Google Analytics for content design
Some features in Google Analytics are useful for making content design decisions. But others should be treated with caution.
The benefit of evidence
With evidence from Google Analytics to back you up, it can be easier to:
- make decisions about content design, for example how to arrange topics on a page
- influence content stakeholders — decisions are based on evidence, not opinion.
Use Looker Studio to present evidence
Looker Studio presents information from Google Analytics and other sources as a dashboard.
It may be easier to influence content stakeholders with a dashboard, rather than raw data.
When you change content, take note of what you did and when. Then monitor the impact of the change in your analytics.
Identify what’s missing by checking search data
On-site search results
Google Analytics can show you the terms people are using on your website search.
When you know terms people are searching for, it can help inform whether you add new content or make existing content more prominent.
To enable site search analytics, see Google Help:
On-page searches
Google Tag Manager (GTM) tags can send custom events to GA4 to tell you what page someone was on before being redirected to the search results page.
This can give you more context, for example, if there are a lot of searches for ‘cost’ on a particular page, you need to make cost information clearer.
Refer to the Google Help links below. In your tag include:
- event parameters — for example:
- the in-built Page URL variableGoogle Help
- a ‘search term’ User-defined variableGoogle Help.
- a trigger — for example:
Set up your Google tag in Google Tag Manager — Google Help
Google search engine results
Search Console will show you what search terms people were using when your site appeared in their Google search results.
This can help you add keywords to match the language your users are familiar with and improve the visibility of your content.
Getting started with Search Console — Google Help
You can also view Search Console data in your Google Analytics account.
Connect Search Console to Google Analytics — Google Help
While Search Console is popular, there are many other providers that can help with search engine optimisation (SEO).
The business.govt.nz YouTube channel has free learning videos which mention various other tools and techniques.
Use GA4 data to adapt content to user needs
Monitoring GA4 data such as events, dimensions, and metrics can help you understand how users interact with a page.
- Events — measure what users do on your website or app, like clicking a link, downloading a file or watching a video.
- Dimensions — describe your data and answer questions like what, when or who. For example, the page title, a date range, or what country a user is from.
- Metrics — provide numerical data that can be measured and combined. For example the number of views a page had or how many times an event occurred.
For example, use GA4 data to see:
- how many times something has been downloaded — the result can influence where you position the download link on the page
- which links are the most popular — this can help you decide the order of links in a list
- where people leave your site by a link to another website — you might count exiting to a particular link a success metric.
More information from Google Help:
- About eventsGoogle Help
- Custom eventsGoogle Help
- Analytics dimensions and metricsGoogle Help
- About custom dimensions and metricsGoogle Help
GOV.UK include information about a range of metrics in their ‘A basic guide to Google Analytics’ section of Data and Analytics.
Some event tracking may need to be set up manually by a developer or require administrator access to your Google Analytics account.
Use Google Trends to match your language to your users’
Google Trends shows search terms used around the world, and allows you to compare 1 term with another.
This can be useful if you need to decide on how to phrase something.
For example, do more people search for ‘IRD number’ or ‘tax number’?
When you match your language to your users’ you will make your content easier to find and understand.
The UK’s National Health Service (NHS) did a study on how to decide which words were familiar for their users:
Pee and poo and the language of health — NHS Digital
Take care with some Google Analytics metrics
Metrics that can be misleading include:
- Time on a page — do users spend a lot of time on the page because it’s useful, or because they’re struggling to understand or find something?
- Page views — a page may have a high number of views, but if no one finds what they’re looking for, is the page successful?
- Engagement rate — a high or low engagement rate might be good or bad. Consider whether the user needs to visit more pages to be counted as a success.
High numbers for a particular metric could also indicate a poor information architecture.
Use qualitative research as well as quantitative
Google Analytics is good for measuring numbers. But to get the full picture of your users’ experience, it’s important to use qualitative measures.
Mixing methods: a recipe for research success — GOV.UK
- On-site surveys
- Usability testing — interacting with a prototype
- Feedback widgets
- Customer support logs
- Polls or online interviews
- In person interviews
- Focus groups
- Contextual inquiry
- Paper surveys or feedback cards
- Guerrilla testing
- Phone interviews
Questions to ask for qualitative research
The best questions to ask are:
- What did you come here to do?
- Were you able to do it?
- If not, why not?
The 3 greatest survey questions ever — Avinash Kaushik
GOV.UK also has guidance on how to plan and conduct user interviews:
Using in-depth interviews — GOV.UK
Do you use other Google Analytics metrics to improve content?
If you’d like to share other useful metrics for content design, email info@digital.govt.nz.
Utility links and page information
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