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Google Analytics: How to Set Benchmarks for your Website
I’ve been meeting with new clients recently to review their Google Analytics data and use it to help create an online marketing strategy for the year and I regularly get asked the same question; “how do I know how well my website is performing?”This is my answer…
Set benchmarks so that you’ll know how your website is performing
There are many different variables related to how your website performs, such as:
- What methods of marketing you are using
- How well your website is optimised for search engines
- How many people search on your target keywords
- What industry you are in
- Which geographic area you are targeting
- How user friendly your website is
- How well your copy is written
- How clear your Call to Actions are.
So, because each website is unique, my recommendation is to set your own benchmarks for your website’s performance and aim to continually improve.
What statistics from your Google Analytics data should you track?
- Total visitors
- Unique visitors
- Bounce rate
- Average time on site
- Pages per visit
- Goals (if you have them set up)
Aim for all the numbers above to increase, except for Bounce Rate, which you want to decrease eg the lower the Bounce Rate the better.
It’s also useful to track the sources that are driving traffic to your website, particularly if you are paying for online marketing activities.
- Direct
- Organic search
- Paid search
- Referral traffic (this includes traffic from social media eg Facebook and Twitter)
- Email campaigns
- Other sources.
When a content marketing strategy is in place, such as creating and sharing new articles regularly via a blog, track the number of keywords that are generating organic traffic, to see if it is increasing.
Need more info on Google Analytics?
If you need help with where to find this information in your Google Analytics account, we have loads of information in How to Use Google Analytics to Improve Your Website and you’re also welcome to leave a comment below.
Cheers
Mel
P.S. If you’re really serious about drilling in to the information in your Google Analytics account and how you can use it to improve your website, send me an email to enquire about a 1-to-1 Google Analytics coaching session.
Melinda, generally known as Mel, is half of the Grassroots team. She is a Google Qualified Advertising Professional and a SEO Web Copywriter. Mel's aim is to make the web world a better place.
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Hi, in terms of visitor numbers how accurate is Google Analytics? Most of the opinions I read seem to be that GA actually captures less than half of the actual visitors while server based programs such AwStats are wildly optimistic. What’s your opinion?
Hi David, that’s a really good point to make.
Google Analytics doesn’t track every visitor to your website but where I’ve seen a comparison with other stats programs the difference has been way less than 50%.
This is another reason why setting benchmarks is valuable; so that you can compare your own stats from month to month.
Regards
Mel