When browsing online, each move you make, each button you click, and every page you view creates data that is sent to website managers. And while every user has a unique journey, many website designers and developers hope their site will funnel or channel the users into completely a specific goal. This can be anything from purchasing a product to signing up for updates. Finding out how users are accessing their site, where they come from, and the length of time of your site can provide a lot of insight for a marketer overseeing that website’s analytic data. The visit characteristics that make this journey include entry page, landing page, exit page, visit duration, referrer, page referrer, click-though, and click-through rate/ratio. All of these metrics and dimensions can be used to better understand the customer’s unique journey.
Entry Page
The entry page is just that - the page a user entered into your site through, subsequently beginning their session. The entry page is different from the home page in that a user can come to your site through several means and methods. In a marketer’s perfect world, the user would also start at the homepage, and would use the website as intended. This way of thinking is becoming and more outdated as search engines and key word searches start users deep within your site on a specific page (Kaushik, 2009). Using a service like Google Analytics can help you determine where and how users end up on certain pages. This may prompt you then as the marketer to add a form or push for a conversion on a high traffic page (Saeed, 2019).
Landing Page
The landing page is usually a page in which the user is meant to start their journey. Landing pages are often specific pages on your site that create the user timeline and journey you wish, usually resulting in a conversion of some kind. Google Analytics provides the data showing the top landing pages on your site. You can then further narrow down these results by conversion rate or engagement to see which pages are providing your business with the most action (Saeed, 2019). Must like with entry pages, landing pages can offer insight into the customer’s journey once they’re on your site and how to make the most out of high performing pages (Saeed, 2019).
Exit Page
The entry page marks where the users session beings, the exit page signifies when the user leaves. The exit page is the last page the user viewed in their session (Sentance, 2016). The exit page dimension is important for marketers to see because it shows exactly where users are choosing to leave their site. If a page in the middle of a transaction journey, like checking out their online cart, has a high exit rate, it may show a problem with the page’s format or call to action. It also gives you the marketer and web developer the opportunity to improve those pages.
Referrers
The referrer dimension is important to understand because it shows exactly how people find your site if not through direct search. Referring sites can include social media like Facebook or Twitter, other websites, advertising platforms, and more. Once in Google Analytics, you can even view more information from referral sites and pages to see which tweets or pages are sending the most traffic (Hines, n.d.)
Click-Through Rate
Click-throughs are basically the clicks your ad or page received. The number of clicks divided by the number of impressions gives you the click-through rate. Click-through rates are important to look at because more than likely, someone seeing your ad or page isn’t enough, you expect action. A low click-through rate can show what ads, pages, or call to actions need spruced up to allow for higher conversions. Boosting your website’s overall ranking on Google can greatly aide in a high click-through rate (Patel, n.d.). Web guru Neil Patel offers a few steps to improve organic click-through rates, including better meta-titles and meta-descriptions, researching long-tail keywords, and using descriptive URL paths (Patel, n.d.).
Putting it all Together
Each of these dimensions and metrics work together to form the overall health of your site and quite literally characterizes each user’s visit. Optimizing your site and your ads will create a better overall experience for users (Brianna, 2018). This is especially true for those finding your website for the first time. A user may begin their journey with a key word search in a search engine website like Google. If your page is optimized and performing well, it should show up high in organic rankings. If you’ve taken the time to write great meta-titles and meta-descriptions, the user will click your link to access the information they’re looking for. If you page is what you promised, meaning the content they’re looking for they’ll find on your page, then the user will most likely stay on that page and navigate further through your site. If the page doesn’t contain what they needed, they’ll leave, which results in a bounce. Google can penalize pages with high bounce rates for certain key words (Brianna, 2018).
By studying each of these metrics and dimensions within Google Analytics, you can better understand the user’s journey to your site and on your site. From there, you’ll have a great place to start to see what pages need extra attention or where you could be focusing for high profits.
References
Brianna. (2018, June, 28). What is CTR? Understanding Click Through Rate. Lyfe Marketing. Retrieved from: https://www.lyfemarketing.com/blog/what-is-ctr-click-through-rate/
Hines, K. (n.d.) What You Can Learn from Referral Paths in Google Analytics. Retrieved from: https://neilpatel.com/blog/referral-paths-in-google-analytics/
Kaushik, A. (2009). Web Analytics 2.0 The Art of Online Accountability & Science of Customer Centricity. Indianapolis, IN: Wiley Publishing, Inc.
Patel, N. (n.d). 13 Ways to Improve Your Organic Click-Through Rate. Retrieved from: https://neilpatel.com/blog/improve-organic-click-rate/
Saeed, S. (2019, January 2). How to Identify Your High Converting Landing Pages in Google Analytics. Monster Insights. Retrieved from: https://www.monsterinsights.com/how-to-identify-your-high-converting-landing-pages-in-google-analytics/
Sentance, R. (2016, April 11). Google Analytics: A Guide to Confusing Terms. Retrieved from: https://searchenginewatch.com/2016/04/11/google-analytics-a-guide-to-confusing-terms/#exitpage
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