Objective was to take a snapshot audit review of the incoming traffic for a state agency website to understand user engagements to aid in strategic outreach planning.

1. 1 | P a g e Montana DNRC Website Snapshot Audit Sept. 2021
Baseline Website Snapshot Audit
Website: dnrc.mt.gov
Timeline Review: 90-day | Jun. 01 thru Aug. 31, 2021
Content
o Visitor Traffic o Page Consumption Behaviors
o Traffic Acquisition o Site Engagement Behaviors
o Landing Pages, Site Navigation o Top Referring Pages
o Typical Journey Flow o Google Analytics Observations

2. 2 | P a g e Montana DNRC Website Snapshot Audit Sept. 2021
Visitor Traffic Overview
Visitor traffic to the website is consistent with peaks during weekdays and valleys occurring over weekends
representing the majority of the website visits are during normal local government and/or business hours.
Of note, when traffic is filtered by IP address (location), specific attributed Montana traffic accounts for
only 51% of total site traffic and 60% of all sessions.
Engagement metrics including Pages per Session, Average
Session Duration and Bounce Rate all perform within
reasonable industry standards.
Of interest is the bounce rate of 51%. It can be reasonably
assumed visitors are not randomly coming to the site and
bouncing.
High bounce rates would typically be an indicator of
content not meeting user expectations and/or the result of
a poor website design or user experience.
However, in DNRC's case, it may actually represent a
positive indicator that visitors are landing on desired page
content and have no need to navigate to another page.
The Bounce Rate for the Index (Home) page is measured at
only 25% reinforcing the premise the higher overall bounce
rate is being influenced by interior landing pages for which
content is fulfilling visitor needs.
(More analysis may be required.)
Other key baseline user attributes include:
New visitors far outpace return visits, which is also represented in the number of sessions and
sessions per user and reinforces new users are engaged upon arrival at the site.
Language use is predominantly English as expected.
Desktop overshadows mobile and tablet device use, but could easily shift with a renewed
mobile/text effort.
Filter Applied: Region: Montana (All Users: 70,651) * Represented in Sessions | Not by User Visits

3. 3 | P a g e Montana DNRC Website Snapshot Audit Sept. 2021
Traffic Acquisition Overview
Organic Search and Direct traffic are the leading sources for website visits and sessions (with consideration
default channel attribution may be mis-aligned due to the absence of a managed traffic acquisition
tracking process in place).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Default Channel Users New Users Sessions Bounce Rate
Avg. Session
Duration
Pages Session
Organic Search 22,677 18,474 42,845 52.46% 02:28 2.61
Direct 13,554 11,923 28,127 48.36% 02:54 2.90
Social 553 507 681 64.61% 00:58 1.97
Referral 508 269 1,326 55.66% 03:07 2.31
Email 7 0 183 59.56% 03:27 2.36
Totals 37,299 31,173 73,162 51.07% 02:38 2.71
Performance metrics for Default Channels attribution are all within industry standards with the caveat
without all-inclusive channel attribution tracking, actionable insights can not be fully analyzed with degrees
of confidence for strategic planning.
Channel Sessions
Organic Search 42.8K
Direct 28.1K
Referral 1.3K
Social 681
Email 183
Filter Applied: Region: Montana (All Users: 70,651)
Google Analytics Default Channel Groupings
• Organic Traffic: search engines
• Direct Traffic: directly typing URL in browser
• Social Traffic: social networks
• Referral Traffic: backlinks from other websites
• Email Traffic: email campaigns (properly tagged)
• Paid Traffic: paid (PPC/CPC) advertisements
• Display Traffic: paid (display) advertisements
• Others Traffic: not identified as a channel group

