Google Analytics is a powerful tool. It can also be daunting when you log on and see all the options. It looks technical af, but once you break Google Analytics down into smaller chunks, it isn’t that bad!
We’ve all been guilty of just using the basic functions to see what our page views are without realising the full potential Google Analytics and how it can drive views to your website.
If you’re trying to increase your traffic, one of the best things you can do is check your analytics to see what type of posts have driven the most traffic to you in the past and then build on that.
Don’t worry, I’m here to talk you through it.
Go to your Google Analytics account, in the ‘behaviour’ section click on ‘overview’
Here you will see a list of the top viewed pages for the date you’ve selected. In the below photo, you can see which blog posts have gotten the most traffic.
If you click on any one of the URLs, it will tell you where the traffic was coming from if you add a secondary dimension – you can use ‘source‘ but I prefer to use ‘source/medium‘ as this shows you what type of traffic it was (social, referral etc). This can be useful as it allows you to see:
- What traffic sources work for you.
- What traffic sources you need to put more effort into.
- If your traffic sources have changed over time – what have you been doing differently?
You can also use ‘landing page’ as the secondary dimension to see what other pages on your blog are sending people to posts on your site. You may want to use this information to add further links those posts acting as a landing page to drive traffic more traffic.
Using this Google Analytics to plan content.
It’s easy really – just ask yourself what posts have worked for you in the past? Make a note of your top 10 posts and ask yourself:
- Can I write a follow-up post?
- Is the information out of date – can I re-write to make it relevant for today.
- What similar posts can I write?
- Reading the comments, are my readers asking any questions?
- What keywords are being used.
Date ranges:
You can use a variety of date ranges to gather this data from.
- The month or year you had the most page views
- Last month
- Year to date
- Last year
- All time.
It’s up to you, really. I like using the months or years I had the highest page views to see what was really driving traffic to my blog!
So take a dive through your analytics for some new killer content ideas that will drive lots of traffic to your website!
Thanks for the tip Corinne, I never used it in this way to be honest! xo
Whoa! This was extremely helpful! 🙂
Jadirah Sarmad
I really paid attention to Google Analytics for awhile and I need to get back to doing that. I’m surprised by some of the searches that lead people to my blog.
I’m useless with analytics, so this is going to be very handy when I get a moment to sit down and figure it all out 🙂 Tania Michele xx
Author
Just start with the basics then start learning more! Google Adamey has loads of tutorials!
I came across this in G+ as a share from Google Analytics.
Not being funny – but there’s a ton more involved in Content Analysis.
Just off the top of my head;
Bounces // Time on Page // Read completion/Scroll // Link Quantity // Socialisation // Lead/Conversion generation // Repeat visits // etc.
And you can’t do all the grouping/sorting/filtering in Analytics.
So you have to grab the various reports, and stitch them together in a spreadsheet.
You then have to actually look at the content/pages (you can’t do that in GA :D).
Only be comparing the G/B pages can you start to identify probable factors,
which may include style, tone, voice, media, layout, topic, timing etc.
If you’re not looking at the right data,
and handling it properly – there’s a fair chance of simply “trending”,
producing content that is currently “hot” (which isn’t a bad thing),
but isn’t the same as identifying what makes your content work.
Author
Thanks for reading and the reply – I am aware of the detail you can go into, but this post is aimed at bloggers who don’t have much Google Analytics knowledge. I have touched on some of the things the things you’ve spoken about in previous posts but this is a very basic guide aimed at beginners, not content marketers!
Thanks for the reply and the explanation Corrine.
If it had been expressed as such at the start, I’d have taken a lighter view of it,
but even then, basing the decision solely on “traffic volume” is not ideal.
At the very least, even non-technical people should be taking into considerations ditchers and actual examinations of the content.
The process outlined merely shows you top-traffic generators, not top-performers.
If the site as CPM-rev based – that’s fine. If it’s not, then a little more is needed (and each step away from basic ad-rev requires an additional step in effort/delving).
But – going for the positive … the piece was wonderfully written,
clear, concise and enjoyable to read (twice :D).