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Understanding your data

Last updated on March 4, 2026

Use your analytics dashboards to learn how people interact with your site. These tips can help you identify trends, analyze user behavior, and take actionable steps to optimize your site.

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How to start analyzing your data

Start by asking questions about what you want to learn from your analytics. This will help you stay focused on what matters. Questions to ask may include:​

  • Which pages get the most or least views?
  • What assets are being downloaded frequently?
  • How are sessions performing compared to last year?
  • Which search terms are bringing visitors to my site?

When you have clear questions, it’s easier to figure out if your site is working the way you expect - or if you need to make some changes.

Monitor key trends

Pay attention to your data over time to spot patterns and understand how your site is performing. Look for:

  • Peaks and dips in traffic across days, weeks, or months
  • Pages that always have high or low views
  • Changes in traffic sources, like direct visits, search engines, or social media

Tracking your averages is important too. If you know what’s normal, you can quickly spot when something unusual happens, like a sudden spike or drop in traffic.

Understand audience behaviour

Get familiar with how people usually interact with your site. This makes it easier to notice when something changes. Look at:

  • How long visitors stay on your site
  • Which pages they view the most often
  • The average number of sessions over a given period

This information helps you establish a baseline for normal activity and recognize unusual behavior.

Be aware of external factors

External events can have a big impact on your traffic. Keep an eye on things like:

  • Weather or seasonal events
  • Marketing campaigns
  • News coverage or trending stories
  • Policy updates
  • Upcoming service deadlines

When you track these events, it’s easier to understand why your traffic might suddenly go up or down.

Track how visitors find your pages

Knowing how people are getting to your site can help you decide where to focus your efforts. Pay attention to:

  • Search terms people use to find your site
  • Websites that refer visitors to your pages
  • How much traffic comes from search engines, social media, or direct visits
  • Whether the results align with your expectations

If you see a lot of traffic coming from social media and you’re not actively promoting there, it might be worth exploring. Or, if a certain search term is driving traffic, you could create more content around that topic.

Follow best practices for web analytics

Here’s how to make the most of your analytics:

  1. Monitor important actions
    Use analytics tools to track specific actions, like form submissions, asset downloads, or registrations. This show how well your site supports users in completing tasks.

  2. Use filters
    Narrow your data to focus on specific audiences, time periods or traffic sources. This helps you find trends and insights specific to different audiences.

  3. Download data
    Export dashboards as PDFs or CSVs to create detailed reports, share insights, or dive deeper into the details.

  4. Track user flow
    Look at how people move through your site. Spot drop-off points or pages with high exit rates to see where users struggle or lose interest.

  5. Review data regularly
    Set a routine to review your analytics weekly or monthly. Catching changes early means you can act quickly to improve your site.

How to apply analytics insights

Once you understand how your site is performing, use your insights to make improvements. Address underperforming pages, enhance high-traffic content, and optimize user journeys to better meet your audience’s needs.

Improve low-performing content

If a page or asset has consistently low views:

  • Check if the content is still relevant, and update or archive outdated pages
  • Make the page is easy to find with a clear title, description and metadata
  • Combine overlapping pages into one that better meets user needs

Enhance high-performing content

If a page or asset receives consistently high traffic:

  • Keep the content up-to-date with accurate information and current resources
  • Add links to related services or actions to guide users to the next step
  • Place popular downloads and links in a prominent location where users can find them easily

Adapt to traffic patterns

  • Prepare for seasonal increases, such as wildfire or tax season, by ensuring content is accurate, timely, and easy to find
  • Plan updates for low-traffic times, such as holidays, to re-engage users when they return
  • Align new content or announcements with major events or policy updates to meet user demand

Optimize search-driven pages

If search data shows that users are:

  • Looking for eligibility criteria, place that information near the top of your service pages
  • Using search terms like “child care subsidy application”, create a dedicated landing page with all related steps in one place
  • Finding your site through high-traffic keywords tied to specific services, refine page titles and headings to align with those terms and improve visibility

Refine content for better engagement

If users leave a page quickly or have trouble finding what they need:

  • Use descriptive titles and intros to make the page’s purpose clear right away
  • Place the most important information at the top so users can find it quickly
  • Write in plain language to provide clear, direct answers without unnecessary details
  • Format content for easy scanning with descriptive headings, short paragraphs, and bullet points
  • Consolidate subpages onto the main page if users frequently switch between them, so all essential information is in one place

Contact information

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