Google Analytics - What Is a Metric?

Google Analytics is a free tool used by businesses to provide insight into who visits their site and what they do there. 

While a Google Analytics account provides amazingly rich data, you may not always know how to turn the data into actionable steps. This is a real shame, as the insights it provides could mean the difference between an okay site or ad campaign, and an outstanding one that keeps visitors returning for more (or even better, one that results in hard-earned sales).

So, this article will answer a few important questions: 

• What is a metric in Google Analytics? 
• What are some of the most important metrics that I can track?
• How do these metrics help me with my site performance?

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What is Metrics in Google Analytics? 

Every report in Google Analytics is made up of both Metrics and Dimensions. 

Metrics are quantitative measurements. Anything that can be measured with a number is a metric in a Google Analytics report. For example, the number of visitors, the average time spent on the site, or the number of pages they visited. 

Dimensions, on the other hand, organize all these numerical data into categories. An example of this would be the browser, location, or language of traffic to your site. Dimensions are always expressed in non-numerical terms.

Primary dimensions are default dimensions automatically added by Google Analytics. You can also add a secondary dimension to narrow your results into smaller categories.

How Many Metrics Should I Track?

According to supermetrics.com, there are about 500 metrics and dimensions that can be tracked on Google Analytics. But wait, no need to panic! The good news is that not every metric needs to be used to have a successful digital marketing campaign. Each business is different and the metrics you choose to track should be customized to suit your needs.

For this reason, we will look at only the Top 10 Metrics we believe every small to medium size business should track. But first, let’s briefly discuss the 4 main categories or reports provided by Google Analytics.

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The 4 Main Categories of Google Analytics Metrics

1. Audience - These user metrics help you understand who your audience is. 
2. Acquisition - This is the kind of metric that will help you understand how someone got to your site. 
3. Behavior - This metric allows you to determine what users do on your site. 
4. Conversions - These metrics track your goals. How many users clicked on that link, signed up for the newsletter, or viewed the discounted deal at the end of the page.

Top 10 Google Analytics Metrics for SEO & Ad Campaigns

Here are the 10 most relevant Google Analytics metrics that you should be tracking, which category they belong to, and a definition or suggestions on how to analyze them.

1. Number of Users (Audience)

Overview: Dashboard → Audience → Overview

Definition:

This metric tracks how many people visited your website over a specific date range.

Why Is This Metric Important?

It helps you gauge how successful your marketing efforts are at attracting new and returning visitors. Depending on the type of site you have, repeat visitors are very important. On a blog site, for example, returning visitors show that people find your content engaging and want to read more.

How Do I Improve This Metric?

• Advertise using paid methods, like Google or Facebook Ads
• Post content on Social media sites like Facebook or Linkedin
• Encourage first-time visitors to sign up for a newsletter. A monthly newsletter is a subtle reminder that you exist and encourages visitors to return.

2. Demographics  (Audience)

Overview: Dashboard → Audience → Overview

Definition:

This metric tells you more about your visitors by age and gender. 

Why Is This Metric Important?

Knowing your audience helps you to direct your marketing efforts to the right platforms where they spend most of their on-screen time. 

How Do I Improve This Metric?

• If most users are over 50, consider using larger text and making your website easier to navigate
• If most users are in their early 20s, you may choose to use platforms like Instagram or TikTok for paid advertising

3. Average Session Duration (Audience)

Overview Dashboard → Audience → Overview

 In-depth Analysis: Dashboard → Audience → Behavior → Engagement

Definition:

This metric tracks the average time a user spends on a website in any single session. The period begins when the user enters the website to either the point they leave or after 30 minutes of inactivity. 

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Note though that page time is only included if the user moves on to another page on the same website. So a user may spend 10 minutes on the first page, but if they don’t move to another page, the session time = 0.00 (these are considered as bounced sessions). In the same way, the time spent on the last page they visit is also omitted.

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There are ways around this, but If nothing else, listen to the experts who say a good average session duration should be between 2-3 minutes. 

Why Is This Metric Important?

If the average session duration is low, this is an indication that either visitors are not finding what they are looking for, your site provides a bad user experience, or lacks engaging content.

How Do I Improve This Metric?

• Add videos to your website pages to keep users there for longer
• Provide links to other pages of your site
• Using images to break up huge chunks of text will make the article easier to read

4. Average Pages per Session (Audience)

Overview: Dashboard → Audience → Overview

 In-depth Analysis: Dashboard → Audience → Behavior → Session Quality

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Definition:

This refers to the average number of individual pages viewed in a single session. This metric is calculated by dividing the number of page views by the total number of sessions.

Why Is This Metric Important?

If visitors view several pages per session, it indicates that they are engaged and want to explore further. 

How Do I Improve This Metric?

