them what you’ve found. They will then be able to test the site and make sure the code is still on the website correctly.
2. Check For Goal Conversions
This check would only apply if you have goal conversions set up within your Google Analytics account. If you have not yet done this, or never heard of this, here is a very useful article you can read - How To Increase Website Conversion Rates With Google Analytics. If you do have goal conversions set up then it’s vital that you actually check up on how well they’re doing! There’s no point of going through the process of setting up goal conversions if you’re not going to regularly check up on them. It’s also good to regularly check them so you can see how well they’re performing. If you can see that you’re not getting many conversions then it allows you to be able to think of things you can do, to get conversions up. For example, if your conversion is a submission on your contact form then adding CTA’s around the site can help guide people to your final goal conversion. CTA’s (Calls to Action) can be a very simple and effective way of improving conversions. Here you can find some great tips on effective CTA’s - Four Tips for Developing Effective Call to Action Buttons.
3. Check For Content Ideas
If you’re ever struggling for new content ideas then checking your Google Analytics can be a great way to get new content ideas, for both new content and existing content. It’s great, as you can see what search phases users have searched for to get on your website. If you can see that a lot of users are going to your website for a search phase that you do not mention on your website, then why not add it to your copy? This means that you can start to put together new content and copy for your website, which will appeal more to new users. This could potentially lead to new enquires and sales.
It also allows you to edit existing content which is on your website. If you can see that a lot of users are going to one specific page but they’re bouncing away from it and leaving it quickly, then you can see that something needs working on. You can then review the content which is on that page, tweak it accordingly and help improve the user experience.
Conclusion
These are just some reasons why you should regularly check your Google Analytics account. There are even more reasons out there why you need to do this but just remember that it’s only ever going to benefit your website and business. The more time you can put into reviewing and analysing data, the better experience you will be offering for your customers and potential customers. If you have any questions about Google Analytics either comment below or contact us.
