MARKETING

Understanding the average time a user spends on your website helps you see which pages convert better and which content they engage with the most. But how do you measure how long someone stays on a website? If this subject has piqued your interest, then read on. This article covers everything you should know, including: How to track the average time metrics What is the average session duration and how to improve it What is the average time on page and how to improve it What is the average time you should aim for? How Long Does A User Stay On Your Website? You can measure how long a user stays on your website by tracking these two metrics – session duration and time on page. 1. Session Duration  ‍Source: ppcexpo.com Session duration, also time on site, is the total time someone spends on your website in a single session. But, what is a session in Google Analytics? A session is a group of user interactions noted during a specific time frame. After 30 minutes of inactivity, when the user exits, or at midnight a Google Analytics session expires. And it starts when a user accesses a page on your website. What Is Average Session Duration?  Average session duration is the average time spent on your website by all users. Remember that if a user visits your website multiple times over several days or continues their activity on a web page later, they may have multiple sessions. In Google Analytics, go to Audience > Overview to see the average session duration of your website.   ‍Source: hubspot.com How does Google Analytics Calculate Session Duration & Average Session Duration? For Session Duration Google Analytics calculates session duration by noting the timestamps of when a visitor arrives on your landing page (via a search engine or any other channel) and when they leave your website. For example: The session duration of a user that spends 5 minutes on your site before exiting is recorded as 5 minutes. Suppose the same visitor spends extra 7 minutes on another page of your site. The session duration is 12 minutes. ‍ For Average Session Duration It is calculated by dividing the sum of all session durations by the total number of sessions in the same period. For example, four website visitors have session durations as follows: Visitor 1 spent 100 seconds on your website. Visitor 2 spent 80 seconds on your website. Visitor 3 spent 160 seconds on your website. Visitor 4 spent 60 seconds on your website. Google Analytics would add these session durations (100+80+160+60=400) and divide the total (400) by the number of sessions (4) to determine your average session duration. The total is 100 seconds, or 1 minute and 40 seconds. In addition, Analytics may display this as 00:01:40. Are Session Duration And Dwell Time The Same? No, these metrics are certainly not the same! Here is why: Dwell time measures how long a person stays on a single page after clicking on a search result. Google Analytics calculates the dwell time using timestamps that track a user’s actions from the moment they click a link from a search engine until they return to their search results. On the other hand, session duration is the total time your website visitors spend in one session. Note that sessions do not include time spent on exit or bounce pages. So even if a visitor spends a few minutes reviewing a page before leaving, their visit won’t be counted as part of their total time. Does Session Duration Affect Your Website’s Search Engine Ranking? Yes, session duration, or time on site, affects your site’s ranking on a search engine! A good average session duration tells Google that your site’s information is engaging and valuable to users. It suggests that the content you’re putting out deserves the first-page position in search because it gives users what they want. How To Use Session Duration In Google Analytics Source: Pexels ‍ When checking your on-site time metrics, remember that they cannot answer all your questions on user behavior and how they interact with your content. Simply telling you that most people spend three minutes on your website, for example, does not give crucial insights. The metric does not indicate the specifics! For instance – users didn’t like the content, the page took too long to load, they were annoyed by the adverts, or the next steps weren’t clear. You can do the following to make the most of the session duration metric.  First, segment the users into cohorts depending on their session durations. With this, you can see how well you are guiding visitors on how to move down the conversion funnel. If you see that many users follow the conversion funnel faster than you expected, it can mean they bypass some crucial processes or have found a shortcut. Alternately, if you find that more people are spending more time on a particular page of your website than planned, there could be something confusing that is making it take longer for customers to navigate. ‍ “Google Analytics was too complicated. I save 2 hours every week with Abralytics.” Ryan McK – Founder of Subversive Design Agency Start your 30-day free trial No credit card required Cancel anytime How To Improve Your Website’s Session Duration Here are some strategies that can help to improve the session duration of your website: Publish High-Quality Content Make sure to capture and hold your readers’ attention no matter what content you use on your website. And choose a voice that accurately describes your business and information that will interest your audience. For example, you can include pages that tell users where your products are made and how to use the products on your website. Include Relevant Keywords Even if your website has excellent content, it won’t matter if the target audience cannot find it. Using the right keywords impacts your position in search and, therefore, your visibility. So, it’s essential to use

There are literally hundreds of metrics you can track on Google Analytics. However, not all of them are crucial to your website performance. ‍ So, it is vital to separate the wheat from the chaff. ‍ Are you wondering what the most important Google Analytics metrics are? Then, read on. ‍ This article covers everything you need to know about the most important metrics to track on Google Analytics, how they affect your website and why you should monitor them. What Is A Metric In Google Analytics?    ‍Source: Unsplash A metric is a numerical value assigned to show how a website performs relating to a specific dimension. So, a metric is a quantitative measure of data expressed in percent (%), Dollars ($), time, and numbers.  For example, the bounce rate of a page is the ratio of the number of bounces (single-page sessions) to the total session number.  As mentioned, there are literally hundreds of metrics and dimensions on Google Analytics that tell you about your website performance.  As a digital marketer or business owner, you need to keep an eye on the most critical metrics to gain insight into what works or not in your marketing funnel. Ultimately, these metrics paired with dimensions can help you see what you need to tweak for the success of your marketing campaigns.  What Are Dimensions In Google Analytics?  Dimensions are a description or characteristics of an aspect of your website data. They provide information about the attributes of your website visitors.  