Friday, 17 February 2012

Understanding Google Analytics: Traffic Sources


Knowing where your web traffic comes from can be helpful in tailoring either your web content to these sources or reconfiguring your entire website to draw traffic from different sources. Google Analytics lets you find out where your web site visitors are coming from and this can be incredibly valuable information.

Analytics will reveal three main sources of web site traffic. They are search traffic, referral traffic, and direct traffic. Let's look at what can be learned from each of these.

Search traffic comes to your web page through key word searches. These could be from Google, Swagbucks, Bing, or any of the many other search sites that exist. Understanding the analytics of search traffic means you know what people are looking for when they find your site. Hopefully, you will see lots of search terms related to your web page's topic. This is a very good sign that you are doing something right. If your search traffic sources do not jive with your goals, then you ought to reconsider the content you are placing on your website. This is where working with a qualified search engine optimization (SEO) writer can come in handy.

Referral traffic tips you off to what other pages on the internet are linking to you. This type of analytics can actually show you if your social media campaigns are working. You will know you are meeting social media goals through this analytic by seeing what percentage of page views come from Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or one of the other social media sites. It is also a good opportunity to find out if someone is linking to your content. Use this information for good and contact the other site. Find out if you can create a more formal or mutually beneficial relationship. The referral traffic analytic can also tip you off to how many people are clicking through from your emailed newsletters.

Direct traffic is probably going to have the lowest analytics percentage. Unless you are often thought of as a first resource, people are unlikely to just type your website name into their browser and end up at your site. It takes a long time to build that kind of direct traffic and established offline companies are more likely to acquire higher direct traffic analytics more quickly.

The best way to learn about the analytics of traffic sources is to explore the information. Make it a point to compare your sources one month to the next. While you are at it, be sure to pay attention to any changes in your behavior that might have affected your analytics.



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