• Help users easily navigate their way around your site through internal linking
• Feature other articles related to the topic at the end of the blog post to encourage further reading
• Encourage users to move to a new page by providing a Call-to-Action
• Write compelling content that will make the user want to read more

5. Organic Traffic (Acquisition)

Overview: Dashboard → Acquisition → Overview

 In-depth Analysis: Dashboard → Acquisition → All Traffic → Channels

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Definition:

Organic traffic is the traffic that lands on your website through a non-paid source. This includes users directed to your site through a Google search keyword query.

Why Is This Metric Important?

These are visitors looking for the specific service, product, or information you provide. These searchers are more likely to turn into paying customers. Also, studies have shown that users are more likely to click organic search results than paid ads. 

How Do I Improve This Metric?

• Do keyword research to get the right words or phrases into your content that match the most popular search queries. 
• Get quality backlinks from high authority sites to appear higher in Google Search results
• Optimize your site’s Title tags & Meta tags

6. Bounce Rate (Behavior)

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Overview: Dashboard → Behavior → Overview

 In-depth Analysis: Dashboard → Behavior → Site Content → All pages

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Definition:

Bounce rate refers to the percentage of visitors who leave the site after viewing only one page.

According to gorocketfuel.com, a bounce rate of between 26-40% is excellent, 41-70% is average and anything above 70% needs some work.

Why Is This Metric Important?

This metric is only important if you have a site that requires visitors to move from one page to the next. Bounce rates could indicate that visitors aren't finding the information they are looking for, or find the site frustrating to use.

How Do I Improve This Metric?

• Consider what could be causing visitors to leave and fix it. This could include a slow page loading speed, too many pop-ups, and pages that aren’t mobile-friendly
• Add clear CTA’s to encourage users to move to the next step or page

7. Site Speed (Behavior)

Overview: Dashboard → Behavior → Site Speed → Overview

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Definition:

The amount of time it takes for a page or website to load.

Why Is This Metric Important?

Nothing gets users to click on that back button faster than a page that takes too long to load. A slow-loading website is also bad for SEO and can negatively influence where you appear in search results. And if people can’t see you, there’s little chance of them landing on your site’s pages.

How Do I Improve This Metric?

• Makes sure all your images are compressed and the optimal size for a website
• Reduce the number of redirects as these increase the time a user has to wait to access your content

8. Google Ads - Cost (Acquisition)

Overview: Dashboard → Acquisition → Google Ads

 In-depth Analysis: Dashboard → Acquisition → Google Ads → New vs Returning

Definition:

This metric tells you how much money your campaign has cost and what results were achieved.

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CPC (Cost per click) - What it costs every time a user clicks on your ad.

CPA (Cost per action) - What it costs to get a user to perform an action. For example, to sign up for a monthly subscription service.

Why Is This Metric Important?

This helps you measure how much your marketing campaign is costing, as well as how effective it is. You can then decide whether your campaign is worth continuing or whether it's best to direct your efforts elsewhere for maximum results.

9. Top Queries in Search (Behavior)

In-depth Analysis: Dashboard → Acquisition → Search Console→ Queries

Definition:

Provides you with a list of the top keywords or phrases used in search which directed users to your page.

Why Is This Metric Important?

Helps you see which keywords your site ranks for, so you can create more relevant content based on those keywords. Pay attention to your CTR (click-through rate) that tells you how many people clicked on your site once it appeared in search results. 

How Do I Improve This Metric?

• Write great content with well-researched keywords
• Study pages that already rank well and create similar content with a fresh perspective
• Pay attention to on-page SEO and optimize all title tags and headings for search

10. Goal Conversion Rate (Conversions)

In-depth Analysis: Dashboard → Conversions → Goals→ Overview

Definition:

Each time a goal, or action, is completed, it counts as a conversion. A conversion could be the percentage of visitors who signed up for your newsletter, filled in a contact form, or made a purchase. You’ll need to define these goals in Google Analytics beforehand so the program knows which conversions to track. 

Why Is This Metric Important?

Your conversion rate is a measure of how effectively your website can accomplish the purpose it was designed for.

How Do I Improve This Metric?

• Run tests to see which discount offers to attract the most conversions. For example, a 10% discount voucher may be more popular than a voucher offering free shipping.
• Consider including a live chat feature. Websites with excellent customer support often have higher conversion rates

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Final Thoughts

Congratulations! You made it to the end of the article and now know how to easily use Google Analytics to better understand your audience, determine how your website is performing and see how effective your ad campaigns are.

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Google Analytics provides an incredible amount of data. But the strength of Google Analytics may also be its greatest weakness. If you’re busy building your business, you may not have the time or skill to analyze all the data it provides.

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If you’re feeling overwhelmed, there are also alternatives to Google Analytics which provide similar data but in much easier-to-understand reports.

A Fresh Take-On Analytics Reports

If you’re a busy businessman or woman who simply doesn’t have the time to filter through the Google Analytics metrics, why not consider a simpler alternative? 

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Abralytics provides all the most important data in easy-to-understand tables and graphs, and these reports are conveniently delivered to your inbox each week.

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Why not check it out for yourself - Click here for the live demo!

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NOTE: All Google Analytic screenshots are taken from the free demo version.

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