Breaking down the jargon of web analytics

If you are using Google Analytics, or your developer sends you reports regularly but the information may as well be written in Greek, then this blog post is for you. It’s time to break down the technical jargon of web analytics so you can better understand where your efforts are working, and where they need a bit of adjustment! To help you even further, keep reading for access to a FREE Google Analytics course that will have you tracking like a pro in no time.

What is web analytics?

The numbers and graphs you see in your analytics is a collection of data generated by users’ activity on your website or mobile app. It shows their activity and where they click through to, amongst other useful pieces of information.

What is the purpose of this data?

Collecting and analysing this data is extremely helpful in discovering ways to improve website user experience and marketing campaigns. This means more bang for your business buck, and more effective lead generation and sales.

For example: At CLP, we use analytics to see how many website users move on to book a meeting. This helps determine if the structure and content is effective, as well as where on the site users are clicking through from.

What is a user?

A user is a person who visits your website or mobile app and can also be known as a ‘visitor’. There are two different types of users on your website:

1. New user: A person who has never visited your website before
2. Returning user: A person who has visited your website before

For example, if you were to visit a website such as our client Papillon Lingerie and you have never been to their website before, you are a new user. Let’s say you then sign up to their mailing list so that you can receive information to help you or someone else though breast cancer. Papillon Lingerie then sends you an email that directs you to their website for a sale or booking. Your now a returning user.

What is a session|visit?

A session or a visit is how much time a user spends on your website.

For example, this week so far there have been nine sessions on our website. That is nine separate occasions people have spent time on the website.

What is a pageview?

A pageview is a webpage that has successfully loaded on a user’s browser. If the page is taking too long to load, this may cause people to leave before it appears properly – and this will increase your bounce rate (more on that later)! Pageviews can be also be referred to as screen-views for mobile apps.

What is a cookie?

No, we are not talking about something delicious to eat here! A cookie in web-speak is a small file used by many web analytic tools to keep track of a user’s activity on a website. If someone clears their cookies or uses a different web browser, the web analytic tools will see them as a different user, even though they are the same user returning.

What is a bounce rate?

Your bounce rate is a percentage of users that leave your site without having interacted with it. If you have a high bounce rate it could be for a number of reasons, but the most common one is slow loading time. If this is the case, talk to your website developer to see how you can speed it up.

What is a conversation?

A conversation is when a user completes a goal that you have set in your analytic program. For example, if you wanted people to sign up for a newsletter, you would direct them to do so on your website. In your analytics you then would set a goal for when they click the ‘submit’ button for that sign-up form.

Metric explained

Metric is a measure of something, such as by quantity.

Metrics you may be tracking:

• Users|visitors – the total number of people who have visited your website or app.
• Sessions|visits – the total number of sessions on your website or app.
• Pageviews – the total number of pages that a user viewed on your website.
• Bounce rate – the percentage of sessions where the visitor didn’t interact with your website or app after arriving.
• Pages per session – the average number of pages viewed during a session.
• Average session duration – the average amount of time a session was live for on your website. This is measured in minutes and seconds. The more engaged your users, the longer the time.
• Goals|conversions – the total number of tracked, successful actions that your website visitors completed.
• Conversion rate – the ratio of conversions to visits on your website. In general, a higher conversion rate means your website is doing what it was designed to.
• Revenue – the value of sales processed through an online shopping basket. This only applies to e-commerce websites.

Dimension explained

A dimension is an attribute of a user or a session, such as whether a user is on a mobile phone or a computer and where they are located. This data is all measurable and is known as dimension.

Dimension that may be measured:

• Location – the geographic location of a user.
• Language – the language settings of the user’s browser.
• Browser – the program used by the visitor to navigate your website (Chrome, Firefox, Safari etc…).
• Operating system – the operating system on the user’s device (Windows, Mac, Andriod or iOS).
• Device type – the type of device the user was on (laptop, tablet or smartphone).
• Traffic source – the specific place that referred the user to your website, such as a search engine, a social network, or another website linking to yours.
• Campaign – this is the marketing effort that drove the user to your website.
• Keyword – the specific term (keyword) the user searched for to find your website.
• Landing page – the first page a user views when they reach your website.
• Exit page – the page a user was viewing before they left your website.
• Page – the specific page a user viewed, also referred to as the URL.

Now you have an understanding of the lingo, it is time to learn how to set up and use your own Google Analytics account. To get started, click the button below to watch the instructional video (and just an FYI, we don’t get kickbacks from Google for sending you there, we just want to help you understand and use analytics like the pros do!).

If you have questions or would like to have a chat about your website, click the Contact Us button below and we will be in touch.

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