How to Read a Google Analytics Report Like an Expert!

Do you want to track your website’s growth, but are unsure of what the numbers mean?

All users with an Eagle website have their stats recorded by Google Analytics and receive a monthly report. Read this guide to become an Google Analytics data expert in less than 2 minutes!

Report Overview

Google Analytics bombards you with information, so let’s just focus on two key areas:

• Adjust time feature- Switch between stats from the past hour, day, week or month in the top right corner.
• Key Audience Stats- These 7 stats tell you a lot about your audience and their behavior on your site.

Keep reading for a breakdown of each key audience stat.

The Basics

Sessions

A session is a set of interactions between a user and your site. A session starts when a user opens it and ends when they leave or are inactive for 30 minutes.

Users

Each time a device (smartphone, computer) opens your site, a new user is recorded. Note that this includes both new and returning users.

Pageviews

Each visit to a specific page on your site (home, about us etc) is recorded as a pageview. Users can have multiple pageviews within a single session.

What’s the significance of these stats? Simply put, these stats measure the quantity of visits to your site- the more of each, the better.

Importantly, they form the basis for the remaining 4 advanced stats which we breakdown below.

Engagement Stats

Pages/session and average session duration are two important measurements of user engagement- the quality of each session on your website. Overall, you want each to increase over time.

Pages/session

This stat represents the average number of pageviews per session. A high number is great as it means users are actively clicking on links and exploring your site.

Average session duration

This is the average length of a visitor’s session. Longer sessions mean that your content is holding their attention, which is awesome!

One Key Growth Stat

% New Sessions

% new sessions is the number of users who opened your website for the first time. A percentage above 50 means your new users outnumber your returners and that your reach is expanding.

One Major Warning Sign

Bounce Rate

Bounce rate is the percentage of users who only view one page on your site before leaving. This is a bad sign for real estate websites as it means that users aren’t exploring your listings or finding the information they want on your site.

Goals for Your Website

Website stats are great because they are objective key performance indexes (KPI’s) for reach and engagement with your brand. Here are some goals we challenge you to meet:

• Grow sessions, users and pageviews by 10% each month
• Maintain a page/session ratio of above 3, and a average session duration of over 2 minutes.
• Keep the % new sessions at 50-60%, showing some growth, but with a healthy mix of returning clients.
• Make bounce rate under 40%.

Want even more stats? Check out this page for other useful metrics that Google Analytics records for you.

For Eagle Clients Only: Access Your Website Reports, Anytime

If you’d like access to advanced and real time website stats anywhere, anytime, we can give you access to the Eagle Google Analytics account.

Simply send an email to [email protected] with a google account (an email ending in @gmail.com) and we’ll set you up!

---