In order to improve websites and landing pages, it is necessary to look at various indicators, but among them, analysis of traffic, which indicates the inflow route of users, is an important indicator in deciding marketing methods.
However, there are probably many people who feel that “What is traffic analysis in the first place?”
In this article, we will introduce the basics of traffic analysis, how to increase traffic, and useful tools for traffic measurement. If you want to understand more about traffic analysis, please take a look.
Table of Contents
- Basics and Necessity of Website Traffic Analysis
- Main inflow route of site traffic
- How to analyze site traffic
- 4 points to analyze traffic
- How to increase site traffic
- 4 tools that can measure site traffic
- Analyze traffic and implement appropriate marketing measures
Basics and Necessity of Website Traffic Analysis
First, let’s understand the basics such as the basic indicators for traffic analysis and the necessity of traffic analysis.
What is site traffic analysis?
“Traffic” in the telecommunications field refers to communication lines and data volume within a certain period of time . Generic term for indicators to be measured .
Website traffic can be divided into three main categories.
- PV (Page Views): Number of pages accessed by visitors within the site
- Sessions: The number of times a visitor visited your site
- UU (Unique User): The number of users who have visited your website
There are various inflow routes such as search engines and SNS before users reach the website. The main purpose of analyzing traffic is to understand effective inflow routes and strengthen web customer attraction. In addition, by analyzing the behavior of users visiting the website, it becomes easier to understand the intentions of users.
Why You Need Site Traffic Analysis
A high-quality website that many users visit over and over again has a sophisticated design and excels in terms of usability, visibility, and clarity of content.
In order to create a high-quality website, it is essential to regularly analyze traffic and user behavior on the site and repeat improvements . As a result, the number of users gradually increases.
By analyzing site traffic, you can specifically expect the following effects.
- When the number of inflows to the site increases, effective media can be identified by investigating inflow routes
- On the contrary, if the inflow decreases, it will be an opportunity to think about the cause and improve it.
- By measuring the effectiveness of measures such as web advertising, you can make use of it next time.
By analyzing site traffic and continuing to improve from the user’s point of view, we will get closer to a high-quality website.
Difference between site traffic analysis and access analysis
“Access analysis” is often confused with site traffic analysis. Both of them have something in common in terms of analyzing the behavior of users who visit websites, but they have the following differences in their approaches.
- Site traffic analysis: To analyze the inflow route of users visiting the website
- Access analysis: Tracking the behavior of users who access the website and analyzing the behavior within the website
In other words, traffic analysis is a kind of access analysis. In addition to traffic analysis, access analysis includes analysis of actions such as CV (conversion) and analysis of user behavior.
Main inflow route of site traffic
In order to know the inflow route of site traffic, you should understand how to use “Google Analytics”. Google Analytics is an access analysis tool provided by Google for free.
Many companies and organizations, from small and medium-sized enterprises to major companies and government agencies, use Google Analytics to analyze their website traffic.
Here, we will explain each inflow route based on the indicators that can be confirmed with Google Analytics.
| TRAFFIC INFLOW PATH | DETAIL |
|---|---|
| Organic Search | Google or Yahoo! What was flowed in by search engines such as. Also known as natural search |
| Social | Inflows from SNS such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram |
| Direct | Accessed directly by specifying the URL of the website. Repeaters saved in bookmarks are also included. |
| Referrals | Website links owned by other sites are set up (backlinks) and flowed in from there |
| Paid Search | Those that flowed in via listing advertisements (search-linked advertisements). Appear higher in search results |
| Display | Inflows via display advertisements (advertisements with banners pasted on websites) |
| Other Advertising | Non-Google Yahoo! Inflows from advertisements and LINE advertisements |
| affiliates | Inflows from affiliate advertising (performance-based advertising) |
| Accessed via e-mail such as e-mail newsletters | |
| Other | Other traffic not covered above |
How to analyze site traffic
You can check the site traffic by selecting “Acquisition > All Traffic” from the menu item on the left side of the Google Analytics management screen. By selecting “Channel”, you can check the traffic data for each inflow route.
4 points to analyze traffic
Site traffic itself is just a number, but with the right analysis, you can discover marketing measures and business issues. Here are four points to analyze traffic.
Clarify the purpose of the analysis
The purpose of site traffic analysis is to find issues with inflow routes in order to increase access that leads to conversions (product purchases, document requests, etc.). In order for traffic analysis to lead to effective improvements, it is important to think from the point of view, such as “What is the purpose of traffic analysis?”
Compare with historical data
It is important to compare the data obtained from traffic analysis with past data . When we introduce analysis tools such as Google Analytics, we tend to pay attention to the increase and decrease in the number of PVs and sessions on a daily basis.
However, the daily numbers themselves have no meaning, and the data have meaning when compared. By continuing to compare data over the long term, such as on a weekly or monthly basis, you will be able to understand the effects of measures and trends.
Consider external factors
Fluctuations in web traffic data can be influenced by external factors. For example, Google performs “core updates” several times a year to overhaul its search algorithms. It is not uncommon for core updates to result in lower SEO rankings and lower organic search inflows.
In addition, your company’s website may also be affected due to changes in the market environment due to the impact of the new coronavirus, or due to the launch of commercials or web advertisements by competitors.
When analyzing traffic, you need to keep your eyes wide open and always keep in mind the existence of market external factors .
Share analytics reports globally
It is important to share the data and reports obtained from traffic analysis not only within your own department but also with the entire organization.
In many cases, the marketing department is in charge of website access analysis. However, while the marketing department is good at understanding and identifying problems that occur within the site, it is not uncommon for them to not be able to come up with ideas on how to improve them or propose solutions.
