How does web analysis work, and what are its benefits and goals?

Web analysis, also known as web analytics or traffic analysis, is the process of collecting, measuring, and analyzing data about user behavior on a website or web application. The insights gained from this are a crucial key to a company’s success.

How does web analytics work?

Using web analytics, the success of advertising campaigns and content strategies can be measured. First, you determine the status quo by closely monitoring user behavior on the website. Tools gather and analyze information about individual users or user groups and present the results in various metrics. These metrics, known as KPIs (Key Performance Indicators), are then used to develop appropriate measures that, depending on the goal, are intended to lead to a positive development.

As a shop owner, for example, you look at which search queries brought users to the site. If a person arrived via the keyword “women’s shoes” even though it’s a men’s clothing store, web analysis reveals deficiencies in keyword optimization. By observing how people navigate the site and what detours they might take, you can specifically optimize navigation and internal linking to make the path to the target product easier.

With the large amount of available data, you can identify which parts of your site perform especially well and are worth expanding—for example, popular blog articles with practical styling tips. At the same time, the analysis highlights where users drop off, such as during the checkout process due to payment methods.

What are the goals of web analysis?

The primary goal of web analytics is to track the long-term success of websites. In the short term, however, different specific objectives may take precedence depending on the company. These include:

• Customer acquisition
• Retention of existing customers
• Increase in visitor numbers
• Increase in conversion rate
• Improve usability
• Success monitoring of advertising measures

Depending on the objective, different KPIs become interesting. From the respective values, appropriate recommendations for action can be derived. This allows for short-term improvements, such as enhancing efficiency or strengthening usability.

The most important metrics (KPIs) for web analytics

The KPIs of a website are determined using various web analysis tools like Google Analytics. The most important performance metrics include:

• Number of visitors
• Visitor sources
• Duration of stay
• Pages per session
• Conversions
• Conversion rate
• Bounce rate
• Popular page paths
• and much more

Only in the right context can these key figures be used effectively. This involves not just comparing them with industry-specific and historical values but also considering the appropriate collection period. To distinguish between everyday fluctuations and a clear trend, a sufficiently long period must be observed. Additionally, analyses should be conducted regularly in order to counteract emerging negative trends in a timely manner.

Data collection & analysis tools

Behind web analysis are complex data sets collected from servers and clients. To use this mountain of data effectively, the individual data sets must be organized, analyzed, and above all, made graphically visible and thus readable. This is where web analytics tools come into play.

The market offers a variety of tools for different budgets and applications: From free software solutions focusing on non-commercial use to more expensive enterprise packages for large projects. Technically, the programs work either based on log files, cookies, or they use a combination. By far, the most well-known analysis tool is Google Analytics. However, there are also many alternatives to Google Analytics that focus more on data protection and privacy.

What are the benefits of web analytics?

Web analytics answers two important questions: Who are my customers? And how can I better engage them and tailor my marketing strategies to suit them? As mentioned earlier, understanding your potential customer base is the foundation for any successful marketing planning.

Knowing where your customers come from and what products or information they are searching for allows you to engage with them more effectively and communicate naturally. Through traffic sources, keywords used in search queries, sales from clicks, and other quantitative data from web analysis tools, you can infer the interests, habits, and preferences of potential customers.

By closely examining the responses to individual marketing activities, you can derive further recommendations from the target audience information. For example, if you can track how many people read a newsletter, clicked on individual articles, or were even driven to purchase from the content, you can determine what works with the audience and what does not.