Mohamed Kamal kalamawy's Official blog for SEO, Webmaster and E-Marketing Strategies.
The Blog is about E-Marketing, SEO, Webmaster Tools and Techniques.
As a professional E-Marketer, SEO, Webmaster since 2004.
Professional Techniques are discussed here.
“SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, which is the practice of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search engine results” per Moz, which is the very first company that started an online-based subscription service for the SEO community.
Google and other search engines have millions of factors to determine which webpage is suitable for your query; however, the most important aspect of SEO writing is that you create content for your audience, and search engines make algorithm updates to provide the best search engine result pages (SERPs) to users. Do you see the keyword here? SEO is all about people. You do not want to create content for search engines.
At DZone, we embrace our community and its members. Let’s dig into more details about SEO writing.
Keyword Research
We recommend conducting keyword research to generate new ideas for your topics. SEO keyword research will give you clear insights, such as:
Monthly Search Volume: How many people search for the topic you are thinking of?
Keyword Difficulty: How difficult or competitive is it?
Types of Content: What kind of content format works best? Written content, video, or infographics?
Know Your Audience: Who will be your primary targeted audience? What do they want to know?
Trend Analysis: Is the topic trendy? Do more people search for it compared to last year? Is it an evergreen or seasonal topic?
There are many things you need to know before you start creating a piece of content.
On-Page SEO
As this guide is specifically for our DZone contributors, we would like to show some tips for on-page SEO techniques.
Content Length
How long a content piece should be is depending on your type of content, but there is a big trend that long content wins in SEO. The ideal content length is 1,000-2,000 words. This length will also maximize opportunities for social share and Google is now able to index passages from a webpage called passage-based indexing, meaning Google can pick up a block or part of content for SERPs to satisfy each query.
Understanding Headings
If you are using a content management system (CMS), you most likely have an option for headings, and the headings are the place you can drop your primary keywords to attract visitors. Consider each heading:
H1: An H1 is a book title. Use one H1 on each webpage.
H2: H2s are chapters. Guide what you talk about for each part of your content
H3: H3s are sub-chapters. If you need more details under an H2, this heading is your option.
SEO Titles and Meta Descriptions
SEO Titles: Search engines display around the first 50-60 characters, including site name. Make sure you include the primary keywords in a title tag and attract visitors such as "SEO Writing 101 for DZone Community - DZone Writers" (51 characters) for this article. If your title tag is too long, the title will end with '...' which doesn't provide good information to users.
You might be confused between an SEO title and H1, but an SEO title will show up on SERPs and an H1 will show up on an actual webpage. In many cases, you can use your H1 as your SEO title, but keep in mind that an SEO title has much potential to increase CTRs from search engines.
Here are some great examples from our contributors:
"Being VP Of Engineering Is Harder Than Being CEO - DZone Agile"
"How to Convert HTML Tables into Beautiful PDFs - DZone Web Dev"
Meta descriptions: Search engines display around the first 150 characters. A recent SEO study shows that a meta description has more potential to increase CTR than a title tag. Again, make sure you add your primary keywords to attract users to click your webpage through SERPs.
For this article, the meta description reads, "Whether you are thinking to join the DZone community or you are already a DZone Core member, this guide will help you create an SEO-friendly article."
Understanding Search Intent
One of Backlinko’s articles states, “Search Intent (also known as “User Intent”) is the main goal a user has when typing a query into a search engine. Common types of Search Intent include informational, commercial, navigational and transactional.”
The primary search intent for DZone is informational and navigational:
Informational:
Users who are looking for information will be categorized into this group. Our community members are looking for new ways to improve their programming skills, new applications or technical decisions. “How to” or “Tips of” are good words to use when you provide information that satisfies informational intent.
Navigational:
As we provide great resources to our community, we see people search for ‘xyzdzone’ on Google. This means users have specific questions about certain topics and they want to get the information from the DZone community. Understanding navigational intent will give you a new idea such as what kind of topics we are missing, and if there are any missing topics, it is a great opportunity to contribute your article to DZone.
