Google Analytics (GA) is a free tool. You can use GA to track how your website visitors are coming to and using your website. Using this tool will enable you to see what content on your website is popular and what is not. Then you can start to analyse how your site is performing and identify areas where you may need to improve.
There are many great resources showing you where to start with Google Analytics. Here are just a few of them:
- The Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Google Analytics, by Kristi Hines. Moz Blog, June 24th, 2015. “… In this post, we’re going to look at Google Analytics from the absolute beginner’s point of view. Why you need it, how to get it, how to use it, and workarounds to common problems…”
- An absolute beginner’s guide to setting up Google Analytics for your website, by Yuyu Chen. ClickZ, 20 January 2016. “… teaches you how to set up an account that is linked to your site and recommends a few basic metrics to look at…”
- How to create custom segments in Google Analytics, by Graham Charlton, Search Engine Watch, 3 December 2015. Provides a step by step guide, with screenshots, showing you how to create a custom segment.
- 25 useful metrics for content marketing success, by Graham Charlton. Search Engine Watch, 4 February 2016. Runs through the various metrics you could use.
- The small business guide to Google Analytics – an aggregation of great resources put together by Simply Business UK.
- Analytics training and support – provided by Google.
Below is a screen shot of a Channels report showing how traffic is coming to your website.
The guides provide you with step by step instructions. This covers how to install your tracking code and use the basic reports. So give it a go and start analysing how your website is being used.
