Set Goals with Google Analytics
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Measuring your website traffic to understand visitor behavior and improve your online business is an essential part of online marketing. In this workshop, Brian Childers will cover an introduction to Google Analytics and analytics goals, a discussion of what you can track as a goal, a step-by-step demonstration for setting up goals in your Google Analytics account, and resources to help you learn more.
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Set Goals with Google Analytics
- 1. Presented by Brian Childers Foxxr Digital Marketing Wifi Access Foxxr Guest - getfound1 Set Goals with Google Analytics
- 4. How many of you have an Google Analytics account? How many of you have a Google Webmaster Account? How many of you are using Google Adwords? How many of you have a Google My Business Listing? TIPS FOR MEASURING ONLINE SUCCESS Before we begin: 1 2 3 4
- 5. Why measure success? How to evaluate your website How to evaluate your business listing How to evaluate your ad campaigns TIPS FOR MEASURING ONLINE SUCCESS Today we’ll cover: 1 2 3 4
- 7. WHY MEASURE SUCCESS? Why track and measure? See which channels lead people to your site Understand website and app performance Understand your audience Use resources wisely 1 2 3 4
- 8. How many people visit Who and where they are How they found you WHY MEASURE SUCCESS? What to track and measure? It depends: How much time they spent What they looked at What tasks they completed 1 2 3 4 5 6
- 9. WHY MEASURE SUCCESS? How to track and measure? Standalone Tools Google Search Console, Google Analytics, Test My Site Tool Integrated Tools Google My Business Insights, AdWords Express reports, Email marketing reports Last But Not Least: Ask Customers For Feedback 1 2 3
- 10. How to evaluate your website
- 11. Google Search Console EVALUATE YOUR WEBSITE Three ways to evaluate your website Google Analytics Test My Site 1 2 3
- 12. Get data, tools, and diagnostics for a healthy, Google-friendly website. What is Google Search Console? EVALUATE YOUR WEBSITE Google.com/webmasters
- 13. Why use Search Console? EVALUATE YOUR WEBSITE Monitor performance in Google Search results. Discover how Google— and the world—sees your site. 1 2
- 14. EVALUATE YOUR WEBSITE Scenario #1 Use Search Console to: Submit new content and remove content you don't want shown in search results. #1. Major site update After leaving this presentation, you decide to overhaul your site and focus on different content.
- 15. EVALUATE YOUR WEBSITE Scenario #2 Use Search Console to: Access the change of address tool and point Google search to your new domain. You decide to switch your domain from stasiasbakeryisthebestbakeryincalifo.com to a shorter option. #2. New domain name
- 16. EVALUATE YOUR WEBSITE Scenario #3 Use Search Console to: Help Google confirm that your international pages are displaying correctly. #3. New international content You have many customers in the U.S. and Mexico. You create content for both audiences.
- 17. What is Google Analytics? EVALUATE YOUR WEBSITE google.com/analytics Free, powerful web analytics collects data from all touch points, in one place. Measure the effectiveness of your online and offline marketing campaigns. 1 2
- 18. Identify goals and key performance indicators Develop a strategy EVALUATE YOUR WEBSITE Why use Google Analytics? Principles of measurement: 1 2 Learn (and take action on it) Collect data3 4
- 19. EVALUATE YOUR WEBSITE Three scenarios Use Google Analytics to: See acquisition reports and learn which channels drive traffic and lead to conversions. Stasia’s Bakery advertises online with search, display, and social media. It’s working. They want to know if they should spend more—or less—on some channels. #1. Learn where sales come from
- 20. EVALUATE YOUR WEBSITE Three scenarios Use Google Analytics to: See behavior reports and learn what content website visitors consume, and where they leave. To make the site useful for visitors (and help with SEO), Stasia’s Bakery writes blog posts and creates videos... but they wonder if anyone reads or watches. #2. Understand what works
