{"id":743,"date":"2022-01-23T01:22:59","date_gmt":"2022-01-22T19:52:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/basicwebguide.com\/?p=743"},"modified":"2022-01-23T01:22:59","modified_gmt":"2022-01-22T19:52:59","slug":"what-is-a-metric-in-google-analytics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/basicwebguide.com\/what-is-a-metric-in-google-analytics\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is A Metric In Google Analytics? Top 7 Essential Metrics In Google Analytics"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Google Analytics is essential to track the website&#8217;s traffic by using different &#8220;metrics&#8221; in it. Today in this article, you will learn <strong>What is a metric in Google Analytics?<\/strong> How a Google Analytics metric can affect the overall performance of the website.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Google Analytics<\/strong> has more than 200 &#8220;<strong>metrics,<\/strong>&#8221; including sessions, session duration, conversion rates, etc., but you must know <strong>which &#8220;metrics&#8221; are more important<\/strong> for your business goals. This is why it&#8217;s recommended to analyze the Google Analytics data by using appropriate &#8220;metrics&#8221; according to your need.<\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_61 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title \" >Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/basicwebguide.com\/what-is-a-metric-in-google-analytics\/#What_is_a_Metric_in_Google_Analytics\" title=\"What is a Metric in Google Analytics?\">What is a Metric in Google Analytics?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/basicwebguide.com\/what-is-a-metric-in-google-analytics\/#What_is_the_difference_between_dimensions_and_metrics_in_Google_Analytics\" title=\"What is the difference between dimensions and metrics in Google Analytics?\">What is the difference between dimensions and metrics in Google Analytics?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/basicwebguide.com\/what-is-a-metric-in-google-analytics\/#How_are_metrics_calculated\" title=\"How are metrics calculated?\">How are metrics calculated?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/basicwebguide.com\/what-is-a-metric-in-google-analytics\/#Useful_metrics_in_Google_Analytics\" title=\"Useful metrics in Google Analytics\">Useful metrics in Google Analytics<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/basicwebguide.com\/what-is-a-metric-in-google-analytics\/#Final_Words\" title=\"Final Words\">Final Words<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_is_a_Metric_in_Google_Analytics\"><\/span><strong>What is a Metric in Google Analytics?<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/analytics\/answer\/6086087?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Google Analytics<\/a> itself, &#8220;Metrics are quantitative measurements of your site data&#8221; in most simple words.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Metrics are not measured alone<\/strong> and are most commonly analyzed with dimensions in the form of sum or ratios. Metrics have calculated either statistics of the complete site or by associate with a single dimension.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-746 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/basicwebguide.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Screenshot-2022-01-22-175445.png\" alt=\"What is a metric in google analytics\" width=\"1024\" height=\"195\" srcset=\"https:\/\/basicwebguide.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Screenshot-2022-01-22-175445.png 1024w, https:\/\/basicwebguide.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Screenshot-2022-01-22-175445-300x57.png 300w, https:\/\/basicwebguide.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Screenshot-2022-01-22-175445-768x146.png 768w, https:\/\/basicwebguide.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Screenshot-2022-01-22-175445-20x4.png 20w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>It can be understood with a <strong>simple example;<\/strong> a metric &#8216;<strong>Population<\/strong>&#8216; associated with a dimension &#8216;<strong>City<\/strong>&#8216; where the population is the whole sum of the residents of that particular city. Similarly, as shown in the above example, a single dimension can be associated with two or more metrics.<\/p>\n<p>Similarly, most dimensions (not all) are paired with a particular metric and present consolidated reports to the users.<\/p>\n<p>The website admin analyzes these reports to analyze <strong>their traffic, conversions, and user behaviors<\/strong>. So now you get a basic idea of What is a metric in Google Analytics; let me bust some <strong>confusion\/questions<\/strong> arising in your minds.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Read Also &#8211;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 class=\"fusion-responsive-typography-calculated\" data-fontsize=\"24\" data-lineheight=\"28.8px\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_is_the_difference_between_dimensions_and_metrics_in_Google_Analytics\"><\/span><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">What is the difference between dimensions and metrics in Google Analytics?<\/span><\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><strong>Metric and dimensions<\/strong> are interrelated as both go hand-on-on, so it is pretty common to have this question in mind.<\/p>\n<p>We already discussed that metric is a quantitative measurement while on the other hand <strong>dimensions are non-numerical data<\/strong>, can say qualitative measurements. Dimension can also be termed as categories or attributes to the metrics.<\/p>\n<p>When these two data records are combined, it gives a broader context to the users, including real-time visitors, traffic, user engagement of the website with a given date range (7 days, 28 days, 90 days, etc.). It provides an approximate date range perspective of a website.<\/p>\n<p>Most commonly, <strong>dimensions are structured at rows<\/strong> while metrics are valued into columns.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_are_metrics_calculated\"><\/span><strong>How are metrics calculated?<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Let&#8217;s understand how a &#8220;metric&#8221; is calculated. It is calculated generally using two basic ways:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>As Overview<\/strong>: In this way, a metric, such as bounce rate or pageviews, is displayed as summary statistics of the whole site.<\/li>\n<li><strong>As an association with one or more reporting dimension(s)<\/strong>: In this way, metric value is quantified by selected dimension.