How to Maximize the Google Analytics Landing Page Report

How does Google Analytics look at landing pages? ... To Google Analytics, a landing page is the first page viewed in a session. So, in your Google ... SkiptomaincontentSkiptoprimarysidebarSkiptofooter HowtoMaximizetheGoogleAnalyticsLandingPageReport OnethemostimpactfulreportsinGoogleAnalyticsisthelandingpagereport. ThelandingpagereportislikeaGoogleAnalyticsBFFforcontentmarketers.It'seasytouseandinstantlyshowsyouhowwelleachofyourwebpagesisperforming. Usingthelandingpagereport,youcanfindoutwhichpagesonyoursite earnthemosttraffic.And,youcanseehowwellyourpagesconvertvisitorsintoleadsorcustomers. Today,we'lllookathowtousethelandingpagereport.Notonlythat,butwe'lllearnhowyoucanquicklymakethisreportevenbetter,bycombiningitwithyourSource/Mediumdata. Andfinally,we'lllookathowtosetupthelandingpagereporttotellusaboutthemonthovermonthperformanceofourwebpages. Whatisalandingpage? Dependingonyourareaofdigitalmarketing,orwhoyoutalkto,thetermlandingpagecanhavemanydefinitions. LandingpageinPPCadvertising IfyouareaPPCadvertiser,alandingpageisthedestinationURLofyourads. Landingpagesforemailmarketing Emailmarketersuselandingpagesastoolstocollectemailaddresses.Theycreatebasicwebpagesthatofferdownloads,bonusesordiscountsinreturnforanemailaddress. Alandingpagemayalsoindicatetheplaceyousendyouremailtraffic,thedestinationofyouremailclick-throughs. Landingpagesinwebdesign Inwebdesign,alandingpageusuallyreferstoapagethat'sdisconnectedfromyourwebsite.Typicallythesepagesdon'thavenavigation,andtheyareusedtocaptureemailaddressesorpromoteaproduct. So,mostdigitalmarketersthinkofalandingpageasawebpageintendedtogettheirvisitorstoperformoneaction–purchase,signuporopt-in. Butthat'snothowGoogleAnalyticsdefineslandingpages. HowdoesGoogleAnalyticslookatlandingpages? ToGoogleAnalytics,alandingpageisthefirstpageviewedinasession. So,inyourGoogleAnalyticsreports,alandingpageistheentrypointtoyourwebsite. Studyingthelandingpagereportcantellusalotabouthowvisitorsarriveonourwebsites.Wecanusethisreporttoseehowourpagesgeneratetraffic.Andwecanlearnhowvisitorsbehavefollowingthefirstinteractionwithourbrand. AnalyticsCoursestudentquestion Paul,oneofourGoogleAnalyticsMasteryCoursestudents,wantstoknowmoreabouttheconversionrateofhislandingpages. Paulasks: Iamtryingtosetupareportthatshowsgoalconversionrateovertimeforeachparticularlandingpage. IcangetthetotalconversionrateforthewholesiteorIcanlookatthestaticrateperpagebutcan’tseemtofindawaytodisplaytheconversionratechangingovertimeonaperlandingpagebasis. Paulwantstoseeahistoricalcomparisonoftheconversionratesforhiswebpages. Let'sgoinsideofGoogleAnalyticsandlearnhowwecanusethelandingpagereport Note-therearetwolandingpagereportsinGoogleAnalytics TherearepotentiallytwolandingpagereportsinyourGoogleAnalyticsdashboard. YoucanfindoneofthemundertheSearchConsolereports,theotherisinyourSiteContentreports. SearchConsolelandingpagereport Ifyou'veconnectedyourGoogleAnalyticspropertytoGoogleSearchConsole,thenyoualsohavetwolandingpagereports. Yourlandingpagereport forSearchConsolelivesundertheAcquisitiontabinyourGoogleAnalyticsdashboard.Thisreportislimitedtolandingpagedatafromsearchresults. SiteContentlandingpagereports ThelandingpagereportinyourBehaviortabshowspagedatafromalltrafficsources. So,whenwerefertothelandingpagereportinthispost,wearetalkingaboutthereportintheSiteContentmenuofyouranalyticsdashboard. Pagelevelconversionratesinyourlandingpagereport ThelandingpagereportshowsallyourallGoogleAnalyticstrafficandusersmetricsatapage-level. Inaddition totrafficdata,youcanalsoseeconversionstatsforeachofyourwebpages. Let'slookatthelandingpagereportinsideofGoogleAnalytics. Forthistutorial,we'llusetheGoogleAnalyticsdemoaccount.ThisaccountcontainsdatafromtheGoogleMerchandiseStore(GMS). Goalsande-commerceconversionsareinthelastthreecolumnsofthereport. TheMerchandiseStorelandingpagereportindicatesthatalmost24%ofpeoplethatlandedontheGMShomepagebecameaconversion.Thosearesomeprettymotivatedhomepagevisitors! Ifwefilterconversionstoonlydisplaye-commercedata,theconversionratedecreasesquiteabit.ButwecanstillseethattheGMSisgeneratingvastamountsofrevenuefromtheirhomepage. Asananalyst,Ialwaysliketoaddcontexttomydata.BeforeIstartlookingatmonthovermonthperformance,Iwanttohaveabetterideaofwhat'sdrivingtraffictomywebpages. CombiningthelandingpagereportwithSource/Mediumdata