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
