One of the cornerstones of digital marketing is the analysis of data from websites, being Google Analytics the main tool to achieve them. This data is crucial for companies to work on their sales strategies, expand the reach of campaigns and their conversion rates.
However, as is often the case with these types of specialized tools, its features and various functions can become a bit overwhelming. For this reason, we have decided to treat the basic metrics that will allow us to have a general knowledge of the data offered by this Google service.
8 Basic Google Analytics Metrics
Upon entering the main page of Google Analytics we will get a look at what the most important metrics would be: Users, Sessions, Duration of sessions and Bounce rate. These metrics initially offer a general view of the interactions generated within the website. These, along with four others, are found in the overview section in the Audience section, and will be the ones that we will explain below.
Users
As a first metric we have that of the users, which refers to all those who have logged in, that is, they have entered the site. In this way, we can say that users are the people who visit the website and whose income is registered. like a cookie in your browser. That said, if the person comes back to the site from another browser or device, it would be counted as a new user.
new users
This next metric offers the figures of those users who have entered the website for the first time within the period to be verified. Here you can see the unusual traffic of the site, which may be the product of campaigns or other methods of attracting users.
When comparing it with the previous section, it is possible to generate an estimate of loyalty in web users by seeing the difference between their amounts. That said, depending on the features present on the site these figures may vary. For example, on a website or eCommerce that has a login system, the number of new users will be lower.
sessions
This metric refers to the to the interactions carried out by each user within the site (go to the home page, visit different products). That is, the same user can do several sessions, with which this number will be greater than the number of users.
As Google explains:
“A session is a set of interactions of users with your website in a given period. For example, a single session can contain multiple page views, events, social interactions and electronic commerce transactions. A single user can open multiple sessions, either on the same day or over multiple days, weeks, or months«.
As soon as a session ends, it is possible to start a new session. The expiration of sessions (that is, of that set of interactions) can be based on:
- Time: after 30 minutes of inactivity or at midnight
- The campaign: If the user arrives at the site through a campaign, leaves it and then returns to the site through another campaign.
Sessions by users
As we had mentioned, the sessions are the visits generated by each of the users. The average number of sessions per user is a ratio of the number of sessions for each of the users, that is, the number of interactions generated by the same user when visiting the web.
This metric allows validating the quality of the content offered by the site, as well as its general attractiveness, since users must have a specific interest in it when they continually return.
Number of page views
This section provides a figure on the number of page views within the site regardless of sessions and the number of users. At this point, the different repeated visits made to the same page are even taken into account. Thus, if a user returns to the home page every time they finish with a piece of content, these returns will be taken as a new one. This data is the most you should see in your Analytics dashboard.
As with the average number of sessions, with this metric it is possible to check the level of interest generated in the public. Since, by presenting a greater number of visits, it implies that users remain within the site interacting with the different types of content.
Pages/Sessions
Here we can find an average of the number of pages visited by each of the users in their different sessions on the site. With this figure we can have an idea of the depth of each visit, or rather, the level of interest that users show about the content of the site. This ratio will tend to be greater than one, especially in eCommerce, since the user will need to interact with different pages during the purchase process.
If it presents a low number, it would mean that the store presents an abandonment rate, since the clients do not make their purchases. On the other hand, in blogs or news sites, this would imply that the invitation to read other content, apart from the one that caught the user’s attention, is not working. As we can see, this is an important factor to take into account regarding the internal strategies of the page, such as link building.
Bounce Rate
Finally we have the bounce rate, which refers to users who enter the site and leave without generating an interaction with the web. In this way we can assume that the main pages generate a lower bounce rate than other specific content, since it works as a starting point.
This metric offers an analysis of the behavior of users with respect to the site, which allows different aspects to be evaluated. For example: the quality of the contents and the relevance between them, as well as the browsing experience within the site. This aspect is related to the average duration of the session, since the time of visits taken as bounces is not counted.
Average session duration
this measures the average time a user spends on a page, and it is measured taking into account the interactions within the website. So the time will only be counted if the user scrolls to another page within the site, or interacts with it.
In this order of ideas, it is possible that informative sites present a low average session duration, since it is common for users to leave the site after having read the content, without further interaction. These types of cases are categorized in the following and last section. Be careful, the sessions that generate a direct bounce, without interacting with the web, will generate a zero average session time.
Stay informed of the most relevant news on our news channel
Facebook Comments
Disqus