In Google Analytics, the “Public” section is often the most underestimated.
Difficult to hide: you are more easily fascinated by reports that tell the origin of the traffic, the most viewed pages, the conversions.
Instead, the analysis of the audience that is generating these page views, these conversions, ends up too often at the bottom of the priority list.
Yet reports on demographics and interests can tell a lot. Above all, they can become concrete tools to guide pay-per-click business.
A premise is a must: for the activation of this set of reports, it is necessary to comply with the requirements of the rules of the advertising functions of Google Analytics and, of course, with the current privacy legislation.
The “Public” section is vast and offers more than an operational starting point. The demographics and interests are contained in their subsections:
- Audience> Demographics> Age
- Audience> Demographics> Gender
- Audience> Interests> Affinity Categories
- Audience> Interests> In-market segments
the topic Of this Post
- 1 How to Use Demographics Reports
- 2 How to use interest reports
- 3 Employ interests in PPC campaigns
- 4 Overview
How to use demographics reports
The trick you fall into is to think, “Well, sure, it’s interesting to know the age or gender estimated by Google of my audience of visitors, but what do I do with it in the end?”
My advice is to look at the larger scenario. For example, why questions about the restriction of the target are consequently also of a campaign by age and gender are the daily bread of those working in Facebook Ads or are trying to refine an additional targeting option in Google Ads, perhaps for the display network.
If Google Analytics, or web analytics, is the measurement, collection, analysis, and reporting of web data for understanding and optimizing the use of the web. When is collecting data correctly, and reports can cross-match this information with the actions of conversion. In web marketing, conversion means when a user takes a specific – measurable – effort that is important to your business. Examples are access to the site, the visit of or the events unleashed on the site, then knowing which part of your target is proving more responsive is essential.
In particular, you will notice that by accessing the report by age and clicking on one of the age groups present, you will take to the relative division by gender.
In the report by gender, by clicking on one of the two items present, you will instead be taken to the division by category (for example, “Arts & stands for Accelerated Mobile Pages, it is a system to speed up the loading times of sites from mobile devices. With AMP you can create …; Entertainment / Celebrities & Entertainment News ” , “ Travel / Air Travel ” or “ Sports / Team Sports / Soccer ” ).
How to use interest reports
Suppose you have already started a Google Ads campaign in the past, perhaps in the display network. In that case, you will undoubtedly be familiar with the terms “affinity categories” and “in-market segments.”
When we talk about the affinity category, we refer to topics in which our users are generically interested. Topics they read about, watch videos about, or are a more significant part of their life. It is no coincidence that the labels show “Travel / Business Travelers” or “Lifestyles & Hobbies / Green Living Enthusiasts.” Most of these interests could be translated into Italian as “passionate about.”
Instead, within the in-market segments, we find products and services that our users compare or buy. So the entries here change to something like “Travel / Hotels & Accommodations” or “Business Services / Advertising & Marketing Services / SEO & SEM Services.”
If in Google Analytics I want to understand what my users are reading (in addition to my content), I will look at the first ones. If I want to know what they buy (besides my products), I’ll look at the seconds.
For example, I might find photography enthusiasts in the affinity categories while DSLR buyers in the in-market segments. The difference is substantial.
A note that is not at all trivial: entering these reports, you may not notice how the base segment “All users,” consistently applied to each account in Google Analytics. Here is restricted to only users that the platform has led to interest or demographic data.
Employ interests in campaigns PPC stands for pay-per-click (pay per click), it is a type of advertising in which advertisers pay a figure every time their ad …
You can choose to use the information provided by the interest reports in two distinct ways.
On the one hand, you can refine your targeting options for a Google Ads campaign, perhaps on the display network, aimed at a cold audience.
One often wonders what another audience segment might be worth adding, forgetting that this information is already available in Google Analytics reports.
You may choose to more cautiously adopt some new audience segments in observation-only and then narrow them down on targeting once their goodness is confirmed.
Additionally, this information is valuable when creating audiences in Google Analytics for sharing to Google Ads. It becomes intuitive to test new remarketing lists that also consider these parameters.
Overview
Demographics and interests in Google Analytics are, if not all, a good part of the answer we look for when we work on perfecting or expanding pay-per-click insurance campaigns across platforms (Google Ads first).
Understanding more deeply which demographics and categories our users belong to can allow us to open up to strategies for advertising. (abbreviated ADV) means advertising; it is a paid message that a company sends intending to inform or influence the people who receive it equipped with the classic “wider vision.”
