Google Analytics – why you should use it

Question: What’s the best way to analyze, understand, and optimize your web traffic?

Answer: Google Analytics.

Why? Here’s why.

Google Analytics is used by 6,620 of the 10,000 most popular websites, as ranked by BuiltWith (August 2013). Another figure puts it at around 5,000. That’s over five thousand sites using Google Analytics to report a spike or drop in site traffic, and adjusting their tactics as required. If you need or want to drive more traffic to your site – because who would want a drop in numbers? – Google Analytics will show you cleanly and clearly where you’re going wrong, and what your visitors want.

It breaks down the daily traffic in a handy graph, and a pie chart displaying where traffic comes from (email, Google+, or a direct hit – and no, you can’t eat it), and where it’s located (India, Canada, the States), along with the average length of time each IP spends on the site, along with how many active visitors there are on the site at any given time – at a glance, you can see what works, what doesn’t, and what might need to be adjusted.

Running Google Analytics on your website will enable you to take advantage of how long your visitors are on your site and where they are from, plus what they’re looking at. For example, you may wish to implement a Mandarin/Cantonese language translation for your Chinese visitors to enable easier navigation, and as a result they may spend a little more time there, thus perhaps recommending your site via word of mouth.

And with all the different ways in today’s world of connecting with people, old-fashioned recommendation can be the most powerful. Be those guys.