Content Reports in Google Analytics

With the Content Reports in Google Analytics, one can find their site’s top content and hidden gems. The content section contains reports designed to help improve the content on a site to meet the needs and expectations of visitors. A great video tutorial can be found here.

The overview component gives a quick overall view of all content. It displays metrics such as page views, unique page views, average time on page and bounce rate. By using the date range option on the top right corner, the date range can be selected and also easily compare to past dates. In the overview, there’s the option to click on page, page title, search term, event category or Adsense page. There’s a summary option of the report and with one click it will display the full report.

Find out how often people visit each page of a site, how long they stay, and how often they convert. The Site Content > Pages report shows how frequently each page on a site was viewed. Look for high bounce rates on the Landing Pages report to identify landing pages that need to be rewritten or redesigned to be more effective. If there is a search box on a site, use the Site Search reports to display how successful visitors are when they search the site. If Flash, Ajax, or other kinds of interactive elements are incorporated on a site, it may be desired to know how users interact with them. The Events report provides a non-page view based approach to tracking interactivity.

The landing pages option, displays which pages are the most popular landing pages for a website and their performance. Each page can be clicked by choosing secondary dimensions. For example, a company may want to know which traffic sources are bringing the most traffic to their homepage, just click on the homepage and select source. Great thing about this report is that E-commerce data is included, so the pages that bring transactions and revenue are displayed.

The Site Speed option in the Goggle Analytics interface measures just that by simply adding the line “_trackPageLoadTime();” to a tracking code. In this report, the average page load time of pages is shown. After all, nobody likes slow loading pages so a company can fix errors or remove content that may be causing people to quickly leave a site. This may affect lead generation and quite possibly e-commerce (if that’s the goal).

If there’s a search engine on a website which visitors can use to search the site, the Site Search category in Google Analytics can measure its usage and effectiveness on a site. In the overview section of Site Search, the percentage of visits with and without site search is displayed for comparison. Also, some other metrics such as percentage of search exits, percentage of search refinements, time after search and search depth. The Search Term component of Site Search gives the search terms people use to search a website. It’s a great way to find out what people are searching for. With this information, top search terms can be analyzed. For example, a company can compare the percentage of search exits for a particular search term to site average. If it’s very high, maybe the search engine is not giving the best results for the query.

With the Events component enabled, one can measure all kinds of activity on a website such as PDF downloads, printing pages, interaction with a slidehow, watching videos and much more. The entire Content category provides so much information about the performance of a website to keep people busy analyzing it for a long time. It’s a great place to find new insights and take action on it.

The Content section is not only a valuable tool for websites, but for blogs as well. This report shows the most popular posts on a blog. The popular content gives insight into why readers visit a blog. The topics of these posts indicate what people like, even when they don't comment. Content reports are important because they can define a blog for both readers and advertisers. A blogger can say, “My readers come to me for great quilting tutorials” or “My readers come to me to discuss the political issues important to parents of disabled children” or “My readers come to me to find out about digital marketing successes and failures.” Content reports will reveal over time that occasionally the posts people think will be extremely popular will flop, and other posts that seem like an afterthought become readers’ favorite content. This is incredibly important feedback that should guide a blog's content strategy.

The Content Report also allow for testing various content styles among various posts or pages of a blog. Testing pictures, graphs and video to see if it spikes site visits and site duration. It can also be compared to other posts or pages without such pictorial content. Every day somebody clicks the dreaded ‘back’ button without exploring a site. This “Bounce Rate” is something bloggers want to minimize. Instead of focusing on why they are leaving, focus on the things that people stay for. Do visitors immediately head to the blog? Do they click on offers or sales notifications? The Content reports can indicate where on a page visitors go, and more importantly how long they stay there. This is content that is already engaging customers, so if it’s not easily accessible to first time visitors then it is time to put it in front of them. By focusing on what is already working and making sure that new visitors can find the most compelling content bloggers will see their Bounce Rate drop and interactions climb.

Google Analytics is an effective way to not only monitor how customers find a site or blog on the internet, but also what keeps them there. Using the insights allows for focusing on efforts to build up parts of a site that need more focus, or strengthen what people are already looking for. Instead of merely maintaining an internet presence with a little work and knowledge, people can make their online businesses and presence thrive.here