How to Contribute Content to DZone
At DZone, we are passionate about helping the DZone community and sustain DZonemembers’ growth. If you are motivated to share your knowledge and expertisewith the world, all you need to do is create a free account and click on the “Post” button in the top right of the navigation bar once logged in. If you have any questions about DZonecontributors, visit our FAQ article for more details.
If you want your website to be successful, then it is crucial that you use a comprehensive analytics tool like Google Analytics. Analyzing your site’s traffic will help you understand how your audience is interacting with your content and let you see how your site is performing over time. The Google Analytics interface is full of useful data and valuable insights. However, at first glance, the sheer number of tables and charts can seem overwhelming.
To fix that, we will…
Consider some of the most important analytics that you should monitor
Discuss how to analyze this data so you can gain a better understanding of how your audience is engaging with your website
Cover how to use this data to improve your WordPress site and marketing strategies
The Google Analytics interface explained
Google Analytics is a popular free tool, provided by Google. In fact, 66% of all websites using analytics technology are now using Google Analytics.
Google Analytics works by recording a website’s data and then presenting it in in-depth tables, charts, and graphs. Here you can see the Google Analytics homepage interface…
The Reports menu
The Reports menu on the left-hand side of the page lets you access deeper reporting for specific areas:
(A) Real-time – See how your audience is interacting with your website in real-time. Find out where they have come from, what content they are viewing, and much more.
(B) Audience – Learn about your audience. Look at the demographics of your visitors, how they engage with your content, and what devices they use to access your site.
(C) Acquisition – Find out where your traffic is coming from, how people are reaching your site, and how each traffic source is behaving on your website.
(D) Behavior – Learn how people behave and move around on your site. View data on bounce rates, page views, time spent on site, and more.
(E) Conversions – Lets you track specific actions that your visitors take – and how effectively your website gets people to take those actions.
Other important aspects of the Google Analytics interface include…
(F) Search – Use this function to quickly find reports and help documentation.
(G) Customization – Set up your own report dashboard, custom reports, and much more.
(H) Discover – Read up on Google Analytics and its suite of tools.
(I) Admin – Access your Google Analytics account, alter your settings, and more.
Google Analytics homepage reports: A quick look at your site
On your homepage, you’ll see a basic look at some of the deeper data you can find in the various areas of the Reports menu.
In the image above, the graph (J) shows how many users have visited your site in the last 7 days:
Users – the number of unique visitors.
Sessions – how many visits to your site – one user can visit multiple times so this number will always be equal to or higher than Users.
Bounce Rate – how many visitors leave your site without visiting a second page.
Session Duration – how long an average visitor stays on your site.
Traffic report
The Traffic Report gives you an immediate picture of where your traffic has come from.
Audience reports
The three Audience reports can help inform your content strategy. Knowing where the majority of your audience lives will help you localize and personalize your blog articles. And data on when your audience visits your site will help you plan when to post new content.
Behavior report
This Behavior report will show you your top pages and give you a quick idea of what content is performing and which pages aren’t.
Where is your website traffic coming from?
Understanding where your website traffic is coming from will help you grow your audience in the future. Ideally, you want traffic to be arriving at your site from numerous sources, rather than a single traffic stream.
Select Acquisition → Overview from the left-hand menu of the Google Analytics interface. These reports will give you a good insight into whether your marketing strategies are working.
For example, if you’ve been focusing on social media, you should look for a good amount of traffic from Social.
If ‘organic’ traffic is low, then you need to spend time improving your website’s SEO and researching keywords for your content. Or if ‘referral’ traffic is up, then you will know your push on guest posting has paid off.
For more information on where your visitors are coming from and how this traffic from each source is engaging with your site, select Acquisition → All Traffic → Channels.
Which pages are engaging your visitors?
To find out how each individual page on your site is performing select Behavior → Site Content → All Pages from the Google Analytics interface.
Here you can…
Analyze which pages are receiving the highest number of views
Look at average time spent on each page
Study which pages your visitors are joining you and leaving you on
You can then use this data to inform your content management strategy and publish more of the same content that is appealing to your audience.
