A5.10 Connecting All of the Dots & Making this Data Actionable

  • Biggest Takeaways
    • You don’t have to be an expert or do everything perfectly
    • Don’t be paralyzed by the “data tsunami” — dive in with the essentials & learn more over time
    • High-level reports are often signals/indicators, but the real “gold” lies in the deeper reports
    • Data is your best friend as a digital business owner. Choosing not to familiarize yourself with it is choosing to be a less competent, worse-equipped, less successful digital business owner — period.

A5.9 Using Google Search Console to “Growth-Hack” Your Organic Traffic

  • GSC’s “Performance” reporting
    • Allows you to see how & where you’re ranking keyword-by-keyword
    • Reveals how effective your meta titles are at getting people to click (CTR)
    • Most helpful for growth: Seeing the keywords Google is TRYING to rank you for
      • “Trying to rank you” meaning you’re not totally optimized (or not optimized at all!) for certain keywords, but getting impressions & clicks anyways
      • In other words: Not top 3 ranking but still getting impressions & clicks
    • Let’s take a look…

A5.8 Google Search Console Overview

  • What’s most important within Google Search Console?
    • Always, always, always add your sitemap at a bare minimum
      • If you’re using Yoast, it should be at YourDomain.com/sitemap_index.xml
    • Just like Google Analytics, there’s a mountain of data here
    • But what I find most helpful & important is your “Performance” (shown in next lesson)
    • Also helpful for seeing who’s linked to your site, penalty/index status, and so much more…
    • But maximum impact, especially as you’re early-stage & growing, is your Performance reporting

A5.7 Page-Based Goal Setup in Google Analytics

  • Setting up basic goals for important events
    • You can get REALLY deep with this, especially if you’re technical
    • But I’m not, so I’m going to show you page-based goals
      • IF user visits ____ page = goal completed
      • Great for “thank you” pages after opting in or purchasing
      • Also great for key, non-revenue-producing conversion events
    • Admin > Goals (under “view” column) > New Goal
    • Template > Add Name > Destination > Add URL (excluding domain) > Verify Goal > Save
    • Then you’ll have a goal to layer on top of other reports!
    • Let’s take a look…

A5.6 How to Find Valuable Link Tracking Data In Google Analytics

  • How to reap the valuable data you’ve sewn for CRO
    • Multiple ways to do this, but the most straightforward way at a granular level is applying a “secondary dimension”
    • Drill down to your key page in Google Analytics
      • Behavior > Site Content > All Pages (or LP) > Select Your Page
    • Use “Secondary Dimension” dropdown to view source, campaign, ad content, and more
  • “Acquisition > All Traffic > Source/Medium” is a good higher-level report for this, too
  • Let’s take a look!

A5.5 How to Use Google Analytics’ URL Builder

  • Google Analytics’ “Campaign URL Builder
    • Just Google something along those lines & you’ll find it easily
    • No need for pricey monthly fees for links tracking
    • This is built into Google’s functions and is actually really straightforward
    • Input the variables you want to track and copy the link it spits out
    • Now you’ll be able to track key information in Google Analytics
    • I recommend using this for key CRO links on-site AND off
    • Pretty straightforward, but let’s take a look…

A5.4 Identifying Your Websites Most Popular Content (“Behavior” Reporting)

  • Behavior reporting: Where your money will actually be made
    • My favorite reports: “Landing Pages” & “All Pages”
      • There’s a ton of other value in this reporting section but those are my go-tos
      • You can add other segments to these easily spot “leaks” & improvements for CRO (visited a page, completed a goal, etc.)
    • Identify your most popular pages
    • Easily see if people are visiting your key pages
    • Let’s take a look…

A5.3 Google Analytics “Acquisition” Report Overview

  • Traffic: The lifeblood of your business
    • This is likely the report you will check most often
    • Whenever you get new rankings, a good mention or link, etc… The first indication of it will likely be found here
    • It’s a high-level report as well, so no real “gold”, but it helps you focus your efforts on what’s working & chart a path forward
    • Let’s take a look…

A5.2 Interpreting Your Audience Overview in Google Analytics

  • Audience Overview: Your website’s “dashboard”
    • Not incredibly insightful but a very good high-level “pulse”
    • Gives you a birds-eye view and should show if anything is blatantly wrong
    • Good for basic traffic levels, engagement, etc.
    • But there really isn’t much “value” here compared to most of GA
    • Let’s take a look…
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