We don’t understand how companies can have analytics on their website, but not use them. The same companies tell us that where customers come from (locally, nationally, or globally) and what they do on their sites aren’t important. With the importance of local SEO for small businesses, analytics tracking like Google Analytics is more important than ever to take the guesswork out of marketing for decision-making and identify attribution.
So, if you haven’t implemented analytics or aren’t doing anything with it on your existing site, here are four reasons why you should.
1. You Know Whether Your Traffic Comes From Local SEO
This point is a no-brainer and crucial because it lets you benchmark your efforts at the granular level. You’ll know which pages are driving the most traffic (hopefully the local ones). You’ll also identify the channels of your traffic (search, social, referrals, etc). And by understanding both, you can also diagnose what’s working and what’s not to make better-informed decisions around your local SEO program. For example, no views for recently published local pages may indicate a technical SEO issue or a shift in search volume popularity.
2. You Know What People Are Doing on Your Site with Google Analytics
Google Analytics can track your users’ actions and their user journey. It can map the sequence of pages taken after someone has landed on your website. Using this data, you can identify where customers are getting stuck if you have linked articles around local SEO. It can also show a customer’s different decision points during their website visits. Tracking average engagement time can indicate issues with your content’s readability and interest level.
3. You Know Who’s Your Ideal Audience
Wouldn’t it be nice to know the age, sex, location, and more of your website traffic? With Analytics, you can! You can also confirm whether the website demographics match the buyer personas your sales teams engage with. In some cases of mismatch, getting them to better match is a matter of updating the user experience with your target audience in mind (Zoomer vs Boomer).
4. You Know the Best Time to Engage with Your Local SEO traffic
The time of day matters. Google Analytics tracks this activity, allowing you to identify your traffic peaks. There are a few key points to consider:
- Release content during peak traffic for better engagement rates for your local content. That means email, social, and direct sales outreach should occur at these peaks.
- From a maintenance perspective, don’t touch your website during peak traffic. Make sure your website is up and running for a consistent website experience.
- Your website must be designed to handle an influx of traffic. A big spike in traffic can take your website down.
- From a paid media perspective, focus on and increase your spending during peak traffic. This is especially true when those peak times correspond to high-quality leads.
The Bottom Line / TLDR
Analytics, such as Google Analytics, are essential for understanding website performance and enhancing local SEO. It helps track where your traffic comes from, analyze user behavior, identify your audience demographics, and determine peak traffic times. This data enables businesses to optimize content, fix weak areas, tailor communication strategies, and maximize engagement and conversions. With Google Analytics, you can stop the guesswork and make data-informed decisions around your website.
For help with local SEO or Google Analytics, contact us below for a free consultation today!
