Introduction to Web Analytics

Posted on 26 February 2009 | by Ryan Battles

There is a plethora of analytics software that is able to be installed on your website, providing valuable data to help you analyze your web audience. One of the most popular is Google Analytics, and it offers a slew of valuable data. What follows is a brief explanation of the various types of data that you can receive through this great tool: Page Views: This is a raw number that is increased every time a page is loaded. There are a few factors that make this number seem unusually high. Depending on the analytics tool, this number can increase every time a page is refreshed, or clicked back to. Unique Page Views: This number is a bit more beneficial. It counts how many page views there were without counting double visits to pages. Every analytics tool is different in how it counts the time that needs to span before a revisit is considered a new "unique page view". Frequently Visited Pages: A list is usually given that ranks the most popular pages at the top. This can help you to realize what people are interested in, and what you should try to duplicate. Visitors: This number is not always very accurate, as the same person viewing the site from two different computers throughout the day is counted as two viewers. It is a ballpark figure that can help you to gauge the popularity of your site as time goes on. Page Views Per Visit: Tracking how many different pages a user viewed during a visit, this number helps you to realize how relevant your site is to its visitors. The more pages are viewed on average per visit, the more relevant the site. Time Per Visit: This is also a good tool to help you determine how relevant your site is, or at least if people are sticking around long enough to read the page that they landed on. This number can be thrown off by visitors who open the page in one tab, only to read it later in the day. Geographic Location: This feature has got to be the most fun. Generally you will see a map overlaid with dots or color intensities that show who in the world is viewing your site. The results will probably surprise you. Referring URL: This is also a fun resource to pay attention to. It shows which websites are linking to you, and how many viewers they are sending your way. If one of your web marketing strategies is link building (and it should be), then this helps you to gauge the effectiveness of those efforts. Misc: There are many other analytical details that can be provided in a package, including anchor text of referring links, click through rate of ads, and cost per acquisition (which can be ambiguous). Each piece of analytical software will provide various other tools. An analytics tool is the most powerful asset to a web marketer. It has been said that "he who knows the numbers controls the numbers." Analytics tools can provide valuable data to help refine and improve website popularity, usefulness, and search engine placement.