Google Analytics is Killing Your Website

Why using Google Analytics is making your site a sitting duck for your competitors & erasing your chances of growth.

A lot of bloggers and website owner use Google Analytics. It is free, has the Google Rubber Stamp of Approval, and looks pretty cool. So what could be so wrong with it?

Google Analytics is killing your site because it isn’t actually analytics. Or it isn’t used the way Analytics should be used.

Let’s step back a moment and ask a zen question… “What is the point of Analytics?”

A lot of people would answer that question this way… “Analytics tells you how many hits you get, where they come from, and what is popular on your site at any time. It also makes me very happy to see the line go up over time!”

Now that is all fine and good and important to know. Hell, I LOVE checking my analytics and seeing that “+26%” of whatever. It makes my day! But what is the real point of analytics? Isn’t there something more to it than just feeling good when you get lots of hits or feeling bad when you don’t?

Yes, there is more to Analytics than the bi-polar teeter-totter. But it means you have to forget about the hit-counter and think more deeply.

Analytics isn’t a glorified hit counter. And it isn’t made to just tell you who your refferers are. There is so much more.

So What Is the Point of Analytics, Then?

The point of Analytics is to be able to look at your content and make informed decisions about how to improve it. This is drastically different than knowing how many hits you get.

The primary difference in outlook is moving from Vanity Analytics (look how many hits I got, Ma!) to Actionable Analytics (wow, this version converts 34% better, Ma!).

So all of that time you spend looking at how many hits you are getting isn’t telling you one good actionable thing about your site. Each minute you spend looking at Google Analytics is one less minute you have to develop good content or learn how to improve your content. That’s why Google Analytics puts you at a disadvantage: Because you are spending valuable time looking at data that you can’t do anything with instead of good actionable data.

Over the course of a year you could waste 50 hours pouring over Google Analytics data without learning a thing. And that’s 50 hours you could have spent writing linkbait, building links, or just drinking wine and watching Curb Your Enthusiasm.

And wasting time isn’t the only bad thing. Worse yet, you can also get False Positives…

What is a False Positive in Google Analytics?

Although False Positives aren’t Google Analytics’ fault, GA isn’t doing anything to improve the situation. False Positives are mostly problems when you use Google Analytics as hit counter instead of an Actionable Analytics program. So what is a False Positive?

A False Positive happens when you are doing a bunch of PR, Link-Building, and Marketing for your site. Day in and day out you are trying to get traffic… when all of the sudden you get that Traffic Spike From Heaven.

“Hell Yes!” you’re saying.

Now here’s the bad part. You automatically and sub-conciously assume a lot of things when this happens. You assume that the most recent thing you did was what got you that traffic and that this is a fluke.

Using actionable analytics instead of vanity analytics can give you more insight into how to continually hit these Traffic Spikes from Heaven, and how to get more out of these Traffic Spikes from Heaven. Instead of hitting high fives throughout the office, you can look and say “Hmmm, well this title worked much better than variation #2, so let’s do that again in the future”.

How Do We Get Actionable?

First: Stop checking your analytics. If you can’t stop checking it, then delete it. Stop wasting that time.

Next: Start using actionable analytics. What are examples of actionable analytics?

Google Website Optimizer: Test variations of the same page to see which one converts better. The test stops when Google can give you a confidence rating of which one performs better. Then, when you know which one performs better, make a couple more variations on that page and keep fine-tuning it.

{shout out to Vitaliy for showing me how awesome GWO can be.}

HitTail:  Does one thing and does it well.  This script is easy to install but non-free.  All this does it tell you exactly what search terms people used to find your site.  The hittail script on this site has somewhere near 20k different queries that I can use at any time to come up with ideas for posts.  At $9.95 per month for a bunch of sites, I think it’s a great, actionable program.  Link.

CrazyEgg: Also great for usability and can illustrate how people use your site.  If you want to get actionable, though, you are going to have to test multiple versions of pages.  Just saying… “Hmm, people like this page” isn’t going to cut it.  You have to be able to say “People like this page better, hit the goal more often, and it seems to be because of this.“  Link.

But What Do You Use to Get Actionable?

I like to use a mix of Google Website Optimizer on salesy pages, and Clicky for the site overall.

Clicky is cool because you can access it on your iphone, it tracks your RSS, twitter, and is geared toward measuring Attention and Goals and Campaigns instead of just hits.  I really can’t suggest clicky enough.  And it’s free.

Wanna Read More?

This is the post that inspired this very post you are reading.

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  • Jon
    An interesting post Bradley. However, I found that you concentrated on the most simplistic elements of GA and then suggested using other (great) tools that provide a similar data set. These other tools would still need to be purchased, installed and analyzed just the same as GA, (except for the purchasing part).

