Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a service offered by Google that tracks and reports website traffic. It helps to track information about the way visitors interact with our site. The Google launched the service in November 2005. Google Analytics has two additional versions they are Google Analytics Premium which is focussed at enterprise users and Google Analytics for Mobile Apps  which deals with usage data from IOS and Android Apps. Google Analytics gives information about how many people are visiting our site which keywords and phrases they are using and how long they are staying on various pages etc. 

Google Analytics Features includes 

• Data visualization tools including a dash board, scorecards and motion charts, which display changes in data over time.
• Segmentation for analysis of subsets, such as conversion.
• Custom reports
• Email based sharing and communication.
• Integration with other Google products such as Adwords, Public Data Explorer and Website Optimizer.

The basics

Pageviews

Pageviews is the number of times users view a page that has the Google tracking code inserted. It covers all page views. So if a user refreshes a page or navigates away from the page and returns, all are counted as additional page views. The unique page view number counts all the times the page was viewed in an individual session as a single event.

Visits

Visits are also known as sessions. They are the individual periods of time that visitors spend on our site. When a user visits our site for the first time, a new visit and unique visitor both are recorded. If the same user returns to the site, only a new visit is added.It is called as unique visitors. With the help of cookies Google Analytics is able to recognize whether a user has been to the site.

Segments

Segments enable us to analyze data in detail by filtering the results. We can also use segments to compare results between group of visitors. 

Landing page

The page which user begins their visit to our site is known as Landing page. 

Bounce rate

Bounce rate is defined as a percentage and represents number of visits when users leave our site after viewing only one page. 

Visitors flow

The visitors flow report shows how visitors moved through our site from landing page to exit page. It also shows details such as the Geographic location of users, the traffic source etc.

Tracking ID

Tracking ID is a string like code used to tell Analytics which Account and Property to send data to

Google Analytics Reports

1. Mobile Performance Report

 The Mobile Performance Report shows how well our site is optimized for mobile and where we need to make improvements. We can also segment the report to see which devices or browsers customers are using to access our site.

2. Traffic Aquisition Report

This report helps us to know whether people are actually clicking on our ads. It also helps us to know whether the guest post that we published earlier is generating any traffic to our websites etc.

3.Content Efficiency Report

This report tracks entrances, page views, bounce rate etc. It also helps us to know about

• Which content is engaging our audience most?
• What type of content is best
• Which content converts readers into customers?
• Which content is shared most by users?

4.Keyword Analysis Report

This keyword analyzes the most popular incoming keywords to our site.It shows conversion rates, page load time for each keyword etc.

5. Landing Pages Report

This report tells about which pages visitors are landing on when they first enter our site. From this report we get an idea about how users are interacting with our site. Users enter our site from different pages. Some will enter in home page URL directly. Some will click on a link shared in twitter feed etc.

6.Bounce Rate v/s Exit Rate Report

Bounce Rate is the percentage of visitors who enter a page and leave the same page without making any conversions. Exit Rate measures the percentage of visitors who browse more than one page on our site before leaving.

Steps in Google Analytics

1. Sign into Google analytics

2. Click the admin button

3. Click on create an account

4. Click on create a property

5. Enter site's name and URL

6. Select industry

7. Select time zone

8. Click on get tracking id

9. Install tracking ID on website

10. Paste the tracking ID in the Analytics and Theme section of  the blog

11. Save the theme 
You can also view my last post on Google Webmaster tools

Neethu T

Google Webmaster tools

Google Search Console or Google Webmaster tools is a no charge web service by Google for webmasters. It allows webmasters to check indexing status and optimize visibility of websites. Google Search Console is a free service offered by Google that helps monitor and maintain our site's presence in Google search results.  We don't have to sign up for Google search console for our site to be included in Google's search results but doing so can help understand how google views our site and optimize its performance in Google search results.

Why we use Search Console?

Monitor our sites performance in Google Search results

• Make sure that Google can access our content
• Submit new content for crawling and remove content which we dont want to show in search results
• Create and monitor content that delivers visually engaging results.
• Maintain site with minimal disruption to search performance
• Monitor and resolve malware or spam issues so our site stays clean

Discover how Google search and world sees our site

• Which queries caused your site to appear in search results?
• Did some queries result in more traffic to our site than others?
• Are our product prices,company contact info, or events highlighted in search results?
• Which sites are linking to our websites?
• Is our mobile sites are performing well for visitors searching on our mobile.

How to use webmaster tools to increase traffic

There are seven ways to use webmaster tools to increase traffic. They are

1. Add a Sitemap

A sitemap is a list of pages of a website. Sitemaps are used during the planning of a website by its designers. Sitemap is an XML file that is full of our's individual webpages URLs. XML sitemaps are important for SEO because they make it easier for Google to find our site's page. XML sitemaps convey information about the URLs that make up a site.

2.Structured data

Search Engine uses Structured data. It is used to generate snippets. snippets  are small pieces of information that will appear in search results. Structured data is added directly to a page's HTML markup. Structured data is also called as Schema mark up. It is a code that helps search engine to crawl, organize and display content.

