When engaging in the digital world, there is a mantra to keep in mind: “For every action, there is a reaction.” Every user who browses the Internet leaves a trail in the form of cookies that can be analyzed to use their behavioral data as an asset to improve the company’s value proposition. When a user first interacts with the site, a cookie is created that identifies that user. If the user does not accept tracking cookies, the IP address is used by default, but the data collected is not as accurate as with cookies.

Web analytics consists of collecting and analyzing data related to a Web page generated over a period of time in order to optimize it and improve results. These data and reports give us the ability to understand web user behavior, identify areas for improvement, and target web content and usability to the average user we want to reach. There is a lot of data that can be extracted and analyzed, but to be able to interpret this information in an effective way, it is necessary to carry out a preliminary work in which it is established what objectives are to be achieved with the web. These objectives will be accompanied by key indicators, known as KPIs, which will be used to measure the performance of the Web based on the objectives previously set.

Objectives will vary depending on the type of organization and the purpose of the site; an e-commerce site will not be the same as a blog. But regardless of the objective, there are KPIs that can be extrapolated to any web topic. They are used to analyze the overall performance and observe whether the objectives are met or not, in order to launch strategies and optimizations to correct this data and increase the success of digital marketing campaigns. As mentioned above, cookies are the ones that collect this data and Google Analytics (the tool par excellence for measuring web KPIs) is responsible for collecting this data during the visit until the first thirty minutes, then it stops collecting information.

Here are some of the essential KPIs for web analysis:

1. Users: each visitor who accesses the site. Each user is a cookie. If the user changes devices to access the site, two different cookies are counted.
2. Sessions or visits: interactions carried out by users on the Web.
3. Page Views: the number of pages viewed by users during their time on the Site.
4. Average duration: the average time spent by the user on the site. It is a very important indicator because it reflects the interest of the users in the content of the site.
5. Bounce rate: the percentage of users who visit only one page of the site and then leave without interacting with the rest. It is synonymous with the quality of the content and is the most difficult indicator to control.
6. Traffic Sources: Indicator that provides information about the origin of our users’ access. It can be organic, paid, direct, social, referral or email among the most prominent.
7. Device: will provide information on what type of device users are using to access the web. This will allow us to optimize the usability by adapting it to the preferred device.

As we have seen, there are many metrics that can be used to measure user behavior on the Web. It will be important to interpret the data relevant to our goals so that we can optimize the web and better reach our target audience. If you would like to learn more about this topic or need help developing your digital marketing strategies and campaigns, please do not hesitate to contact us. We can help you create effective strategies that result in optimal web performance focused on your goals. Together we can grow in the digital environment.