    If anyone is genuinely using analytics as simply a hit measurement tool then they're about 10 years behind the times and not really leveraging the potential of the information that is being measured. If this is all the data someone is after.. then I agree with you.... dont bother wasting your time, just check your hosting stats.

    However in the SEM arena measurement of 'conversion' is the holy grail, rather then clicks/visits/hits. Google Analytics does do a great job of linking goal conversion or revenue to sources and content. You can quickly and easily understand what your most effective traffic sources, keywords and pages are in terms of bringing you sales, email leads or brand uplift. With this info you can go NUTS with GWO/PPC adjustments/additional campaigns/linking to enhance your site performance.

    Your post does a great job of saying, "Use analytics data to create actionable steps to improve your site" but IMHO a poor job as identifying GA as the cause of the demise of a site. You just need to know what to do with the data! :)
  • Great post! Great to see someone putting in a vote for actionable design and not design for design sake. Love this article.
  • I have to agree with Jon. There's a reason why GA has been adapted so successfully by search marketers. With GA as the foundation, then GWO can really help unleash the potential of your sites.
  • Brad - what a great post. I have been baffled by GA for some time, and hate to think of the hours I have wasted. Lately I have fooled with creating segments to filter page depth and durarion for those engaged in the site. This was intersting, but need to find a way to measure it against conversion.
  • Brad,
    It kinda seems like you have never used GA yourself. I'll agree that it is not the best tool out there, but it does a LOT more than you mention here. Yeah, if you just look at it and say "cool, I got hits", and move on- then that is just a stupid user. GA gives you a lot of data (including which search engines and which search terms generate traffic- which makes me confused as to why you would tell people to pay for that same thing). That data must be analyzed- of course. That's what we are supposed to do. Your article had very little to do with GA, and a lot more to do with people not actually using GA for anything besides a hit counter- and I don't know a single person that does that.
  • admin
    Joshua,

    You are certainly in the majority of readers who thought the same thing about my aricle. I'll admit the title is baity.

    But the meat & taters of this article is that GA is too damn complex for most (like 85% at least) of the people who use it. Hell, I think it's overly complex and I work with it day-in-and-day-out. If you are a small business owner with a website for your bistro or something, then you don't have time to learn how to use Google Analytics. You just want something that works the way you want it immediately. It's not that Google Analytics CAN'T do it, it's that making GA show what webmasters should be focusing on takes some skill and forethought that other analytics don't.

    -Brad
  • I'll go with that :)
    I think your point was well taken that if you just look at it briefly, you aren't getting what you should out of it. It definitely takes a little more work.
    Side note, CRAZY EGG is amazing. (and yes, you still have to know how to use that data too).
    Good post
  • admin
    Many thanks Joshua. I always meant to check out Crazy Egg but never felt like paying for analytics. Yet another way that Google Analytics has jaded me!

    Haha, Brad
  • Written diarrhea. Way to misinform readers about Google Analytics. If you set up Goals, Campaigns, and Revenue tracking, you have something that's more powerful than just Google Website Optimizer alone. Both tools are excellent; you just need to know how to use them.

    Saying that small business owners don't understand GA is a cop-out, when you clearly don't know how to use it yourself. That's YOUR job.

    You say, "I love to help people drive traffic." I say, "I love to help people drive business results." There is a big difference. While you're leading your clients down the dead-end of getting on page 1 of Digg.com, the harbinger of high bounce rate, I'm helping people grow their businesses.
  • Ha. I love that- "Written diarrhea".

    Chris: I'm glad to hear that if someone wanted to pay you (or me) to explain how to make Google Analytics work for their site that you could eventually get them to understand it. Put that on your resume, your promotional website, and open with that line at the bar on the best looking gal. Good for you.

    Personally, I consider any piece of software that requires hours of tutorials, consulting with someone like you or me, or a 400 page book to operate... well that's way too complicated.

    I'll bet you're against wheel chair ramps in public places too, because "You can walk up the stairs just fine".

    Alright, well maybe that was taking it a bit far. You sound like a smart guy but you have to realize that this article was written for the common man, not for web-savvy consultants like us.
  • Ha, I figured you'd hate me after I wrote that. I'm really a sarcastic asshole. I'll put on my troll hat proudly.

    Good to know about the intended audience. But the problem is that if someone doesn't understand Analytics, then how are they going to understand to set up GWO. ;)

    People need to be hiring smart and talented guys like yourself more often. We shouldn't be teaching clients how to do _everything_ themselves. This reminds me of the moral of the story of this short film by Coudal Partners:

    http://www.coudal.com/cghfilm.php

    Enjoy. :)
  • admin
    Haha. I'm just giving you a hard time. Thanks for keeping me on my toes.

    -Brad
  • joearchery
    Brad, Thanks alot! I always thought Google Analytics should be used more than just a click counter. I love it but am not an expert at it... I believe Google really has so many tools. You've just boosted my Enthusiasm..
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