17 December 2024
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By
Charlotte Lousada
Website traffic data is more than a high-level summary of how many users are visiting your website or how often they’re making a purchase. It’s an opportunity to understand what drives user behaviour, what campaigns are working well and how to make adjustments to improve your content and optimise user experience.
With so many website tracking tools available these days it can be overwhelming to understand which option is the right one for you and how to take full advantage of your data. This article will explain some of the most impactful tools currently available and which is the best fit.
Web traffic analysis tools work by exploring key metrics to identify areas where your website is performing well and others where there is room for improvement. Some of the key metrics they use are:
These analytics play a crucial role in helping you understand how customers are engaging with your website, along with a few other key benefits.
Most importantly it gives you a clear way to measure the impact and the success of your marketing efforts. Using performance measures like conversion rate give a better understanding of the direct impact of past campaigns on customer engagement, what’s working well and how to optimise future marketing spend.
The demographic data provided tells you more about who your audience are and how they interact with your website. This means you can better tailor both your content and marketing efforts to suit your target audience and improve their overall user experience.
Finally, understanding where your website visitors are coming from can help determine how well your current lead generation strategy is working and specifically target your SEO rankings.
Luckily with such a wide range of web traffic tools available, it’s possible to find one that fits your needs.
One of the most popular and widely used tools available is Google Analytics, which provides detailed reports on website traffic and user behaviour. It allows you to view data for multiple websites in one dashboard, as well as being compatible with a wide range of other analytics tools. It’s free to all users, with a premium version available, called Analytics 360, which is a more in-depth option well suited to very large companies, as it provides big data analytics and allows more flexibility in report design. It’s a great tool for web traffic analytics but can be slightly overwhelming for new users.
One way around this is to use one of the ready-made Google Analytics dashboards available, bymarketers offers a wide range of GA4 templates. These tools provide data driven insights, allowing for flexibility and customisation while still being very user-friendly. You can also learn more about Google Analytics with our guide to getting started here.
Looker Studio, previously Google Data Studio, is a free visualisation tool, which when used in tandem with expert-made website traffic analytics templates to generate extensive reporting and detailed dashboards. The templates are fully customisable and flexible which allows you to explore high level behaviour, as well as to deep dive into specific areas of interest.
One of the most extensive dashboards available is the Google Ads Agency Report which provides an overview of ad campaign performance, detailed competitor analysis and can be used to generate detailed, highly professional reporting. It’s very user-friendly and a great option for quick and effective communication with clients.
If SEO optimisation is a priority for your website then one quick and easy to use option is the SEO dashboard for GA4 and Search Console, which provides a one page overview of your current SEO performance.
A full range of website traffic analytics templates can be found here, including comprehensive tools that can provide rich analytics and reporting on your website traffic, along with other features like keyword analysis, user behaviour and conversion rates. The templates vary in price but mostly require a one-off purchase, rather than a regular monthly payment.
Mixpanel provides detailed analytics on web and mobile app user interactions. It has a range of user focused reports and analyses, including a segmentation feature that explores how different groups of users interact with your website. It’s particularly useful for e-commerce websites to help to optimise user experience and conversion rates. The website is free for the first year, then $20 a month to provide more in depth analysis.
Ahrefs is one of the most commonly used tools for its SEO optimisation features. While it provides a standard view of key web traffic metrics and analytics, its speciality is the search report feature which provides data on how much organic search traffic a website receives, competitor analysis and backlink checks. As a tool it’s simple and easy to use. A week-long trial costs $7, followed by $99 a month.
HubSpot is a CRM platform that provides a dashboard with detailed website traffic analysis, including key user metrics, marketing channel analysis and SEO optimisation. It can also be synced with CRM software so that user visits are automatically updated and shown in the system. This tool is particularly useful for e-commerce websites, with more of a focus on customer contact attribution than user analytics compared to Mixpanel. HubSpot is free to use for the most basic version, and is then priced at $18 a month for individuals and small companies, and $800 a month for larger companies. They also offer 24/7 phone support.
Semrush is another popular tool that provides website traffic analysis, detailed user insight reports and SEO optimisation features. One of its most impactful features is the competitor website traffic analysis, which can be used to look at both individual competitors and the market overall. It’s a particularly useful tool for keyword analysis and backlinks too. The first 30 days are free, then the standard package costs $129.50 a month. Although it is an investment, Semrush is a great tool if you’re interested in increasing your SEO ranking and understanding what your competitors are up to.
Similarweb is a platform best suited for large or rapidly growing business as it provides high level traffic monitoring across multiple websites and countries. It also provides an overview of competitor traffic and their most effective marketing channels, along with tracking market share and exploring wider industry trends. Other features include SEO optimisation tools and advanced reporting on user demographics, interests and behaviour. Unsurprisingly for all that content it is a paid product at $125 a month but there is a 7 day free trial available.
In the over-saturated market place of web traffic analytics tools, it can be difficult to understand what platform will deliver the best insights for your website and support your current goals.
Google Analytics serves as a great start point, with plenty of detail rich reporting. However if you’re looking for something easy to use that can provide a quick and effective overview of your analytics there are a number of templates available that can deliver incredible value.
Other tools on the market with SEO optimisation features, like Semrush and Ahrefs, can be useful if your focus is on generating organic traffic. Whereas if understanding user behaviour and improving your conversion rates is the priority then data driven user analytics tools like Mixpanel and Hubspot provide some great alternatives.
As well as larger, more expensive platforms, like Similarweb, as your website scales up. Regardless of the tool you choose, making better use of your website analytics will enhance your understanding of your website users and drive greater campaign success.
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