As a website owner, understanding your website’s traffic sources is crucial for driving growth and increasing conversions. That’s where Google Analytics comes in – a powerful tool that allows you to track and analyze your website visitors. In this article, we’ll share some tips for using Google Analytics to track your website’s traffic sources.
What are Traffic Sources?
Traffic sources refer to the different ways that visitors find your website. There are three main types of traffic sources:
1. Direct Traffic: Visitors who type your website URL directly into their browser or use a bookmark to access your site.
2. Referral Traffic: Visitors who come to your website from another website by clicking on a link.
3. Organic Traffic: Visitors who find your website through a search engine like google by typing in a keyword or phrase related to your website.
By understanding your website’s traffic sources, you can identify which marketing channels are driving the most traffic and adjust your strategy accordingly.
Setting up Google Analytics
Before you can start tracking your website’s traffic sources using Google Analytics, you’ll need to set up an account and add the tracking code to your website. Once you’ve done this, you’ll start receiving data about your website visitors.
To view your website’s traffic sources in Google Analytics, go to the left-hand sidebar and click on 'Acquisition', then 'Overview'. Here you can see a breakdown of your traffic sources, including how many visitors are coming from each source and their behavior on your site.
Using UTMs
UTMs (Urchin Tracking Modules) are tags that you can add to the end of a URL to track where traffic is coming from. By adding UTMs to your marketing campaigns, you can get more granular data about which sources are driving traffic to your website.
To create a UTM, use Google’s free URL Builder. You can add parameters to track the source, medium, and campaign name. Once you’ve created a UTM, include it in your marketing link and you’ll be able to track the traffic in Google Analytics under 'Acquisition', then 'Campaigns'.
Setting up Goals
Goals in Google Analytics allow you to track specific actions that visitors take on your website, such as filling out a contact form or making a purchase. By setting up goals, you can track which traffic sources are driving the most conversions on your site.
To set up a goal, go to 'Admin', then 'View', then 'Goals'. From here, you can create a new goal and define the parameters that trigger it. Once you’ve set up your goals, you can see them under 'Conversions', then 'Goals', and track which traffic sources are driving the most conversions.
All Rights Reserved © 2025