An Introduction to SNO Analytics

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If you’re looking to increase site traffic, knowing your audience (and their behaviors) can help. Your site’s analytics are a great place to start if you want to learn more.

SNO Analytics

Easily access most of the basic analytics information you need using the SNO Analytics plugin in your site’s dashboard. It’s organized into several, easily accessible tabs with adjustable date ranges.

  1. Site Analytics – Access a general overview of your site’s analytics data over time, including number of visitors, number of pageviews and stories read, average session time, and bounce rate (percentage of visitors who viewed only one page during their session).

  2. Most Viewed Stories – Take a look at which stories are generating the most traffic.

  3. Most Viewed URLs – Similarly, see which URLs are most visited (categories, pages, etc.).

  4. Trending Stories Widget Preview – If you have a SNO Trending Stories widget (or want to add one), use this tab to update and adjust which stories are displayed there.

  5. Google Analytics – Give yourself (or your staff) access to your full Google Analytics dashboard.

  6. Maps – View which states and countries your visitors are coming from.

Google Analytics

If you grant yourself access to your site’s Google Analytics (via the tab mentioned above), you can explore the Google Analytics dashboard. It’s a much more robust interface with a lot to see, but we’d recommend starting with the following in the “Reports” section.

  1. Realtime – Monitor activity on your site as it is happening.

  2. Acquisition – Learn more about where your site users are coming from and how they’re getting there (search engine, direct link, etc.).

  3. Engagement – Find out how much time people are spending on your site and what they’re doing while they’re there.

  4. Retention – See the ratio between first-time site visitors versus returning visitors.

  5. Tech – Discover which technologies your visitors are using to access your site, including operating systems, devices, and browsers.

Now that you know where to go, we encourage you and your staff to take a deep dive into your analytics. And keep an eye out for next week’s SNO Report, where we’ll share suggestions for how to use that data!