Metrics in Google Analytics

Metrics in Google Analytics

Today we are going to break down, on a simple level, the components of Google Analytics & help you understand tons of valuable data.

But before diving into the main topic if you don’t know what is “Google Analytics” & “why it is important for your business” then kindly check out our previous posts. Don’t worry we got you covered. Check out Google Analytics.

We will be covering some of the important metrics from Google Analytics such as traffic to your websites, popular web pages, & how your visitors are making their purchase.

You must be thinking we are going to set you free in a pool of technical jargon. Wrong. We are here to simplify your life. To a clueless business owner who is just starting or is fairly non-technical, these terms may sound overwhelming to you. But trust us once we have explained all these metrics in simple and easy to understand terms, it will be the best thing to happen to your business.

Good news: Google Analytics is completely free.

What are the Metrics in Google Analytics?

Some business owners throw this word around a lot. Lots of people use this term blindly in their presentations. But let’s be practical. I’m sure nobody has ever explained to you what Google Analytics metrics are. That’s where we (Tech Centred) come in as your hero. We make sure that by the end of each post our audience gets a satisfactory answer.

A metric is a performance measure or data set that is related to the actions of your website.

For e.g how many visitors have visited your website, how long visitors stay on your website, or what is the bounce rate of your website? These are all the Google Analytics Calculated Metrics that form the base of your website and indicates how your website is performing over time.

Note: Bounce Rate is an important factor when it comes to your website performance. Don’t worry we have got you covered. Check out Bounce Rate where we have covered it in great detail & in-depth explanation.

Why do you need to know about Google Analytics Metrics?

As a business owner, you already know that a website is the most important factor for growing your business. Okay great, you have already set up your website. But what next?

You need a tool to track your website’s performance. Next, you can turn to Google Analytics to see how your website is performing & if there’s any update that you want to make.

Let’s start the show of metrics.

Metrics in Google Analytics explained in detail!

You may find your head-scratching sometimes when some Google Analytics Metrics is thrown to you. But believe us there is no shame in that.

So let’s look at some of the most important Calculated metrics in Google Analytics.

1. Traffic

You may have found yourself waiting for hours & hours in a queue while buying something from the physical store. But time has changed. Now instead of going to some physical store, you prefer to look at the item on some websites before buying it. Also, you don’t have to wait in a line or something to buy a product. That’s where the metric traffic comes into the picture.

The most basic metric is website traffic. It tells you how many people visit your website over a defined period. Understanding the traffic of your website gives you an overall idea about how your website is performing.

2. Bounce Rate

If you’re wondering why this term is thrown at you again or if you still don’t understand it. Then we advise you to check it out from our previous posts Bounce Rate

The bounce rate is one of the indications that tell you that something has to be changed on your website.

The bounce rate is defined as the percentage of visitors who visit the landing or home page of your website and exits doing nothing.

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Bounce Rate is a vast topic & heated debate is going on all around to “whether Bounce rate affects your website ranking or not”.

If you have a high bounce rate it indicates that people are leaving quickly from your website because of bad content or that you are not targeting and funneling the right people to your website.

3. Exit Pages

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Let’s take the analogy of the physical store. The customers leave the store after not finding what they want.

Similarly, users who don’t like what they see on the website, just leave. Well, it’s also possible that they have found what they were looking for and then it’s obvious to leave the website.

But exactly how we can see which page is causing most of the traffic to leave? That’s where these metrics came into the picture.

This Google Analytics Calculated Metrics shows you the page which caused most of the traffic to leave. By knowing this you can easily update the content or the strategy of the page for your advantage.

Pro Tips:

• Keep your website updated.
• Ensure that there are related content links on each page of your website to encourage the audience to stay longer on your website.

4. Traffic Source

You advertise in dozens of places. Don’t you wish to know which sources work best for you and gives you a desirable output. Do not worry. This metric tells you exactly what you are looking for.

One of the most important & useful Google Analytics metrics is “Traffic Source”. It tells you what are the sources from, your traffic is coming. There are tons of ways through which one can visit the website. These Calculated metrics in Google Analytics give you an overall idea of the sources that are generating traffic for your website.

Some of the common sources these metrics tell you are:

Referral, Social, Organic Search, Direct, Display, Paid Search, Email, other advertising & other sources.

Refer below the image for better understanding.

5. Average time spent

This metric from Google Analytics can help you to have a good relationship with your visitors. Whether you are a businessman or entrepreneur, you do want to know on average how much time a visitor spent on your website to gain better insights about your website. These metrics tell you the same. See the above image in Traffic Source metrics for better understanding.

6. Average pages per visit

This metric from Google Analytics gives you an insight into what is called “Average page a user visits on your website”.

See the above image in Traffic Source metrics for better understanding.

7. Top Pages

A website has different sections and pages. So is there any thumb rule or a way to check that which page is performing better than other pages? It’s obvious that once you get the top page that is performing well you can focus on that page to make it even better. But how?

That’s where these metrics come into the picture. It provides you the information regarding the traffic, bounce rate, duration, etc. You can optimize various sections as per your need.

8. Unique visitors vs Returning users

I’m sure you have heard about the 80/20 principle. 80% of the output comes from your 20% efforts. The principle applies to your visitors. In such a situation, wouldn’t it be amazing to keep an eye out for how many visitors are new, and how many of them are returning ones?

Well, no need to look further. These metrics have got that covered, already.

9. Location

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I’m sure you may be wondering or want to know from which part of the world is your audience coming from. Don’t worry Google has got you covered. This metric from “Google Analytics” basically shows you country wise users that are visiting your website.

10. Site Speed

Google Analytics does a good job by showing the performance of the page in terms of its loading speed.

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All right, so now I assume that you understood some of the basic & important Google Analytics metrics that there are to known. There is much more to learn about it and the journey never ends but we believe that having an idea of basic metrics can help you get to get started.

Thank you my dear audience for reading my post.