- 21. EVALUATE YOUR WEBSITE Three scenarios Use Google Analytics to: See the checkout behavior analysis and learn how customers move through the checkout steps. Stasia’s Bakery recently added an online store, so people everywhere can order their famous desserts. They want to make sure it’s easy for people to place orders. #3. Evaluate the online store
- 22. EVALUATE YOUR WEBSITE What is the Test My Site tool? testmysite.thinkwithgoogle.com
- 23. EVALUATE YOUR WEBSITE Why use the test? More than 50% of all US web traffic is coming from smartphones and tablets.1 50% of consumers who conduct a local search on their smartphones visit a store within a day.2 1 2 1Google Analytics Data, U.S., Q1 2016 2Google/Ipsos MediaCT/Purchased, "Understanding Consumers' Local Search Behavior," May 2014
- 24. EVALUATE YOUR WEBSITE What you can learn How does it compare? People are five times more likely to leave a mobile site that isn’t mobile-friendly.2 How quick is the site? Nearly half of all visitors will leave a mobile site if the pages don’t load within 3 seconds.1 How fast can it be? Reducing load time can help you keep more visitors.1 1 2 3 1Google Data, Global, n=3,700 aggregated, anonymised Google Analytics data from a sample of mWeb sites opted into sharing benchmark data, Mar. 2016. 2 Google, Sterling Research and SmithGeiger, “What Users Want Most From Mobile Sites Today.” July 2012
- 25. How to evaluate your business listing
- 26. EVALUATE YOUR BUSINESS LISTING Info appears on desktops, laptops, tablets, and mobile phones. What is Google My Business?
- 27. EVALUATE YOUR BUSINESS LISTING Three things you can learn (and do) How did customers search for your business?1
- 28. EVALUATE YOUR BUSINESS LISTING Three things you can learn (and do) Where did customers view your business info?2
- 29. EVALUATE YOUR BUSINESS LISTING Three things you can learn (and do) What actions did customers take with your business info?3
- 30. How to evaluate your ad campaigns
- 31. These are ads This is an ad EVALUATE YOUR AD CAMPAIGN Ads appear on Google...
- 32. Three ways to track performance Ad views: How often your ad is shown on Google Search, Google Maps, and websites that show Google ads. EVALUATE YOUR AD CAMPAIGN Ad clicks: How often your ad was clicked. Phone calls: How often you received calls via your ad (available if you turned on call reporting).
- 33. EVALUATE YOUR AD CAMPAIGN Once the ad runs you see how many views it receives. #1: Ad views
- 34. EVALUATE YOUR AD CAMPAIGN Once the ad runs you see how many clicks it receives. #2: Ad clicks
- 35. EVALUATE YOUR AD CAMPAIGN This feature shows how many phone calls came from ads. #3: Call reporting
- 36. EVALUATE YOUR AD CAMPAIGN Setup Analytics and add goals via AdWords Express. Bonus! Connect to Google Analytics
- 37. What’s next?
- 38. WHAT’S NEXT? Three things to do Create a Google Analytics account: Create a Search Console account: Create an AdWords Express account: google.com/webmasters google.com/analytics gybo.com/awexpress 1 2 3
- 39. READY FOR MORE? Want to learn more? Web lessons: Mobile lessons: gybo.com/lessons
- 40. Thank you
Editor's Notes
- Today, we’ll be discussing how to set goals with Google Analytics
- Welcome! My name is Brian Childers. I started Foxxr 9 years ago. We are staffed with 10 full time employees supporting 30 SEO clients. We have built over 150 WordPress websites and offer a full range of services, including: SEO, Local SEO, Content Marketing, Paid Search Management, Link Building, Email Marketing, Social Media, Web Design, Website Maintenance, Website Hosting and Video Production and Marketing.
- BEFORE WE BEGIN: How many of you have an Google Analytics account? How many of you have a Google Webmaster Account? How many of you are using Google Adwords? How many of you have a Google My Business Listing?
- We’ll start with a basic question: why do it? How to evaluate the performance of your website How to evaluate the performance of your Google My Business listing And third, how to evaluate the performance of your AdWords Express campaigns. Let’s get started.
- Let’s start by talking about why tracking and measuring is important.