AgreatwaytogivecontexttoyourlandingpagereportistoaddtheSource/Mediumasasecondarydimension.TheSource/Mediumtellsushowpeoplearefindingourlandingpages. WiththeSource/Mediumdimensionaddedtoourreport,wecanseethetoptrafficsourcesfortheMerchandiseStore. Pagelevelfilters Tomakethehomepagethefocusofourreportwecandoatablefilteron“/home.” Withourtablefilterinplace,wecanseethatonesourceisdrivingthemajorityoftheGMShomepageconversions. Analyzingpagelevelconversionrates Thereferralgdeals.googleplex.comaccountsforover24%ofthehomepageconversions. Comparatively,theconversionratefororganictrafficonthehomepageisprettylow,just.70%.UsingtheSource/Mediuminourlandingpagereportcantellusalotaboutthevalueofourtraffic. InourGMSexample,weseethatalmostallconversionscomefromreferraltraffic.AndthereferralsarecomingfromwebsitesthatarelikelyinternaltoGoogle'snetwork. UsingtheSource/Mediumwithourlandingpagereportisaquickandsimplewaytoaddcontexttoourtrafficdata. Historicalconversionrates Nowlet'susethelandingpagereporttolookatourconversionratesovertime. TherearethreedifferentwaysIcancreateahistoricalconversionratereportatapagelevel: CreateareportintheGoogleAnalyticsAPI Exportlandingpagedata InsideofGoogleAnalytics ThefastestwaytocreatethisreportwouldbetousetheGoogleSheetsAdd-onintheGoogleAnalyticsAPI.Duringoneofourprevioustutorials,welearnedthatwedon'thaveaccesstotheGMSdataintheGoogleAnalyticsAPI. Soweneedtogobacktothedrawingboard. Exportlandingpagedata So,instead,I'llstartbyexportingthisdataandmanuallycreatingourreportinaspreadsheet. Tosetupourreport,Iamgoingtoincludethetop25landingpages.AndI'llcomparethemonthsofJanuaryandFebruary.I'llalsoaddthee-commerceconversionratetoourmetrics. Next,I'llexportmyreporttoGoogleSheets. Oncethedataisexported,Icansetupanewtabinourspreadsheet.I'llmovetheGMShomepagedatafromthecontent-landing-pagessheetovertoanewtab(Sheet1). Ournewtabwillfocusonthehomepageconversionrate. This processisaslowandcumbersomewaytocreatethisreport.Ionlyrecommendthisapproachifyou'reanalyticsmasochist,orifyou'retryingtocreateaveryfocusedreport. ToaddthemonthsofNovemberandDecembertothereport,IneedtoexportthedatafromGoogleAnalyticsasecondtime. Onceyouhaveyourpage-levelconversionratedataisinatab,youcanusetheGoogleSheetschartfeaturestodisplaytrends. PagelevelconversionsinGoogleAnalytics,overtime AquickerwaytolookatthisdataisrightinsideofGoogleAnalytics.Forthisreport,I'lladdinrevenueasanotherindicatorofpageperformance. Then,tolookatourpage-leveldata,I'llselectthehomepage.Now,we'vecreatedaconversionratereport,withhistoricaldata,focusedonthehomepage. Thedownsidetoworkingonthisreportintheinterfaceisitlimitswhatwecandowithourdata.Icouldgainmoreflexibilityoverthisdatabyexportingittoanexternalspreadsheetagain. Theprocessofworkingwithyouranalyticsdata Buildingourpage-levelconversionratereportisagoodexampleoftheprocesswebanalystsworkthroughtofindthedatatheyneed. Thefirststepistoseewhat'savailable. Thesecondstepistocreatethereportyouneedmanually. Andthethirdstepwouldbetoautomatethereport. Let'srecapsomeofthethingswecandowithourlandingpagereport: Youcanisolateconversionratesatapage-level.(I'mnotsureifthisoptionhasalwaysbeenavailable.ButIamgladitisnow.Separatingisagenuinelyusefulwaytoseewhichpagesdrivethemostvaluetoyourwebsite.) Conversionrateswillvaryacrosstheboard.Remember,averagesdon'ttellthewholestorywhenyoulookatconversionrates.Averagesrepresentthemeanbutnotthemedian.Drilldownasmanylevelsasyoucantofindtherealvalueinyourdata. Usesecondarydimensionstoqualifytraffic.AswesawintheGMSexample,pagelevelconversionratesmightnottellthewholestory.Drilldownfurtherinyourreporttofindyourhighestconvertingtrafficsources.UsetheSource/Mediumtoseewhat'sdrivingtraffictoyourlandingpages. Exportyourdataforlong-termcomparisons.SometimestheGoogleAnalyticscomparisonstoolscanlimityourflexibility.Useexportstogainmorecontroloverhowyouworkwithyourdata. UsetheGoogleAnalyticsAPItoautomateyourreportingprocesses.TheGoogleSheetsAdd-onisasimplewaytoaccesstheAPI.Don'tbeadatamasochist!Onceyou'veidentifiedthereportyouneed,usetheAPItoautomatethatreport. Automatinglandingpagereports ThelandingpagereportisoneofmyfavoriteGoogleAnalyticsfeatures.Doyouwantustoexpandthistutorialtoshowyouhowtoautomatethesereports? Votewithyourcommentsbelow.Ifwegetenoughcomments,we'lladdavideoabouthowtoautomateyourlandingpagereports. AboutJeffSauerJeffSauerisanindependentDigitalMarketingConsultant,SpeakerandTeacherbasedoutofasuitcasesomewhereintheworld.FormerlyofMinneapolis,MNandSanFrancisco,CA. PrimarySidebar FooterAboutThisSite MarketingSkillCourses BusinessSkillCourses PrivacyandLegal Copyright©2006-2022·DigitalMantis,Inc.