Do you know that more than 29 million websites use Google Analytics?
So what is Google Analytics?
Google Analytics is a tool that helps website owners. It tells them important things about their website, like how many people visit it, where those people are from, website traffic analytics, and what they do on the website. It’s like a helpful tool for website owners to understand their visitors and make their websites better.
In this blog, we will talk about the Google Analytics reports that can help you make your blog successful.
Let’s begin by understanding what Google Analytics reports are and their purpose.
What are Google Analytics reports, and how can you use them to make your blog more successful?
Google Analytics reports are a way to see how people are using your blogs. You can use this information to make your blog better.
When you log in to Google Analytics, what do you check?
Most likely, you see a page telling you how many people are currently on your blog. It’s quite easy to guess because that’s what Google Analytics shows when you log in.
But which pages do you regularly check?
I assume you look at two main pages: the “Audience Overview” and the “Acquisition Overview.“
In the Audience Overview
Sometimes, you might also look at your top pages or the specific words that bring traffic. But even if you do, what do you do with that information?
Probably not much, right?
No need to feel bad, as only some content marketers look at these numbers and don’t do much with the data.
You can create custom Google Analytics reports tailored to your business needs. This means you can use the metrics that are most important to you and present the data in a way that makes sense to you.
Before you start building reports, it’s important to understand the difference between analytics and reporting. Analytics is the process of collecting and analyzing data. Reporting is the process of presenting the data in a way that is easy to understand and use.
When you’re building reports, it’s important to consider the purpose and scope of the report. What do you want to learn from the report? Who will be using the report? Once you know the purpose and scope, you can choose the right metrics and present the data in a way that is clear and concise.
This blog will answer all your questions and explain how to make your blog better and increase your earnings from it. Here are 7 reports you should start checking on a regular basis. Here they are, and here’s how to use them.
Building a Google Analytics report
To build a report, go to the Google Analytics website and click on the “Reports” tab. Then, click on the “Customization” tab and select “Custom reports.”
In the “Custom reports” dialog box, enter a name for your report and select the type of report you want to create. You can choose from a variety of report types, such as tables, graphs, and maps.
Once you have selected a report type, you can start adding dimensions and metrics to your report. Dimensions are the characteristics of your blog traffic, such as the source of the traffic, the device used, and the user’s location. Metrics are the quantities that are measured, such as the number of page views, the number of visitors, and the bounce rate.
Once you have added dimensions and metrics to your report, you can click on the “Save” button. Your new report will be saved to the “Custom Reports” tab.
Report 1: Cohort Analysis
So, what exactly is cohort analysis in Google Analytics?
Cohort analysis in Google Analytics is a way to group users together based on a shared characteristic, such as when they first visited your blog. This allows you to track the behavior of these groups over time and identify trends.
Many content creators focus on attracting new visitors, but it is actually more important to retain existing ones. Repeat visitors are more likely to become fans, customers, and leads.
To retain visitors, you need to understand their behavior. One way to do this is to use the cohort analysis report in Google Analytics. This report shows you the percentage of visitors who return to your site over time after their first visit.
To view the cohort analysis report, go to Audience > Cohort Analysis. Then, select the “cohort size” drop-down from the menu and narrow it to “by week.”
Naturally, you will see the percentage of visitors returning to your blog taper. This is normal, but the goal should be to get visitors to return to your site again and again.
Most blog readers visit a blog multiple times before becoming customers. This means that retaining readers is the key to success.
You can retain readers by collecting their emails, encouraging them to subscribe, or using other strategies.
Think about it: if you get hundreds of new visitors to your blog every day but none of them ever come back, your sales will suffer.
You should regularly check your Cohort Report to see how many readers are returning to your blog. You can then try to improve the numbers by making changes to your blog.
Report 2: Benchmarking
Benchmarking is a way to compare how well your blog is doing to other blogs in your industry.
You can use benchmarking to see where your traffic is coming from, how long people are staying on your blog, and what keywords they are using to find your blog.
