Intro to Google Analytics & AdsAnalytics, Site Visitors & Tracking, Bots,

Keywords & Audiences, Google Ads

Your hosts:Sue Polinsky, President, TechTriad and Rob Ainbinder, Principal, Why People Click

Rename yourself in Zoom

• Rename yourself: click on the “Participants” icon at the bottom of the window and choose “rename.” (little window appears)

• Change your name to something we can call you and know who you are (we may use your website as an example).

How to ask questions today

• Type your questions in the chat window. (It’s monitored.)• The chat window will open on the right side of your screen if

you are not in full screen mode. • If you are full screen mode, it will open in a window that you

can move around your screen.

What We’ll Cover TodayGoogle Analytics 101

1. Is Google Analytics installed on your website? 2. Who controls your Google Analytics account? Do you?3. Who is visiting your site? What pages? What can you tell about

them?4. What are “bots” and what can you do about them?5. Which are important Google Analytics metrics?6. What do you want to track? What CAN you track?7. What are “Google Ads” and how do they work?

#1 Is Analytics installed on your site?Analytics must be installed on your site to get tracking information

#1 Where is Analytics installed?The script should appear on all pages.

• Globally: Analytics is installed on every page of your website.

• It can be inserted by a plugin (or by your WordPress theme).

• How do you see the data?Log into your site or into GA to see the analytics – or *create a report and have it emailed.

#1 How do you know if Analytics is

installed?

• Visit your site, right click any page and choose View Source

• Use CTRL+F (Cmd+F) and type “analytics”

• If it’s installed on the page, your browser will highlight it

Ignore the code

You don’t need to understand the code. You just want to make sure that Google Analytics is installed on your site.

(This example is Chrome.)

#2 Your Google Analytics AccountYou should be able to log into your Analytics and check your settings

There’s a Gmail account somewhere!• If TechTriad built your site, we (probably) used your Gmail address to set

up Analytics (we may have created one for you).

• When staff changes, that information gets lost. We may have it. Maybe.

• If you had another web company build your site, your analytics could be in their account. (Serves you right!)

• Best practiceMake sure you have your Analytics login in your important records:https://analytics.google.com

#2 Who can access your GA account?

• If you haven’t visited in a while, start by checking your settings. Log in at https://analytics.google.com.

• Who can admin your analytics?

• Is your Tracking Info recording?

• If not, you may not have the correct analytics on your site.

#2 Is Your Tracking Data Recording?

This is the most basic data GA shows. It doesn’t mean much.

#3 Who is visiting which pages?Find out more about audience demographics, landing and exit pages

#3 Who is visiting your site?

Drill down to see your audience’s demographics.

Check Age, Gender and other info that helps you.

Site visitors by age

This is all available!

#3 What pages are they visiting?

Drill down to see your audience’s behavior on your site.

There’s a LOT more to see in each analytic.

Drill down means…

This is where you “drill down.”

Where do visitors come from?

#3 Where do your visitors land on your site?

Speaker applications open.

#3a Do your social posts send traffic to your site?

Drill down

How to drive traffic to your site from social?

1. Fill in your profile

2. Promote your blog posts

3. Make your content easy to share

4. Post when your audience is active

5. Focus on sharing visual content (graphs, infographics, GIFs, videos, photos, animations)

6. Engage with your audience consistently

7. Optimize your calls to action

8. Test paid social advertising Use free heat map plugins like SumoMe (for WordPress) to see where people are clicking the most on your blog content. Once you have a good idea of an area with high click volume, add your social share buttons there to immediately increase traffic.

When to post on social media?

#4 What are “bots?”And what can you do about them?

“Bots” are “robots”• Bot traffic is non-human

traffic to your website from spiders and robots.

• It looks legitimate but is actually visitor spam.

• Bot traffic skews your aggregated data.

How Bots Skew Analytics• Traffic source: If the traffic source is direct, and that’s the main traffic

driver for that day, it could be the bots

• Bounce rate: If point #1 is true and the bounce rate is over 95% (generally, it’s 99% or so for bots), it could be bots

• Avg. session duration: Just a few seconds? It could be bots.

• Geo-location: If the geo-location is either not discernible or from all over the world, it could be bots (the whole world will not wake up one day, type your URL and visit your website).