Bounce rates
If your bounce rates are high then you need to look at the pages that are causing people to immediately leave your site. It could be that the keywords these pages are ranking for are not relevant to the actual content displayed. Or it may also not be clear to the reader where to go next on your site after they have finished an article.
Other reasons for high bounce rates can be technical, like slow loading times, or bad usability on mobile devices. Once you have made changes to your page’s content, layout, or functionality, monitor your bounce rates over time to see if they decrease.
Exit pages
It is equally important to track exit page data. Some pages you will expect to have high exit numbers. For example where a transaction is complete – a ‘thank you’ or ‘transaction completed’ page.
However, other pages may have high exit numbers that you didn’t foresee. Compare these pages to other similar page types that have low exit numbers. This will help you to understand what aspects of these ‘high exit’ pages need changing.
Who is your audience?
Gaining an insight into your audience, where they are from, and how they interact with your website, will help you plan appropriately for their needs. To see what Google Analytics has for you, start by going to Audience → Overview from the main menu.
New vs returning visitors
It is important to understand the mix of new and returning visitors that your WordPress website receives. Returning visitors are your loyal customers. They give you an audience to whom you can promote your content, services, and products. However, to grow your business, you should also be constantly engaging with new people, and driving this new traffic to your site.
If your new visitor numbers are low, look to improve your site’s SEO, to help you rank well in Google. Get busy on social media by sharing your content and reaching a wider audience. And consider advertising to get your business’ name out there.
Low returning visitor numbers means your audience doesn’t like your website enough to return. This could be due to poor design, low-quality content, difficult usability, or something else. Find the problems and fix them, otherwise this could harm your business.
What are your top devices?
Understanding the technology used by your audience to access your content is also vital. Further stats on devices used can be found under Audience → Mobile → Overview.
If mobile usage is down compared to other devices, then you may need to look at improving the functionality of the mobile version of your site.
Final thoughts
As you can see, Google Analytics can be an extremely effective way to track your website’s performance. By becoming familiar with the Google Analytics interface, you can understand what the data is telling you and then use this data to make informed decisions on how to improve your WordPress website.
Google Analytics is one of the best web analytics tools on the market today.
Any website can use Google Analytics to get a better understanding about what visitors are doing on the site. This free tool makes it easy to track and analyze crucial data.
There are dozens of different reports you can access using GA. Some of these are simple, while others are a bit more complex.
As a beginner, I’ll explain which reports you should be using to get started. This guide will also walk you through the process of installing Google Analytics on your website.
What is Google Analytics? Why Use it at All?
Google Analytics is a free website analytics application that helps webmasters analyze site traffic. It’s one of many tools provided by Google for website metrics.
In short, the platform gives you a complete picture related to your site performance.
GA collects a wide range of data and generates insightful reports. You can use those reports to learn more about your website and its visitors.
Some basic information collected by GA includes how many visitors your site gets, where those visitors come from, how they navigate through your site, how long they spend on each page, and much more. The list goes on and on.
Why do you need Google Analytics?
Your website is the nucleus of your online presence. Whether you operate personal blog, small business website, or international ecommerce company, your website plays a crucial role in your success.
By using Google Analytics, you’ll have a better understanding of how effective your website is as a marketing tool. You’ll learn valuable information, such as which digital campaigns are driving the most traffic to your website.
Tracking traffic patterns and visitor behavior allows you to measure the effectiveness of your website, combined with your overall digital presence.
Where are your website visitors located? Which marketing channels are driving the most traffic to your site? What are the most popular pages on your website?
All of these questions, and more, can be answered with Google Analytics.
The Most Value You’ll Get: Seeing Your Traffic Volume
Everyone who uses Google Analytics loves it. I fall into that category as well. Any time I create a new website, the first thing I do is install GA; it’s become second nature.
While Google Analytics has seemingly endless capabilities, the vast majority of GA users just use it to monitor their traffic volume.
As a beginner, this is the most valuable information that you’ll get from using this tool. Traffic is one of the most critical data points for running a website and business.
Seeing your traffic go up or down by the day, week, or month is extremely beneficial.