3.Sitelinks

The hyperlinks that appear under google listings are called as Sitelinks. Sitelinks helps users navigate the site. Google adds them through its automated algorithms. Sitelinks are additional links that appear below the main URL. Google Sitelinks are sub listings that appear under first listing on first page in Google search results.

4. Keywords

Keywords are the words and phrases that searchers enter into search engines.They are also called as "search queries".  We can use Google keyword tool to increase traffic to our site. Keyword research involves identifying words and phrases people enter into search engines to rank for.

5.HTML improvement

The potential issues reported during crawling and indexing of sites are shown in HTML improvement page. It includes Title problems, Meta description problems, Non indexible content etc. It helps to improve user experience, and hence increase traffic to our site.

6.Crawl rate

Google helps to set the rate at which we want them to crawl the site. Google webmaster tools helps to change this feature. We can set the crawl rate to high or low depending on our needs. Crawl stats shows Googlebot's activity.

7.Fetch as Google

Fetch as Google tool is used to analyze a page's performance in search engine result page. It helps to test how Google crawls or renders a URL on our site. Fetch as Google can be used to see whether Google bot can access a page on our site.

Verifying the website using Webmaster tools

1.Search Google.com/Webmasters/tools

2.Click on Add a property

3. Copy the URL which we want to fetch

4. Paste the URL in the text field and click the add button

5. From the crawl option in the left side select fetch as Google

6. To fetch a post copy rest of the URL and paste it in the text field and click fetch.

You can also view my last post On Page Optimization in SEO

Neethu T

On Page Optimization in SEO

In the last blog we had seen History and Evolution of Search Engine Optimization. SEO can be divided into two. They are On Page SEO and Off Page SEO.

On Page Optimization refers to all measures that can be taken directly with in the website in order to improve its position in the search rankings. It is the practice of optimizing individual web pages in order to rank higher and earn more traffic in search engines. It refers to both the content and HTML source code of a page that can be optimized. On page optimization includes providing good content, good keywords selection, putting keywords on correct places, giving appropriate title to every page etc.

On Page Techniques

Title optimization

An HTML title tag is put inside the head tag. The page title is displayed in the title bar of our browser. Correct use of keywords in the title of every page of our website is extremely important to Google especially for the home page. Title tag is an HTML element that specifies the title of a webpage. Title tags are displayed on search engine result page(SERP) as the clickable headline for a given page.

Best practices for creating title.

Here are some best practices we should follow for creating titles on pages

1.Each page should have a unique title.

2.The title should be relevant.

3.The title should be impressive.

4.The length of an ideal title is in between 55 to 60 characters long.

5. The width of title is 512 pixel.

6. Do not use full capital letters in title.

7. Avoid spelling mistakes or grammatic errors.

8. The title should include minimum three words.

Meta Description

The meta description tag in HTML is the 160 character snippet used to summarize a web page's content. Search engines shows the meta description in search results mostly when searched for phrase is contained in the description. It helps to improve Click Through Rate(CTR). As it receives impression, the click through rate increases.

Features

1. The length of meta description lies between 155 to 160 characters for one page.

2. The length of meta description is limited with in 155 characters for one post.

3. The width of meta description is 1024 pixel.

4. The meta description should be relevant.

5. The meta description should be impressive.

6. Grammatical errors or spelling mistakes should be avoided.

7. The meta description should be unique.

Body Section Optimization

The header tag or the <h1> tag in HTML is usually the title of a post. It is the largest text. There are six heading elements ranging from H1 to H6. They are called as section headings.

features

1. The length of a header is 8 or 9 words.

2. The header should be relevant.

3. One page usually have only one header.

Keyword Optimization

Keyword Optimization is also called as keyword research. It is the act of researching analyzing and selecting the best keywords to target to drive traffic from search engines to our websites.

Steps

1.Choose the keyword to focus on.

2. Prioritize keywords.

3. Check that the important content on the page is getting indexed.

4. Ensure the indexed text is unique.

5. Improve the search listings for the keywords.

6. Add a Headline.

7. Optimize existing text.

8. Look for text in images.

9. Develop ALT tags for the Image Links.

10. Update the HTML page title and Meta Description tag.

11. Increase internal and external links and social engagement.

Benefits

1. It helps to drive qualified traffic to our website.

2. It helps to measure traffic potential.

3. It helps to understand user behaviour.

Keyword density

The keyword density is the percentage of times a keyword or phrase appears on a webpage compared to the total number of words on the page.

Image Optimization

The ALT tag is the most important image optimization factor. ALT stands for alternate. The text in the alt tag is displayed in the place of image. Most of the search engines are text-based. They cannot read images and videos.

Authorship Optimization

Authorship Optimization or editorial power is the way for article authors to connect with Google profile to their published content to create ownership. Authorship provides authority and validity to content readers. Authorship increases the visibility of pages. It is an important process in Marketing strategy. It increases traffic to our website also. Authorship Optimization can be established by creating a Google plus profile and then linking Google plus profile with our content. You can also refer to my last blog on History and Evolution of Search Engine Optimization to get deep idea.

Neethu T