The Google Analytics Reporting tab hosts a wide array of options for gaining insight into how a website, or a specific campaign, is doing. By geotargeting traffic using Location reports, it’s possible to really refine the data imported for analysis.
I showed you how to access and set up local reports earlier this month, but today we’ll be delving a little deeper into just what type of analytics can be performed and what insights can be gained from these Google Analytics reports.
Running Local Reports
By zooming in to the state you wish to view detailed information about on the map, the grid below populates with specific traffic information divided by city. Clicking on an individual city isolates it. At this point, a secondary dimension can be applied to see traffic breakdowns for the city.
Some useful secondary dimensions are listed below.
-
Affinity Category
Understanding what type of audience you’re drawing is important, as it can help drive the direction of content on the site. Affinity categories display a person’s general interests to provide a fuller picture of why they reached you. A news junkie, for example, has a different perspective than a travel buff of sports fan.
-
In-Market Segment
The difference between affinity categories and in-market segments is that in-market segmented audiences are more likely to make an actual purchase, as opposed to simply having a passive interest. These are among your most valuable conversions, and tracking the conversion rate through this report is essential.
-
Landing Page
Specific ad campaigns will target specific landing pages for an informational post, detailed item descriptions, etc. Knowing where customers are coming in helps ensure a quality transition to a checkout page and conversion. Understanding popular pages can also help refine SEO.
-
Campaign
When running an AdWords campaign, this report is how results are quantified. Customer acquisition, behavior, and conversion rates can be tracked here for each specific campaign. In addition, individual campaigns can be compared against each other for effectiveness.
-
Source
Measuring the effectiveness of a social media campaign can be accomplished by checking the traffic source. Facebook, Yahoo, Reddit, Twitter, StumbleUpon, and more will show up here as referral sources to enable a better view on how social media campaigns are driving traffic.
As with all Google Analytics reports, these local reports can be exported to other databases and spreadsheets for tracking and analysis. What Google Analytics reports do you find most useful for your business?
If you need assistance with Google Analytics or need help with interpreting data, as always, we are here to help.
