{"id":360,"date":"2018-03-29T12:46:54","date_gmt":"2018-03-29T12:46:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.searchenginewatch.com\/2018\/03\/29\/a-guide-to-the-standard-reports-in-google-analytics-audience-reports\/"},"modified":"2020-03-02T17:15:46","modified_gmt":"2020-03-02T17:15:46","slug":"a-guide-to-the-standard-reports-in-google-analytics-audience-reports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2018\/03\/29\/a-guide-to-the-standard-reports-in-google-analytics-audience-reports\/","title":{"rendered":"A guide to the standard reports in Google Analytics: Audience reports"},"content":{"rendered":"

Google<\/a> Analytics\u00a0is a tool that can provide invaluable insights into what\u2019s happening on your website, your levels of traffic and engagement, and the success of your campaigns.<\/strong> If you\u2019re a newcomer to Google Analytics<\/a>, however, the array of different reports available to you can be a little overwhelming. Where should you begin? Where can you find the most useful data about your website? Google Analytics<\/a> standard reports are the preset reports listed down the left-hand side of your dashboard, divided into the segments Real-Time, Audience, Acquisition, Behavior and Conversions. The information that appears in these is preset by Google<\/a> Analytics<\/a>, and gives an insight into the data on every part of your site, from your audience demographics to the channels through which they find your website. In this series, we\u2019ve set out to tackle the ambitious task of explaining each segment of Google<\/a> Analytics<\/a> and the standard reports they contain. Last time, we looked at Real-Time Reports<\/a> and how they can be used in your marketing and SEO campaigns. In this instalment, we\u2019re going to look at Audience Reports: what you can learn from them, and how you can get the most out of the data that they offer.<\/p>\n

What are Audience Reports?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

As with Real-Time Reports, the secret to what these reports do is in the name: they tell you more about your audience, the people who are coming to your site. The Audience section of Google<\/a> Analytics<\/a> is an extensive one, with no fewer than fifteen sub-sections sitting within it, most of those with several different reports. We won\u2019t cover each one in exhaustive detail in this guide, but will give a quick whistle-stop tour of the main sections and look at some ways that you can use these reports to maximum effect in your marketing campaigns.<\/p>\n

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Overview<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Overview section shows you your website\u2019s current audience at a glance. It\u2019s not in real-time \u2013 you need Real-Time Reports for that \u2013 but nevertheless presents a useful snapshot of the current audience metrics on your site, with information on users<\/a>, unique users, sessions, page views, bounce rate<\/a> and more. The default time period is set to a week, but you can use the calendar drop-down in the top right corner to adjust it and view metrics over a longer or shorter period. You can also use the buttons just below that to view hour-by-hour, day-by-day, week-by-week or month-by-month stats (note that the last two of these will only work if the time span you\u2019ve selected is more than a week\/month).<\/p>\n

Active Users<\/strong><\/h2>\n

This report gives you an insight into the number of unique users who have visited your site over various time periods \u2013 1 day, 7 days, 14 days and 28 days. This report is most useful for understanding the success of a promotional campaign while it\u2019s running. As Google\u2019s<\/a> Analytics Help text for the Active Users report advises:<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the numbers are consistently in line with your expectations, you\u2019ve found your sweet spot. \u201cIf the numbers are below expectations, reevaluate your marketing efforts to see whether you\u2019re targeting the appropriate audiences, and whether your ads are winning auctions. \u201cIn cases where you have a lot of 1-Day Active Users but the numbers drop off for longer term users, that can signal things like problems with a new release, or that initial enthusiasm isn’t translating into long-term engagement. For example, lots of users might be downloading an app but are finding that it doesn’t really meet a need they have or that it doesn’t capture their interest.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lifetime Value<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Lifetime Value report for Google<\/a> Analytics was first tested in the first quarter of 2016 (as reported by Search Engine Roundtable<\/a> at the time) and was rolled out fully in early 2017, although as I write this, the report is still in beta. The report is geared towards Google<\/a> Analytics users who have an ecommerce<\/a> website, and is only available if you have activated ecommerce tracking on Google Analytics<\/a>. The Lifetime Value report allows you to\u00a0filter by the date on which a certain user was acquired, making it possible to analyze users acquired during the most recent day-long, week-long or month-long campaign. It also allows you to compare various different Lifetime Value (LTV) metrics, including:<\/p>\n