Guide · June 17, 2013
Google Analytics for Small Business: Five Reports to Read
Google Analytics for small business comes down to five reports: Real-Time, Audience, Traffic Sources, Content and Conversions. Together they show where your visitors come from and what they do once they arrive. The tool is free, and an owner can learn the basics in an hour.
Google has offered Analytics at no charge since November 2005. You add a short tracking code to every page of your website, and the reports fill in from there. You do not need a technical team to read them. You need a few questions and a regular time to look.
1. Real-Time: who is on your site right now
The Real-Time report shows the people viewing your site at this moment. It lists where they are, which pages they are on, and how they found you. It is a good first stop when you have just sent an email or posted a link, because you can see within minutes whether anyone clicked.
In March 2013, Google added more to this report. You can now see whether visitors use a desktop, a tablet or a phone, and you can save shortcuts to the views you check often. Do not read too much into one busy minute. Real-Time tells you what is happening now. It does not tell you what is normal.
2. Audience: who your visitors are
The Audience reports describe the people who visit. Start with the overview. It shows how many visits and how many individual visitors you had in the period you pick, and how long people stayed. Next, look at the split between new and returning visitors. A healthy small site usually has both. New visitors mean your name is spreading. Returning visitors mean people find your pages worth a second look.
Then check location and mobile use. If most of your readers are in Ho Chi Minh City or Hanoi, write for them and mention local details. If many arrive on a phone, open your own site on a phone and make sure the text is easy to read and the buttons are easy to tap.
3. Traffic Sources: where visitors come from
This report answers a simple question: how did people find you? Analytics sorts visits into a few groups. Search means someone typed words into a search engine. Referral means someone clicked a link on another website. Direct means someone typed your address or used a bookmark. Campaigns are links you tagged yourself, such as the link in a newsletter.
Look for the source that brings the most visits, and then ask a harder question. Do those visitors do anything useful? A source that sends fewer people who act is often worth more than one that sends many who leave. If a local directory or a partner site shows up in the referral list, thank the owner and keep that relationship warm.
4. Content: which pages people read
The Content reports list your pages from most to least viewed. Open the all pages list and find your top five. These are the pages your visitors care about most. Make sure each one has a clear next step, such as a phone number, an order form or a link to a related page.
Also look at the landing pages, which are the first pages people see. If a landing page has a high bounce rate, it means many visitors left after seeing only that page. That is a signal to check the page. Is the headline clear? Does the page match what the visitor expected? Does it load quickly? Fix one thing at a time so you can tell what helped.
5. Conversions: whether visitors do what you want
A conversion is any action that matters to your business. It might be a purchase, a form sent, a call booked or a brochure downloaded. In Analytics you define each one as a goal. Pick one or two goals only. Too many goals blur the picture.
Once a goal is set, the Conversions reports show how many visitors reached it and which sources sent them. This is where the other four reports come together. You can see that visitors from one source reach the goal more often, and then spend more time and effort there. Without goals, you are counting visits. With goals, you are counting results.
A simple weekly habit
Set aside twenty minutes once a week. Pick the same day and the same date range each time. Check visits, then the top source, then the top page, then your goal count. Write the four numbers in a notebook or a spreadsheet. After a month, you will see a pattern, and you will know what a normal week looks like for your business.
Change one thing at a time, such as a headline, a link in your email or a button on a page. Then look at the same four numbers a week later. Small, steady checks beat a big review once a year. The reports are free, so the only cost is your attention.