Websites are created by the involvement of many departments, such as designers, engineers, and content managers. It is important to hold regular meetings for the entire organization, share progress reports, and have repeated discussions on how improvements should be made across departments.
How to increase site traffic
After analyzing the site traffic and seeing the trends in the inflow routes of the website, it is necessary to consider how to increase each inflow. Here are 4 main ways to increase your site traffic.
How to Increase Organic Search
SEO (search engine optimization) is an effective way to increase organic searches. In a nutshell, there are three SEO measures: “internal measures”, “external measures” and “contents”.
- Internal countermeasures: Encourage search engine crawlers (patrol robots) to patrol websites
- External measures: Measures to get links from other sites (backlinks)
- Content SEO: Measures aimed at increasing access from natural searches by continuously disseminating high-quality content that meets the user’s search intent.
Google’s search engine is improving day by day, but the “user first” perspective remains the same. Therefore, the essence of SEO is to continue to publish user-first site design and content , which leads to an increase in organic searches.
How to increase Social
To increase social, there are methods such as aiming to spread on SNS and increasing the number of followers of your own account.
Also, it would be effective to utilize posts called UGC (User Generated Contents), where users themselves refer to companies and services. For example, on Instagram, there are many examples of significant improvements in CTR and CPA by using UGC in ad creatives.
Please also refer to the following articles regarding the use of UGC.
Also, in Google Analytics, inflows from LINE are classified as “Direct” instead of Social, and traffic analysis cannot be performed correctly. To measure inflow from LINE, you need to add the parameter “?utm_source=line&utm_medium=social” at the end of the URL.
How to increase Direct
Most of the Directs come from people who bookmarked your website. In other words, an increase in Direct inflow means that there are core fans who feel that they want to visit regularly enough to bookmark it .
It’s important to deliver content that matches your target’s interests and design a site that makes them want to visit on a regular basis.
How to increase referrals
Referrals are traffic that comes from links posted on blogs and other websites. In order to efficiently increase referrals, it is important to send content that is easy to be introduced in the media and blogs and to get a link to the website (backlink).
For example, it is effective to conduct a survey in-house, send out highly original information, send press releases, etc., to increase the probability of being introduced.
There is also a method of directly requesting (sales) to get other sites to post links, but be aware that blindly acquiring backlinks may lower your SEO rating.
4 tools that can measure site traffic
Google Analytics, an access analysis tool, is a great tool that can use a wealth of analysis functions for free, but beginners need to get used to using it. Google Analytics is not the only access analysis tool that can check site traffic. Some of the tools are easy to use, even for beginners.
Here are four site traffic analysis tools we recommend.
ahrefs
Ahrefs is an SEO analysis tool used by users all over the world, such as web managers, advertising agencies, and affiliates. Ahrefs can analyze backlinks not only for your own site but also for any competitor site. In addition, you can check in real time the content that is important for content SEO, such as search top display content, inflow keyword analysis, and SNS reaction status.
In addition, there are many unique functions such as an “alert function” that confirms and notifies the trend of backlinks in real time, such as when your site receives backlinks from other sites.
Features
- Intuitive and easy-to-use interface makes it possible to easily perform SEO analysis from various angles
- You can check inbound link trends from other sites, keyword analysis, and SNS reaction status in real time.
- You can analyze not only your own site, but also the backlinks, SEO ranking, and top display content of your competitors’ sites.
SimilarWeb
Among the access analysis tools, SimilarWeb is a tool that excels at analyzing competing sites. You can check not only the traffic of competitors, but also the time spent and the number of PV.
You can also search for websites similar to your own website and extract competitive information from keywords. It is useful for market analysis of what kind of competition exists when launching your own website or media site.
SimilarWeb has a free version that anyone can use for simple analysis, but for more advanced analysis, we recommend using the paid version (SimilarWeb Pro).
Features
- It is possible to check all inflow traffic such as search keywords, source sites, and devices used
- In addition to your own site, access status of competitor sites can also be researched and analyzed.
- It is possible to extract what kind of sites are recognized as competitors
TETORI
TETORI is a web service tool that utilizes user information to activate the website. User information is automatically acquired simply by installing a dedicated analysis tag on an existing website.
Since it is possible to check on the analysis screen which site the user who visited the site came from and what search keywords were used for the inflow, it can be used to consider web marketing measures and improve the site.
Features
- UI/UX that allows you to immediately implement measures by using templates even if you do not have knowledge of production or marketing
- Real-time access analysis allows you to see at a glance what kind of people have visited your website
- PDF reports including scenario effect measurement are sent every month, reducing the time and effort required for reporting.
HubSpot
HubSpot publishes a free dashboard template for site traffic analysis (Website Traffic Analytics Dashboard). Use this template to analyze search performance and measure customer engagement.
In addition, since the number of page views, average stay time, and withdrawal rate for each site page are listed, it is easy to understand the entire website, and it is a tool that contributes to site improvement by identifying issues.
Features
- It can be downloaded for free and anyone can start using it immediately
- You can check indicators useful for access analysis, such as the number of PVs, exit rate, average stay time, etc.
- User groups by day of the week and age group are automatically displayed in graphs
Analyze traffic and implement appropriate marketing measures
Site traffic analysis is one of the important indicators for access analysis, as it shows which website or advertisement a user came from.
In addition, by tracking user behavior after inflow, such as the pages that inflow users transitioned to and the time they spent on the site, you can understand the behavior patterns of users for each traffic.
Understanding user behavior patterns is useful for ad delivery for each channel and for designing leads to websites. In order to increase traffic to your site and lead to the desired conversion, please analyze the traffic that is the entrance.
