One of the most important parts of optimizing a website for search engines is to know what keywords are generating traffic and where traffic is coming from. To really understand all of this, you need a good website statistics service. Some webhosts offer site statistics, but these services often aren’t very in-depth. That’s why many website managers turn to Google Analytics. This service was created by Google to help businesses learn about how visitors to their website got there, plus it tracks things like email marketing, pay per click affiliates, advertising, and more.
Google breaks down the benefits of Google Analytics into three categories based on the person viewing the information. At the top level of a business are the executives who create marketing initiatives and plan advertising campaigns. These top level executives can use Google Analytics to get an idea of which campaigns are the most successful, which customer groups are the most loyal to their businesses, and what kinds of traffic their website gets. This can be very helpful in determining which customers to target with ads, what type of ad campaigns get the best response, and when online announcements should be made.
The second group who will want to look at Google Analytics are marketing professionals. They will be able to see what search engines and websites refer visitors to their site. They will also get an idea of what these visitors do once they’re on the website. Marketing professionals are often very interested in conversion—turning website visitors into customers. Seeing what ads got users to the website and which keywords brought in customers rather than visitors is a great help in this goal.
Finally, content developers can use Google Analytics to learn about their website and how effective its content is. Google Analytics show the last page users viewed before leaving a website. That can tell content developers where users got frustrated with the site or where they found the information they were searching for. They can also see what pages users were on for the longest amount of time. Finally, Google Analytics lets content developers see what search terms were used to find the website. This can help them modify the site’s keywords.
Businesses that use Google’s AdWords system for their online marketing will be able to take advantage of the full integration between AdWords and Analytics. This can be very helpful when deciding how successful an AdWords campaign is and if it’s worth continuing.
