What information can you really get from Google Analytics?

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What is Google Analytics? 
First of all, what is Google Analytics? Google Analytics is a web analytics service offered by Google that tracks and reports website traffic. It is proven to be the top ranked and most used web analytics service across the internet. The service is available to everyone with a Google account. Google Analytics provides statistics and basic analytical tools for search engine optimization (SEO) and marketing purposes. Data is collected through the system using a JavaScript page tag, which works as a web bug to gather information from visitors to the site. The system is reliant on cookies and can only collect Data from people who have their cookies enabled. So basically Google Analytics provides people with more information on their site visitors and how their content is performing. Google Analytics consists of Data collection and management, Data consolidation, Data analytics and reporting, and Data activation

The Benefits of Google Analytics.
1. Free: The most important and most attractive benefit of all, it’s free. Everyone loves the word free. This way you can invest in a decent budget in resources instead of tools.

2. Information: Provides you with vast amount of important information, for example: how visitors locate your website and which pages and links attract your visitors the most.

3. Visitor Segmentation & Target Audience Identification: How many new visitors your SEO brings you. From this you can segment your audience. Google Analytics also helps you determine whether your target audience perception is correct.

4. Budgeting & Budget allocation: helps you understand what is working for your business and what is not working for your business, therefor allowing you to invest further into effective budgeting. Also allocating budget to areas, that may have been neglected or not considered before Google Analytics findings highlighted important areas to you.

5. Easy: Simple and easy way to set up and to use. A basic implementation is straight forward in comparison to tools from many other vendors. For all google analytics beginners Youtube offer a range of beginners guide tutorials.

6. Measures the impact of mobile browsing to your website. On the mobile overview report we can see a wealth of data, especially if goal tracking and e-commerce tracking are fully setup.  Studies have shown that 77% of web searches have been performed with a mobile device at home or in work, where there was in fact a computer device available to carry out searches.

7. Reports: Powerful reports. You can create your own report and it is very straight forward. You can access manage customise and share your own reports and also back up your reports with custom tables. You can send out your reports then via e-mails which is useful for your clients and current or potential stakeholders.

8. Tracking Campaigns: Google analytics can specifically track campaigns in order to tell you what is driving traffic to your site. Successful campaigns, and unsuccessful campaigns. Google analytics is able to track this traffic to your website by using two basic referring sources which are organic campaigns and paid campaigns. This can tell you how users have identified your site.

9. Improve Web Page quality: One of the main aims of Google Analytics is providing you with information in order to help you improve. When data is collected and analysed that is when you can evaluate your results and therefore implement new procedures in order for the quality of your Web Page to improve. Everyone tries their best to get their Web Page to a high standard this can be helped with the use of Google Analytics. We strive to improve information while offering a well designed intriguing Web Site.

10. Large group of specialised consultants to offer help: Google analytics offer full time highly qualified and specialised consultants who are there to assist needs and offer help. They have an enormous network of workers worldwide and have proven to be a great team. If you are faced with a query or problem, it is simple to find someone who can assist you.

Conclusion:  “In a physical store, you can see your customers come and go. You can talk to them face to face and help them find what they’re looking for. In other words, have direct contact with them. An online store is different. You don’t see your customers. You might not even know they visited your store. But there are, in fact, several ways for the online merchant to “see”, better understand and so ultimately better serve their customers. Website analytics is one such way, providing you with statistics that show you what’s happening in your online store.” 

There is never a complete list of benefits for using Google Analytics, as the advantages in relation to using the service increase everyday. Google Analytics is constantly changing and improving in order for you to benefit more. It aims to provide you with more background knowledge as to how powerful your business is on a daily basis. Now you can evaluate, monitor and innovate your online strategies to get the best results for your business.

Image source: http://stonemaiergames.com/kickstarter-lesson-148-google-analytics/