• Service provider: If most of the hits are from the same service provider, it could be bots.

What can you do about bots?

• Call a certified Google Analytics specialist.• Bots can’t be eliminated, but you can reduce their impact.• To filter bot and spider traffic from Google Analytics, go to

your Admin settings. • Under the View panel, you’ll find View Settings. • Toward the bottom of the options, just before Site Search Settings,

you’ll find a small heading for Bot Filtering with a checkbox that reads: Exclude all hits from known bots and spiders.

• Check it, and you’ll automatically filter the known bots and spiders from your Analytics collecting.

#5 What are important Google Analytics metrics?Which are the most important analytics that give useful information?

10 Important Google Analytics Metrics1. New/unique visitor conversion2. Source/Medium of converting

traffic3. Interactions per visit

(pages/sessions)4. Return visitor conversion5. Value per visit

6. Bounce rate7. Exit pages8. Average session duration9. Top landing pages10.Most visited page/bounce rate

The green text applies if you are selling something or have a campaign running.

#6 What do you want to track?Conversion goals, keywords, target audiences

What are Google Analytics “conversion goals?”

Conversion goals are any actions on your website that help your organization achieve its objectives.

• Sell a product

• Fill out a contact form

• Spend at least 3 minutes on a certain page

• Click a certain button

• Download a lead-generating PDF

Which conversion goals are important?

• For e-commerce sites: a purchase, download of a resource/lead magnet, or email newsletter subscription.

• For non-ecommerce sites: contact us, “x” number of pages visited, download of a resource/lead magnet, email newsletter subscription, go to a specific page.

Conversion goals are measured all the time.They help a lot when you’re running a campaign.

You must SET GOALS before starting a campaign.

#7 What are Google Ads?Ads that display based on keywords used by searchers on Google

Google Ads are paid search results

• Ads display based on keywords typed in by searchers on Google

• You bid in the Google Ad’s keyword auction by cost per click (your bid) and keyword

• If you win the bid, your ad is shown for that keyword on Google Search

Build a Campaign:1. Define your goal2. Research keywords3. Target your audience4. Set up a landing page5. Buy AdWords

How to Find Keywords

Use Online Tools to Find Keywords

• There are tools to find keywords

• Some tools are free (to a point)

• Once you choose keywords, you pay Google Ads to display your ad

Examples of Free Keyword Tools

• Wordtracker: https://www.wordtracker.com/

• Keyword Tool: https://keywordtool.io/

• Wordstream: https://www.wordstream.com/keywords

• KWFinder (long tail): https://kwfinder.com/

• The Hoth: https://www.thehoth.com/google-keyword-planner/

Let’s find some keywords

Keyword Results

There are LOTS more below this on the results page.

Google Ads: Choose Your Audience

• TargetingUse the “Targeting” setting in your ad groups or campaigns, when you want to narrow your ad group to only show to specific audiences or on specific content you’ve selected. Targeting is recommended for all advertisers in their Display campaigns.

• ObservationUse the "Observation" setting if you don’t want to narrow your campaign’s or ad group’s targeting any further, but you want to monitor how certain criteria perform with your ads. The "Observation" setting is recommended for all Search campaigns as well as the Display campaigns of more advanced advertisers.

Google Ads Examples - Targeting & Observations

• TargetingAbbey owns a store that sells motorcycle jackets for women. For her ad group “Female Motorcyclists,” Abbey selects the “Female” gender under demographics and the affinity audience of “Motorcycle Enthusiasts.” These “Targeting” selections will narrow the reach of her ad group, so her ads will only show to women who have an interest in motorcycles.

• ObservationsAbbey wonders whether many of her customers are interested in buying activewear. She wants to know more, but she doesn’t want to further restrict her ad group’s reach. She clicks the pencil icon on the Audience page, selects her campaigns, selects audiences based "What they are actively researching or planning," selects Apparel & Accessories and then Activewear for observation criteria.

Choose Your Google Ads Audience• Build a landing page for your

campaign• Choose your target audience• Include or exclude groups by

keyword, placement, topic or site category options

Interests Affinity

Demographics

Questions?We’re happy to answer your questions now and if you have more,

see the next slide

Contact Sue and Rob

Sue Polinskysue@techtriad.com336-852-4321

Rob Ainbinderrob@whypeopleclick.com336-303-1834