For example, instead of measuring just users (metrics), you can measure users by gender (dimension) or user by location (dimension). In most analytics report tables, dimension data are the rows and metrics data are the columns. Both metrics and dimensions work together to give you comprehensive information about your website, who your users are, and how they discovered your content.  Top 10 Most Important Google Analytics Metrics Without further ado, here are the ten most essential Google Analytics metrics to track for any industry: 1. Users ‍   ‍Source: Google Analytics dashboard   In Google Analytics, users are people who start a session on your website. ‍ You can use this metric to determine whether or not you’re attracting the right kind of visitors based on the type of website you run and your objectives.  ‍ You can assess the Users metric under Audience > Overview. ‍ The Overview Section also includes information like new users, sessions, number of sessions per user, page views, pages per session, average session duration, bounce rate, etc.  ‍ There are two categories of users – new users and returning visitors.  What Are New Users vs. Returning Users? ‍   ‍Source: Google Analytics dashboard New users are people who visit your site for the first time.  On the other hand, returning users are visitors who have previously started a session on your website. ‍ How does Google Analytics differentiate between new and returning users?  Google Analytics uses cookies to differentiate user data. It uses a tool called Google Tracking Snippet to check for the tracking code (cookie) on the browser of your site visitors. ‍ For new users, the cookie will not be present. But the cookie will be there for returning users. ‍ It is important to remember that the “User” metric on Google Analytics is not 100% accurate.   ‍ The analytics tool counts the same user as separate users if they visit a website using different devices or browsers, erase or disable cookies, or switch to Incognito or Private browsing. 2. Sessions ‍   Source: ppcexpo.com    ‍ A session is how much time users spend interacting with your site and what they do when they’re there.  ‍ For example, a single session may include several website visits, events, social interactions, and eCommerce purchases.  ‍ Moreover, a user can open more than one session. These sessions can happen all on one day or spread out over a few days, weeks, or even months. As soon as a session closes, the user can start another.    How Long Does A Session Last? ‍ There are two determiners of the duration of a session – time and campaign change.  ‍ Time-based Expiration A session expires after 30 minutes of inactivity by default, but you may change this time frame so that it can last from a few seconds to many hours. ‍ Also, every session ends by midnight. So, if a user opens your website at 11:50 pm on July 7 and engages with your site till 12:15 am on July 8, Google Analytics counts the number of sessions as 2. This is because the first session ended at midnight on July 7, and the second session started on July 8.  ‍ Campaign Change  Google Analytics starts a new session each time a user’s campaign provider changes. Meanwhile, a campaign is any traffic source that brings users to your website – ads, search engines, social media, etc. ‍ So, an existing session ends when a user leaves your website via one campaign and enters using another.  ‍ What Is Average Session Duration? ‍ The Average Session Duration tells you how long visitors spend on your website on average. Google Analytics starts tracking a session as soon as a user enters your website and keeps track until the session is over.  3. Source/Medium And Channels ‍ The Source metric tells you from which channel users visit your website. ‍ On the other hand, the Medium metric represents the broad category of user access methods, such as organic traffic, pay-per-click (PPC), etc.  ‍ Also, the Channels metric is a group of traffic sources that use the same medium, such as Organic Search, Direct, Social, Paid Search, Email, etc. Overall Traffic and Traffic Sources ‍   Source: monsterinsights.com‍ ‍ Website traffic is the total number of people that visit your website within a specific time. ‍ And traffic sources give an account of how users found your website. They help to understand your audience and where to channel

  What is Website Traffic? Website traffic refers to the users that visit a Website. Each time a user arrives on one of your landing pages, it is counted as a visitor to your site.  ‍ These visits are often spoken of as sessions in Google Analytics. Why it’s important to Track Website Traffic Your website traffic is a good indicator of the overall success of your site. The higher the traffic, the more potential you have for conversions.  ‍ On the other hand, if your website’s traffic is low, you might want to focus more on your SEO efforts to try up the visitors to your website. ‍ Keeping a close eye on the different metrics of website traffic will tell you what people are looking for on your pages and allow you to tailor your content to suit their needs. ‍ Not paying attention to your website traffic could be likened to a shop owner not caring about the empty seats and deserted tables in his coffee shop.  ‍ If he doesn’t pick up on what prevents people from entering his shop, he could suffer great financial loss. ‍ No patrons = No Sales Key metrics to Track Website Traffic When you think about measuring website traffic, there are a few essential metrics in website analytics you want to examine closely. These metrics will also tell you much about user behavior or how people interact with your pages. Total visits Sessions or visits are metrics used to estimate the total number of times someone visits your website and navigates around it.  ‍ These are critical metrics, especially in digital marketing. That’s because they are used along with the conversion rate to measure an online store’s performance. ‍ If you use a Google Analytics Account to analyze your website traffic, this metric will be tracked by default and displayed on the dashboard, as seen in the screenshot below. ‍   GA Dashboard‍ ‍ Although the metric appears as default, it can also be adjusted when navigating to Audience > Overview. That will allow users to compare Sessions with other metrics, such as the bounce rate. ‍ Google Analytics logs a session from the moment a user interacts with a website and stops counting the session after 30 minutes of inactivity with the website. Pages per visit This is a good metric to gauge how engaging your website is to visitors. ‍ When a visitor arrives on a landing page, it could be seen as only the first step of the desired response.  ‍ Abralytics have a nice way of displaying page views using a line chart, as seen below. ‍   Abralytics Demo‍ ‍ Users can see the Total Page Views in a separate tab, or view a breakdown of page views by the pre-determined time, whether by day, week, or month. ‍ Why is it important to know how many pages are viewed each visit? ‍ Well, you want conversions, don’t you? ‍ You want people to scroll through various pages of your product line, not just visit one page and then move on to a different website. ‍ Therefore, if you see that the pages per visit metric is too low, you could adjust the way they navigate through your site. Perhaps building internal links would help with the conversion rates.  ‍ The more pages visited per session, the higher the probability of generating revenue. Average visit duration DataBox says a good average session duration is anything above three minutes. (2) ‍ This metric will tell how long, on average, your visitors are staying on your website. You can’t improve average visit duration with catchy titles or marketing campaigns. ‍ To improve your visit duration metric, you’ll need to ensure that your content grabs enough attention the keep users interested if you want them to stay on a web page for longer. ‍ There’s also something to say about the format of your content. Short paragraphs make it easier for site visitors to stay engaged, while interesting photos break up the monotony of longer pieces. ‍ You could also add videos to your pages that people find interesting and informative to watch. You can also toggle your Analytics report to display how much time visitors spend on each page. Bounce rate Bounce rate refers to the percentage of visitors who leave the site after viewing only one page. ‍ This metric is only important if you have a site that requires visitors to move from one page to the next and not if your website consists of one scrollable page. ‍ Bounce rates could indicate that visitors aren’t finding the information they are looking for or find the site frustrating to use. ‍ So, what is a reasonable bounce rate for my site? ‍ Semrush addressed this question in a recent blog post, citing: ‍ “A bounce rate of 56% to 70% is on the high side, although there could be a good reason for this, and 41% to 55% would be considered an average bounce rate. An optimal bounce rate would be in the 26% to 40% range.”  (4) ‍ If you want to improve the bounce rate on your site, you should ensure that the pages people visit meet their expectations. When a user visits a page and finds what they’re looking for, they’ll be more likely to navigate through your site rather than click away. ‍ By monitoring the bounce rate metric, we can get a good idea of the user behavior, identifying what people are interested in or not. Traffic sources This metric measures which sources are driving traffic to your website.  ‍ Different channels fall under this metric, namely: Direct traffic: These are visitors to your site that arrive by typing your website directly into their browser Referral traffic: Visitors that visit your website from another website Organic Search traffic: Visitors that click on your website by searching a keyword in a search engine (Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc.) Paid search traffic:

There are over a hundred metrics that you can look up on Google Analytics to get an idea of how well your website is performing. ‍ While it’s impossible to keep an eye on all of them, you must pay attention to the crucial ones. ‍ But what are the most important KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) to track on Google Analytics? ‍ Read on as we get you through everything you need about them, including: ‍ What are KPIs? What are the 5 most critical KPIs to track? How can you improve each KPI? FAQs ‍ What Are Google Analytics KPIs? ‍ ‍Source: Google Analytics Dashboard ‍ Google Analytics KPIs are metrics that tell us about a website’s performance. They help monitor and analyze your visitors’ actions and give critical insights into what works and what doesn’t on your site. ‍ As a digital marketer, Google Analytics KPIs can show you the part of your marketing funnel that needs tweaking for better conversion. ‍ They include Bounce Rate, Number of Sessions and Users, Pageview & Unique Pageview, Pages per Session, Organic vs. Paid Session, Cost Per Acquisition, Top Landing Pages, etc. Top 5 Most Important Google Analytics KPIs 1. Bounce Rate ‍ ‍Source: hotjar.com  ‍ Do you want to know if your website meets the needs of its users? Or how many users leave your landing pages without engaging your content further?  ‍ One excellent way to do this is to check your bounce rate. What Is A Bounce? ‍ A bounce occurs when a website visitor lands on a page and does nothing else before exiting. ‍ That is, the website user does not trigger any request to the Google Analytics server before leaving the page. ‍ A bounce is also known as a single-page session. ‍ For example, when a new user visits your website homepage from a search engine and does nothing else like click on an internal link or interact with your content significantly before they exit. Then, you can say the user ‘bounced’ from your website. What Is Bounce Rate in Google Analytics? ‍ The bounce rate in Google Analytics indicates the number of sessions that result in a bounce. In other words, it tells you how many sessions start and end on the same page. How To Calculate Bounce Rate For A Website And Web Pages ‍ The bounce rate for a website is the ratio of the number of single-page sessions (bounces) to the total number of sessions. ‍ Website Bounce Rate = the number of single-page sessions (bounces)/ total number of sessions. ‍ For example, if your website has 100 sessions in total and the number of single-page sessions is 10. Then, the bounce rate for your website is 10%. ‍ For a page, the same rule applies. But let’s define the bounce rate for a page. ‍ The bounce rate for a page is the ratio of the number of single-page sessions (bounces) that start and end on the page to the total number of sessions that continue from the page. ‍ Page Bounce Rate = the number of single-page sessions (bounces) on the page/ total number of sessions starting from the page. Is the Bounce Rate the same as the Exit Rate? ‍ No, while bounce rate measures ONLY single-page sessions, exit rate covers how often visitors exit after viewing any number of pages. Why Is Bounce Rate Important? ‍ Bounce rate helps you understand how users interact with the individual pages on your website so you can make better marketing decisions and decide which pages to optimize. ‍ Moreover, bounce rate provides information about your landing page to determine if you need to invest resources on a new page or optimize your existing page for a better user experience. ‍ Also, bounce rate by any browser is another key metric that tells you how your website behaves on various browsers. If your website has an issue with a browser version, it will affect your overall conversion rate and the time users spend on your page. How To Reduce Your Bounce Rate ‍ In Google Analytics, a high bounce rate does not necessarily mean your website is not doing great. However, here are some measures to take to reduce your website’s bounce rate: ‍ Improved Page Load Time ‍ The page load time of your website is key to determining if a user will stay on your website or leave without interacting with your content. ‍ For example, if a website visitor has to wait for too long (more than three seconds) before viewing your content, there is a high chance of bouncing due to a poor user experience. ‍ Make Navigation Easy ‍ Visitors should be able to navigate the site easily. ‍ There should be a sense of direction in the organization of the pages of your website and the contents. Have a  simple navigation menu, an internal search function and create a site map for your visitors. 2. Goal Conversion Rate ‍ ‍‍Source: hotjar.com   Do users carry out the desired target action? Are you wondering why some users do and others don’t?  ‍ You can find the answers to these questions with the goal conversion rate. First, let’s define goals, goal conversion, and goal conversion rate. What Are Goals? ‍ Goals are target actions you intend for your website visitors, like sign-ups, purchases, adds-to cart, etc. Hence, every website must have one or more clearly defined goals. What Is Goal Conversion? ‍ Goal conversion, on the other hand, occurs when your web users carry out the desired target actions. That is, it happens when your visitors complete a goal. For example, when they sign up for a newsletter, purchase, add a product to a cart, etc. What Is Goal Conversion Rate? ‍ Goal conversion rate is the ratio of the number of completed goals (goal conversion) to the total number of sessions in percentage. The goal conversion rate tells you the number of completed target

