As an overview, here are some of highlights and explanations for the most valuable data to look at for your website (and where to find these metrics, create reports, etc.):
General Traffic Overview – A high-level overview of your site’s audience for a given time period
- Go to the left-hand toolbar, then Audience then Overview
Landing Pages – The pages your visitors first enter on your site
- Go to the left-hand toolbar, then Behavior, then Site Content, then Landing Pages
Acquisition – Where your visitors are coming from (a search engine, social media, etc.)
- Go to the left-hand toolbar, then Acquisition, then Overview
Active Users – How many users are on your site in 7, 14 and 28-day periods
- Go to the left-hand toolbar, then Audience, then Active Users
Audience – How large your user pool is and where those users are located geographically
- Go to the left-hand toolbar, then Audience, then Geo, then Location
Behavior Flow – The pattern of behavior your users take on your site
- Go to the left-hand toolbar, then Behavior, then Behavior Flow
Pageviews – Which pages are being visited the most by visitors
- Go to the left-hand toolbar, then Behavior, then Site Content, then All Pages
Source/Medium Traffic – How many visitors are coming from which source (a search engine, direct URL, social media, etc.)
- Go to the left-hand toolbar, then Acquisition, then All Traffic, then Source/Medium
You can adjust the dates when viewing data for these different metrics by clicking into where the dates are shown in the upper right-hand corner.
You can also create reports for the data you’re viewing by clicking ‘Export,’ which is also in the upper right-hand corner, and will create a PDF of the screen you see when viewing the reports.