The most frequeltly asked questions about Google Analytics get answered.

Is Google Analytics really free?

Well, technically, yes, Google Analytics is free. In reality, for many of its users it’s not, and it can actually be quite expensive.

The reason for that is pretty simple: many Google Analytics users find it too complicated to set up, define conversions, create reports and actually understand their website results to be able to make data-driven decisions. This results in many users eventually hiring an agency or an analyst to set up and analyze the data on Google Analytics for them.

If you end up paying an analyst or an agency to handle Google Analytics for you, Google Analytics isn’t free for you, even if you don’t actually pay Google to use it.

Not to mention that if you find Google Analytics overwhelming or misunderstand your data, you may make business decisions that will eventually cost you.

Why should I measure my website stats?

Your website is a powerful business tool, and in order to get the most out of it, it’s crucial to measure its stats using a website analytics tool such as Oribi or Google Analytics.

This will provide you with essential information that can help you make smart and data-driven decisions about your website and marketing efforts. For example, you’ll see how each marketing channel is performing, where your users are coming from and which pages on your site perform well, as well as other impactful data.

Not measuring your website stats is the equivalent of making decisions blindly—you won’t know what you need to improve on your site and in your marketing efforts or what’s working well.

What you should measure on your site?

Measuring your website’s results can be complicated. In order to really make the most out of it, it’s important to identify what you are looking for and why. Keeping your focus on the right metrics and measuring them correctly can lead you to make smart and useful data-driven decisions.

1. Conversions and Conversion Rate

Conversions and conversion rates are definitely the most important metrics to focus on.

Conversions are the actions you want your website visitors to take on your site, such as sign up, subscribe, download an ebook and so on. The conversion rate is the measurement of how many people visited the relevant pages and did want you wanted them to do (aka converted). For example, if your home page was visited by 100 users, and out of them 10 signed up for your newsletter, your conversion rate is 10% (10/100). Of course, the conversion rate can be measured by pages, traffic sources and referrals.

Tracking conversions and conversion rates is extremely important because it tells you how well your site is performing and indicates how efficient your marketing is. Use this data to make data-driven decisions and improve your results.

2. Bounce Rate

First, let’s understand what a “bounce” means. A “bounce” occurs when someone visits your website and immediately clicks the back button, closes their browser tab or navigates away. Basically it means that the visitor didn’t find your site relevant and decided to leave it right away.

The bounce rate helps you understand whether your site’s visitors are sticking around when they first land on your site or are leaving immediately. This metric can help you understand how relevant your website is to its visitors and can be a huge factor in assessing your marketing efforts. For example, if a certain marketing channel has a significantly higher bounce rate than other channels, it’s an indication that something in your marketing efforts on this channel isn’t working out and is attracting the wrong users. If your website is relevant to your website users, a high bounce rate can indicate poor website performance or that you simply are attracting the wrong people or to the wrong pages on your site.

3. Average Time on Page

Find out how much time your website visitors are spending on each page. Like bounce rate, this can indicate which marketing channels are getting you the highest-quality users and which pages on your site make them stick around.

4. Traffic Sources

Discover where are your site’s visitors are coming from. See which marketing channels, referring websites and/or social media channels are bringing the most traffic to your site.