4. 4 | P a g e Montana DNRC Website Snapshot Audit Sept. 2021
Landing Page, Site Navigation Overview
Landing page site traffic may very well be dependent on seasonal interests and community needs. During
the height of summer which is the timeline we have used, fire, water and forestry are top landing page
destination topics.
Landing Page Sessions Pageviews
Entrances
Pageviews
Bounce
Rate
Avg. Time
on Page
Pages
Session
/ 13,944 49,475 28.18% 24.44% 01:10 3.55
/news/its-fire-season-have-you-
tried-the-dnrc-fire-map
5,305 7,272 72.95% 78.66% 01:59 1.37
/divisions/water/water-rights 4,789 11,753 40.75% 55.40% 02:23 2.45
/divisions/water 3,607 9,611 37.53% 47.13% 02:32 2.66
/divisions/board-of-oil-and-gas-
conservation
1,796 3,486 51.52% 66.09% 02:06 1.94
/flood-and-fire 1,672 2,375 70.40% 81.52% 02:05 1.42
/divisions/forestry 1,490 3,748 39.75% 46.98% 01:05 2.52
/divisions/water/adjudication 1,346 3,278 41.06% 29.42% 02:00 2.44
/divisions/trust/forest-
management/timber-sale-
information
1,278 3,644 35.07% 31.46% 01:34 2.85
/divisions/water/water-rights/water-
right-forms
1,244 2,680 46.42% 61.01% 02:22 2.15
Of note within the review period, fewer site entrances came via the Index (Home) page in comparison to
the aggregate of the top landing pages identified in the review representing visitors in high percentages
are entering the site with foreknowledge of the page and content they are seeking via backlinking, direct
or referral.
Top Landing Pages by Percent of Sessions Percent of Sessions
/ 14.87%
/divisions/water/water-rights 6.95%
/divisions/water 4.12%
/divisions/board-of-oil-and-gas-conservation 3.78%
/news/its-fire-season-have-you-tried-the-dnrc-fire-map 2.63%
/divisions/trust/recreational-use-of-state-land 2.07%
/divisions/forestry 1.86%
/divisions/trust/forest-management/timber-sale-information 1.83%
/divisions/cardd/conservation-districts/the-310-law 1.83%
/divisions/forestry/forestry-assistance/conservation-seedling-nursery 1.79%
Filter Applied: Region: Montana (All Users: 70,651)
Entrances / Pageviews Definition: The percentage of pageviews in which this page was the entrance.

5. 5 | P a g e Montana DNRC Website Snapshot Audit Sept. 2021
Journey Flows Overview
The aggregate journey flow is represented below.
Overall, the deeper a visitor navigates into the site with greater pageviews, drop off percentages reverse
as session duration and page engagements increase and as more content is consumed. This is a normal
engagement behavior.
71%
Drop-Off
45%
Drop-Off
43%
Drop-Off
35%
Drop-Off
35%
Drop-Off
1st Page
Interaction
Site Entry
2nd Page
Interaction
Content
3rd Page
Interaction
Content
4th Page
Interaction
Content
5th Page
Interaction
Content

6. 6 | P a g e Montana DNRC Website Snapshot Audit Sept. 2021
Page Consumption Behaviors Overview
Page Title Users New Users
Index
Montana DNRC
9,030 5,672
It's fire season -- have you
tried the DNRC fire map?
Montana DNRC
4,467 3,546
Water Rights Bureau
Montana DNRC
3,758 1,838
Flood and Fire
Montana DNRC
3,114 718
Water Resources
Montana DNRC
2,738 881
Montana DNRC 1,971 183
Contact DNRC
Montana DNRC
1,962 439
Forestry
Montana DNRC
1,859 856
Water Right Forms
Montana DNRC
1,382 255
Fire Protection
Montana DNRC
1,305 458
Filter Applied: Region: Montana (All Users: 70,651)
Top 10 most popular pages x title
Top 10 most popular pages represent 51% of all users, 48% of new users, and 65% of all pageviews.
The Montana DNRC Home Page (as expected) is the largest traffic destination with water, flood and fire, forestry, and
grants, loans, licenses and permits representing high traffic, high interest content topics. These pages in particular
reveal prime community interests and valued content.
[A complete listing of all page performance rankings is available upon request.]

7. 7 | P a g e Montana DNRC Website Snapshot Audit Sept. 2021
Site Engagement Behaviors Overview
New vs. Returning Visitor | This may over represent reality in a day of privacy and better end-user system
management by removing cookies. However, if new visitors consistently overshadow returning visitors, this
data view represents a continuing, recurring need to encourage Montana residents to engage with the
DNRC.
User Type Users Sessions Pages / Session Avg. Session Duration Bounce Rate
New Visitor 30,982 31,173 2.49 02:00 53.38%
Returning Visitor 11,491 41,989 2.87 03:06 49.36%
Session Duration | Industry standards average 2-3 minutes for an average session duration. A good
duration time is above 3 minutes. Aiming for this performance goal with valued content would enhance
overall engagements and aid visitors in consuming more content of value and need.
Session Duration Sessions Pageviews
0-10 seconds 76,820 89,302
11-30 seconds 9,235 24,402
31-60 seconds 6,809 21,247
61-180 seconds 10,456 43,141
181-600 seconds 9,605 55,190
601-1800 seconds 6,869 48,745
1801+ seconds 1,491 24,875
Page Depth | While page depth is somewhat subjective depending on the site, the best performing pages
have a depth of 5 or less. The majority of user sessions on the DNRC site do represent a vast majority of
content is navigable which is a good baseline indicator.
Page Depth Sessions Pageviews
1 66,686 66,686
2 22,382 44,764
3 11,127 33,381
4 6,484 25,936
5 3,992 19,960
6 2,577 15,462
7 1,865 13,055
8 1,330 10,640
9 972 8,748
10 697 6,970
11 541 5,951
12 420 5,040
13 366 4,758
14 275 3,850
15 222 3,330
16 176 2,816
17 144 2,448
18 110 1,980
19 97 1,843
20+ 822 29,284
Filter Applied: Region: Montana (All Users: 70,651)
Unfiltered
Unfiltered