The different types of benchmarking are:
- Internal benchmarking: Comparing your blog performance over time.
- External benchmarking: Comparing your blog performance to other blogs in your industry.
- Competitive benchmarking: Comparing your blog performance to your direct competitors.
- Benchmarking is important because it can help you identify areas where you can improve your blog. For example, if you see that your competitors are getting more traffic from social media, you may want to focus on improving your social media marketing strategy.
To access the benchmarking report in Google Analytics, go to Audiences > Benchmarking > Channels.
To get the most out of the benchmarking report, compare your blog’s performance to industry standards, not just your competitors. This will give you a better understanding of how your blog is doing relative to other blogs in your industry.
You should also look at trends over time to see how your blog is performing and identify areas where you can improve. For example, if you see that your bounce rate has been increasing over time, you can investigate the reasons behind this and make changes to your blog to reduce your bounce rate.
Finally, you can use the benchmarking report to set goals for your blog. For example, if you see that your competitors are getting more traffic from social media, you can set a goal to increase your social media traffic by 10% in the next quarter.
Benchmarking is a powerful tool that can help you improve your blog’s performance and achieve your business goals. By following these tips, you can get the most out of the benchmarking report and make informed decisions about how to improve your blog.
Report 3: Users flow
The Google Analytics User Flow report shows you how visitors use your blog. It groups visitors by where they are in the world and tracks how they click from one page to another.
For example, you might find that visitors from India mostly click on a drop-down menu to find the services they want, while visitors from India prefer to click on links on the homepage.
You can use this information to improve your blog and make it easier for visitors to find what they want. For example, you could create different landing pages for visitors from different countries.
To access the User Flow report, click on Audience > User Flow.
The User Flow report can help you:
- Improve your blog.
- Understand how visitors use your blog.
- Find unexpected paths or patterns that you can use to guide your visitors.
Compare users from different countries to see how they navigate your blog differently. This information can help you understand the needs and preferences of visitors from different countries. For example, you might find that visitors from one country are more likely to click on a drop-down menu to find the services they want, while visitors from another country prefer to click on links on the homepage.
Look for pages that people are leaving quickly. This could mean that those pages are not interesting or helpful to visitors. You can use this information to improve the content or design of those pages.
See which pages people are visiting before they make a purchase. This information can help you create a better sales by making it easier for visitors to find the products or services they are interested in and complete the purchase process.
Report 4: Location
No matter if you want to reach a local audience or grow your brand worldwide, the Location report shows you where people are interacting with your blog.
One of the best things about having a blog is that you can reach a much wider audience. You can quickly make your blog global. Many successful blogs are written in multiple languages to attract target audience members from around the world.
If your blog is in English, your traffic is probably mostly coming from English-speaking countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. However, depending on what you write about, you may be surprised to see traffic from other countries too. For example, if you write in English, countries like the United Kingdom and the United States will be some of your top countries.
I want you to look at the countries that are growing in popularity but the majority of their population speak a different language than what you are blogging in.
To get your location report, go to Audience > Geo > Location. Here, you will see a breakdown of users by country. If you have a lot of traffic from non-English-speaking countries or if you want to reach more visitors from around the world, you could consider translating your blog into those languages.
This will allow you to bring more traffic to your blog and reach customers from all over the globe.
Report 5: Device overlap
Blog content can be read anywhere and on any device, from desktop computers to tablets to smartphones.
One way to know if you have a loyal audience is to see how often they read your blog on multiple devices. For example, you want people to read your blog from their iPhone and laptop.
The more ways people can consume your content, the stronger brand loyalty you’ll build, which will increase conversions.
To see how many people are reading your blog from multiple devices, go to Audience > Cross Device > Device Overlap in Google Analytics.
If you can get the overlap to be over 6%, you’ll have a very sticky audience that is much easier to convert.
In other words, people are more likely to become customers if they read your blog on multiple devices.
Report 6: Social Landing Page Reports
When you publish a high-quality blog post, your target audience is more likely to share it on social media. This can greatly increase the reach of your post and its lifespan.