Even at a basic level, you can learn a lot about your the performance of website by monitoring the traffic. If traffic is increasing, something is working. Is traffic decreasing? Something is wrong or needs improvement.
For newer websites, seeing your traffic increase is a major validation metric. It helps keep you on track and motivated that you’re doing the right thing.
2 Other Useful Reports
Most of you will install Google Analytics, use it to quickly check your traffic, and then log out. While that’s totally fine, there are a couple of other useful reports you review.
All Pages
All Traffic
Even as a beginner, you’ll want to check these out.
All Pages
The All Pages report is located in the “Site Content” section of the “Behavior” menu on the left side of your GA dashboard.
The report displays all of the pages on your site that people have looked at over a certain time period. It’s helpful in determining what visitors are interested in when they land on your website.
Viewing the All Pages report will tell you which pages need to be updated or improved. Pages with the highest level of interest should be optimized for conversions. If an important page isn’t getting much attention, you can make adjustments accordingly.
All Traffic
The All Traffic reports can be found in the “Acquisition” menu of the GA control panel.
Within the All Traffic section, you’ll find specific reports for:
Channels
Treemaps
Source/Medium
Referrals
All of these reports tell you where your traffic is coming from. In addition to the acquisition analytics (users, new users, sessions), you’ll also benefit from behavior analytics and conversions data in these reports.
Exploring the Rest of Google Analytics
To say that Google Analytics analyzes tons of web analytics would be an understatement. I consider myself to be a GA expert, and I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface in terms of its capabilities.
There is so much data; it’s overwhelming. It gets complicated to navigate through these reports, especially as a beginner.
With that said, I encourage you to explore it on your own time if you’re interested. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, don’t worry—that’s completely normal.
For the vast majority of you, sticking to two or three simple reports is all you need. Check your traffic, view the All Pages report, and check out the All Traffic reports.
The basic reports still deliver 80% of the possible value offered by Google Analytics. So don’t feel pressured to go beyond them.
How to Install Google Analytics
To get started with Google Analytics, you need to sign up and create an account. But that alone won’t be enough. You’ll also need to install Google Analytics directly on your website. That’s how the tool is able to track your data.
The Google Analytics installation process will vary depending on the platform you’re using to power your website.
Regardless of your website platform, you’ll need to generate your Google Analytics tracking code before you can install it. I’ll show you how get to that code first, and then we’ll cover the specific installation instructions for the most popular website types below.
How to Generate Your Google Analytics Tracking Code and Tracking ID
Step #1: Go to your admin menu
I’m assuming by now that you’ve already created a Google Analytics account. If you haven’t, it only takes a minute or two to sign up.
From your GA home screen, navigate to the “Admin” page, which is located on the bottom left corner of the dashboard.
Step #2: Select “Tracking Code” from the “Tracking Info” section
Click “Tracking Info” in the property section of the screen, which will expand the options below it. Then click “Tracking Code” from the expanded list.
Step #3: Copy the code or tracking ID
The tracking ID and tracking code are both located on this page. Depending on the platform you’re using to run your site, you’ll need at least one of these to install Google Analytics.
Now follow the instructions below for your specific website type.
How to Install Google Analytics on Wix
For Wix websites, you won’t need to worry about the Google Analytics code; all you need is the tracking ID.
Step #1: Click “Marketing & SEO”
On the left side of your dashboard, scroll until you see the “Marketing & SEO” menu.
Step #2: Navigate to “Marketing Integrations”
There are three different sections of the “Marketing Home” menu—SEO, Marketing, and Branding.
Scroll until you see the “Marketing” section and select “Marketing Integrations” at the bottom.
Step #3: Connect to Google Analytics
Google Analytics is one of many integrations found on this page.
It should be one of the first ones that appear on the screen. If not, just scroll until you find it. Once located, click the “Connect” button to continue.
Step #4: Add Your Google Analytics Tracking ID
Click the “Connect Google Analytics” button on the top right corner of the screen. A popup will appear that looks like this:
Simply paste the tracking ID that I showed you how to generate earlier.
Make sure there aren’t any spaces before the code. If you select the “IP Anonymization” box, Google won’t save the IP addresses of your website visitors.
