12 Definitions to Get You Started
How well do you understand your website's Google Analytics? Are you able to adjust your site based on these statistics? From major retailers to small bloggers, understanding your website's performance is crucial. Learning some of the more basic, yet important terms, below will help you make sense of your Google Analytics account.
Key Analytics Terms
- Bounce Rate - A bounce occurs when a user only views one page, and then leaves the website. A bounce rate is the percentage of these single-page-users on any given page. Example: 10 people landed on your homepage. 3 of them immediately go back to Google.com. Your homepage has a bounce rate of 30%.
- Clicks - The number of times users enter your website from search engine results. Example: A user Googles your companies name and location. A link to your site's homepage comes up in Google search results and the user clicks on it. This counts as a click.
- Channel - The source a user enters your website through. These sources include email, social media, or paid and organic search. Example: A user Googles your companies name and location. A link to your site's homepage comes up in Google search results and the user clicks on it. This user got to your site through an Organic Search Channel.
- Events - These are custom interactions completed and tracked on your website. Example: You want to track home many times users click play to watch a YouTube video embedded on your site. The way to track this would be by setting up an event within your analytics account.
- Goal - These are configured in analytics to track preferred actions. Goals can vary depending upon the company or website. Example: The goal of your website is to bring in as many website form fills as possible. Your goal would be set up to track how many times users filled out a form on your site.
- Conversion - A conversion is recorded every time a user completes a setup and desired goal. Example: Every time a form was filled out and submitted to your website, a conversion would be tracked.
- Impressions - When a link to your website is shown in search engine results (normally Google search results) it is considered an impression. Example: A user Googles your companies name and location. A link to your site's homepage comes up in Google search results. This is considered an impression.
- Landing Page - The first page a user lands on when entering your website. Example: Your website is advertising for a sales event through Google Ads. A user clicks on the link and lands on a page discussing the specifications of the sale. The page discussing specifications is the landing page.
- Page Views - The number of pages recorded as being viewed by users. Example: A user reaches your site and lands on the homepage. They then go to your contact page and then your inventory page. This particular user ended with 3 page views (Homepage, Contact Page, and Inventory Page.)
- Sessions - A session is the interaction a user has with your site from start to finish. Once a user goes inactive, a new session is able to begin. Example: A user enters your website and spends 4 minutes clicking through 8 different pages. When they are done, they exit out of their web browser. This would conclude their session.
- Time on Site - The average amount of time users spend on an navigating throughout the website. Example: 3 users enter your website in a day. User One spends 3 minutes on the site, User Two spends 1 minute, and User Three spends 5 minutes. The average time on site for this day is 3 minutes.
- Users - A user is any individual person who is looking through your website. Example: A person enters your website to look through your inventory. This person is considered a user.
Understanding all of the definitions above is a great start to understand the data your site is bringing in. The next step would be learning how to make adjustments to improve site rankings and productivity. Contact Informatics Inc. to learn how we can help!