- If you are not holding your online presence accountable, you have no way to track and measure its benefit to your business. If you have no idea whether your website is helping your business make sales, how can you know whether it’s worthwhile to invest more time, money, and effort into it? There are many reasons to track and measure. It can help you understand how people are getting to your site (the “channels,” like other websites, social media, email, etc.) If can help you understand if your website and/or your apps are helping visitors accomplish tasks, take desired actions, etc. It can give you insight into your audience. Who is looking at on your site? What actions to they take? When do they visit? Where to they live? And, it can show you where your resources are best spent. Is that pay-click advertising? Video marketing? Content development?
- There are many, many things you can track and measure using tools like Google Analytics. One reasonable question is, what is important to track, and what’s not? That answer depends on YOU, and what your goals are. Why do you have a site? What are you trying to accomplish? If you’re trying to build brand awareness, you might be interested in getting as many unique visitors possible to visit your website. You might want to see if those visitors are spending time on your site, and what content they are looking at. When they get to your site, you might want to see what they “do” there, what tasks they accomplish. And you might want to learn more about the audience you have so, you can find ways to bring them back, and keep there longer.
- So how to do you track and measure? Many digital tools include some form of reporting- because, the nature of the technology makes it relatively simple to do. Google My Business, for example, includes reports called “Insights” that show where and how often business listing info surfaced on Google Search and Maps. AdWords Express includes reports that helps customers understand the value of the ads, and what they paid for. Most digital tools, like email marketing platforms, offer some similar reports that help customers understand the value of the product, for their business. This session talks about three options Google offers: Google Search Console (previously known as Webmaster Tools; Google Analytics (previously known as Urchin); and the Mobile Website Speed Testing Tool. Last but not least: talk to your customers. Ask them for feedback - about everything related to your business. At the very least, you can gather ideas to test out, and use your reporting tools to track and measure the results.
- Roughly half of small business owners already have a website. Whether you’ve had a site for years or you’re just getting started, start gathering data about your website usage right away. As time passes and your site attracts more visitors (fingers crossed) you can refer to these reports to learn about your audience. Let’s look at three ways to do that.
- We’ll start by talking about a tool called Google Search Console. Next, we’ll cover Google Analytics. And third, we cover a web-based tools that does not require any special actions to provide an analysis of your website: the Mobile Website Speed Testing Tool
- Let’s start with Google Search Console. It’s a free, web-based service that helps you monitor and maintain your website’s presence in Google’s organic search results. Here is how to add a website to your Search Console account: Visit google.com/webmasters and sign in with the Google account you use for your business. Click the “Add a property” button Enter the URL of your website (Specify the URL exactly as it appears in the browser bar, including the final / mark.) Now you must be able to prove that you own the site or section of that site. Click Continue to open the Site verification page. Select a verification method to prove that you own the site. Depending on your website, you’ll see a variety of ways to verify, like: Adding a snippet of HTML to your site Verifying through your domain name provider Automatic verification for Google-hosted sites (like Blogger or Sites pages) And more Data collection for a property starts as soon as the property is added in any Search Console account, even before it is verified. BUT it may take some time before diagnostic and other data is available to see in the reports. This is normal; it can take some time for Search Console to gather and process data for your site. Data collection continues as long as any user has that property in their account, whether or not it has a verified owner. Data is only retained for a certain period of time, however, before it is deleted (usually 90 days).
- You can use Search Console to: Make sure that Google can access your site. Submit new content and remove content you don't want shown in the search results And, monitor your site for problems. Search Console shows you how Google (and the world) “see” your website. You can see reports that tell you: Which queries caused your site to appear in search results Which websites link to your site If your site works well on mobile devices. And lot more.
