Google Analytics is a free service that tracks website traffic. It provides metrics like visits, page views, time on site, and bounce rate. It also shows traffic sources and where visitors go on the site. The author recommends using Google Analytics to understand traffic trends, successful content and keywords, and set goals to measure a site's success over time. Being free, the author believes it is important for understanding how websites develop.

1. Using Google Analytics Discussing the ways that Google Analytics can help you Visit http://www.mattlenzie.com for further ideas, suggestions and product reviews.

2. Google Analytics is a free service that enables you to easily track traffic to your website. All you have to do is to place a small piece of code in the header or footer of the site and then tie it up with the analytics account and this will then automatically track lots of different factors. There are other analytics providers out there, however, I have personally always used Google, as I feel that for the types of services which the websites that I own offer this will probably not do my sites ranking any harm if the analytics are provided by Google. Visit http://www.mattlenzie.com for further ideas, suggestions and product reviews.

3. So, once you have set the service up, which as with all these things is not as simple as it could be, what does Google Analytics provide you with? Well lots and lots of well presented and easy to use information. When you initially sign in you are taken to your dashboard, which provides you with an overview of your month to date stats, based upon a rolling 30 days. It tells you how many visits you have had, how many page views, how many pages per visit, average time on the site, the number of new visits and the bounce rate of the visitors, i.e. how many of the visitors after landing on the home page, then went into another page on the web site. Visit http://www.mattlenzie.com for further ideas, suggestions and product reviews.

4. You can see the traffic sources, and where on the website the visitors went. Personally within Google Analytics I only really use certain areas, there is much more to it than this, but I'm only interested in certain factors. It is probably sensible to conduct a monthly review on your analytics to discuss where the traffic is coming from and how you can make changes to increase the traffic which you are receiving. So, what do I look at? Number of visitors is obviously a key area. You need to identify any trends that are developing. Normally as you publish new content you will expect to see an increase in the number of visitors to the site, as this content will appear as relevant within search engines. Visit http://www.mattlenzie.com for further ideas, suggestions and product reviews.

5. I then also look at Traffic sources, i.e. where the traffic is actually coming from. This then provides a good indication of which of the methods which I am adopting is actually working for me. So if it is social media that is generating the traffic, i.e. through Facebook or Twitter, I will focus my attention on these areas and this will, over a period of time provide. I always like to see from my search engine traffic, which of the search terms is generating the traffic, as obviously if a particular area seems to be doing well, then I would continue to focus my attention on to it. Also the keywords tool is extremely useful to see which keywords I am receiving traffic for. Visit http://www.mattlenzie.com for further ideas, suggestions and product reviews.

6. Obviously if you are developing a website and are spending lots of time on it, you need to make sure that you discount your own visits, before getting too excited about the traffic levels which you are generating. You can also use Google Analytics to set goals for the website or service, which you can then use to set targets and milestones. This is a good way to measure how successful a site or service is. In my opinion, as Google Analytics is free, you should be using it, if you are not sign up today and get it installed, for me it is an important part of understand how my website is developing. Visit http://www.mattlenzie.com for further ideas, suggestions and product reviews.

7. Thank you! For Further Ideas & Suggestions, Please Visit http://www.mattlenzie.com Visit http://www.mattlenzie.com for further ideas, suggestions and product reviews.