If you’re involved in digital marketing in almost any way, you’d have certainly heard of Google Analytics. Rule number one of any form of marketing on the web is the ability to test and measure, extract data and see what is and isn’t working – Google Analytics is the bread and butter for that. In fact, since Google has switched from the UA version to GA4, the platform has become incredibly advanced and powerful – with a far greater emphasis being placed on attribution.
There isn’t much that GA4 doesn’t allow a user to see. Some of the fundamental data that can be extracted and analyzed include:
- Visitor source – an imperative metric to determine which of your acquisition channels are sending the highest volume of traffic.
- Event tracking – if you’ve set up event parameters in Tag Manager, this will enable you to view how many times they’ve been activated, and indeed which channel is attributed the most hits. A good example here might be newsletter signups or inquiry form completions.
- Devices – whilst everybody knows that mobile has surpassed desktop as the main crux of search activity, that doesn’t necessarily mean that it performs best in terms of its conversion. GA4 enables us to see this data accurately and make informed decisions on it.
- Time of day/week – something that is often under-rated and over-looked. Yes, you may be seeing more traffic at weekends, but does it convert best? Make informed decisions based on data, and not hunches.
Whilst Google Analytics and in particular GA4 are imperative to any website, they’re not the only measurement tools on the market. Siteimprove have their own suite of tools which offer the same level of analysis, and indeed a whole host of extras too. Their analytics tool offers the following, all of which are essential to data collection and understanding:
- Key metrics
- Funnels
- Behavior maps
- Campaigns
- Feedback
- Live analytics
- User journeys
Offering a far more user-friendly interface, event tracking and conversion analysis are far easier, and the tool ensures that all aspects of data understanding are brought under one roof.
Whilst Google Analytics will always remain the most popular choice for marketers, by exploring different options, one can open their eyes to alternative tools that offer more far-reaching data and analysis. We’re all keen to explore different SEO tools, why shouldn’t we be so keen to explore different analysis tools too?
