Google Analytics offers a wealth of information that will help you understand your audience. You can learn how site visitors are interacting with your brand, marketing efforts and of course, website. It delivers demographic data, information on referring sites and breakdowns of which content is the most popular bringing data into focus.
That being said the labels they use are not always intuitive, so we’re sharing a quick dictionary of Google Analytics Terms & Definitions divided by section for your reference.
Audience
Sessions
When a user engages with your site, it is considered a session. Keep in mind a single user can have multiple sessions.
Users
Visitors to your site with at least one session are called Users.
Pageviews
Google Analytics tracks the number of times visitors load an individual page. A single user can have multiple pageviews.
Pages/Session
Use this data to learn the average number of pages viewed during a session.
Avg. Session Duration
Ever wonder how long someone stayed on your site? Find that number here.
Bounce Rate
If a visitor views a single page and then leaves, it’s considered a bounce. Your bounce rate can help you understand how quickly users are leaving your site and if a particular page needs to be reworked.
Acquisition
Direct
This percentage reflects how many people found your site by typing your URL directly into their search bars. It also includes those who used a bookmark.
Organic
Anyone who came to your site via unpaid search is included in this statistic.
Paid Search
Visitors who find your site through paid online ads are included here.
Referral
When a user finds your site by clicking a link on another site, his or her visit falls into this category.
Social
These visitors found your site via a social network. See which channels are directing traffic by clicking the “Social” link in the table.
Behavior
Most Viewed Content
You can find your most popular posts for any given range here in the Overview section or by selecting Site Content > All Pages.
Exit
Learn where visitors are exiting your site under Site Content > Exit Pages.
Want More Google Analytics?
Explore these resources:
http://www.analytics-ninja.com/blog.html
https://www.analyticspros.com/blog/
http://www.blastam.com/blog/
http://whiteoakcreative.com/blog/google-analytics-acquisition/
http://whiteoakcreative.com/blog/google-analytics-audience/