Important Google Analytics KPIs based on Website Type

February 09, 2017 by Ashley Poag

It’s estimated that around 30-50 million websites use Google analytics to track and analyze their website data. They are the number one website tracking software available. It’s safe to say Google has somewhat of a monopoly on the SEO market. When we examine the platform’s capabilities we understand why. Google analytics software can track up to 20 different custom dimensions in one place at no charge to the user. You have several options for custom dashboards and Google has been tracking metrics for over ten years.


Deciphering this information into reports with actionable steps to improve your website can take a lot of time and personnel. So, how do you develop a quick way of tracking and analyzing the most important KPIs for your website?


We’ve put together three of the most important KPIs for three of the most common types of websites.
 

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Ecommerce:


Many experts would say track everything possible and that’s great, especially if you have time to analyze all that data. However, data overload can be overwhelming. To side step the sinkhole of information, you should determine what activity on your website means the most to your business.


  1. Ecommerce Tracking: Designed with your type of website in mind, Google analytics has created ecommerce tracking. Setting this up on your site will allow you to track specifically two types of data sets; items and transactions. This alone can kill many birds with one stone. Ecommerce tracking can identify revenue, products sold, conversion rates and much more.

  2. Funnels: Funnels can help you identify a customer’s path to purchasing products on your website. Google gives you a visual representation of their process and by analyzing it you can determine what steps work better than others or where there may be a drop of what’s hindering conversions.


News/Magazine Website:


With a news or magazine style website it’s really important to only measure what you need. Insignificant data can easily cloud your thinking and lead to a bad decision. Rather than focusing on illustrious one-time events you should focus on defining your niche audience and tracking their behavior.


  1. Visitors: Tracking the number of visits per unique visitors in a given time frame can give you an idea of how often you should update your site with new stories. If you want to engage readers more, this can help you set goals as to how many times you would like a visitor to return to your site within a given time frame. Another visitors metric is New vs. Returning Visitors. This lets you know if you are engaging enough to retain the visitor as a reader.

  2. Page views per unique visitors: It’s helpful to know on average how many pages a visitor looks at before leaving your site to determine ad performance.

  3. Bounce Rate: Tracking your bounce rate can give an indication of whether or not people are reading and engaged in your content or if they are scanning for headlines. It’s really important to keep track of the bounce rate on the homepage as most visitors will land here.


Business Website:


If you are a business that counts on funneling leads to a sales team then you're not going to be as focused on simple site visits as you would be other web activity that directly affect your bottom line. This is why it’s really important to set goals and know what drives your business before you even start to approach your website.


  1. Goals: With goals you can track durations, URLs, visits and and actions that directly relate to your business objectives. Using URL goals, you can determine how many people landed on a specific page. Visits can help you develop productive funnels and actions will identify lead form submissions.

  2. Remarketing List: In order to use this feature you have to have AdWords installed. If you are trying to drive leads through campaigns and lead forms this is an extremely helpful tool. Remarketing will allow you to identify missed conversions and reconnect with them.



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