To dive into your Looker Studio dashboard, explore real-time insights that reveal how your content is performing. Analyze key metrics like web traffic, engagement, and conversions, empowering you to make data-driven decisions that enhance your digital strategy.
How to Use the Session Data Report
This report provides a comprehensive view of web traffic and user engagement. Key metrics are displayed in green rectangles, including Total Users, Total Sessions, and Engagement Rate. These metrics are crucial for assessing the effectiveness of content and outreach strategies.
Navigating the Report
Scorecards
At the top of the report, you'll find scorecards displaying 'Total Users' and 'Total Sessions', along with the percentage changes from the previous month. These indicators help gauge overall traffic and user interest. Adjusting the date range filter at the top right allows users to view these changes over different periods, updating the percentage change and day count accordingly.
Graphs & Charts
The 'Session Trends Over Time by Acquisition Source/Medium' graph tracks daily session counts and compares them with the previous month, aiding in the identification of trends or anomalies over time. Additionally, the 'Distribution of Sessions by Source/Medium' pie chart shows traffic origins, such as organic search through Google or direct visits, highlighting the importance of SEO and search engine optimization best practices, including intersite linking strategies.
Data Tables
Below the charts, the 'Acquisition Metrics by Page Path and Session Source/Medium' table provides a detailed look at traffic for specific pages. It shows the number of sessions, average time spent on each page, and engagement rates, which are essential for understanding which areas of the site are drawing more attention and which may require improvements. Hidden above the bottom table on the left are three dots that, when selected, allow for the exporting of data tables as CSV files. This feature is particularly useful as it provides a method to view all data that would be unavailable through a PDF download.
Using Page Filters
At the top of the dashboard, the 'Page Filters' feature allows for the selection of different dimensions or time frames to focus on specific data. Adjusting these filters can help analyze data for a particular week or compare performance between different pages. Filters include:
- Page Path: This refers to the specific URL of a page viewed during a session. It tracks the exact address that a user visits, which helps in understanding the individual performance of pages and the journey users take through a site. This data can reveal popular pages, pages that are potential drop-off points, and how different content performs.
- Page Path Group: This is a method of categorizing pages based on common characteristics or hierarchical structure.
- Session Source/Medium:
- Source: This indicates the origin of the traffic. It can be a search engine (e.g., Google, Yahoo), a website (e.g., Facebook, an affiliate), or a domain (e.g., direct if the user types the URL directly or uses a bookmark).
- Medium: This describes the general category of the source such as the type of traffic鈥攚hether it's organic search (unpaid), CPC (cost per click, paid advertising), referral (from another site), or none (direct traffic without a clear source).
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Examples of How Data can be Actionable
Session data from your website can provide valuable insights into how visitors interact with your content. Here's how you can use this information to make your website more effective and engaging:
Improve Content Relevance
- Spot Popular Pages: Identify which pages get the most visits and focus on updating and improving these areas regularly to keep users coming back.
- Enhance Underperforming Pages: If some pages aren't attracting visitors, consider revising the content or improving the navigation to make them more accessible and appealing.
Adjust Marketing Strategies
Evaluate Traffic Sources: Understanding where your traffic comes from (like search engines or direct visits) can help you know where to focus your marketing efforts. For instance, if you get a lot of visitors from search engines, it might be worthwhile to invest more in search engine optimization (SEO).
- Direct Traffic: Visitors who type your URL directly or have your site bookmarked. Direct traffic can be a blind spot in understanding visitor behavior. Without detailed tracking data, it鈥檚 difficult to know where these users are coming from or what marketing efforts led them to your site. This lack of attribution could mean missed opportunities to refine campaigns or understand which channels are most effective.
- Referral Traffic: Analyzing traffic from external sites or social media platforms offers insight into which partners, influencers, or content sources are driving visitors to your site. Identifying strong referral sources can help you enhance collaborations or increase presence on those platforms.
- Search Engine Traffic: If a significant portion of your traffic comes from search engines, investing in SEO to improve your ranking will drive even more visitors. Optimizing keywords, improving on-page content, and enhancing backlinks will help keep your site discoverable.
By looking at session data, you can see what's working on your website and what's not, allowing you to make informed decisions that enhance your visitors' experience and improve your site's performance.
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You still need help?
You're not alone in this! Schedule a personalized 1:1 consultation with UCM to get your specific questions answered and gain expert guidance. We'll help you and your team unlock the full potential of your data, making it easier to drive actionable improvements for your webpages and achieve meaningful results. Click the project request form below and navigate to Web < Web Analytics/Dashboard Support Request.