This blog was originally published on Cupcakes & Websites website here: The Largest Canadian Google Analytics Study Ever Done

For this study we wanted to compare data from 2015 to 2016. Over those, only 57 qualified (had enough traffic over a two year period) to make the cut. If the website wasn’t setup until after 2015 we didn’t include the data as it is incomplete. Next years study (or later this year, we’ll see) will be even bigger!

What did we find?

Average number of visits to a website:

2016 – 14,267

2015 – 15,700

A decrease of 10%

A decrease in average traffic would indicate you can’t have the “build it and it will come” attitude. You have to be doing something on your website that gets people to come back again and again. No you don’t need SEO (search engine optimization) if you’re creating amazing content for your intended audience.

Monitor you traffic. One past almost client (they never said yes) asked if they could talk to us about their “new” website and why they lost 80% of their traffic. Get a monthly report from your website provider at the very least just to ensure someone is reading what you publish!

Average number of visits from search (traffic from Google):

2016 – 7,513

2015 – 6,150

An increase of 18%

Ever since we’ve been measuring websites in Google Analytics it’s always been an anomaly about how much traffic comes from search. And not just our website, EVERYONE’S, yes yours too! You just need to understand better what Google is looking for. Search in powerful, if someone if looking for what you sell, the odds are they will search for it eventually. Make sure when your potential customers search for what you provide, you come up!

Everyone needs a Google Strategy.

The average growth (loss) of traffic:

Total traffic – (10%)

Organic traffic – 18%

Facebook traffic – (.08%)

Traffic fluctuates. Google gives you some tools on seeing what the average search volume is for specific terms over the twelve months of the year to see when search peak.