Understanding the basics of Google Analytics charts and graphs

Everyone in the internet business is interested in driving more and more web traffic to their website from search engines and elsewhere. But to run a successful website, you need a lot of information about who visits your site, what they search for, and how they get there. There are many applications for tracking and analyzing data, but Google Analytics is by far the most popular among internet marketers as it is free and can track any type of data if used correctly. Using basic information such as tracking visitor country origins and page views, you can analyze a lot of critical information. In this article I am going to discuss only the use of basic charts and graphs used in Google Analytics.

Most of the data in Google Analytics is displayed in various charts and graphs such as line charts and pie charts to easily visualize the data. Google Analytics offers 4 types of “Views” buttons at the top right of the data table, and each button gives you a new view of your data.

Data Table – This is the standard view for most reports in Google Analytics. As the name suggests, it consists of a table with the name of the dataset and its corresponding value in a table. For example, if you are viewing your search engine report under Traffic Sources, the table will show various search engine names and the number of visitors each has brought in.

Pie Chart – This is a very easy way to see your data at a glance. When you switch to Pie Chart view, you will notice that the data table is still displayed, but each row now has a color associated with it. This acts as a legend for the pie chart, and each color corresponds to a wedge on the pie chart. You can also modify the view metric using the available drop-down menus. On the left, you can change the metric to Keywords or Browsers from the default “Source”. On the right, you can change the metric to Page Views or Bounce Rate from the default “Visits”.

Bar Chart – The bar chart displays rectangular bars with lengths proportional to the value of a particular metric. As with the pie chart, you can modify the metrics for the data table and the bar chart using the drop-down menus available in the column headings.

Site Average Comparison – Site Average Comparison is a type of bar chart that compares the metrics for each line item in the data table to the site average for that metric. This bar chart can display positive and negative values. For example, if the average site visits from search engine visits is 200, then 400 visits from a specific search engine would show a 100% comparison (in green) above the average site visits from visits to the search engine, which is 200.