Google Analytics is important to any content marketing campaign. GA provides data to companies on how their website is performing. When paired with a content marketing campaign, GA provides the road work you need to report the success of a campaign.
GA can also offer a road map to optimizing your campaign. Two great resources within analytics are the Landing Page data and Behavior Flow data. These two data sets give a great overview of your website but also allow you to dig deeper to find trends and compare different periods against each other.
Landing pages
Once you’re in analytics, you can find the landing page data by clicking: Acquisition: Search Engine Optimization: Landing Pages. What you’ll see is a breakdown by URL of all the landing pages visitors entered your website on. (If this data doesn’t show up for you, you need to connect Webmaster Tools to Google Analytics. Follow the instructions on the page to do so.)
The impressions in search, the clicks, average position, and your click-through rate are all present on the original page. The next step would be to compare it to a previous period. To do that, click the date in the upper right corner and select the range to compare it to.
Use the data provided to point your efforts toward landing pages that need help when compared to your best performing pages. If your main products/service pages aren’t showing up near the top, then Google doesn’t understand how to provide your page in search results. Using web page best practices will give Google a better understanding of what you do, and in turn present your page to people who search for your product or service.
Behavior flow
Behavior flow can help you optimize your campaigns by understanding how your visitors react once they get on your landing page. Looking at the starting page and the subsequent interactions can tell you how people flow through your website.
Looking at the drop-off number for the starting pages, you can ascertain that the visitor wasn’t able to find what they were looking for. Using this data over time can paint a picture for your page optimization. Having an end game for any page is important, be it a lead generation form or allowing visitors to search what they’re looking for. Providing a good user experience, which Google wants, will move your search results and your content campaign in the right direction.
Google Analytics is a great tool for marketers and webmasters alike. How you use GA can make the difference between a successful or poor content marketing campaign. Use the behavior flow and landing pages to understand where to optimize and drive traffic.
