Google Analytics is a web analytics service offered by Google that tracks and reports website traffic. Marketers use Google Analytics to track and analyze data about their website’s visitors, such as their demographics, behavior, and interests. This information can be used to make data-driven decisions about website design, content, and marketing campaigns.

The Basics of Google Analytics

Overall, Google Analytics is a powerful tool that allows strategic and performance marketers to track and analyze data about website visitors and use this information to make data-driven decisions about website design, content, and marketing campaigns. Here are some basic ways marketers use Google Analytics:

• Tracking website traffic: Google Analytics allows marketers to track how many visitors their website is getting, where they are coming from, and how long they are staying. This information can be used to measure the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, identify which pages are most popular, and optimize website design.
• Analyzing demographics: Google Analytics provides data about the demographics of website visitors, such as their age, gender, location, and interests. This information can be used to create targeted marketing campaigns and develop products that appeal to specific segments of the market.
• Measuring conversions: Google Analytics allows marketers to track how many visitors are completing specific actions on their website, such as filling out a form or making a purchase. This information can be used to measure the effectiveness of marketing campaigns and optimize website design to increase conversions.
• Identifying referral sources: Google Analytics provides information about where website visitors are coming from, such as search engines, social media, or referral links. This information can be used to identify the most effective marketing channels and optimize campaigns accordingly.
• Setting up Goals and Event tracking: Marketers can set up goals in Google Analytics to track important website actions such as form submissions, button clicks, and other interactions. Event tracking allows marketers to track more granular interactions on the website such as video plays, scroll depth and outbound clicks. This data can be used to make basic, but targeted decisions for improving your users website experience and (most importantly) the conversion rate(s).

Intermediate Use of Google Analytics

Inevitably as a strategic marketer becomes more familiar with Google Analytics, they will use more advanced features to develop a deeper understanding of website, search engine, search engine marketing, and visitors to improve marketing, business development, and product management efforts. Here are some intermediate ways marketers use Google Analytics:

• Setting up custom dimensions and metrics: Google Analytics allows marketers to create custom dimensions and metrics to track data that is not automatically tracked by the platform. For example, a marketer could create a custom dimension to track the source of the traffic (e.g. social media, referral, organic search), or a custom metric to track revenue by product category.
• Creating segments (aka one of our favorites): Google Analytics allows marketers to create segments of website visitors based on specific criteria, such as location, behavior, or demographic information. This allows marketers to analyze data for specific groups of visitors, such as high-value customers or visitors from a specific geographic location.
• Using advanced filters: Google Analytics allows marketers to create advanced filters to include or exclude specific data from reports. For example, a marketer could create a filter to exclude internal traffic from reports, or to include only visitors who have made a purchase.
• Creating custom reports (aka a necessity for clients and bonus points for automation): Google Analytics allows marketers to create custom reports that show data that is specific to their business needs. For example, a marketer could create a report that shows revenue by source of traffic, or a report that shows how many visitors have completed a specific goal.
• Using Google Tag Manager (aka a necessity or don’t bother): Google Tag Manager is a tool that allows marketers to add and manage marketing and analytics tags on their website without requiring changes to the website’s code. This can make it easier to add tracking code for different marketing tools, such as retargeting pixels or heatmap tracking.
• Using Google Data Studio (aka business development and product management will love you): Google Data Studio is a data visualization tool that allows marketers to create interactive dashboards and reports using data from Google Analytics and other sources. This allows marketers to create custom reports and share them with stakeholders.

In using these advanced features on Google Analytics, marketers can gain a deeper understanding of their website’s visitors and improve their marketing efforts by creating targeted campaigns, optimizing website design, and measuring the effectiveness of marketing campaigns. Otherwise, what are you doing? 

Advanced Use of Google Analytics

An advanced marketer may use Google Analytics in more complex ways to gain deeper insights into their website’s visitors, search engine marketing, search engine optimization, integrations, and other campaigns to improve their marketing efforts. Here are some of the advanced ways a strategic marketer may use Google Analytics:

• Multi-Channel Funnels: Google Analytics allows advanced marketers to track the different paths that visitors take before converting, such as the combination of channels (e.g. organic search, social media, email marketing) that led to a conversion. This information can be used to optimize the marketing mix and allocate budget more effectively.
• Attribution Modeling: Attribution modeling allows advanced marketers to understand the impact and value of different marketing channels and campaigns on conversions. This can be used to understand which channels drive conversions and which channels assist conversions.
• AI: Google Analytics now has an AI feature called Google Analytics Intelligence, which uses machine learning algorithms to automatically identify and notify of anomalies, trends and insights. This can be used to automate the process of data analysis and discover new insights that would be difficult to uncover manually.
• Custom Tables and Integrate Multiple Reports: Google Analytics allows advanced marketers to create custom tables that combine data from multiple reports in a single view. This allows advanced marketers to create tables that show data specific to their business needs, such as revenue by product category and source of traffic.
• APIs (aka not really advanced, but definitely basic and hard for marketers that can’t integrate multiple platforms): Google Analytics has APIs that allow advanced marketers to access their data programmatically, this allows advanced marketers to automate data collection, create custom dashboards, and integrate Google Analytics data with other tools.

By using these advanced features, an advanced marketer can gain deeper insights into their website’s visitors and improve their marketing efforts by creating targeted campaigns, optimizing website design, measuring the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, and automating the data analysis process.

The Method Marketing

The Method Marketing offers strategic and performance marketing services to boost your business. Our only priority is exceeding your expectations and improving your bottom line. If you want your clients and prospects to have a meaningful and seamless journey throughout the sales cycle, then give us a call. Or, if you want to boost your revenue because that’s kind of important, huh. Contact The Method Marketing to discuss market analysis at 216-738-9541 or info@TheMethodMarketing.com.