You’ll need a premium Wix site with a connected domain in order to complete this final step. So if you’re currently on a free plan or haven’t connected your domain yet, you won’t be able to install Google Analytics until you upgrade.
How to Install Google Analytics on WordPress
There are lots of different ways to install Google Analytics on WordPress. You can install it manually or use a plugin. MonsterInsights, Site Kit by Google, GA Google Analytics are three of the most popular plugins for this.
But for the purposes of this tutorial, I’ll show you how to install the code manually. That way, you won’t have to worry about any third-party plugins.
Step #1: Go to your theme editor
You can get to the theme editor by selecting it from the “Appearance” menu of your dashboard.
It’s important that you install Google Analytics in a child theme. Otherwise, the code will be overwritten every time you update your WordPress theme; you don’t want this to happen.
If the child theme is inheriting template files from the parent theme, then you won’t be able to access the header from here. Click on the name of your parent theme to access the header. In the example screenshot above, the parent theme is “Twenty Twenty.”
Step #2: Navigate to the theme header
You can navigate to the header by scrolling through the files on the right side of the page. Alternatively, you can just scroll and search for the <head> section manually, as I’ve highlighted above.
Step #3: Paste the Google Analytics tracking code
Now just paste the Google Analytics tracking code directly before the theme header.
Remember, this is the “global site tag” that we generated earlier. It’s several lines of code. Do NOT paste the tracking ID (single line starting with UA). Installing the tracking ID here won’t do anything.
How to Install Google Analytics on Shopify
If you’re running an ecommerce store on Shopify, you can easily add Google Analytics to your website in just two quick steps.
Step #1: Navigate to your Shopify preferences
Click the “Online Store” sales channel from the left side of your Shopify dashboard. Then select “Preferences” at the bottom.
Step #2: Paste your Google Analytics tracking code
Scroll down a bit on your preferences screen until you see the Google Analytics section.
Then it’s as simple as pasting your previously generated tracking code into the box and saving your changes. That’s it!
Remember—paste the tracking code, NOT the tracking ID number. You’re pasting several lines of code, NOT the single ID line starting with UA.
How to Install Google Analytics on Squarespace
There are two ways to install Google Analytics on your Squarespace site. One uses the tracking ID, and the other uses the tracking code.
Since the first option is easier, that’s what I’ll show you in this quick three-step tutorial.
Step #1: Go to your Squarespace settings
Click on the “Settings” menu on the left side of your Squarespace dashboard.
Step #2: Click on the “Advanced” settings
The “Advanced” menu is located at the very bottom of your Squarespace settings.
Step #3: Paste your Tracking ID
Locate the “External Services” section of your advanced settings menu. From here, just simply paste your Google Analytics tracking ID.
This is the easiest way to install Google Analytics in Squarespace. However, it’s not the only option. You could also navigate to “Code Injection” from the Advanced Settings menu (instead of External Services). Then you can just copy and paste the Google Analytics code to the header.
Do NOT use both methods to install Google Analytics on Squarespace. Just pick one or the other. The tracking ID method is the easiest, but pasting the code into your header isn’t that difficult. It’s just a matter of personal preference.
Custom Installation for Google Analytics
For those of you using a different platform to run your website, you can still add Google Analytics with a custom installation.
All you need to do is copy and paste the tracking code into the header or footer of the site’s HTML editor. With that said, the header is the recommended option.
Adding the code to your footer may cause accuracy issues, especially if your site is running lots of JavaScripts. That’s because JS snippets get triggered by the order that they’re embedded on your page. So the footer scripts won’t always run, whereas the header scripts will be one of the first things to load.
Once you install the code on your site, you can send test traffic to see if it’s working properly.
This is located in the “Status” section of your GA Tracking Code page.
If you’ve installed the code properly, the active user number will be updated in real-time. It can take up to 30 seconds for this number to update.
Final Thoughts
Every website should be taking advantage of Google Analytics. It’s a free tool, and there’s no better way to get valuable data about your site traffic.
While Google Analytics has plenty of advanced functions, beginners can stick to just a handful of basic reports. Those basic reports are all you really need.
