Here are 10 quick tidbits of information about Google Analytics for Marketers, Bloggers and Beginners that I wish I knew years ago. From what a healthy bounce rate is to why 'average time spent on site' always seems so low. Sign-up for my Google Analytics SkillShare course for more information like this. Use the discount code 'RIFFRAFF' for 25% off. http://skl.sh/18xaj0E To download this presentation just pay with a tweet using this link: http://goo.gl/GqsdbA All Riff-Raff images used in this presentation are from Google Images.

1. BEGINNERS
GUIDE TO
10 THINGS
YOU NEED
TO KNOW

2. Google Analytics is an
incredible tool that helps
you make your site great.
Here are 10 interesting little
tidbits that will make your
site even more great.
@AmberHorsburgh

3. 1
Bounce rate: the amount of people that
leave your site after only viewing 1 page
A high bounce rate is not always a bad thing

4. A Healthy Bounce Rate varies from 10% - 98%
Website type
Example
Ave bounce rate
Service
Task Rabbit or Rdio
10 - 30%
Retail
Amazon or ASOS
20 - 40%
Lead Generation
National LGBT Museum or
Dadaab Stories
30 - 50%
Content
VICE or Huffington Post
40 - 60%
Landing Page
Every site
70 - 90%
Blog
The Sartorialist or Humans of
New York
70 - 98%
Source: Google Analytics

5. 2
Unique Visitors show the number of
distinct individuals that come to a site

6. BUT beware! Unique Visitors are not always people
This metric counts the cookies
dropped in a browser. Unique visitors
does not equal unique browsers,
people or computers.

7. 3
Average Visit Duration is thought to
show how long people spend on
your site on average

8. But, it is grossly inaccurate.
The way it is calculated underestimates the real length of
time. It does not count the time a visitor spends on the
last page they see.
Page #1
Page #2
10:00:00am
(T1)
10:00:30am
(T2)
Enters site
Page #3
Exits site
10:00:50am
(T3)
Time spent on Page 1 = (T2 - T1) = 30 seconds
Time spent on Page 2 = (T3 - T2) = 20 seconds
Time Spent on Page 3 = (unknown) = 0 Seconds
Time on site = 50 seconds

9. 4
‘Direct’ Traffic is usually assumed to be
people typing a site’s URL directly into
the address bar

10. There are more sources of ‘direct traffic’ than
meets the eye
9 common sources:
1. Visitor came through from bookmarks bar
2. Hyperlink from a Word or Powerpoint doc
3. Link was in Skype, G-Chat or AIM
4. Click-throughs from Mobile apps like Twitter
5. Link was in Javascript - this is a problem with
banners
6. Link was in a flash application
7. Link was on an intranet
8. Redirect pages
9. Site was set as the users homepage or pinned
tab

11. 5
Referral traffic shows the visits to your
site from those that came from site
sources other than a search engine

12. Referral traffic helps track
improvements in SEO
Referral traffic shows number of
backlinks exist to your site. Backlinks
help you gain trust and reputation in
the eyes of Google search engine.
This helps SEO ranking.

13. 6
Site Search shows the most common
things people look for in the search field
on your website
** Obviously my site could do better with search

14. Site Search makes for great content ideas
This metric is a great indicator of what
people organically want out of your site. Use
these themes and keywords to create
content for your site. This will be interesting
to your audience

15. 7
When measuring loyalty, most people look
at New vs. Returning users. But frequency
& recency reports give a better snapshot.

16. Frequency & recency reports are valuable to
content sites, which exist to build long term
readership and loyalty.

17. 8
To find the best type of content your
site has look to your top Landing
Pages from social traffic report

18. The top landing pages via social referral show
the content that is organically interesting to
social audience.
Repackage this type of content to get more use.

19. 9
The maximum session time
= 30 mins.
Users will be timed out after 30 mins.

20. This is important to note if your site
demands the attention of users for
longer than 30 mins.
E.g.: educational training sites and
audio/video streaming.

21. 10
Google Analytics
is not 100%
accurate

22. It does not catch data if:
The Analytics ID
tracking code is not
pasted on every single
page on your website.
People disable
nd Javascript or disallow
a
cookies.

23. Sign-Up on
to learn more about Google
Analytics for beginners.
http://skl.sh/
1bsUbR9
Use the discount code
‘riffraff’ to get 25% off.

24. Tweet to download.
@AmberHorsburgh
https://www.paywithatweet.com/
pay/?
id=e1ef33247a81f8c3880cf6691899f
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