Let’s face it - Google Analytics can be very confusing.

Once you’re looking at the numbers, you can get lost in there for hours. Ain’t nobody got time for that…

The end of the year is a great time to look back over your progress over the previous twelve months. But where should you start? What are the most important metrics to track? This is the key information you need to look at (plus what it all means!)

#1 | TRAFFIC SOURCE

This is the one thing that every blogger wants to know...how do people find your website?

How to track it: In Google Analytics, head to Acquisition then Overview. This dashboard tells you what percentage of people have visited your website and where they came from.

The reason that this metric is so important is because you want to see if your marketing strategies are working. You want people to be visiting your website from a number of different sources.

There are usually four or five types of sources you’ll find in this report:

Organic Search - these people get to your site by typing in searches in a search engine
Direct - these people get to your site by typing your URL directly into their browser bar
Social - these people get to your site from any of the social media channels
Referral - these people get to your site because it was mentioned on another blog/website
Email - these people get to your site through links mentioned in your email newsletter

Now we’re going to talk about one of these in a bit more detail

#2 | SOCIAL MEDIA TRAFFIC

Which social platform are you generating the most traffic from?

My guess is that you spend a lot of time promoting your content on social media, and so you should be. It works and it’s a really effective way to keep people coming back to your website. But if you’re doing it so frequently, then you should definitely be seeing some results in return.

You can track these metrics by going to Acquisition > Social > Overview.

This is going to tell you which social platform is bringing the most traffic back to your blog, as well as which one has the best increase in followers, engagement or a higher conversion rate.

To get even deeper with your social media metrics in Google Analytics, you can use a tool called bit.ly to shorten your links. This means you can track each link individually to see how it performs.

#3 | TIME ON PAGE

You want to make sure your audience is reading your content, right?

This is another big factor that bloggers want to know - if people are actually reading the content we’re working so hard to create. We all know that not many people leave comments anymore, so this metric is a great test to see whether people are reading your full article or not.

You can make people stay on a page for longer by understanding what types of content capture your audience’s attention. Then you can create more content based on that.

It’s about writing valuable blog posts and asking your readers questions too. If you explain to your readers how valuable their feedback is, they may be more likely to share the post with their own community.

There are lots of silent readers out there, but the time they spend reading your content speaks volumes.

How to track it: This will be on your Google Analytics dashboard, but you can also go to Behaviour > Site Content > Landing Pages.

#4 | BOUNCE RATE

How long are people actually staying on your site for?

This is different to time on page, because bounce rate reflects how many people get to your website and then instantly click away.

A high bounce rate isn’t great news - it could be a sign that people aren’t interested in your content or they’re coming to your website by mistake.

This is one of the most important metrics to keep track of. While a high bounce rate could mean lots of different things, a low bounce rate is what you want to aim for. Are people coming to your website and visiting multiple pages? That’s a good sign!

How to track it: Again, this will be on your Google Analytics dashboard, but you can also go to Behaviour > Site Content > Landing Pages.

#5 | NEW VISITOR VS RETURNING VISITOR

What’s the balance like between your new visitors and repeat visitors?

You want to aim for your blog to have a healthy mix of new and returning visitors, and this is the metric that can show you this balance. If you’re marketing yourself effectively, you should be getting lots of new users. If you’re building a loyal community, you should be getting lots of returning visitors.

These are some of my favourite metrics to keep track of, so let me ask you - what are your best metrics to track? Do you think you’ll start tracking these metrics in the new year? Let me know in the comments below!