Google Analytics 4 can be a helpful tool for your organization when measuring the success of your website. From tracking users and their source to observing engagement metrics and event duration—you can use Google Analytics to assess your website and help you strategically plan your next move.
Having access to data is great, but you also have to interpret the information to accurately apply the insights to your web strategy. For example, you may be thrilled to see your site getting thousands of visitors after running a new campaign, but if those visitors aren’t engaging or converting, then there’s a disconnect between your content and what your audience is looking for. Google Analytics 4 can give you data that will help you make improvements for an even more successful campaign in the future.
What stats can you use to measure your site’s effectiveness?
The answer will vary depending on the type of site and its purpose. Continuously ask yourself, what are you trying to achieve? Start by reviewing your objectives which can include:
- Generating awareness for your organization
- Selling a product
- Promoting a new service
- Getting registrants for your next webinar
- Recruiting candidates
- Obtaining "Contact Us" form submissions
Your objectives will drive which metrics matter for an accurate picture of your website’s effectiveness.
Ways to boost your websites effectiveness (from Google’s perspective):
- Mobile-first design. Google has shifted to mobile-first indexing and now measures a website’s relevancy and user experience based primarily on mobile. Converting to a mobile-first site will increase the chances of your mobile users having a good experience and converting.
- Avoid pop-ups. Google doesn’t like pop-ups and will rate your site poorly if you have them. Why? Pop-ups are cumbersome on desktop, but even more so on mobile. And because of mobile-first indexing, this is a big deal. Pop-ups decrease accessibility, increase frustration, are problematic for e-readers and for many neurodivergent folks.
- User journey. Is the user journey throughout your website an intuitive experience guiding your visitors through through the site? One way to discern this is to ask somebody outside of your organization (or even create a focus group) to move through the site and identify moments of confusion or frustration.
- Relevance of information. Google Analytics 4 offers advanced insights that can aid in identifying potential issues with your content. For example, if certain pages are seeing a lot of single-event visits, where users aren’t engaging further with your site, this could suggest several things:
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- The content they thought they were navigating to ended up being different than they expected.
- The page was too copy-heavy and therefore, overwhelming.
- The content didn’t answer a question or inform the user, so it didn’t qualify as an important place to spend their time.
Are you communicating with the right people? Google Analytics 4 can help.
We can all agree that Google Analytics is an important tool for measuring website effectiveness. But what if your analytics are providing positive insights without a positive return for your organization? For example, what if you have a healthy engagement rate and good web traffic, but your organization isn’t receiving "Contact Us" form submissions or engagement from your website visitors.
Google Analytics 4 might reflect that your website is user-friendly and effective, but your communication strategy might be in need of an overhaul if you’re communicating well with the wrong folks. In this case your website is designed to reach people, just not the right people. That is where we can help you with a communication strategy for your desired audience!
Getting used to Google Analytics 4 and how best to use it for your organization can be difficult. If you have questions or need help with an outside audit or a website strategy, please contact us!