6 Things Google Analytics Says About Your Web Content

If you have a website, you need to use Google Analytics (if  you aren’t using another analytics program). This incredibly powerful tool will reveal indefinite amounts of data about your visitors. While I won’t go into the details of how to use Google Analytics here (Mahalo has a great “How-To”), I do want to tell you about ways you can improve your web content with the information it reveals.

1.    Google Analytics tells you what your visitors like about you (and that feels nice)

Under Content, select Top Content. Find out which one of your pages is viewed most often and which one of your pages is viewed for the longest. When you see what your visitors enjoy reading, you can add more of that type of content and put links to that content from your  important pages (e.g., home page and services pages).

2.    Learn what your visitors don’t care about

Just like you looked at the popular content, take note of the least popular. If no one is reading what you spend hours researching and writing about, then what’s the point?

3.    Find opportunities to expand your web content

Under Traffic Sources, select Keywords. See what keywords your visitors are using to find your site. You might be surprised to see that 25 people searched for “pink kitty hoodie,” for example. Use these random terms (sometimes called long tail terms) as idea starters for new web content.

4.    Discover where you should optimize

Along with those long tail keywords, pay attention to the keyword phrases that are bringing you the most visitors organically. Build on that success by creating more content containing those terms and by linking to the pages using the keyword phrases as anchor text.

5.    Look to see if it’s time to spice up your pages

From the Dashboard (the main page), you can see your bounce rate, which tells you how many visitors leave your site without clicking on any links. Some website owners boast bounce rates of less than 10% (this is AMAZING), but a realistic rate is somewhere between 40% and 90%. If you are close to 40%, be happy. If you aren’t, improve your web content and try different strategies to see what will decrease your bounce rate.

6.    Work to build a loyal following

Under Visitors, select Visitor Loyalty. See how many of your visitors return each month. If it’s your goal to create an online resource that visitors come back to again and again, then this information should be referenced often. If people aren’t returning, it’s time to create more valuable content. Give them a reason to come back.

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