Website Analytics for Beginners: Understanding Your Traffic
You have a website for your business. But do you know who is visiting it, where they are coming from, or what they are doing once they arrive? If the answer is no, you are flying blind.
Website analytics tells you everything you need to know about your website’s performance. And the good news is that the most powerful analytics tool available, Google Analytics, is completely free.
If you have never looked at your analytics data, or if you have opened Google Analytics and felt overwhelmed by the numbers, this guide is for you.
Getting Set Up With Google Analytics 4
Google has recently rolled out Google Analytics 4 (GA4), which replaces the older Universal Analytics. If you are setting up analytics for the first time, you will be using GA4 by default.
To get started:
- Go to analytics.google.com and sign in with your Google account
- Click “Start measuring” and create an account
- Set up a property for your website
- Add the tracking code to your website (your web developer can help with this, or you can use a WordPress plugin like Site Kit by Google)
If you already have Universal Analytics, Google has announced that it will stop processing data from July 2023, so transitioning to GA4 is important to do now.
Key Metrics Explained
When you first open Google Analytics, you will see a lot of numbers. Here are the most important ones to understand:
Users
This is the number of individual people who visited your website during a given time period. If one person visits your site three times in a week, they count as one user.
Why it matters: Users tells you how many actual people are finding your website.
Sessions
A session is a single visit to your website. One user can have multiple sessions. If someone visits your site on Monday and again on Wednesday, that is one user and two sessions.
Why it matters: Sessions tells you how much total activity your website is getting.
Pageviews
The total number of pages viewed across all sessions. If one visitor looks at five pages during their visit, that counts as five pageviews.
Why it matters: More pageviews generally means people are exploring your site and finding your content interesting.
Average Engagement Time
In GA4, this replaces the old “average session duration” metric. It measures how long users actively engage with your site, not just how long the browser tab was open.
Why it matters: Longer engagement times suggest visitors are finding your content useful and relevant.
Bounce Rate
In GA4, a “bounce” is a session that was not an engaged session. An engaged session lasts longer than 10 seconds, has at least two pageviews, or results in a conversion event. A high bounce rate might indicate that visitors are not finding what they expected.
Why it matters: A high bounce rate on key pages could mean your content or design needs improvement.
Understanding Where Your Traffic Comes From
One of the most valuable reports in Google Analytics is the traffic source report. It tells you how people are finding your website.
Organic Search
These visitors found you through a search engine like Google. They typed something into Google and clicked on your website in the search results (not an ad).
What it tells you: How well your SEO is working. If organic traffic is growing, your search visibility is improving.
Direct
Direct visitors typed your website address directly into their browser or clicked a bookmark. It can also include traffic from sources that Google cannot identify.
What it tells you: How well-known your brand is and how many people are specifically seeking out your website.
Referral
Referral traffic comes from links on other websites. If a local directory, partner business, or blog links to your website and someone clicks that link, it shows up as referral traffic.
What it tells you: Which other websites are sending you visitors and how effective your link-building efforts are.
Paid Search
These visitors clicked on a Google Ads campaign. If you are running paid advertising, this shows how much traffic your ads are generating.
What it tells you: How well your advertising spend is performing in terms of driving traffic.
Social
Traffic from social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, or Twitter. This shows how effective your social media efforts are at driving people to your website.
What it tells you: Which social platforms are most effective for your business.
The Most Useful Reports for Small Business
You do not need to look at every report in Google Analytics. Here are the ones that matter most for a local business:
Real-Time Report
Shows who is on your website right now. This is useful for checking if things are working after making changes, or for monitoring traffic during a promotion or event.
Acquisition Overview
This shows how people are finding your website. Focus on the channel breakdown to understand which marketing efforts are driving the most traffic.
Pages and Screens Report
Shows which pages on your website get the most visits. This tells you what content people are most interested in and which pages might need improvement.
Demographics Report
If enabled, this shows the age, gender, and interests of your visitors. Useful for understanding whether you are reaching your target audience.
Landing Pages
This shows which pages people first arrive on when they visit your site. For many businesses, the homepage is the top landing page, but blog posts and service pages often attract direct search traffic too.
Setting Up Goals and Conversions
Raw traffic numbers are only part of the story. What really matters is whether visitors are taking action. In GA4, you track these actions as “events” and can mark important ones as “conversions.”
Common conversions for local businesses:
- Contact form submissions
- Phone number clicks
- Email link clicks
- Appointment bookings
- Product purchases
Setting up conversions in GA4:
- Go to Admin and then Events
- Create a new event or mark an existing event as a conversion
- GA4 can automatically track some events like page views and scrolls
- For form submissions, you may need to set up custom events
Once you have conversion tracking in place, you can see not just how many people visit your site, but how many take meaningful action.
How Often Should You Check Analytics?
For most small businesses, a monthly review is sufficient. Here is a simple monthly routine:
- Check total users and sessions compared to the previous month
- Review traffic sources to see what is driving visitors
- Look at your top pages to understand what content performs best
- Check your conversion numbers
- Note any significant changes or trends
Spend 15 to 30 minutes each month reviewing these numbers. Over time, you will develop a clear picture of what is working and where to focus your efforts.
Common Questions
“How many visitors should my website get?”
There is no universal answer. For a local business in Western Sydney, even 200 to 500 monthly visitors can generate a healthy number of enquiries if those visitors are relevant and your website converts well. Focus on quality of traffic, not just quantity.
“Why did my traffic drop suddenly?”
Common causes include: a Google algorithm update affecting your rankings, a technical issue with your website, loss of a key backlink, seasonal fluctuations, or a Google Ads campaign ending.
“Is all traffic good traffic?”
No. Traffic from irrelevant locations, spam bots, or unrelated search terms does not help your business. Focus on traffic from your target area and from people searching for your services.
Taking Action on Your Data
Data is only useful if you act on it. Here are some examples:
- If most of your traffic comes from organic search, invest more in SEO
- If your blog posts get the most traffic, create more content
- If a specific service page has high traffic but low conversions, improve that page
- If social media is driving good traffic, increase your posting frequency
- If mobile bounce rates are high, improve your mobile experience
Need Help Understanding Your Analytics?
At Cosmo Web Tech, we help Western Sydney businesses set up Google Analytics correctly, understand their data, and make informed marketing decisions. If you would like help setting up or interpreting your website analytics, get in touch for a free consultation.
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