You’ve done it! Hours and hours of work have finally come to an end and your brand new website or mobile app is now live. Much like a first-time parent, you want to show off your new ‘baby.’ But will this pride and joy of yours truly be successful? And how will visitors engage with your site? Are the clicking points too tricky for them to find? Do they scroll down to the desired point on a page? Are users navigating between pages in the way you intended them? These interactions are known as events in Google Analytics. Granted, there are many different kinds of events, but in this article, we’re talking about button clicks when we refer to events. Web developers and business owners need to know the answers to the questions mentioned above. You see, understanding the success rate of these events helps you build a strong, reliable website that users find easy to navigate and achieves the desired result. Before we discuss tracking button clicks, let’s first figure a few things out: Is there any other software that I need to familiarize myself with before I can track button clicks? What are some examples of button clicks that can be followed? Which of these events or buttons are the most important ones I should follow? How do I start tracking them? So then, let’s begin with familiarizing ourselves with the software. Google Tag Manager Source: Pexels.com‍ Google tag manager is a Tag Management System (TMS) developed by Google and originally released in 2012. At the time of writing, the most up-to-date paid version of this software is Tag Manager 360, while the free version, Google Tag Manager, would be more suitable for small businesses. This software allows users to configure and immediately use tags on a given website. The free Google Tag Manager account boasts multi-user support, rule-based triggers, and support for Google and Non-Google Tags. However, it has a limit of three workspaces available for simultaneous tagging projects. Take the time to read about tag manager and study its features before setting up your event tracking parameters. (1) Pro tip: Tag manager works best when used in conjunction with Google Chrome, so make sure you adjust your browser settings if needed. What are some button clicks that I could track with Google tag manager? Source: Pexels.com‍ Depending on the nature of your business and the design of your website or app, there will be various button clicks available for tracking. If you have an e-commerce web page, you will focus your button tracking on call-to-action events. You want to track how many users follow through with a purchase or how far they browse on your site before they lose interest. Name your buttons appropriately – Add to cart / Get it now / Subscribe / Book Now / Submit button. By using the tag configuration setting in your Tag Manager, you’d be able to name each button click and understand your website visitors better. Not all websites would be tracking the same user clicks. That is because pages and apps are designed with different reasons in mind. A blog post geared heavily toward advertising would be tracking outbound link clicks or perhaps file downloads. You’d also want to track video engagement so you could set up an event tag that would let you know which video’s have success on your page and adjust accordingly. Source: Pexels.com ‍ How do I set up the tracking? Once you’re familiar with the Google Tag Manager, you can use it to track your button clicks. It’s a bit of a process to set it up, but the same steps are used for any new tag or click event you’ll set up in the future, so it’s not too painful. Here’s a step-by-step guide. Enable click variables in Google Tag Manager Once you’ve logged in to your Google Tag Manager workspace, navigate to variables and click on configure. Tag manager has a selection of built-in variables to choose from and they will appear on the pop-up page. For example, you can choose from any or all of the following: Click element Click Classes Click ID Click Target Click Url Click Test Pay attention to your selection here, as Tag Manager uses this to identify the click parameters for each button you intend to track. Configure Click elements as Triggers You now need to configure these click elements to create a trigger. Do that by navigating to triggers in your tag manager workspace. Click on add new trigger, select all elements and click on all clicks. It’s helpful to select all clicks at this stage, even though you won’t necessarily want to track all button clicks during your data sampling in Google Analytics. This is because you need to first identify the unique parameters of the individual button you intend to track. You can come back to this step later on and adjust as needed. Set a variable for the button click to be tracked Google tag manager workspace will now give you the option to preview the changes you’ve just made. Preview mode is a convenient feature in Tag Manager as it allows you to browse a site and preview all the changes you’ve made before you hit save and the changes are published. You can then use this debugging feature to inspect the order in which your tags fired. So, click on preview and then enter your domain URL values to begin the debugger. Your set button will then appear in the domain tab. Click on it. Once you click on it, you will see the debugger running. The debugger will then monitor all actions performed by the trigger fires. The intention of this exercise is to find and set parameters for each button click. Source: Pexels.com ‍ Adjust the trigger accordingly in Tag Manager Think of these triggers as listening to your website. It detects specific actions like submissions, button clicks, and page views. The trigger will then