Installing Google Analytics is easy as well. The installation instructions vary slightly, depending on the type of platform you’re using to power your website.
For an in-depth tutorial of installing Google Analytics, simply follow the process that I’ve explained in this guide for your specific website type.
Want to track your conversions using Google Analytics, but not sure where to start? Google Analytics can be intimidating if you are new to it, but it doesn’t have to be complicated. All you need to get started are the basics. In this post, we’ll share how to track your conversions in Google Analytics, step-by-step.
“Analytics.” That can be a scary-sounding word. Many people assume that analytics are only something that technology gurus with multiple degrees can interpret. However, we’re here to tell you that analyzing your website data doesn’t have to be scary or confusing.
In fact, thanks to some free and premium tools (such as Google Analytics + MonsterInsights or OptinMonster), gaining relevant insights into what’s working and what’s not is actually quite effortless.
In just a few simple steps, you can set up your Google Analytics account and create conversion goals so that you can track your email list signups and understand what’s driving your success, or holding you back.
Let’s dig in!
Setting Up Your Google Analytics Account
Let’s begin with your Google Analytics account. If you don’t have an account, then this is the first place to start. If you already have an account, just skip over the first two steps below and start at Step 3.
Here are some simple steps to follow to get up and running with Google Analytics…
Step 1: Create a Google Account
In order to use Google Analytics, you need to have a Google account. If you already have a primary Google account such as Gmail, YouTube, or Google Drive, then you’ll want to set up your Google Analytics account under the same name. Otherwise, you’ll need to create a new one.
Step 2: Sign Up for Google Analytics
Once you have a Google account, you’ll need to sign up for Google Analytics.
Click the Sign In link in the upper right-hand corner and you’ll see a dropdown menu. Select Analytics. You’ll be redirected to a page where you can choose the Google account you want to use.
Click Sign Up, then, on the next page, select Website and fill in your details, including Account Name, Website Name, URL, Industry, and your Time Zone.
Check the boxes next to all the recommended options, and then hit the blue Get Tracking ID button.
You will then be asked to accept the Terms of Service.
After you hit the I Accept button, you will be redirected to your Google Analytics account.
Step 3. Start Tracking Your Website
Inside your new Google Analytics account, you will see your Tracking ID and your Analytics tracking code. You can also find this at any time by going to Admin » Property » Tracking Info. There are several different methods of setting up your website with Google Analytics, some of which use one of these codes.
If you don’t have a WordPress site, you can copy and paste the website tracking code into every web page that you want to track. If you are unsure of how to do this, you may want to have your web developer do this step for you.
You can use Google Analytics with WordPress, too. There are a few ways to add it but the easiest way is to install the MonsterInsights plugin and activate it.
Next, navigate to the Insights tab in your admin menu and select Settings.
Then click on the Authenticate with your Google account button.
You’ll see a dialog box pop up that looks like this, so you can select the Google account you want to use:
Click on the blue Allow button so MonsterInsights can access your Google Analytics data.
Choose the Google Analytics website profile you want to authenticate with MonsterInsights.
Complete the authentication process by clicking I’m not a robot. You’re all set.
How to Set Up Conversion Goals
Now that you’ve successfully installed Google Analytics on your website, you may be feeling a little (or a lot!) overwhelmed by the sheer complexity of it. Well, you are in good company. That’s why so many people insert a tracking code onto their websites and then call it quits.
Why is Google Analytics so complex? Well, it’s pretty powerful stuff.
“The problem is that an ‘out of the box’ Google Analytics implementation will only get you so far,” SEO expert Glenn Gabe explains. “Sure, you’ll get the basics, but that won’t necessarily help you glean insights that can boost ROI.”
So the bottom line is, you’re going to have to do a bit of your own setup. However, once you do, you will be able to gather some golden insights.
While there are plenty of aspects of Google Analytics that you don’t need to learn or master at this point, you absolutely must familiarize yourself with conversion goals.
You can do a variety of things with conversion goals, but because so many of you have asked us about how to track marketing campaigns – and because list building is so crucial to the success of any business online – we are going to focus on tracking email list signups.
