Getting Jiggy with Google Analytics Benchmarking

Some weeks back I allowed Google to share my little ol’ SEO website traffic data via Google Analytics and allow it to be used in their pet Benchmarking project. Over the last few days I have noticed that finally I can compare my site against sites of a similar size (although how they define size is something I would like them to expand on) and see if our site is punching above its weight or are we truly that weak that we find it difficult to punch our way out of a wet paper bag?

Obviously I wanted to check my own niche, I ran North South Media against many others to rather surprising finds but its the Search Engine Optimzation and Marketing sites of similar size (again whom is similar, I mean what is the band that I am being selected against as a similar sized site) and please let it be known that this is against sites who have specifically installed Google Analytics as a search metric and also allowed Google to harvest their results..

Here are my findings …

Visits :

I’m getting less traffic than the similar sized sites in my niche … 46.57% less than the average, now I turn more than 7k a month in traffic figures so I am speculating that we are up against some average sized hitters here.

Bounce Rate :

We’ll at least this is interesting I have a better than average bounce rate – so perhaps people that view the site are at least a bit satisfied compared to the average … that in itself is comforting.

Page Views :

Again just over 50% less than the average … but this is to be expected considering our visits are about 47% less than sites of a similar size.

Average Time On Site :

Excellent we trump the average – by a whopping 22.43% - so an indication that our content is of a preferred fluff that people want to stick around and read.

Pages / Visit :

We fall just short here by around 7.36% of the average, which to me spells that people are interested in what we have to offer that they want to browse some more but not enough :/

New Visits :

I am pleased with the results of this – 1.44% greater than average, new blood is always useful to help spread the name … this is the heartbeat for many marketing hubs … spread the word / noise, create an interest, grow a brand, we’ll here’s hoping.

Summary : Not sure about the figures because I’m not sure whom I’m up against or to what extent Google has banded my site against so in essence its been interesting but to be honest it could have been so much more.