- Let’s talk about three real-world examples where Google Search Console can come in handy. #1: Major Site Update: Check Search Console whenever you make significant site changes to monitor its behavior in Google Search. When you add new content to your site: Test that Google can access your pages using the “Fetch as Google” tool. Tell Google which pages to crawl by updating your sitemap. Tell Google which pages not to crawl using robots.txt or noindex tags. A few weeks after you post content, confirm that the number of indexed pages in your site is rising and that you don't have any blocked resources that might impair Google's crawling of your pages. #2: New domain name: You’ve been using the domain name “stasiasfantasticbakeryisthebestbakery.com”...but your web marketing friends encouraged you to go for something more pithy (and it’s too long to print on your business card). So, you decide to switch to stasiabakery.com Use Search Console’s change of address tool to point Google search to the new location. #3: International content: You can use special tags to designate that particular web pages that are intended for different countries, and different languages. Use the “International Targeting” report in Search Console to get reports back about the international pages to make sure they are working correctly, and not returning errors.
- Let’s talk about three real-world examples where Google Search Console can come in handy. #1: Major Site Update: Check Search Console whenever you make significant site changes to monitor its behavior in Google Search. When you add new content to your site: Test that Google can access your pages using the “Fetch as Google” tool. Tell Google which pages to crawl by updating your sitemap. Tell Google which pages not to crawl using robots.txt or noindex tags. A few weeks after you post content, confirm that the number of indexed pages in your site is rising and that you don't have any blocked resources that might impair Google's crawling of your pages. #2: New domain name: You’ve been using the domain name “stasiasfantasticbakeryisthebestbakery.com”...but your web marketing friends encouraged you to go for something more pithy (and it’s too long to print on your business card). So, you decide to switch to stasiabakery.com Use Search Console’s change of address tool to point Google search to the new location. #3: International content: You can use special tags to designate that particular web pages that are intended for different countries, and different languages. Use the “International Targeting” report in Search Console to get reports back about the international pages to make sure they are working correctly, and not returning errors.
- Let’s talk about three real-world examples where Google Search Console can come in handy. #1: Major Site Update: Check Search Console whenever you make significant site changes to monitor its behavior in Google Search. When you add new content to your site: Test that Google can access your pages using the “Fetch as Google” tool. Tell Google which pages to crawl by updating your sitemap. Tell Google which pages not to crawl using robots.txt or noindex tags. A few weeks after you post content, confirm that the number of indexed pages in your site is rising and that you don't have any blocked resources that might impair Google's crawling of your pages. #2: New domain name: You’ve been using the domain name “stasiasfantasticbakeryisthebestbakery.com”...but your web marketing friends encouraged you to go for something more pithy (and it’s too long to print on your business card). So, you decide to switch to stasiabakery.com Use Search Console’s change of address tool to point Google search to the new location. #3: International content: You can use special tags to designate that particular web pages that are intended for different countries, and different languages. Use the “International Targeting” report in Search Console to get reports back about the international pages to make sure they are working correctly, and not returning errors.
- To begin to understand the strengths and weaknesses of your website, you need to understand what visitors did (or didn’t do) when they got there. This is called website analytics data. Google offers a free analytics tool called Google Analytics. Analytics includes a huge suite of customizable reports that answers questions about the effectiveness of your site, like: What are people reading and viewing? How much time do people spend? If it’s an eCommerce site, where are people abandoning their shopping carts? And, if you advertise with Google, that data integrates into Analytics reports, so you can measure the effectiveness of your ad campaigns. To sum up, Google Analytics reports can help you make smart decisions about your site design, content and functionality. Learn more or sign up at google.com/analytics.
- Before using GA, develop a strategy. Google Analytics provides a wealth of data and information - but without a plan going in, it might be difficult to know where to begin. A strategy allows you to view this data through a framework that fits your goals. For example, you might decide to focus on three ways to promote your products and services: search engine optimization, email marketing, and display advertising. You can use the reports that correspond to these three strategies to learn what works and what can be improved. Next, you’ll want to identify your goals and key performance indicators (KPIs). If you don’t have a goal, you can’t measure. Your goal might be: to increase sales leads by 10%. You can use GA to learn whether or not your strategies are helping you get there. Next: collect useful data. Sometimes finding the numbers you’re looking for in GA is like searching for a needle in a haystack. Identifying what data helps you track and measure progress toward your goals will help. Finally, learn from the data. Tweak your strategies, and start all over again. In a nutshell: you should ALWAYS be testing.