8. 8 | P a g e Montana DNRC Website Snapshot Audit Sept. 2021
Days Since Last Session | Recency measures the number of days that have passed since each user’s last
visit. Days Since Last Visit measures the average amount of time between visits for the user base. This
measure reveals the “stickiness” of a website, e.g., do people return regularly to it or not? Using this
measure can aid in adjusting the design of the site to increase the discoverability of content that DNRC
places high value or repeat visitors find most valuable.
Days Since Last Session Sessions Pageviews
0 90,260 221,489
1 5,545 14,773
2 3,213 8,588
3 2,423 6,438
4 1,921 5,280
5 1,754 5,142
6 1,622 4,299
7 1,203 3,126
8-14 4,008 11,529
15-30 3,787 10,536
31-60 2,749 7,720
61-120 1,919 5,364
121-364 881 2,618
Daypart Engagements |Reinforcing an earlier observation, the majority of website traffic and highest
engagement occurs during local government business time from 8:00 AM MDT through 4:00 PM MDT. This
may be useful when planning campaigns.
Hour Region Users Sessions Pages / Session Avg. Session Duration
00 Montana 351 355 2.28 00:55
01 Montana 150 158 2.69 02:17
02 Montana 129 135 2.93 02:29
03 Montana 115 112 2.54 02:12
04 Montana 169 201 2.11 01:49
05 Montana 458 583 2.16 01:55
06 Montana 1316 1759 2.10 02:00
07 Montana 2592 3702 2.44 02:41
08 Montana 3987 5945 2.59 02:47
09 Montana 4595 6477 2.73 03:01
10 Montana 4540 6181 2.92 02:59
11 Montana 4534 5992 2.87 02:46
12 Montana 4029 4997 2.79 02:41
13 Montana 4323 5764 2.79 03:08
14 Montana 4513 6005 2.99 02:58
15 Montana 4230 5534 2.99 03:01
16 Montana 3897 4939 2.85 02:18
17 Montana 2525 2822 2.59 02:06
18 Montana 2113 2297 2.35 01:56
19 Montana 2126 2259 2.45 02:02
20 Montana 2182 2310 2.42 01:55
21 Montana 2040 2182 2.30 01:49
22 Montana 1614 1683 2.36 01:51
23 Montana 772 770 2.82 01:52
Filter Applied: Region: Montana (All Users: 70,651) | MDT Time Zone Representation
Unfiltered

9. 9 | P a g e Montana DNRC Website Snapshot Audit Sept. 2021
Geo-Location (Metro) |User traffic by metro reveals where Montana's population densities exist which seek
Montana DNRC services and information. This may become a consideration in campaign planning.
Top Metros Users Unique Pageviews
Missoula MT 10,606 32,148
Helena MT 7,065 50,796
Butte-Bozeman MT 5,428 16,462
Billings, MT 4,915 18,927
Great Falls MT 2,243 6,538
Spokane WA 262 758
Minot-Bismarck-Dickinson(Williston) ND 224 833
Glendive MT 112 319
Rapid City SD 1 1
Filter Applied: Region: Montana (All Users: 70,651)

