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As an SEO agency that has been running for almost a decade, we’ve come across a plethora of search engine optimisation tools. Though we use a handful of the best ones around, nothing can replace Google Analytics and the value it has to a website. This is why we believe it’s important to reiterate some of the great features that come with it. Start setting up these features if you haven’t already!
Create Google Analytics goals
Goals are a simple feature to add but we find it’s one of the most neglected. You might sit there for hours analysing the data and trying to make sense of it but the sole purpose of that is to gain clients/customers, right? Setting up goals enables you to measure exactly how well your site is performing. For most businesses, this translates to the number of conversions. This can be set up on the Admin section of Google Analytics.
Set up custom alerts
Running a business can be hectic without a minute to spare to check what’s actually bringing you the customers! Custom alerts can be set up to notify you of unusual activities on your website. This can be set up to track the entire website or just segments of it to alert you when traffic dramatically goes up or down. This can also be set up through the Admin section.
Identify site speed
With thousands of URLs to choose from on a search engine, users will rarely wait for a site that takes even a second longer than average to load. Statistics show that many users abandon a page that fails to load within two seconds. Loading time is increasingly important for SEO rankings on both desktop and mobile too. The average page load time for your site can be checked under the behaviour category.
Confirm peak times of your website
You might have an idea for when you gain the most customers whether that be on weekends or evenings. If you have an e-commerce website, this is a good time to prompt users to buy products by either offering a short-term discount or free delivery. Google Analytics enables you to view a Real-Time snapshot of the number of users browsing your website. This is accessible in the ‘overview’ section under Real-Time.
Analyse site searches
These are they key terms users are searching for on your website if there is a search function available. Relevant keywords are gold for SEO regardless of where the data is coming from. In this case, it’s even more precious because it gives you an understanding of how your potential customers are searching for your products. This data can be found in Site Search under Behaviour.
Analyse behaviour flow
This can be found under the Behaviour category. If you’re looking at it for the first time, you might be overwhelmed by how complex it looks. Play around with it and click sections of it to get a better understanding of the customer journey on your website.
Polaris is an award-winning SEO agency in London specialising B2B, e-commerce and the healthcare industry.
