Getting the Most Out of Google Analytics

I recently attended a webinar about Google Analytics that was aimed at post-secondary institutions who would use Analytics to gather data on how effective their website is. Not all the information was relevant to a small, non-profit organization, but I did learn a few gems:

• It’s important to define the goals of your website. Then the data you gather will have meaning.
• All data gathered by Analytics is anonymous and not shared with any other organization.
• The Pageview data tells you how many pages on that website were viewed.
• A visit or a session is 30 minutes long or until the person leaves, whichever is shorter.
• Each visitor is uniquely identified so that the data isn’t muddled by some very frequent visitors.
• Bounce means that the visitor only viewed one page for a brief amount of time. Your bounce rate is bad if it’s over 50%. To improve it, you should check the keywords for your site, and the pages where people land who are bouncing.
• The URL builder allows you to track what media sent people to your website. It tags your website’s URL which you could distribute, for example, by email. Then you can track the success of a particular promotional campaign.

Thanks to EDge, the Student Recruitment Solutions Company, for running this free webinar.