Are you using Google Analytics to track your website data? If so, you’re on the right track. Google Analytics is a powerful tool that can give you a ton of insights into how people are interacting with your website. However, it’s important to use it correctly, or you could be making some serious mistakes. In this blog post, we’ll show you 7 mistakes marketers make with their Google Analytics and how to avoid them.
1. Not Checking for Spam Traffic
One mistake that marketers make with their Google Analytics is not checking for spam traffic. Spam traffic is traffic that comes from fake sources, such as bots or automated scripts. This traffic can skew your data and give you inaccurate insights. To check for spam traffic, go to the “Audience” tab and then click on “Overview.” If you see any spikes in traffic that seem unnatural, that’s likely spam traffic.
2. Not Setting Up Goals
Another mistake marketers make is not setting up goals in Google Analytics. Goals allow you to track specific conversions on your website, such as newsletter signups or contact form submissions. Without goals set up, you won’t be able to track how effective your marketing campaigns are at driving conversions. To set up a goal, go to the “Admin” tab and click on “Goals.” From there, you can add a new goal and specify what type of conversion it is.
3. Not Tracking Social Media Traffic with UTM Parameters
If you’re not using UTMs (or Urchin Tracking Module parameters), you’re missing out on valuable insights into your social media traffic. UTMs are tags that you can add to your social media links to track where the traffic is coming from. For example, let’s say you have a link to your website on Twitter and Facebook. By adding UTMs to those links, you can see which social media platform is driving more traffic to your site.
4. Not Creating Custom Reports
Custom reports allow you to see the data that’s most important to you in one place. For example, if you want to see how much traffic your website is getting from organic search vs paid search, you can create a custom report that will show you those metrics side-by-side. To create a custom report, go to the “Customization” tab and click on “New Custom Report.” From there, you’ll be able to choose which metrics and dimensions to include in your report.
5. Not Checking the Mobile Version of Your Site
More and more people are using their mobile devices to browse the internet, so it’s important to make sure that your site looks good on mobile devices. One way to do this is by checking the mobile version of your site in Google Analytics. To do this, go to the “Audience” tab and click on “Mobile.” From there, select “Overview” from the dropdown menu. This will show you how many people are visiting your site from mobile devices and which devices they’re using.
6. Not Using Segmentation
Segmentation allows you to take a closer look at specific subsets of data within your Google Analytics account. For example, let’s say you want to see how much traffic your website is getting from California vs New York City vs London—with segmentation, you can do just that! To segment your data, go to any report in Google Analytics and click on “Add Segment.” From there, you’ll be able to choose which segments you want to include in your report. Segments can be geographic locations, browsers, device types, etc. Play around with different segments until you find the ones that are most useful for your business.
7. Not Checking the Acquisition Reports
The acquisition reports in Google Analytics can give you a lot of insight into which channels are driving traffic to your website. There are four main channels: organic search, direct traffic, referential traffic, and social media. To see the acquisition reports, go to the “Acquisition” tab and then click on “All Traffic” and select “Channels” from the drop-down menu. This will show you a breakdown of where your site traffic is coming from so you know which channels you need to focus on.
These are just 7 of the many mistakes that marketers make with their Google Analytics accounts. By avoiding these mistakes, you can ensure that you’re getting accurate data and insights into how people are interacting with your website.