Google Analytics Terms You Need to Know

Do you ever look at your Google Analytics and wonder what the breakdown of each section of your acquisition overview means? Our comprehensive breakdown will help you understand confusing terms and data so you may better use analytic information for your marketing.

The first page of Google Analytics breaks down direct, organic, email, social, referral and CPC‘s.

• Organic traffic is the result of someone searching for your business name directly on a search engine or through adjacent search engines searches and lands on your site. This can be affected in a positive way if you have other campaigns going on, like brand recognition.
• Direct traffic used to exclusively be sourced by visitors who directly typed in your URL in their browser to go to a specific page. Now, direct traffic also includes other sources, like non-referred clicks either by email programs like Outlook that hide the tracking or going to a non-secure site and not be able to track the referring site. If you do not have an SSL, this will happen, which we can fix for you!
• Email and social media are more obvious, consisting of your third-party email campaigns and social media channels like Facebook, and Instagram.
• The CPC is your paid search campaign. Always remember to keep an eye out for your bounce rate! Keep reading for definitions of CPC, CTR and bounce rate. They’re terms you need to know.

If you do not see an array of these channels you do not have a robust online marketing plan.

So hold on–what on earth is a bounce rate, CPC or CTR?

A bounce rate measures the percentage of visitors who “bounce” from your site. A visit is considered a bounce when a visitor looks only at a single page, does not go to another page, and leaves your site after their single view. The bounce rate expresses such visits as a percentage of the total visitor sessions within a specific time frame. Keep an eye on this one: you do not want large bounce rates on landing pages or your homepage, especially if it is a part of a campaign. 

How do your campaign stats measure up? Here at Alchemi, we understand these terms and can implement better marketing strategies based on your analytic data. Contact us today for web marketing assistance!