Problems with Google Analytics Tracking?
If you’re using Google Analytics for your website stats (like we do), you need to make sure it’s accurate.
Not having data pulling in or reporting properly is like building a house on a shaky foundation: It doesn’t end well.
For some reason, a lot of people, assume everything is tracking properly in Google Analytics… because it’s Google. However, it’s not Google who sets up your analytics, people do that, and people are prone to make mistakes.
If you do think something doesn’t quite look right with your website stats, here’s a few scenarios which may be affecting them.
- Unusually low bounce rate
If you have a very low bounce rate, it could be too good to be true. An unusually low bounce rate could (and probably does) mean that at least on some pages of your website have the same Google Analytics tracking code installed twice. Ideally a dental practice website should have a bounce rate around the region of 50%.
If you’re bounce rate looks more like 5%, take a look at your source code, to see if you’ve got GA tracking code installed twice.
- Iframes
Google Analytics does not play well with iframes, and it will never will play nice with this dinosaur technology according to Google sources.
If you track the iframe, you inflate your pageviews, plus you still aren’t tracking everything with 100% clarity. However, if you don’t track across iframes, you lose the source/medium attribution and everything becomes a self-referral. Damned if you do; damned if you don’t.
Interestingly, and unfortunately, a number of booking engines for appointments still use iframes.
- Traffic jumps
Massive jumps in traffic don’t typically just happen. There’s always an explanation—a new campaign launched, you just turned on paid ads for the first time, you’re getting a ton of referrals from that recent offline marketing push. If you think it just happened out of thin air, it’s probably a technical glitch or ghost traffic.
Usually I’ve seen this happen when the tracking code was somewhere it shouldn’t be, so if you’re investigating a situation of this nature, first confirm the Google Analytics code is only in the places it needs to be. Tools like Screaming Frog are great in helping you figure this out.
Alternatively check your website’s referrals within analytics to see if any bots are sending you unwanted traffic which could skew your results.
To conclude, the odds are, your Google Analytics setup is fine. If you are seeing any of these issues, though, you have somewhere to start in diagnosing and addressing the data.
If you would like help with your search engine optimisation and google analytics for your dental practice website, give Dental Design a call on 01202 677 277 and speak to a member of our team who will be happy to help you.
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