- Ready to put your site to the mobile test? Try Google’s free “Test My Site” tool at testmysite.thinkwithgoogle.com. The test scores measure mobile-friendliness: that is, the “quality of the experience” site visitors have when browsing on a phone. To be mobile-friendly, the site should have tappable buttons, be easy to navigate from a small screen, and have the most important info front and center. It also measures mobile speed, or how long it takes the site to load on a phone. Keep in mind that it’s not just the strength of the web connection that determines mobile speed, but also the elements on the web pages. And third, it measures desktop speed, as a comparison. After evaluating your site, the test generates a report with a list of specific suggestions that can improve your score.
- Why is this so important? As of 2016, more people access the Internet via mobile and tablet than desktop computers. (Source: Google Analytics Data, U.S., Q1 2016). Mobile optimization is no longer “the next stage” of your online strategy - it’s something you need to consider from the start. Take a look at these two example websites, viewed on mobile devices. Which option do you think would be better for mobile visitors? Why? Source for #2: https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/data-gallery/detail/local-search-smartphone-leading-in-store-visits-2014/
- The Mobile-Friendly test provides three scores, ranging from 0-100. 100 is the best score. #1: Mobile-friendliness. Here are some of the factors: Are size tap targets (e.g. buttons, links, or form fields) too small or too close together for a visitor to easily tap on a touchscreen? Does the site avoid plugins incompatible with mobile devices? Does the content fit in the screen(the viewport)? Do visitors have to scroll to see it? Does the site use legible font sizes? #2: Mobile speed. This score considers these factors: Does the site optimize images for mobile? And, many technical considerations that impact mobile speed browser caching, compression, landing page redirects, minification, etc. Ask your website developer for help implementing these recommendations. #3: Speed on desktops. This score is similar to mobile speed, except that it’s based on a desktop experience.
- Next, let’s talk about evaluating the performance of your Google My Business listing.
- Using Google My Business, you can create or claim a free listing for your business. These screenshots show how a business could appear on Google Search Maps, for a searcher nearby. Business owners can create or claim a business listing by visiting google.com/business. To manage information, the business must be verified - that is, the business owner must prove ownership. This can be done in a variety of ways; most business owners request a postcard sent via the mail, with a PIN code.
- Once the business listing is verified, the owner can see a set of integrated reports called “Insights.” Tracking begins at the time of verification. Local Insights provides an inside look at how consumers find a business listing on the on Google Search and Maps. Insights focuses on how they use Search and Maps to find a business listing, and what they do once they find it. Take a look at the first report, labeled “How customers search for your business.” It shows you the total number of searches that surfaced your business info on Google. From that total, you can also see two ways customers found you. First: Direct impressions. Direct impressions are the result of an address search or direct name search (e.g. searching "Stasia’s Bakery"). Second, you can see discovery impressions. Discovery impressions indicate that the customer found your listing when searching by a category, browsing Maps or surfacing your info in in a "People also searched for" search (e.g. searching "bakeries near me"). Once you’ve learned how people find your info, what can you do? If you have a lower number of direct impressions, it might indicate that you could work on brand recognition, because searchers are looking for you that way. If you have a lower number of category impressions, it might indicate that your business listing could use more information to help Google understand the nature of the business. Make sure all your business info is selected. Double-check your business category (you can add up to 10; the first category is the primary). Ask customers to write reviews, and respond to them. Add photos. Over time, this can help.
- Next, you can see a report labeled “Where customers view your business on Google” “Listing on Search” means they came across your Google My Business information using Google Search. This is different than a customer finding your website - it shows how your Google My Business info surfaced. “Listing on Maps” means that your information was discovered either while searching or browsing on Google Maps. Combining this information with how customers found your information, you can get a good idea of how your customers are finding your business. A high amount of “Listing on Search” results and a higher percentage of “Direct” searches (from our previous slide) means that customers are inputting your business’s name directly into Search instead of looking for you on Maps. What to do: check your Google My Business listing to make sure your business location is entered correctly. Did you choose the best category? Is the address correct? Is the pin marker in the correct place on the map? Did you specify a service area, or a storefront business?