Struggling to make sense of how Google Analytics impacts your SEO? You’re not alone. Many marketers feel overwhelmed by the endless data and unclear metrics, making it difficult to translate analytics into actionable SEO strategies. But what if I told you there’s a way to simplify this process and get clear, actionable insights? In this post, I’ll show you how to turn Google Analytics into your SEO secret weapon—and how Abralytics can make it even easier. To get the most out of Google Analytics for SEO, it’s crucial to understand the connection between your website’s data and your search engine rankings. Analytics isn’t just about tracking visitors; it’s about uncovering patterns that can boost your SEO strategy. However, without the right approach, you might miss valuable insights or get lost in a sea of data. Here’s what we’ll cover in this post to help you unlock the full potential of Google Analytics for your SEO efforts: Understanding Key Metrics: Learn which metrics directly impact SEO and how to interpret them Setting Up Custom Dashboards: Get the data you need at a glance with easy-to-use dashboards. Tracking SEO-Specific Events: Discover how to set up events that highlight SEO performance. Why Abralytics Is a Game-Changer: See how Abralytics can simplify your analytics setup, giving you the tools you need without the clutter of GA4. By the end of this post, you’ll have a clear understanding of how to use Google Analytics to supercharge your SEO efforts, making your data work for you instead of the other way around. Next up, we’ll dive into the specific metrics you need to focus on and how to use them effectively. Understanding Key SEO Metrics ‍ When Looking at GA4, Focus on Organic Traffic‍   Focus on Organic Traffic. This is the lifeblood of your SEO efforts. In Google Analytics, you can filter your traffic sources to see only organic visits. This helps you understand how well your site is attracting visitors through search engines. If your organic traffic is growing, your SEO strategy is likely on the right track. Monitor Bounce Rate for SEO Pages. A high bounce rate on key landing pages could indicate that visitors aren’t finding what they expected. Check the bounce rates of your top-performing SEO pages in GA and identify areas where content might need improvement to better engage visitors. Track Keyword Rankings with Analytics Goals. Set up goals in Google Analytics that tie to specific keyword performance. For example, you could track the number of conversions that come from visitors who found your site through particular keywords. This will help you see which keywords are driving valuable traffic. The metrics you focus on can either guide your SEO efforts or lead you astray. By concentrating on organic traffic, bounce rates, and keyword-related goals, you’ll be better equipped to refine your SEO strategy and achieve better search rankings. ‍ Setting Up Custom SEO Dashboards In Looker Studio This Google Search Console Report Was Created In Looker Studio ‍ Looker Studio (formerly Data Studio) is a powerful tool for creating highly customizable and interactive dashboards. Here’s a guide to setting up SEO dashboards specifically: Google Analytics: Connect your GA4 property using the GA4 connector to get data on website traffic, user behavior, and SEO metrics. Google Search Console: Link your GSC account to access keyword performance, impressions, and click-through rates Start by creating a new dashboard in Looker Studio. Give it a descriptive name. Add Data Sources to Reports: Create new reports within your dashboard and add the connected data sources. Select the relevant SEO metrics and dimensions you want to analyze. Some common examples include: Organic traffic, keyword rankings, impressions, clicks, bounce rate, average session duration, device, browser, location, landing pages, traffic source. Create Charts and Tables: Use Looker Studio’s various chart types (line charts, bar charts, pie charts, tables) to visualize your data effectively. Customize the appearance and formatting of your charts to match your branding and preferences. Implement looker studio filters to segment your data and analyze specific subsets. For example, you could filter by a particular time period, device, or location. Add controls like date pickers, drop-down menus, or sliders to allow users to interact with the dashboard and explore different data points. Branding: Apply your company’s branding to the dashboard, including colors, fonts, and logos. Annotations: Add annotations, text boxes, or images to provide context or highlight key findings. Share your looker studio dashboard with team members or stakeholders for collaboration and insights. Set up scheduled email reports to automatically send updates to relevant recipients. Setting Up Event Tracking in GA4 for SEO This Google Search Console Report Was Created In Looker Studio Google Analytics 4 (GA4) offers a robust event tracking system that allows you to measure user interactions on your website beyond pageviews. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to set it up: Understand GA4 Event Tracking Basics: Event: A user interaction on your website, such as a button click, form submission, or video play. Event Parameters: Additional data points associated with an event, like the button’s label, the form’s field values, or the video’s duration. Enable Enhanced Measurement: Go to your GA4 property settings. Under “Data Data Streams,” enable “Enhanced measurement.” This will automatically track common events like page views, scrolls, outbound clicks, and site search Create Custom Events: For more granular tracking, you can create custom events. In the GA4 interface, navigate to “Configure” > “Events.” Click “Create Event.” Give your event a name and optional parameters. ‍ Using Abralytics as a GA4 Alternative If you’re finding GA4 too complex or overwhelming, Abralytics offers a simpler, more user-friendly alternative. Streamlined Interface: Abralytics is designed with simplicity in mind, offering a clean and intuitive interface. This makes it easier to navigate and find the data you need without the clutter of unnecessary features. Privacy-Focused Analytics: Unlike Google Analytics, Abralytics emphasizes user privacy. You own 100% of your data, and there’s no need for cookie banners, which ensures compliance with GDPR and other

Site performance refers to the speed at which your site loads and displays on a user’s web browser or mobile device. This includes all content, such as text, images and videos. While it’s obvious that factors such as your industry and the product or service you offer will affect conversions, can the speed at which a page loads make or break your business? ‍ According to the latest statistics, the answer to that question is a resounding yes! ‍ Photo by Nataliya Vaitkevich ‍ Below are 24 statistics that prove just how important faster page loading times are: #1 The first 5 seconds of page load time have the highest impact on conversion rates. Rates drop by an average of 4.42% with each second of load time between seconds 0-5. Website conversion rates drop by a further 2.11% with each additional second of load time between seconds 5-9. (portent.com) #2 According to a recent study by Deloitte, with just a 0.1s improvement in site speed, retail consumers spent almost 10% more, while lead generation and luxury consumers engaged more, with page views increasing by 7% and 8% respectively. (Deloitte) #3  Nearly half of all visitors will leave a mobile website if the pages don’t load within 3 seconds. (Think with Google) According to Statistica, mobile devices account for 48% of web traffic in the U.S., and 54% of web traffic worldwide. If your mobile page takes longer than 3 seconds to load, that’s a significant amount of potential customers that you’ve lost before they’ve even seen your product. #4 Transactional pages need to have the fastest loading times. Checkout, login, and product category pages are most important as traffic to these pages is most likely to convert into paying customers. To Improve transaction conversions, aim for a 0-2 Second Load