Ten Actionable Looker Studio Reports for Government Agencies

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 association 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 government 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 comes from links on external websites. This report shows where your website visitors are coming from, which pages they clicked on, and which key events were triggered. Key Insights from Referral Traffic:

• News Websites: Monitor positive or negative articles that link to your website. News outlets often drive significant traffic to government pages when they highlight important information. By staying aware of these mentions, you can evaluate their impact and even identify opportunities for outreach or collaboration.

  Universities: Universities frequently link to government websites for licensing, educational resources, and career development information. Establish or strengthen relationships with universities to encourage them to reference your agency for these purposes. Could they recommend your resources to graduates or highlight opportunities to engage with your agency?

  Businesses: How are local businesses referencing your content? Evaluate the nature of their links and explore partnerships with other companies. Promoting resources or services mutually beneficial to both the business community and your agency can foster valuable connections.

  Professional Associations: Associations often link to government pages regarding licensing, legislative updates, or industry standards. Engage with relevant professional organizations to ensure your resources are recognized and accessible through their platforms.

  Government Entities: Evaluate the links to your website from other city, state, and federal government websites. Are there additional pages that should connect to your content? Strengthening these connections not only improves cross-agency collaboration and helps more people access critical information but also enhances your website’s authority and visibility in search engines like Google.

  Nonprofits: Identify nonprofits that offer complementary services to your agency’s audience. Collaborate to create links that guide visitors to your resources while supporting the broader community services ecosystem.

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 Facebook and LinkedIn ad performance.

• 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 communication 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.State government websites may want to look at traffic by large city.

• Report Options: View data by city, metro area, state, or country.

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 value 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, especially for offsite platforms.

• 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 it’s difficult to import them into Looker Studio.

• Attribution Paths: People often don’t complete forms on their first visit to your website. They might discover your agency through a link on another website, 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 referral link 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 form completions.

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

Unlock Your Agency’s Potential with Looker Studio

A tailored Looker Studio dashboard empowers your government agency to focus on what matters most: driving results, maximizing impact, and achieving your mission. By implementing these reports, you’ll gain actionable insights to improve your website and outreach strategies.

Let Harvest Help!

Struggling to create association performance reporting yourself? Harvest can help:

• Invest in a Looker Studio Performance Dashboard tailored to your needs.

• Learn about Government Analytics & Tracking and invest in Analytics and Tracking Setup: We’ll help you configure GA4, key events, GTM, email marketing, and more.

• Learn about Government SEO and the ways people search for your association. Identify SEO and search advertising opportunities by investing in an SEO Keyword Analysis Report.

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