Google Analytics is a service provided by Google that allows you to view and interact with detailed information about the visitors to your website.In basic terms this information allows you to see who is visiting your website, how they are getting there and most importantly, what they are doing once they are on your website.

Since Google is now offering free Analytics (formerly Urchin) I'll start posting some basic uses for monitoring your PPC campaigns. Anyone can now obtain an account instantly.

Although Google provides code during the initial process of opening your account that is only for traffic. In order to track e-commerce transactions, revenue, and ROI you'll need to use more complex code with revenue parameters on the page buyers see after making a purchase.

Make profit-generating improvements to your advertising and website.

If you only have traffic data so far the first thing to monitor is traffic to your site. This is a simple process and easy to visualize due to the graphing capabilities in Google Analytics.

Click on Analytics, then View Reports. The default in the Dashboard is Executive View so you will be able to see your traffic data in the first graph called Visits and Pageviews. Monitoring this regularly will let you know if your traffic is growing and sliding.

If you see traffic drop you can then go find the cause and quickly get back on track before being hit in the pocketbook from dropping sales. Change the date range (left side of the page) to get a longer view and more easily see trends.

You can click on the month to select any entire month, use the arrows next to the year to change years, or select a specific date range. Trends are easiest to see if you use about a month first and then a larger or shorter timeframe to see the latest or larger picture.

Click on the arrows next to the month to move forward or back, then on the date you wish to start in the left calendar and end in the right one. Click Apply range and the graphs will show data for your selected date range.

Why are analytics important?

Being able to access relevant data about your website visitors is important because it will allow you address a range of marketing issues, relating both to your website and your business as a whole. You will be able to track online and offline marketing campaigns, understand what customers and prospective customers are looking for and pinpoint areas of your website that need improvement.

Understanding and utilising relevant analytics about your website visitors will allow you to make your website work harder for you, increase your ROI, generate more sales leads and allow you to better allocate resources.

Analysis and action

Access to visitors statistics is one thing, but the true value of SEO Pune analytics come in the form of analysis and action. Improvements to your website should come out of a defined process and a decision based on information and knowledge. Analytics allows you to make those decisions and then measure the results.