Website statistics are detailed reports of the visitors to your website that contain the details of visits, behavior, pages visits, popular pages, sources of visits, referral, etc. There are a number of free and some paid tools online that can help you keep track of your website visitors. In this article, we will try to understand how these web statistics work and how people actually view a website.

Website statistics employed by most analytics tools out there work on the cookie concept. A cookie is assigned to each visitor of your website, which helps identify them and keep track of their activity on the website.

A good website statistics tool, such as Google Analytics, will also give you detailed numerical and graphical reports of website usage, data stats, traffic, access, navigation and the clickstream data illustrating the movement of visitors from page to page on your site.

Why Are Website Statistics Important?

The ultimate aim of the use of web statistics (AWStats) is to measure the various aspects of the website from the users’ point of view so that we can improve the things that need to be improved on the website to make it more friendly to the users and the business.

Here are a few other things website statistics tell you.

Which landing pages on your website are the most popular or most converting? – So that you can make other pages like these.
How is a recent change on your website affecting the behavior of the site visitors?
How much of your marketing efforts are really working? – So you can change the campaigns if needed.
How many visitors or customers are returning to the website for more
What are users searching for on your website?
The user experience on the site
Bounce rate, etc.
Your Website From The Visitor’s Point Of View
Here’s how people view a website, in general, irrespective of the site design or purpose.

The Most Priority Areas On The Site

As you can imagine, most users will start at the top of your site, unless they are looking for some specific information such as contact details given at the bottom of the site. The website logo, present in the top left corner, is usually the first of the things to be viewed by a user.

According to the Nielsen Norman Group, the average brand recall for left-aligned logos was 39% as opposed to 21% for the right-aligned version.

Apart from the logo, the website menu, header, and title are also the first ones to be seen by a visitor. After that, the user moves to the content part.

The Least Priority Areas

The right sidebar (in most cases) and the bottom part are the least visited areas of the website. The bottom area is usually hidden from the plain view and is less frequently visited.

The sidebar is viewable but not many users pay attention to it unless it has something special to show.

The Website Scanning Pattern

According to a study, only about 28% of the text on a website is read when the visitors scan the content for the information they are looking for. The scan is usually performed in an F-shaped pattern.

F-shaped pattern 1

This is why the menu is placed either top horizontal or left vertical on most websites. It is therefore important to keep the important content at the top.

F shaped pattern

Bigger Introductory Text Get More Attention
Make the introductory paragraph of your content big and bold from the rest of the content in order to draw more attention to the content. Visitors are known to pay more attention to the content of a boldface introduction paragraph.

bigger introductory paragraph

The lines of the paragraph must be sort and written in a single column, preferably accompanied by a relevant image on the other side.

Tracking Of Google Search Results

Wondering how people decide which link to visit from the Google’s search results?

Normally, the top five links in search results get about 75% of the overall traffic. So if your website is ranking after that or on other than the first result page, you are losing out.

Google Search results

The thing is that Google’s search algorithms are so efficient that users find what they are looking for in the first few results and need not to go beyond that. It is time to start using some SEO strategies to get the top ranks in Google.

Call To Scroll

While many users prefer it to find what they are looking for in the first one or two paragraphs of the content, they do not hesitate to scroll down in search of more information. Keep the most important part of the content above the fold, but also make a healthy use of the scrolling feature.

Call to Scroll

It is advisable to put a “Scroll for more” button in the bottom right corner to persuade users to scroll look below. The bottom of the page also usually gets enough attention if it has good content. This is also a good place to put your call to action.

Left To Right Scan

The content on the left side of the page is known to get more attention than what is on the right. The reason is that people usually read from left to right. This is why it is a nice idea to put the sidebar on the left side of the page if it needs more attention than the content.

According to research, close to 70% of the time spent by users on a website is on the left side of the pages. Take the example of Amazon that implements a left side vertical menu, which is doing pretty well for them.

Attractive, Engaging Web Design Attracts Visitors More
As pointed in many web design stats, the mood of the visitors of a site gets quickly off if they see a shabby, unresponsive design and sluggish performance of a site. Users of a site love to spend time on a site which has an eye-catching design, animations, images and delivers information in an easy, understandable manner.

Here are a few other things to note about the tracking of user behavior on your website.

– High-quality images attract more attention. Images with real people are more inviting and personal. Avoid using small, blurred images on your site. Big pictures get more views than small ones.

– A study shows that text is preferred by users over pictures.

– Big titles and headlines are able to draw more user attention, especially when put in the upper left corner of the page.

– Most readers do not view the banners.

– It takes less than a second for users to form a first impression of your site.

– The logo and main navigation menu are usually the most popular and viewed areas of the site.

– Readers do not like fancy fonts. Simple and clear fonts are preferred.

– Most people ignore large paragraphs of the content. Short paragraphs look clean and beautiful and are easy to read.

– Place your ads on the top or left side of the page, as these parts get the most views.

– Lists are easier to read and focus than large paragraphs.

Follow these tips to improve the way your visitors view and use your website. Make use of website statistics tools such as Google Analytics to keep a healthy track of your site visitors.

Need a hand with website analytics or SEO of your site? Contact us to get a free SEO analysis done for your website or get a quote now. SAG IPL is a professional Web development and marketing company providing efficient digital marketing and SEO services to clients worldwide.