Time. (Portent.com) ‍ #5 The longer the load time, the higher the bounce rates. The probability of bounce increases 32% as page load time goes from 1 second to 3 seconds, and by 90% when the page load time goes from one to five seconds. (Google/SOASTA Research, 2017) ‍ ‍Photo by Anna Tarazevich ‍ #6 Nearly 70% of consumers admit that page speed impacts their willingness to buy from an online retailer. (Unbounce) ‍ #7  Amazon would lose $1.6 billion a year if their site slowed down by just 1 second. (websitebuilderexpert.com) ‍ ‍ #8 The optimal time for a full mobile page load is less than 3.1 seconds. Anything less than 3.1 seconds would put you in the best 20% of sites we benchmark for time before full mobile page load, and less than 2.5 seconds would put you in the best 10%. Time before a full mobile page-load of more than 6.6 seconds would put you in the worst 20% of sites, and more than 8.3 seconds would put you in the worst-performing sites. (LittleData) ‍ #9 The optimal time for a full desktop page load is 2.8 seconds. Anything less than 2.8 seconds would put you in the best 20% of sites we benchmark for time before full desktop page load, and less than 2.2 seconds would put you in the best 10%. Time before full desktop page load of more than 6.1 seconds would put you in the worst 20% of sites, and more than 7.7 seconds would put you in the worst-performing sites. (LittleData) ‍ #10 88.5% say slow loading pages are the main reason why they would leave a website. (Review42.com) ‍ #11 39% of people will stop engaging with a website if images won’t load or take too long to load. (Hubspot) ‍ #12 Even if you’re not in the e-commerce business, mobile speed can still impact your sales. For example, after BMW revamped their mobile site to provide a reliable and smooth web experience even under poor network conditions, the percentage of visitor’s clicking through to the BMW sales site increased from 8% to 30%, 4 times higher than before. (thinkwithGoogle) ‍ Photo by cottonbro‍ #13 The majority of web users would be willing to give up animations and video if it meant site pages would load faster. When used correctly, video marketing can be a powerful part of our SEO strategy. But it could also negatively impact conversion rates if not optimized to load quickly and efficiently. (Unbounce) ‍ #14  A 1 second delay reduces customer satisfaction by 16%. (Abtasty.com) ‍ #15 In 2021, Vodafone improved its LCP by 30%, which led to an overall 8% increase in sales. The LCPis the amount of time it takes for a page’s main content to load.  (hobo-web.co.uk) ‍ #16 Website owners have only 5 seconds to catch a visitor’s attention. Most users would rather spend several extra minutes browsing fast-responding but irrelevant websites, than waiting for relevant pages to load. (kinsta.com) ‍ #17 Retail sites had a 9.2% increase in average order value when load time was decreased by just one-tenth of a second.  (Deloitte) ‍ #18 Over  45% of people admit they are less likely to make a purchase if an e-commerce site loads slower than expected. (Unbounce) ‍ #19 52 percent of online shoppers stated that fast loading pages are important to their site loyalty. (hobo-web.co.uk) Photo by Sora Shimazaki ‍ ‍ #20 When pages load in less than 1 second, the average conversion rate is almost 32%. At a 1-second load time, the conversion rate already drops to 20%. At 2 seconds, the conversion rate begins to level off at 12-13% and reaches its lowest at a 5-second load time. (portent.com) ‍ #21 Mobile sites that load in five seconds or fewer earn twice as much as sites that take 19 seconds to load. (blog.google) ‍ #22 79% of shoppers who have trouble with site performance say they won’t return to the site to buy again.(neilpatel.com) ‍ #23 It takes 50 milliseconds for a user to form an impression of your website. Page load time will be the first impression you make. (researchgate) ‍ #24 85% of users expect a

  How does Google Analytics work? Google Analytics is a popular web analytics service. It collects website data and turns it into valuable reports that tell you how your website is performing, such as who your visitors are, how they got there, and how they engage with your site.  ‍ Although many google analytics alternatives like Abralytics that are available, Google Analytics is the most popular. ‍ Like anything else in life, it has both pros and cons. This article will discuss what we love about Google analytics and what we feel are the cons, especially for the small business owner or entrepreneur. Google Analytics Pros 1. An excellent free tool While you can purchase a monthly subscription to Google Analytics 360, the freemium version known as Universal Analytics is entirely free. ‍ There’s not much you can get for free these days, and the fact that Google has provided such powerful analytics software without charge is pretty incredible.  ‍ How many website or blog owners will find themselves in the dark without a free analytics option? We’d have no idea what our customers look like or how they discovered us. At best, our online marketing efforts would be a shot in the dark. ‍ Let’s all take a moment to say, Thank you, Google, for the freebie. ‍   Photo by Andrea Piacquadio – Pexels ‍ 2. Simple to set up Assuming you’ve successfully created and set up a blog or website for your business, connecting Google analytics should be a walk in the park. This perk is especially true if you’ve used a website builder like Wix or WordPress.  ‍ Once you’ve signed up for a Google Analytics account, copy and paste your unique tracking code into your website, and you’re good to go. ‍ 3. Provides out of the box reports and web analytics If you’re too busy to spend hours researching and setting up custom reports, Google Analytics has default reports that provide a simple analysis of your site. ‍ The four main reports are Audience, Acquisition, Behavior, and Conversion. You can find these on the left side of your dashboard. For the simplest version, you can click to see the overview of each. ‍ The audience overview report will tell you the number of page views, average session duration, and the percentage of new versus returning visitors.  ‍ The acquisition report helps you determine where your traffic is coming from. Is most of your traffic from organic search, social media platforms, or paid advertisements? The Behavior report tells you more about what a user does while on your site.  ‍ Lastly, the Conversion report shows stats like goal conversion rates and E-commerce revenue. ‍ There’s also the option to create custom reports or edit existing ones to suit your business goals for more advanced users. .   Photo by fauxels – Pexels ‍ 4. Manages multiple properties (that’s websites to most of us) under the same account ‍ If you’re managing analytics for multiple clients or personal websites, there’s no need to set up a Google Analytics account for each site. Google Analytics makes it possible to keep all properties under one account and even view metrics for different areas on one dashboard.  ‍ Each analytics account can have up to a whopping 100 properties. That’s a generous amount for a completely free platform! 