Business Website Performance Reporting

At Harvest, we compare digital marketing to the cultivation of a field. Performance reporting is like the harvest, when the success of digital marketing investment can be measured.

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) offers a wealth of data, but many of its reports don’t provide actionable insights to help your business achieve its goals. Compared to Universal Analytics (UA)—which stopped tracking hits in the summer of 2023—GA4 can be more complex and harder to navigate. We recommend investing in a Google Looker Studio dashboard to make the most of this powerful tool. A well-designed dashboard focuses on the specific reports that align with your business key performance indicators (KPIs), delivering clear, actionable insights.

About Looker Studio: Why Your Business Needs It

Looker Studio simplifies GA4’s data by focusing on what matters most. Here’s why it’s an essential tool for businesses:

  • Free to Use: Once the dashboard is set up, Google platform reports have no ongoing costs.

  • Comprehensive Data Integration: Aggregate performance data from Google Ads, Facebook Insights, LinkedIn Ads, and more in a single dashboard. For non-Google platforms, a subscription to a partner connector like Supermetrics may be required.

  • Customizable Sharing Options: Make reports accessible to anyone via a shareable link or assign view/edit permissions to specific individuals.

  • Interactive Reports: Dashboard users can sort data by custom date ranges and report columns and even filter reports by page URL, campaign name, and more. 

  • Automated Reporting: Configure reports to display monthly or year-over-year comparisons automatically. This is especially helpful for businesses with seasonal engagement trends.

  • Unified Metrics: Easily combine website “sessions” (visits) and “key events” (like leads and sales) in a single report for a holistic view of your performance.

Our Work

  • International Pet Transport Service

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  • Bank Compliance Tool Provider

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Ten Actionable Looker Studio Reports for Businesses

The following reports go beyond data—they deliver insights to help improve your website’s performance and impact.

1. Source/Medium

This report categorizes traffic by its source (e.g., Google, Facebook), indicating where the traffic originates, and by its medium (e.g., organic search, referral), which specifies the type or category of that traffic. As a foundational tool for analyzing your website's performance, this report helps identify which sources drive the most traffic and key events, allowing you to dig deeper into the factors behind these results.

Example Use Case: If Facebook traffic decreases 10%, you can use the Social Network Landing Pages report to identify underperforming posts or pages. Similarly, if organic search traffic grows 15%, investigate which landing pages are driving the increase.

2. Organic Search Landing Pages

Organic search is often a major driver of website traffic. This report reveals which pages bring in the most visitors and key events from search engines like Google and Bing.

  • Why It’s Critical: If you’re investing in business SEO, this report identifies:

    • Pages needing improvement to boost performance.

    • Content gaps that present opportunities for new page creation.

3. Search Queries

Understanding why certain pages attract search engine traffic can be challenging. This report, pulled from Google Search Console, displays the search terms driving clicks to your site.

4. Referral 

Referral traffic originates from links on external websites, offering more than just a boost in visitors. When other websites link to your pages, it signals to Google that your content is valuable and authoritative. This enhances both your website's visibility and credibility. To make the most of referral traffic, consider these two key aspects:

  • Referring Websites: Analyze which external sites drive traffic, particularly if they generate leads or sales. Explore opportunities to collaborate with similar websites to secure additional links and expand your audience reach.

  • Landing Pages: Identify the pages or blog posts earning referral links. These are likely viewed as high-value by other sites. Use this insight to create compelling content that attracts similar attention, driving even more referral traffic.

5. Campaigns

Track the performance of all your marketing campaigns in one place. Campaign types include:

  • Email: Monitor engagement and conversions by campaign name.

  • Google Ads: Assess the success of paid campaigns.

  • Social Ads: Evaluate performance of ads on platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn.

  • Partner Publications: Measure clicks from partner newsletters or articles.

  • Print Materials: Use QR codes on mailers or brochures to track offline-to-online engagement.

6. Top Pages

This report highlights your website’s most viewed pages, offering insight into which content resonates most with your audience.

  • Pro Tip: Create variations of this report to focus on top blog posts or landing pages for targeted analysis.

7. Site Search

Analyze what users are searching for within your website. This can reveal:

  • Content that is hard to find and needs better placement.

  • New opportunities for content creation based on user interest.

8. Location

Understanding where your audience is located can help you target your outreach efforts more effectively. Businesses targeting a national audience may look at traffic by state, and local businesses may look at traffic by city.

  • Report Options: View data by city, metro area, state, country, subcontinent, and continent.

9. Device Type

Understand how users interact with your website across different devices (desktop, mobile, tablet).

10. Social Network Landing Pages

Track the performance of pages receiving traffic from social platforms like Facebook or LinkedIn.

  • Example Insight: Identify which posts or campaigns are driving the most traffic and replicate their success.

Optional Reports for Deeper Insights

Ad Campaigns

  • Google Ads: The Google Ads report in Looker Studio helps you maximize the program’s potential by offering critical metrics such as clicks, click-through rate (CTR), cost-per-click (CPC), total ad spend, and conversions, enabling you to refine and optimize your campaigns for better results.

  • Social Ads: The costs of managing social ad campaigns often surpass the revenue generated, making it essential to ensure a positive return on investment (ROI) before continuing to invest. Using a partner connector service like Supermetrics, you can directly integrate ad performance metrics from platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and X (formerly Twitter) into your Looker Studio dashboard. This integration provides a comprehensive view of campaign effectiveness, helping you make informed decisions to optimize your ad spend.

Other GA4 Events

  • File Downloads: Track the performance of downloadable resources like PDFs.

  • Outbound Links: Measure clicks on external links.

  • Video Views: Monitor video engagement, including progress milestones (e.g., 25%, 50%, 100%).

Reports Exclusive to GA4

These reports can be found in GA4, but importing them into Looker Studio is difficult.

  • Attribution Paths: Potential clients often don’t complete their purchase or lead form on their first visit to your website. They might discover your business through an ad, take time to research further, and then return via a Google search to complete the form. In such cases, attributing the entire credit to the last Google search overlooks the role of the ad in driving awareness and engagement. If you’re investing in advertising, it’s essential to understand the full journey users take before converting. The Attribution Paths report provides valuable insights into these multi-step journeys.

  • Page Path Exploration: Gain insights into user navigation patterns by visualizing how visitors move through your site. For instance, you can track users' paths from the homepage or analyze the specific journeys that lead to lead form completions.

  • Demographics: Access age and gender data by adjusting GA4 data collection settings.

Let Harvest Help!

A tailored Looker Studio dashboard empowers your business to focus on what matters most. By implementing these reports, you’ll gain actionable insights to improve your website and marketing strategies. If you’re struggling to create performance reporting yourself, Harvest can help:

Contact us today to learn how performance reporting can help your organization!