10. 10 | P a g e Montana DNRC Website Snapshot Audit Sept. 2021
Top (50) Referring Pages
A backlinking strategy, tracking and process with campaigning will enhance a better understanding of all
referral traffic and better align attribution. Of note within this data view, social (mis-categorized without
tracking) represents 4 of the top 10 referral sources.
SOURCE
CHANNEL
GROUPING
USERS SESSIONS
PAGES /
SESSION
AVG.
SESSION
DURATION
BOUNCE
RATE
% EXIT
M.FACEBOOK.COM Social 722 742 1.46 00:32 76.95% 68.64%
LNKS.GD Referral 359 922 2.02 03:17 61.06% 49.49%
L.FACEBOOK.COM Social 137 207 2.66 01:28 49.28% 37.64%
MBMGGWIC.MTECH.EDU Referral 86 132 2.67 02:29 46.97% 37.50%
FIRELOOKOUT.ORG Referral 85 101 1.15 00:31 87.13% 87.07%
FACEBOOK.COM Social 83 129 2.24 00:44 51.16% 44.64%
STARTPAGE.COM Referral 44 68 2.04 02:07 70.59% 48.92%
GALLATINCD.ORG Referral 41 87 2.10 02:18 66.67% 47.54%
SEARCH.AOL.COM Referral 34 47 2.19 02:26 57.45% 45.63%
T.CO Social 26 31 1.65 02:19 64.52% 60.78%
MT-GOV.ZOOM.US Referral 25 70 3.20 02:34 51.43% 31.25%
US.SEARCH.YAHOO.COM Referral 18 39 3.13 02:13 20.51% 31.97%
LM.FACEBOOK.COM Social 17 28 2.57 01:29 42.86% 38.89%
MTRULES.ORG Referral 12 22 2.36 02:53 59.09% 42.31%
LINCOLNCOUNTYMT.US Referral 11 12 2.42 01:05 58.33% 41.38%
BITTERROOTCONSERVATIONDISTRICT.NET Referral 9 13 3.69 05:00 53.85% 27.08%
EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG Referral 9 34 1.59 00:24 82.35% 62.96%
R.DUCKDUCKGO.COM Referral 9 25 4.28 02:48 40.00% 23.36%
EN.M.WIKIPEDIA.ORG Referral 8 9 2.89 04:49 44.44% 34.62%
ROUNDUPMONTANA.NET Referral 7 8 5.50 06:55 25.00% 18.18%
BCPOA.NET Referral 6 6 4.00 04:47 16.67% 25.00%
FIRESAFEKALISPELL.COM Referral 6 8 1.13 00:14 87.50% 88.89%
EDSHEETS.COM Referral 5 8 1.25 00:12 87.50% 80.00%
14.140.88.193 Referral 4 4 1.00 00:00 100.00% 100.00%
CLRNET Referral 4 14 1.36 01:17 85.71% 73.68%
CO.JUDITH-BASIN.MT.US Referral 4 4 1.00 00:00 100.00% 100.00%
LCFIRECOUNCIL.ORG Referral 4 4 1.75 00:55 50.00% 57.14%
MONTANARENEWABLES.ORG Referral 4 4 2.00 02:21 75.00% 50.00%
10.1.31.200 Referral 3 5 1.60 00:32 80.00% 62.50%
BEAVERHEADCD.ORG Referral 3 3 4.33 09:16 33.33% 23.08%
CA.SEARCH.YAHOO.COM Referral 3 3 4.67 00:31 33.33% 21.43%
CHAMBERSDRILLING.COM Referral 3 6 1.33 00:06 83.33% 75.00%
CI.MISSOULA.MT.US Referral 3 3 3.33 11:07 33.33% 30.00%
FORTPECK.USLAKES.INFO Referral 3 3 2.33 00:17 0.00% 42.86%
MISSOULACURRENT.COM Referral 3 12 4.58 09:07 25.00% 21.82%
PHERKAD.COM Referral 3 3 1.00 00:00 100.00% 100.00%
A.CMS.OMNIUPDATE.COM Referral 2 2 2.00 00:04 50.00% 50.00%
BLACKFEETENVIRONMENTAL.COM Referral 2 3 4.33 11:28 33.33% 23.08%
CASCADECD.COM Referral 2 2 4.50 03:44 50.00% 22.22%
CSKTRIBES.ORG Referral 2 4 1.75 00:32 50.00% 57.14%
DATA.MBMG.MTECH.EDU Referral 2 2 2.50 04:31 50.00% 40.00%
DRILLINGINFO.ATLASSIAN.NET Referral 2 2 1.50 02:19 50.00% 66.67%
FFLA.ORG Referral 2 2 1.50 00:31 50.00% 66.67%
FLATHEADWATERSHED.ORG Referral 2 2 3.50 00:40 0.00% 28.57%
GRANICUS.MY.SALESFORCE.COM Referral 2 2 2.00 00:41 50.00% 50.00%
LINKEDIN.COM Social 2 2 2.50 00:24 50.00% 40.00%
LIVINGONTHEBANK.ORG Referral 2 2 1.00 00:00 100.00% 100.00%
MAILCHI.MP Referral 2 7 1.29 00:19 85.71% 77.78%
MONTURECREEK.COM Referral 2 2 5.50 03:21 0.00% 18.18%
REDDIT.COM Social 2 2 1.00 00:00 100.00% 100.00%

11. 11 | P a g e Montana DNRC Website Snapshot Audit Sept. 2021
Misc. Notes | Google Analytics Setup | Early Observations
Ideally a full Google Analytics audit is performed and re-set with the new site build along with implementing
best practices. Here are just several areas identified that would enhance analytics going forward.
• No campaign tracking
• No events or goals setup
• No (if at all) UTM tracking
• No content groups setup
• No site search setup
A deeper, more expansive analysis can be performed upon request and guidance. Contact Delaney
Gilman at Granicus for more information.