5. Ability to dive deeper into website data if you’re interested ‍ Universal analytics provides a massive amount of data collection if you have the time and know-how to access it. This feature makes it great for both novices who want simplified data and advanced users. ‍ An example of an advanced feature is event tracking. Although it’s helpful to know how long a user spends on a page, wouldn’t it be nice to know what they do?  ‍ Event tracking allows you to track and collect data like video engagement (when the video plays, pauses, stops, etc.), how far down the page they scrolled, and PDF downloads, to name a few.  ‍ Do you want to know another cool advanced feature? Enhanced e-commerce. Here, the product takes center stage, and reports are generated based on which products people view. Then, they are added or removed from carts, product revenue, etc. .   Photo by Karolina Grabowska – Pexel‍ 6. Regularly updates with new features Google Analytics is constantly updating and adding new features. Although for those who aren’t so tech-savvy, this could be considered a negative. A prime example of this is the introduction of Google Analytics 4. By 1st of July 2023, GA4 will replace Universal Analytics completely.  Will the replacement be an improvement? No doubt, but it does mean you’ll be spending a good few hours exporting accurate data and getting comfortable with the new features. 7. Tells you how people found your site    Photo by Canva Studio – Pexel‍ ‍ Knowing where your web traffic originates means you can concentrate your resources where they work best.  ‍ Direct traffic tells you how many visitors landed on your site by directly typing your URL into their browser.  ‍ A customer, for example, could have heard about your website over the radio, read an ad, or see a sign. This type of traffic is a good indication of how well your more traditional marketing methods work.  ‍ Organic traffic refers to visitors who found your site by typing a search query into a search engine. A high percentage of organic traffic means your SEO efforts, such as optimizing content with well-chosen keywords, are paying off. ‍ Paid traffic is another way, where the percentage of visitors who land on your site after clicking on an ad. Measuring performance becomes increasingly crucial as more resources pour into adverts and inbound marketing.  ‍ This type of traffic is an excellent indication of how well your ad marketing campaign performs and how you should focus your resources. ‍ “Google Analytics was too complicated. I save 2 hours every week with

Google Analytics has been around for quite a while. It has been helping clients analyze websites and improve their usability since 2005. There are, however, analytics tool alternatives out there that offer similar features. These competitors could be more appealing to small businesses. Take Webtrends, for example. Their software has helped numerous businesses analyze their web traffic since its conception in 1993. In this article, we will show an in-depth comparison of Google Analytics vs. WebTrends to help you decide which platform would best suit your business development. We’ll cover the most important aspects you might be asking yourself as a business owner, such as: How are these analytics platforms currently faring in the market? What are the key features of Google Analytics and Webtrends? Do these platforms offer any support to their users? What are the limitations I need to be aware of? What is the basic pricing structure of Google Analytics and Webtrends? We’ll also identify a third, viable option called Abralytics, and see how it matches these two analytics platforms. A quick look at Google Analytics and Webtrends Google Analytics offers an analysis of website traffic, but its tools have different uses. Google is the market leader for Web analytics and is particularly attractive to smaller businesses. Although most users of Google Analytics will only ever need the free version for their web analytics, some companies require the capability offered by the paid version, Analytics 360. On the other hand, Webtrends is a beneficial tool for online businesses such as e-commerce websites and marketers. They focus on delivering data analytics for SharePoint and various Web apps either as a SAAS or on-premises product. Usage trends Source: Pexels ‍ Google Analytics has become increasingly popular in recent years. One study suggests that they enjoy approximately 86% market share in writing. ‍ Webtrends growth compared with Google Analytics has risen since August 2018. However, this growth hasn’t translated into much gain as far as market share is concerned. Research suggests as little as 0.1% market share. Capabilities Google Analytics and the Webtrends Analytics software have attractive capabilities, but they are not exclusive, depending on the user’s needs. Have a look at the different platform’s noteworthy features. Google Analytics’ most appealing features The most valuable feature Google Analytics provides is its easy use and versatile free software application. For most users, the free version of Google Analytics will be sufficient and provide the insights and feedback needed by the user. The paid version of Google Analytics is Analytics 360, and businesses that need more sophisticated analytics tools can utilize this. Analytics 360 software allows integration with various software. Google provides training courses to teach users how to use GA 360. Webtrends most appealing features Webtrends is very focused on its target market. There is no limit to data collection with their interface. Webtrends allow companies to collect data on a large scale. It can track visitors’ behaviors across various platforms such as social media, websites, and mobile apps. This feature is significant for any business trying to gain new customers. Reports based on these traffic sources help customers gain insights that are very useful when boosting a site’s performance. New businesses are focused on expansion and growth and don’t want their reports to be stifled by a cap on data analytics. For them, Webtrends unlimited data collection might be more appealing. ‍ Source: Pexels.com ‍ There are also many customization options available on the Webtrends dashboard. You can integrate many different metrics into reports. What kind of support can I expect? One drawback of using the free version of Google Analytics is virtually no support. However, clients willing to purchase Google Analytics 360 and vendors can expect technical support via e-mail, a call center, and training. Webtrends offers support in the form of a support portal that allows you to log and track queries with their support team. They also make training videos, webinars, and tutorials available for free to help users. Limitations Let’s now discuss some of the limitations of using Webtrends and Google Analytics. Free versions of Google Analytics show user data only retrieved from Google. Therefore, it is impossible to see everything the Google Analytics site collects, but it allows users to view data to determine the outcome of a particular decision. Google Analytics limits data export to 5000 rows. When clients are required to export information, they must split it up into several parts. Aside from no support for a mobile or internet site, Google will need users to be resourceful in solving problems by themselves or in collaboration. There are also some limitations to consider with Webtrends, but the learning curve is steep. Although their support through videos and tutorials is high quality, users