- And third, another report you see is called “Customer actions.” Once a potential customer finds you, there’s a variety of things that they can do directly from your listing. A website is a great way to find out more about a business so you can see how many people click directly over to your website from your Google My Business listing. If you’re exactly what a customer is looking for, they can request directions directly to your business. This is only tracked if they click to get directions directly from your listing. It does not track people who directly input your address. This information is not available for service area businesses (businesses with hidden addresses). Sometimes the best way to learn more about a business is to call it directly. Insights tracks how many people click the option to call your business. This data is further broken down in a secondary graph and you can see which days your listing is generating the most calls.
- Third, let’s talk about how you can evaluate your ad campaigns.
- Let’s review the search engine results page again, so see how ads can appear. Advertisements can appear at the top and the bottom of the page, above and below the organic results. The images at the top are shopping ads, promoting products sold by online retailers. Text ads can appear below. Ads are paid placements. Advertisers compete against each other -- bidding in a real-time auction -- for the opportunity to show their ads on the search results page. It’s important to note that advertisers are NOT charged when ads appear. They pay only if searchers CLICK an ad. That’s why this advertising model is called “pay per click” or “cost per click.”
- In AdWords Express, you can see reporting on three types of interactions with your ads: views, clicks and calls. Let’s look at the more closely.
- Ad Views (also known as ad impressions) tells you how many times your ad was displayed, whether someone clicked it or not. You don’t pay if they didn’t click.
- Clicks is just as it sounds: how often the ad was clicked. This tells you what you’re actually paying for - clicks or phone calls.
- And, calls tells you the number of phone calls you received through your ads. This reporting is available if you enable an optional feature called “call reporting.” Call reporting shows the number of calls received as a direct result of your AdWords Express ads. It works like this: Google assigns a unique, temporary phone number to display with your ad. Then, calls to this number are forwarded to your actual business phone number. You can turn call reporting on and off in your AdWords Express account.
- Creating business goals in AdWords Express can help you measure how well your website meets your business expectations. A goal represents a completed activity, called a conversion, that leads to the success of your business. Examples of goals include making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, etc. If you’re already using Google Analytics to track traffic to and on your website, you can link your Google Analytics account and AdWords Express account. Once both accounts are linked, you can then see your ads' performance on your AdWords Express dashboard--for example, the number of times customers made a purchase, the number of people who signed up for a newsletter, etc. To link your Analytics and AdWords Express accounts, both accounts will need to use the same sign in email address. If you already have an Analytics account with the same email address, we’ll show the option to link your accounts on your AdWords Express dashboard. If you don't have an Analytics account yet, we can create one for you in AdWords Express. If you’re setting up Google Analytics for the first time, you need to add a "tracking tag” to your website. If you’re comfortable doing this yourself, add the tag to every webpage you want to track (preferably every page on the site). You can learn more in AdWords Express Help Center, or if someone else manages your site, ask them for help.
- Let’s recap, and talk about your next steps.
- First, visit google.com/webmasters and create a free Google Search Console account. Remember to complete the verification - you need to do that before you can see the report. Next, create a Google Analytics account at google.com/analytics (you can also do this through AdWords Express). Remember to tag all the pages in your website so you can get a complete picture of visitor behavior on your site. And third, try AdWords Express if you want to promote your products and services with online ads. You can connect your ad account to Google Analytics, to see if clicks on your ads result in conversions.
- Are you ready to build on what you’ve learned so far? You can reinforce today’s workshop by taking free, interactive lessons about a variety of digital marketing topics. These fast, easy lessons cover take about 5 minutes to complete and can help you learn more about online marketing whenever you have a few minutes to spare. Select lessons are available online at gybo.com/lessons; you can also download Primer, a free mobile app that includes all the lessons. The Android version is available at Google Play; you can download the iPhone version by visiting The App Store. You can access links to the apps at gybo.com/lessons.
- Thank you so much for listening! On behalf of the entire team, I wish you great success growing your business online.