The Latest Google Analytics Tutorial for 2023! Understanding 5 Types of Traffic Sources and the 4 Major Reports.

Contents

1. Introduction to Google Analytics! Is GA Analysis Useful?
2. Google Analytics Crash Course! Understanding Common Metrics at Once!
3. Navigating the Interface: Understanding the 4 Major GA Reports
4. Conclusion

Google Analytics Crash Course! Understanding Common Metrics at Once!

The 5 Main Traffic Channels in GA Analysis

Direct

• The top channel in GA's built-in sorting, common direct traffic includes:
  • Traffic from users who directly enter the website's URL.
  • Traffic from users who have the website bookmarked and reach it directly through the bookmark.
  • Traffic from users who scan a QR CODE and directly reach the website by entering the URL in the browser.

Organic Search Traffic from users who enter the website by inputting keywords into a search engine.

Referral Referral traffic, also known as "website recommendation traffic," is the traffic that comes from other websites' recommendations. For example, this can occur when a user enters the website by clicking on a link in someone else's blog post on platforms like Pixnet.

Paid Search Traffic that enters the website through clicking on paid advertisements, categorized as paid search.

Organic Social Traffic that comes from social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and others.

Common Metrics in Google Analytics

Session A session refers to the number of interactions a user has within a specific time frame after entering a website. It includes actions like page views, click events, form submissions, e-commerce transactions, and more.

• ※ How Sessions End:
  • By default: After 30 minutes of inactivity
  • At midnight
  • When a user enters the site from another source (browser) after exiting the site (For more information:https://reurl.cc/4X3vb3)

Bounce Rate The percentage of users who enter the website and leave after viewing only a single page.

Conversion The percentage of users who complete a specific action based on business goals.

• Conversions can include various categories, such as:
  • User registrations, phone calls
  • Newsletter subscriptions, file downloads
  • Adding items to the cart, making purchases

Navigating the Interface: Understanding the 4 Major GA Reports

Having understood the main channels and common metrics, I believe you now have a preliminary understanding of GA analysis. Next, let's delve into the most crucial aspect of GA, getting to know the "4 Major GA Reports": Audience, Acquisition, Behavior, and Conversion.

Audience - Who are the Website Users? Applicable for analyzing website user data and understanding user demographics and interests.

• Common categorizations include:
  • Demographics: User's language, country/region, city.
  • System: Browser, operating system, service provider.
  • Interests: Categories of user engagement frequency (e.g., technology, beauty, media, sports, etc.).
  • Active Users: The number of users actively visiting the website or app. (Indicators can be divided into 1/7/14/28 days to observe user usage patterns.)

Acquisition - Where do Users Come From?

• If you want to know how users are entering your website, you can do so by selecting the "Primary Dimension" and "Conversion" category to observe through which channels users are accessing the site.
  • Primary Dimension choices include: Top Channels, Source/Medium, Source, Medium.
  • Relevant Google tool integrations are available: Google Ads, Google Search Console.

• Further Explanation: What is Source/Medium?
  • Source - The origin of traffic, such as a search engine (Google), a domain (e.g., example.com).
  • Medium - The category of the source, such as organic search, cost-per-click paid search, referral traffic.

Behavior - What Do Users Do on the Website?

• Common categorizations include:
  • Overview: View pageviews, unique pageviews, average time on page, and user bounce rate.
  • Site Content: Arrival pages, exit pages.
  • Arrival Pages: Understand the main pages users arrive on.
  • Exit Pages: Understand which pages users mostly exit from and their exit rates.

Conversion - What Events Do Users Complete? When executing marketing strategies, enhancing website conversions is a crucial aspect. As mentioned earlier, "Conversion" comes in various types, customizable based on needs.Within the Conversion report, you can observe data behind the set conversion goals, such as goal completion rate, goal value, total abandonment rate, and more.※ Before accessing conversion pages, you need to set up "Conversion Goals." Go to Admin > View > Goals > Set up Goals in order to configure them.

• Common categorizations include:
  • Goal URLs: Provides the URLs where users reach the conversion points.
  • Reverse Goal Path: Displays how different traffic sources contribute to the website's performance conversion efficiency.

Boosting website conversions is a continuous process involving monitoring and optimization based on the insights gained from Conversion reports.