might struggle to understand all the software’s features fully. Another potential issue is the pricing structure. As we’ll discuss in just a bit, Webtrends does not provide a free trial. This issue has limited their audience to companies willing to pay for their services. (P.s You might be interested to read our in-depth guide to the pros and cons of Google Analytics in general) Pricing Google Analytics is free, but user resources are sampled, and the export limit is capped. The paid version, or Google Analytics 360, will appeal to large companies, and the pricing differs depending on which tier you choose. The higher the level, the more access to features you have. ‍ However, these features come at a price. Annually, Analytics 360 will set you back northwards of $ 150 000. This price increases if you surpass 500 million hits per month. ‍ Source: Pexels.com ‍ Webtrends doesn’t offer a free trial or free version for their analytics tool. Instead, they try to base their pricing on the specific needs of each company. They need to be contacted directly for pricing solutions. Still looking for the Analytics platform of your dreams? Source: Abralytics.com ‍ Analytics 360 and Webtrends analytics tools have numerous advantages and disadvantages. Any business with

Choosing an analytics software for your marketing efforts can be an uphill battle, let’s be honest. You might be stuck between choosing a tool that will give you either: Heat maps or Analytics Video recordings or path exploration, etc Or you might simply want to know which tool has more powerful analytics features. So if you’ve filtered down to Hotjar vs Google Analytics, and you’re looking for a detailed comparison of these two tools, then read on. In this article, we have covered the differences between these two analytics platforms; their pros and cons, pricing models, FAQs, alternatives and how to use both tools for better analysis. Now, let’s get started by answering the most basic question; What are Hotjar and google analytics? What Is Hotjar? Source: Hotjar Dashboard Hotjar is both a heat map service and analytics software that is used to track user behaviour on web pages. The tool provides a visual report consolidated from heatmaps, session recordings, and user surveys so that you can make sense of how users behave on your web pages, perform A/B split testing, improve user experience and optimize your conversion funnels. It’s easy to read the analysis of your web pages and discover your most effective marketing channels, the geolocation of your traffic, how they navigate your website, where they drop off, etc. But there’s one problem… You will be left to second-guess the “why” in all these analyses. Why do they drop off? Why did they scroll down the page? Why did they spend time on this part of this page? User feedback about how they feel about your page Without features like heat map, recordings, direct feedback and survey, you can’t understand the “why” in the report. Source: Hotjar Dashboard Advantages Of Hotjar Hotjar has competitive features that knock off Google Analytics. While Google Analytics does analysis pretty well, Hotjar is packed with both analytical advantage and user behaviour intuitiveness. Let’s break this down. Heat Map For User Behavior The unique Heatmap software takes the analytics bar so high that it can show you: Source: Hotjar Dashboard ‍ Source: Hotjar Dashboard The elements on your website layout that users interact with the most. Parts of your website that your visitors completely ignore. Pre/post changes on your website so that you can see where users click the most. Comparison between mobile and desktop devices. Features that are absent on Google Analytics Visitor Recordings Source: Hotjar Dashboard Visitor recording is playback recordings of your visitors’ scrolling, u-turning, rage clicking on any landing page, from the entry point to exit. Again, this is another competitive feature that puts Hotjar ahead of Google Analytics. You can use visitor recordings to: Discover if certain pages take time to load. Learn conversion patterns of your web visitors. Find out how they navigate your page. Collect Instant Feedback From Users Source: Hotjar Website You can discover how a user feels about a certain page, features or your services in general. The data you collect at this point has high authenticity because users react to how they feel at the moment as opposed to asking for feedback when emotions might have been watered down. Disadvantages Of Hotjar While there are top-tier features that Hotjar leverages to drive user acquisition, there are obvious drawbacks that turn Digital Marketers off from the software. Pricing Just like Google Analytics, Hotjar has a paid version and a free version, however, Google Analytics’ free version provides more than enough insights that are required to scale any marketing strategy. Complex User Interface Hotjar shares a similar user interface with Google Analytics and this is challenging for users without any analytics background or users who are putting their foot forward into analytics for the first time. This is unlike Abralytics, an alternative to Google Analytics and Hotjar, you can track and read all metrics and reports from your dashboard, and discover optimization opportunities without any prior background in web analytics. Source: Abralytics Dashboard What’s more, all the basic data that you need to make the most effective decisions are reported in simple terms, right from the dashboard. Hotjar Pricing Source: Hotjar Pricing Page ‍ Just like Google Analytics, Hotjar has a free and paid version. However, Google Analytics’ free version will give you more analyses of your website, with depth insights and optimization opportunities. According to Enlyft, there are only 14,694 companies that use Google Analytics 360 when compared to its free version. This tells how much benefit the free version is to millions of other companies that use Google Analytics. For Hotjar, you only get 35 sessions per day on their Basic plan which costs 0$. A session according to Hotjar equals a visitor’s full journey across every page. Additionally, you will get automatic data capture, an unlimited number of heat maps, and 1,050 sessions per month. Source: Hotjar Pricing Page ‍ What Is Google Analytics? Source: Google Analytics Dashboard ‍ Google Analytics is a website analytic tool from Google that is used to analyze traffic on web pages, track marketing ROI, and identify gaps in the quality of website visitors from different referrers to determine how to optimize any conversion funnel. Advantages Of Google Analytics Here are the main advantages of Google Analytics that puts it ahead of other core analytics tools. Google Analytics Vs. Google Analytics 360 One of the main advantages of Google Analytics in the pool of other tools is the amount of data that can be analyzed using its free version. What’s more noteworthy is that the FREE version can be used for life, and if your business is relatively small, you have no reason to upgrade to Google Analytics 360. Wide Range Of Active Users If you’re going to choose a tool for your marketing goals, you should look out for tools with a large number of users. This can come as an advantage if you’re a marketer who relies on getting help from users in mutual communities, so the more pro-users you can get help from,