How to Use Google Analytics

Google Analytics can be a game changer if you are struggling to get more traffic to your blog. Using Google website analytics is a great way to start figuring out where your audience is coming from, who you are attracting to your site, what is the best social media platform to use, and so much more. How to Use Google Analytics is great for beginners who need to know the basics to boost their blog’s traffic and more!

There are many ways to use Google Analytics for your blog. Today I want to talk with you how to get set up on Google Analytics and a little about how to use it for your blog.

Set up Google Analytics

This isn’t as hard as it sounds and you will thank yourself for doing this sooner than later. Before you even sign up for Google Analytics, you want to have your blog set up and running. Read my post on How to Start a Blog, and then come back here to set up your Analytics.

Create an account by going to google.com/analytics/. Follow the steps to create a free account on Analytics. You will need to then set up your property, your blog, to connect the analytics.

Follow the instructions to set this up correctly. Once set up, you can then connect your analytics to your blog!

How to Use Google Analytics on a Computer

Connect Google Analytics to Your Blog

You will want to connect your Analytics to your blog so that you can start tracking where your traffic is coming from. Make sure to follow all directions to set this up correctly.

You will be prompted to add a tracking code to your blog. There are several ways to do this. I added my analytics tracking code using a widget on my blog.

Traffic Trends

Do you want to know where your blog’s traffic is coming from? Google Analytics will give you the answer to this and more! Take time to explore and learn parts of your analytics to get to know your audience better.

how to use google analytics for blog traffic

The best place to start is the home page of your analytics. You will find a lot of valuable information on your home page, which is the best place to begin learning about analytics.

At the top of the home page you will find how many users are on your site, the amount of sessions your blog has, the bounce rate, and session duration. These are basic, but important bits of information that can tell you how and why you are or are not getting traffic to your blog.

Right below this is a bar graph, showing you where your traffic comes from. This is broken up by social, organic search, direct, referral, and other. Based on my Google website analytics, I get most of my traffic through social media platforms.

You will also find what time of day your users go to your blog, where they are from, and the types of devices they use to view your blog. Last, but certainly not least, is a list of your most popular pages.

Knowing the above stats can really help you determine the best types of blog posts to write in the future that will be helpful to your audience. This is explained in the audience section below.

Analytics and Social Media

Social media platforms are a great way to attract traffic to your blog. Some platforms may work better for you than others. You can find out which ones work best on your blog by studying your Google metrics social stats.

To get an indepth view of where your traffic comes from, click on Acquisition on the left side of the home page. Next, click Social and then click Overview. This page will give you a general guide of which social media platforms are most popular for your blog.

I use this page to determine which platform to focus on the most when it comes to driving traffic to my blog. Over time, you can also discover which platform or platforms work best to get traffic to your blog.

Listen to Your Audience

One of the hardest parts of blogging is figuring out what problems your audience needs help solving. Using Analytics to find out what blog posts are most helpful to your audience is super helpful when planning future blog posts out. This can take some trial and error at the beginning.

I love that I can discover my ideal client with Google Analytics. I can find out where they live, how old they are, when they check out my blog, what they view on my blog, and so much more.

Further Use of Analytics

This is just a general guide on how to use Google Analytics. For further study, I highly recommend you spend time on analytics to discover other bits of information about your blog that you can use to gain more followers and give your audience the type of information they want from you.

Studying your Google website analytics is also a great way to improve your site’s SEO. To get started with your blog’s search engine optimization, read more about it in my blog post entitled, How to: SEO for Beginners.

My Google Website Analytics

I included screenshots of my Google metrics to show how the numbers are constantly changing. On some days I have more traffic than others. Seeing the trends my traffic has on analytics can help me better understand my audience and what types of posts they read.