The data in Google Analytics is presented in the form of reports, designed to make it easier to identify patterns and gain insights. In general, reports are known to be more effective in conveying complex ideas. For example, a report showing the number of users the site receives over a certain period, how many users completed a conversion action on the site? What is the conversion rate of users on the site? Which pages have lower/higher exit rates? What is the cost per mobile purchase? etc.
Some of these questions can be answered using pre-defined reports, custom reports, or by using segments within these reports. But which reports should you use? How can you understand as quickly as possible which reports to look at? With the help of this guide, you will be able to deeply understand which reports you need to use for your website. But before we begin, it is important to know how Google Analytics creates reports for users:
If the whole world of Google Analytics is new to you – click to go to The Beginner’s Guide to Google Analytics, and here for theGlossary of Relevant Google Analytics Terms.
What are Dimensions and Metrics in Google Analytics?
All reports in Google Analytics display a combination of Dimensions and Metrics. It is important to know what each of these is in order to understand what is happening in the various reports.
- Dimensions – These are basic attributes of the collected data. ‘Country’, for example, is an additional attribute for user data. This attribute will tell you which countries the website users are coming from.
- Metrics – These are quantitative measurements; they tell you the number of something. The ‘Sessions’ metric, for example, tells how many unique visits occurred on your site over a period of time.
Google Analytics generates a variety of default reports. We will review them below. You can also create custom reports that combine different dimensions and metrics.
Google Analytics Admin Panel
24 hours after setting up your Analytics account, the platform should collect enough data for you to see your first reports.
You can access these reports through the main Google Analytics dashboard. The home page of this dashboard is shown above. This is where every visit to Analytics begins. On this page, you will find everything you need to navigate the platform.
Dashboard Overview
You can find links to specific Analytics reports in the left-hand menu. I will explain each of the main report types in detail later. The right side of the dashboard includes initial insights into your website data. Graphs, tables, and other representations of your data are displayed in ‘cards’. They are the panels on the right side of the home page. There are simple options attached to the cards to change their view. Typically, you can change the type of data displayed and the time frame in which it is shown.
You can often also click a link to go to the full report from which the snapshot was taken. The format of these reports is identical to the home page. They have cards with tables and graphs, which you can edit to display different information as you see fit.
Types of Reports in Google Analytics
There are 5 report categories in Google Analytics under standard reports:
- Real-Time Reports
- Audience Reports
- Acquisition Reports
- Behavior Reports
- Conversion Reports
Real-Time Reports
Real-Time reports is the first option in the left menu. It is similar to the main overview page. The difference is that it only displays data visualizations of users who are currently on the site in real-time.
Audience Reports
The Audience dashboard is where you will go to learn more about your website users. Not just those who are currently on the site, but all of them. Open the overview section of the dashboard and you will get a broad view of the data that Analytics is able to show you.
For the time period you choose, you can see how many users and sessions were on your site. You can also see how long users stay on the site and how many pages they typically visit. Selecting any of the other reports in the Audience dashboard allows you to dig deeper into the user data. For example, if you select the Demographics section, as shown below, this report will show you how your website’s audience is divided by age and gender. Such information can be essential for your marketing campaigns.
Acquisition Reports
Acquisition reports show you information and data about your website users. The Acquisitions dashboard gives you insights into how users found your site. Again, this part of Analytics begins with an overview report.
This report displays several dimensions and metrics. The metrics and dimensions are divided into three categories: ‘Acquisition’, ‘Behavior’, and ‘Conversions’.
- Acquisition – Refers to the users the site receives from different channels.
- Behavior – Reports on what these users do while browsing.
- Conversions – Shows you how users from different channels converted.
The other reports in the ‘Acquisition’ dashboard allow you to analyze the data in a variety of ways. ‘All Traffic’ is where you will find more in-depth reports regarding the data shown in the overview report. Other options look specifically at individual acquisition channels. ‘Search Console’ reports, for example, allow you to see how users reach your site via organic search. You can discover things like how many users enter your site from Google and which search terms they use.
Behavior Reports
Some of the reports we already mentioned include data on how users interact with your site. The Behavior reports are where you will get more comprehensive data in this regard. The overview report will show you information on page views, session duration, and bounce rate, among other details of user behavior.
Behavior reports are especially useful for evaluating the performance of various pages on your site. The ‘Site Content’ report, for example, is great for this. This report displays a wide range of metrics related to the different pages of your website. They include relevant information such as page views, average time on page, and bounce rate. These metrics can be very useful. They indicate how popular your pages are. You can see which gets the most views and what holds users’ attention the longest. These insights tell you what type of content you should focus on in the future. They also reveal if you need to improve or even delete some existing pages.
Conversion Reports
The last of the Analytics reports is the Conversion reports. This part of the platform shows how visitors ‘convert’ while using your site and allows you to measure conversions. This means how often they perform the actions you want them to perform on the site. These reports are related to the goals that you defined in advance. Goals are the main part of this report. Here you will find reports regarding the conversions of the various goals you have set. By default, the overview report shows the total goals completed for your site and how they are distributed among different goals.
You can also edit the overview report to focus on any of your goals. For example, how seasonality affects your industry. You can also examine which marketing channels are most relevant to your business. You can edit the overview report via the dropdown menu shown here:
A Winning Tip for Creating Reports in Google Analytics
You can take advantage of Analytics’ intelligent system and find answers to questions in advance—just ask a question in Analytics Intelligence. This tool can help you quickly find answers to most of your queries.
Summary
Now you are ready to start tracking your website data with reports that clearly separate any insights you want to understand. We covered the reports and how to view and understand them in a way that will improve your marketing campaigns. Also, reading and analyzing data properly, and knowing what to look for and where to look, is the game changer for improving your marketing efforts.
What makes this platform so useful is the fact that it provides tangible and accurate data. By generating data about the site and users visiting the site – this data will provide you with concrete insights that you can use to develop your business further.
About the Author
Adi Golan, Campaign Manager at Fialkov Digital, specializes in advertising using advanced tools and automations.
