Google analytics is the most powerful free tool you have when running a website, be it for business or pleasure. It is amazing to see how many websites do not have GA installed and we can only presume a) they either do not care to know how many visitors they are receiving b) they are using some other form of tracking c) they do not know about Google Analytics.
In truth, having GA installed on your website is pointless unless you know how to harness the data it throws at you.
We are going to set up 6 advanced Google Analytics advanced segments which you can use not only to make your life a little easier, but also to create strong actions which will help you to improve your website traffic.
1. Visitor who have used branded search terms
Viewing the visitors who have arrived to your website from search by using your brand terms is a great way to track the brand awareness of your company over time, as well as track any offline marketing which you may be involved in.
To set up this segment, follow these steps:
- From the Google Analytics homepage, select Advanced Segments above the visitor graph
- Select the +New Custom Segment button on the bottom right of the pop out window
- Replicate the setup from the image below. Remember that you are able to add as many ‘exact’ or ‘containing’ statements as you need in order to ensure all of your branded terms have been covered off.
CLICK THE IMAGE TO ENLARGE
- Click ‘Test’. A figure will appear, this is the traffic your segment has filtered from the total visitors, click ‘Save’
Applying the segment is very straight forward, simply select the advanced segment button on the GA homepage, and then tick the box next to the new ‘Branded Search’ segment which you have just created. When you select apply you can now see the visitors who have arrived at your website through your brand term.
Tip: Extend that date range over the course of a year. Is the branded search increasing over time? It should be.
2. Visitors who have not used your brand name in the search
Using the first segment we have set up, we could work out the visitors who have arrived NOT using branded terms, but that would involve a bit of math. Rather than doing this we can set up a segment to show the exact opposite figures, so the traffic which has arrived NOT using your brand term.
Setting up this segment is very similar to setting up the Branded segment:
- From the Google Analytics homepage, select Advanced Segments above the visitor graph
- Select the +New Custom Segment button on the bottom right of the pop out window
- Replicate the setup from the image below again. Remember that you are able to add as many ‘exact’ or ‘containing’ statements as you need in order to ensure all of your branded terms have been covered off. This time, we want to see visitors who are NOT using branded terms, so be sure you have selected ‘Exclude’ rather than ‘Include’.
CLICK THE IMAGE TO ENLARGE
- Click ‘Test’. A figure will appear, this is the traffic your segment has filtered from the total visitors, click ‘Save’
Follow the steps we explained in section 1 on how to apply the segment to the graph.
This is just as useful as this branded search segment as it allows you to see the effectiveness of any SEO (search engine optimisation) you may be carrying out on the website.
3. Visitors who have only used 1 keyword to find you
Most websites attract visitors from search terms which they are not even aware they are ranking for. This can sometimes be from extremely broad search terms with high search volumes. Knowing this information can be useful when looking at the keywords you can target going forward. If you are ranking reasonably well for a broad term, it may well be worth looking at targeting it further.
Setting this segment up is pretty easy:
- From the Google Analytics homepage, select Advanced Segments above the visitor graph
- Select the +New Custom Segment button on the bottom right of the pop out window
- Copy the setup below – The code which you need to copy and paste into the statement is : ^\s*[^\s]+(\s+[^\s]+){0}\s*$
CLICK THE IMAGE TO ENLARGE
You do not need to add anything else to the segment. Now select ‘Test’ and ‘Save’.
This is always guaranteed to flag up a couple of keywords which you had no clue you were ranking for, and in some cases, you cannot see why you are even showing for this term. Again, if it is broadly related to your website subject area then it may be worth looking into ranking better for this term.
4. Visitors who have found you using a search with 4 or more keywords (Long Tail Search)
As with the 1 word keywords, you will often find your website is appearing in the search results for long search queries. Or you may find that a large proportion of visitors are searching for a long tail phrase which you didn’t you had any volume behind it. Knowing these phrases can again be very useful.
To setup and advanced segment for this we use another expression:
- From the Google Analytics homepage, select Advanced Segments above the visitor graph
- Select the +New Custom Segment button on the bottom right of the pop out window
- Copy the setup on the image below. The code which you need to copy and paste into the statement is : ^\s*[^\s]+(\s+[^\s]+){3}\s*$
- The highlighted ‘3’ above is telling GA to only show the searches that have more than 3 keywords associated to it. So if you are looking to find long tail searches with more of less keywords, simply change this number. Just remember it is saying more than 3, not 3 or more.
CLICK THE IMAGE TO ENLARGE
- Click ‘Test’. A figure will appear, this is the traffic your segment has filtered from the total visitors, click ‘Save’
Researching the keywords your visitors are currently arriving to your website using is a vital part of any SEO campaign. This makes this segment very important and is sure to throw in a few surprises.
5. Visitors from social media websites
Social media is being utilised by lots of online businesses and bloggers. Tracking the effectiveness of this is important in determining how much time you should be spending in this area. If you find that you are receiving next to no visitors from Facebook, but are spending 5 hours a week using it, you should probably re-think your time allocation!
You can select as many social media platforms to track as you with:
- From the Google Analytics homepage, select Advanced Segments above the visitor graph
- Select the +New Custom Segment button on the bottom right of the pop out window
- Copy the setup on the image below, adding as many networks as you see fit. Be sure to add sources such as bit.ly who twitter use to shorten URL’s. Adding as many as you can will improve the quality of your data.
CLICK THE IMAGE TO ENLARGE
- Click ‘Test’. A figure will appear, this is the traffic your segment has filtered from the total visitors, click ‘Save’
The great thing with this segment is that you are able to track specific platforms if you wish. Why not add lots of these segments, but only include 1 social network in each segment? Then you can see specifically which platform is bringing in the most traffic.
6. Visitors who arrive at your website via your blog
This segment is our particular favourite and should be set up by everyone who has a blog bolted on to their website.
Knowing how effective your blog is in bringing long tail and specific search terms to your website is critical to ensuring you are writing around the correct topics.
- From the Google Analytics homepage, select Advanced Segments above the visitor graph
- Select the +New Custom Segment button on the bottom right of the pop out window
- Again, copy the setup in the image below, making sure you change the /blog where should the URL to your blog be different
- Click ‘Test’. A figure will appear, this is the traffic your segment has filtered from the total visitors, click ‘Save’
This segement will only work for websites who are using a domain.com/blog structure. Some websites use a subdomain for the blog, for example blog.domain.com. In this case, the segment will not work.
Using this segment is very straight forward. You will notice the keywords which are bringing the traffic to the blog are all themed similar. Target this audience in your posts!
The 6 segments we have looked at in this post will take you 20 minutes or so to set up, but will give you several days’ worth of data to look through (assuming your website has good traffic).
Always remember, when you are looking to increase the traffic to your website, look at what you are doing well already and do it better. This will bring quick wins and a sure increase in traffic. Targeting new keywords via SEO is a long process, so don’t expect results overnight.
If you have any questions please feel free ask!
