Have you ever been sitting in traffic and wondered where all the cars were coming from?  Where they were from and where they were going?  I do it often.  It is the same with web traffic.

Think of your own journeys on the internet.  You start one place and click on a link to look at something else and then end up in a totally different spot than you originally intended.  If the site is interesting you might stay a while and check out what is there.  This happens to most of us.

Google Analytics helps you to understand so many things about your website….who is visiting your site, how often they visit, how long they stay on your site, where they go after landing on your site, and where they are coming from.

Which Traffic Sources Are Working Best

You drive traffic from various social media sites and other places.   It is helpful to know which are working best.  Which sends the most traffic so you know where to spend your time promoting.

You can find out which traffic sources are working best by visiting your dashboard:

•  Go to Acquisition
•  All Traffic
•  Source/Medium
  There you will find which sites are sending you the most traffic.

This can be helpful in figuring out where to focus your marketing efforts, as well as what you could improve to get more traffic from other sites.

Could be Dangerous

It can also let you know if too much of your traffic is coming from a single source, which could be dangerous. You know the saying, “Don’t put all your eggs into one basket.”    For example, if most of your traffic is coming from Google and there’s a huge update that drops your rankings, your whole site would be in serious trouble.

It is important we know where our traffic is coming from so we can monitor and plan our marketing efforts.

Resources

Here are some links to various Google Resources you might find helpful.

Google Analytics:

http://analytics.google.com

Analytics Setup Help:

https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1008080?hl=en

Analytics Goals Help:

https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1032415?hl=en