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Calculations are done using the time differences of different users&#8217; <strong>initial &amp; exit sessions<\/strong> as well as the sum of all sessions. Therefore, the metrics calculation is affected by stacking more than one dimension with a given metric.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Useful_metrics_in_Google_Analytics\"><\/span><strong>Useful metrics in Google Analytics<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Till now, we learned What is a metric in Google Analytics. So now let&#8217;s have a look over <strong>7 useful and essential metrics in Google Analytics<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-762 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/basicwebguide.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/what-is-a-metric-in-google-analytics.jpg\" alt=\"what is a metric in google analytics\" width=\"1230\" height=\"674\" srcset=\"https:\/\/basicwebguide.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/what-is-a-metric-in-google-analytics.jpg 1230w, https:\/\/basicwebguide.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/what-is-a-metric-in-google-analytics-300x164.jpg 300w, https:\/\/basicwebguide.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/what-is-a-metric-in-google-analytics-1024x561.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/basicwebguide.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/what-is-a-metric-in-google-analytics-768x421.jpg 768w, https:\/\/basicwebguide.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/what-is-a-metric-in-google-analytics-20x11.jpg 20w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1230px) 100vw, 1230px\" \/><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>The number of users-<\/strong> Users are the number of visitors on your site in a specific time interval or real-time users. Usually, one user represents one visitor, although Google considers 1 user each of desktop and mobile as 2 visitors.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Source of traffic-<\/strong> This is the most important metric of any website. It reveals where the traffic came from; Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and other platforms like direct or organic traffic. It helps to understand user behavior.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The number of Sessions-<\/strong> The number of sessions determines how actively users engage with the content or site. A number of sessions indicate how many times a user hits your website. <strong>For example<\/strong>, if the sessions are showing 50 while the visitors are 5, then it means each user visits your site 10 times.<\/li>\n<li><strong>New users-<\/strong> This is another crucial metric of Google Analytics. New users are the users that never visited your site before. It is useful to know your website&#8217;s audience engagement and branding level. User metrics tell where the new users came from and the site&#8217;s reach.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Bounce rate-<\/strong> Bounce rate is defined as how immediately a visitor lands and leaves a page, sometimes without completing the task. Google Analytics illustrates bounce rate in the form of a percentage. There is a general perception of a high bounce rate as a negative aspect, but it is not always bad except if it is from the homepage.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Average session duration-<\/strong> This is the time or duration a visitor spends on your website. The average session duration is inversely proportional to bounce rate and increases if users find related content on the website.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Pageviews Vs. Unique Pageviews-<\/strong> This self-explanatory metric is the most important metric in Google Analytics. They sometimes look similar but have a deep difference among them. <strong>Pageviews<\/strong> are the total page views at a time; even if the same user visits the site many times, it counts separately. While this is not the case of <strong>unique pageviews<\/strong>, it means when a user visits the website 5 times, it is still counted as one pageview.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Final_Words\"><\/span><strong><span style=\"font-size: 18.72px;\">Final Words<\/span><\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>I hope you like this article on <strong>What is a metric in Google Analytics,<\/strong> and you can track a metric. Metrics and dimensions are the two different aspects of a single origin; Google Analytics.<\/p>\n<p>Although, website owners pay less attention to the metric or other tiny information. But these data play a significant role in the development of a website.<\/p>\n<p>We discussed the <strong>top 7 most important metrics of Google Analytics<\/strong> that must be used to analyze user behavior. If these &#8220;metrics&#8221; are correctly analyzed, you can improve the traffic and reduce the bounce rate.<\/p>\n<p>Both metrics or dimensions are critical data to comprehensively analyze as a full report and track the website visitors. If you have any confusion or question, please let me know in the comments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Google Analytics is essential to track the website&#8217;s traffic by using different &#8220;metrics&#8221; in it. Today in this article, you will learn What is a metric in Google Analytics? How a Google Analytics metric can affect the overall performance of the website. Google Analytics has more than 200 &#8220;metrics,&#8221; including sessions, session duration, conversion rates, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":763,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[977,978,973,981,986,985,972,975,968,966,965,969,983,970,967,971,964,974,976,982,979,980,963,984],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/basicwebguide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/743"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/basicwebguide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/basicwebguide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basicwebguide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basicwebguide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=743"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/basicwebguide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/743\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":764,"href":"https:\/\/basicwebguide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/743\/revisions\/764"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basicwebguide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/basicwebguide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basicwebguide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/basicwebguide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}