How to analyze traffic sources in Google Analytics?

How to analyze traffic sources in Google Analytics?
It takes approx. 4 minutes to read this article

Getting information about where users are coming from on a particular website is very important for many reasons. First of all, we can find out if the promotional steps we are taking are the right ones. We know if they bring effects. Still the basic source of such analysis are Google Analytics reports. How to analyze traffic thanks to them?

Why is it worth tracking website traffic?

In case of the website counting and analyzing traffic is more difficult than in case of social media, where we can easily see the number of hits and clicks. Tracking website traffic with analytics tools allows you to see how popular your website is and what else you can do to increase interest in it

What are the benefits of increasing website traffic?

In this case, we can talk about two basic types of benefits. First of all, you can count on the fact that the company’s income will increase. It is hoped that potential customers interested in the products offered will be attracted to the site. The second type of benefit, which is associated with more hits, is the hope of establishing a relationship with the customer, for example, through a newsletter

Pasek wyszukiwania w telefonie
(Photo: Dilok Klaisataporn / EyeEm / EyeEm / Getty Images)

What is Google Analytics?

It is a Google tool that analyzes website traffic statistics. You can also interpret user behavior with it. Its big advantage is that it is available for free. It allows you to get several types of reports

  • Real-time reports – concern the number of users who are on the website at a given moment. What can we learn? What is the source of the visit, where the user comes from and which subpages he visits;
  • Recipients – we will find in-depth information about the website traffic. We will learn, among other things, about page views, session duration, language, age and gender of users;
  • Acquisition – from here we get information about traffic sources.
  • Behavior – we will learn, for example, about the paths of users moving around the site;
  • Conversions – will help us determine, among other things, the revenue generated by the website.

Acquisition” report – where does the website traffic come from?

Consideration of statistics included in the “Acquisition” category may be very important from the perspective of further website management. First of all, it is necessary to discuss the basic channels through which users can get to our website.

Traffic channels

  • Direct – direct hits, which will be counted when a user types in our website address or has it bookmarked; it is considered that direct hits indicate the actual strength of a brand. Very often it is the customers coming to the site through the direct channel who are most likely to buy,
  • Organic Search – visits to our website which are made by clicking on unpaid results provided by various search engines; it is also possible to distinguish which search engine was used by the user,
  • Referral – redirects to our website from a link placed on other websites; indicates the popularity of our website, which results, for example, from cooperation with bloggers or influencers,
  • Social – visits made thanks to social media platforms; it is possible to distinguish a particular medium (e.g. Twitter, Facebook). Thanks to the analysis of such inputs, we know how effective our social media campaigns are,
  • Paid Search – entries generated by paid advertisements; we can find out whether the advertisements paid by us bring the intended effect.
Statystyki z Google Analytics na kartce
(Photo by Bill Oxford / E+ / Getty Images)

What do we learn from the ”Acquisition” report? Data from the individual tabs

Each tab contains a slightly different set of useful information for the analyst. Some of the most important ones include:

  • Channels ” – we learn about how much of the traffic is generated by each channel;
  • All traffic ” – relates to the sources of hits to our site;
  • ”All Referrals” – refers to other sites used by people appearing on ours.

Main article image: photo by WDnet / iStock / Getty Images Plus / Getty Images

Add comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*