Your readers can be some of your biggest fans and brand ambassadors. By tracking which pages are most popular on social media, you can better understand what topics your target audience finds valuable enough to share with their friends.
To access the social landing page reports in Google Analytics, go to Acquisition > Social > Landing Pages.
This report shows you the pages on your blog that are getting the most traffic from social media. You can see which social networks are driving the most traffic, as well as which specific pages are most popular on each network.
You can use this information to create more content that is likely to be shared on social media. You can also use it to optimize your existing content for social sharing.
For example, if you see that a particular blog post is getting a lot of traffic from LinkedIn, you can try posting about it more often or using different hashtags. You can also try creating a social media image for the post to make it more visually appealing.
By tracking your social landing page reports, you can learn more about what your audience is interested in and how to create content that they will love and share.
Here are some tips for using the social landing page reports:
- Look at the pages that are getting the most traffic from social media over time. This can help you identify trends and see what types of content are consistently popular with your audience.
- Compare the traffic from different social networks. This can help you see which networks are most effective at driving traffic to your blog.
- Look at the specific pages that are most popular on each social network. This can help you see what types of content are most likely to be shared on each network.
- Use the information from the social landing page reports to create more content that is likely to be shared on social media. You can also use it to optimize your existing content for social sharing.
Report 7: Backlinks Report
Backlinks are links from other blogs to your own. They are important for two reasons: they drive traffic to your blog and build authority and credibility for your blog. Google’s search engine algorithm favors blogs with a lot of high-quality backlinks. This means that your blog is more likely to appear in search results if it has a lot of backlinks from other blogs.
You can see a list of all the backlinks to your blog in the Backlinks report in Google Analytics. To access this report, go to Behavior > Site Content > Landing Pages and add ‘full referrer’ as a dimension.
The Backlinks report can help you identify which blogs are linking to your blog, the anchor text of the backlinks, and the quality of the backlinks. You can use this information to improve your SEO strategy. For example, you can reach out to blog that are linking to you and ask them to update the anchor text of their links. You can also create more content that is likely to be linked to by other blogs.
In short, backlinks are important for your blog because they drive traffic and build authority. You can use the Backlinks report in Google Analytics to identify and improve your backlinks.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Google Analytics is a powerful tool that can help you track and improve your blog’s performance. The reports covered in this article can help you understand your audience, where they’re coming from, and what content they’re interested in. You can also use these reports to identify areas for improvement, such as increasing backlinks and improving your mobile experience.
FAQS
Q: Why is it essential to analyze blog traffic?
A: Analyzing blog traffic helps you understand your audience, their preferences, and how they interact with your content. This knowledge can lead to better content and increased success.
Q: Is Brightviu’s approach flexible and customizable?
A: Absolutely. Our services are designed to be flexible, scalable, and customized to your unique business needs. We work closely with you to provide the best solutions.
Q: How can I keep readers coming back to my blog?
A: Engage your readers by collecting emails, encouraging subscriptions, and consistently delivering valuable content. Use cohort analysis to track returning visitors.
Q: What should I do if my bounce rate is high?
A: High bounce rates indicate that visitors leave quickly. Improve the content or design of those pages to make them more engaging
Q: What services does Brightviu provide?
A: Brightviu offers web development, mobile app development, cloud services, analytics, and more to help businesses succeed in the digital world.
Q: How can Brightviu help with SEO strategy?
A: We can help you build and optimize your SEO strategy to improve your website’s search engine visibility and reach a broader audience.
Q: What are the main reports in Google Analytics for reporting on digital marketing effectiveness?
A: The primary reports in Google Analytics for assessing digital marketing effectiveness include Audience Overview, Acquisition Overview, Cohort Analysis, Benchmarking, Users Flow, Location, Device Overlap, and Social Landing Page Reports. Regularly using these reports can help you understand how your digital marketing efforts are performing and make informed decisions to improve your strategies.
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If you have any doubts or inquiries, feel free to contact us at contact@brightviu.com. We’re here to help you with all your digital solutions needs!
