Analytics are critical for understanding your business. One of the most powerful analytics tools any travel advisor can use is Google Analytics. As you probably guessed, Google Analytics is a web analytics service powered by Google. It can be used to track, measure and report on metrics, such as web traffic, performance and engagement.
Google Analytics is used by the majority of websites, making it one of the most popular for marketers. That being said, it can be a little tricky to get right. The good news is the biggest hurdle is setting up the data collection you need. Once that’s set up, it’s (relatively) easy to play around with different reports, events, parameters and dimensions to get a high-level overview of your business or dig into specifics on a campaign.
A Little Background Info
Google Analytics has been around since 2005, helping users get “under the hood” of their websites and other channels. The service has evolved with the internet, with one major, notable change. By July 1, 2023, users on Google Analytics' free plan had to upgrade from Universal Analytics (UA) to Google Analytics 4 (GA4). Organizations on Google Analytics 360 (paid plan) have an extended timeline into 2024 to make the switch. GA4 has been the default service since October 2020, but user migration has been slow. Make sure that when you’re digging into content or tutorials on Google Analytics, the content is focused on GA4 and not UA.
With this change, Google Analytics is both more sophisticated and more complex — the promise from Google is that it’s setting the foundation for predictive analytics using AI. While existing users will see a difference in the GA4 interface compared to what they're used to, Google Analytics continues to measure many of the same dimensions and metrics as before. The largest difference is in what GA4 is emphasizing for trend analysis. UA focused on sessions — how users reached your website, what they were doing there and how they left. On the other hand, GA4 focuses on events — breaking apart the user journey into moments that can be analyzed for a greater understanding of what audiences want and what actions matter most for your website. This insight into user behavior can drive everything from content creation to channel strategy.
Getting Started
How you set up your Google Analytics account is dependent on which website builder you've used. Generally speaking, the process involves setting up your account as well as the necessary data streams (i.e. how your website talks to the Google Analytics platform). Google has thorough resources available via its support site, and there are many resources on YouTube to walk you through it.
While you can set up Google Analytics on your own, it’s common for small business owners to hire an expert for this step and then take the reins at the reporting stage (You can stick with the expert and have them work as the analyst, too). The justification for this labor division is that users should only have to set up their data stream once, whereas they’ll use different reports to tackle new questions over time. Plus, the reporting dashboard is more intuitive to non-technical users.
Kim Goldstein of Journeys Inc. has been a Google Analytics user for more than five years. She partners with a marketing analytics team to optimize her website, Google business profile and Google Ads.
Her team uses Google Analytics to make sure their paid ads are driving the right type of business. “I use it to understand how people are searching for us and to make sure we’re top of the list when someone near us searches ‘travel agents near me.’ It gives me the keywords I need to ‘game the system,’” Goldstein said.
If you’re planning on setting up your data stream solo, there are some tools you can use to reduce the technical lift. Most CMS platforms, including WordPress and Wix, have an integration or plugin that can make the process more seamless (i.e., requires little to no coding). Scott Crumpton, founder of White Stone Marketing, a digital marketing agency for luxury properties, vacation rentals and wedding venues, recommends looking into Google Tag Manager recipes, which are ready-made containers with the rules and tags you need to achieve a certain outcome.
Figure Out Which Metrics Matter to You
Regardless of how you set up your data stream, it’s important to make sure your data is accurate and that you’re targeting the right events for the data you need. Goldstein emphasizes the importance of using your analytics to reach a specific goal. “You can have all the hits in the world, but if no one is filling out your form, it doesn’t mean anything,” Goldstein said.
It can be exciting to see a high number for such metrics as traffic and pageviews, but if that increase does not come with conversions, it does not indicate a successful strategy.
Crumpton makes an important distinction between high-quality traffic and low-quality traffic. It’s easy to drive up vanity metrics; what’s more important is being able to determine your ROI on longer-term strategies. To figure that out, you need to make sure you’re tracking events that indicate conversion, such as clicking on the link to a contact form or reaching the “thank you” page after filling out a form. You can also look for quality indicators in engagement and bounce rates.
One of the most important metrics in determining cost-per-click is quality traffic by channel. When paired with your financials, this data can tell you which marketing channels are driving business to you at the lowest cost of acquisition. And be sure to track this traffic over time. Seasonal peaks and valleys make it possible to attribute causality to the wrong thing.
How To Use Your Reports To Inform Strategy
Analytics on their own do not make a strategy. They’re simply information.
“I look for hints,” Crumpton said. “I don't look at it as the complete source of data.”
He said people often get hung up on the big numbers, like organic search or bounce rate. On their own, they don’t tell you much. To get the best intel out of your data, you have to be more specific.
“It’s like going to a doctor,” Crumpton said. “They run all the normal tests. Then, when they find a problem, they dig in.”
Changing your parameters is one way to do this research. If you have a low bounce rate, for example, you may, at first glance, take that as a sign that your homepage is underperforming. But, if you look at bounce rate by source, you might see you’re getting a high bounce rate from a low-quality source that’s throwing off your stats.
Google Analytics doesn’t only spot problems: It also can offer insight into opportunities. Tracking your site search can provide insight into the problems your visitors are coming to you to solve and inform your content strategy. Channel data can show you where you are having success and help you determine where to double down.
A key part of implementing Google Analytics into your growth strategy is simply to start. You don’t have to know every question you need answered or plan around campaigns to get valuable insights. Once you start collecting data, you’ll be able to see what’s working in your business, what’s not and where you can supercharge your growth.
Originally appeared in the Fall 2023 issue of The Compass magazine.
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