Don’t worry – it’s actually pretty simple once you know how to do it. Let’s take a look…
Step 1: Create a New Goal
First, select the Admin tab at the top of the page. This will take you to a page with three columns: Account, Property, and View.
Under the View column, you’ll see the heading Goals (third down from the top). Go ahead and click on this last heading.
Once you’re on the Goals page, click the red + New Goal button.
Step 2: Choose Goal Setup
Next, under Goal setup, select the Custom radio button at the very bottom of all the options and click Continue.
Step 3: Enter Goal Description
You’ll be prompted to create a name for your goal and choose the type. Enter any name that will help you to remember the conversion you are tracking and select Destination as the type. Then hit the Continue button.
Step 4: Enter Goal Details
Next, you’ll need to enter the URL for your thank you page: this is the page that a new subscriber sees just after they opt in. Type it into the Destination field.
Optionally, you can also toggle Value on to enter a monetary value to the conversion. Do this if you know how much each email lead is worth to you. (For instance, if you know that the average lifetime value of a customer is $1,000, and your average customer acquisition rate is 1%, then each lead would be worth $10.)
The Funnel option is usually more useful if you are tracking a conversion that happens further down your funnel (such as a sale), so we are going to skip that for now.
Then, hit Save.
Step 5: Start Recording
As soon as a goal is created, Google Analytics will begin recording data. Now all you have to do is wait.
(You can always pause a goal by changing the recording status to off.)
Step 6: View Your Data
Because you’ve only just started tracking your website, there won’t be any data to show. However, you can view your data by going to Acquisition » Overview and selecting your new goal under the Conversion dropdown menu.
This will allow you to see your top channels which are your top sources of traffic. You will also be able to see a graph of your sessions, which is how many times someone has visited your site (each session can include multiple page views).
What you’ll want to look at is your conversion rate in the third section of columns on the right-hand side:
This will allow you to see which channels are giving you the highest conversion rates. And, if you’ve specified a monetary value to your leads, you will be able to see that total number in the rightmost column.
You can use all of this information to determine which channels you should focus your attention on.
You can also change the dates in the upper right-hand corner to view the specific window of time that you are interested in.
The only downside to conversion goals is that, if you have multiple marketing campaigns, you’ll have to create a separate conversion goal to track each one. You’ll also have to make sure that each campaign has its own separate thank you page, otherwise, you won’t be able to differentiate your conversion goals.
However, if you have OptinMonster, there is a much easier way to use Google Analytics to track conversion rates on each of your individual marketing campaigns. (More on that in the next section.)
Using Google Analytics + OptinMonster
If you’re using OptinMonster, tracking conversions on your campaigns is super easy. You don’t have to create any conversion goals inside Google Analytics, and you don’t even have to use a thank you page if you don’t want to.
To start using OptinMonster and Google Analytics together, go to the Analytics tab from your edit screen in OptinMonster:
You’ll see Google Analytics listed under Non-Active Connections. Click the Connect button to connect.
In the screen that comes up, click the green Generate Authentication Code button.
A new browser tab will open up to ask you if you will allow OptinMonster to view your Google Analytics data. Click the blue Allow button.
Next, it will give you a code. Copy this code, and then go back to the browser tab with your OptinMonster edit screen.
Paste the code into the Authentication Code field. Then, give your Google Analytics account a name in the Account Label (just pick a name that will help you remember which account you are connecting to). Hit the green Next button.
You should see this success message after clicking Next:
Now you will be able to collect data from Google Analytics and view your conversion rate right from within your OptinMonster account by clicking on the analytics icon next to your optin form:
After acquiring a bit of data, you will be able to view a report for each of your optin forms that looks something like this:
That’s it! We hope this article has helped you to learn how to use Google Analytics to track your conversions.
Wrapping Up
Google Analytics can seem intimidating at first due to all the options available, but it’s actually pretty simple once you know what data to focus on.
Creating conversion goals allows you to view the data that’s really important: your email list conversion rates. Or, you can simply integrate OptinMonster with your Google Analytics account in a few clicks and start gathering conversion data on each of your optin forms right away.
