If you’ve ever had the pleasure of writing a viral blog post, then you probably wanted to know how it went viral. If you aren’t sure where the traffic is coming from and you want to know (which you do – finding out could mean actually creating additional opportunities for future traffic as well as growing your subscriber list – all important things if you’re trying to make money blogging.
There are two ways. The first tells you the method they used to find your site (Way #1) and the second shows you which sites sent people to that page (Way #2). I hope these help!
Way #1 — by Channel (a channel being direct, PPC, Organic, Referral)
Click “Acquisition” from the left-hand menu and click the dropdown for “All Traffic”. Select “Channels”.
Right under the line graph, on the left you’ll, see “Primary Dimension” with several options listed out. Right beneath that you’ll see a dropdown to select a secondary dimension. Click that and type “Landing”. Select the “Landing Page” option. This now gives you a list of landing pages by channel (and how much traffic for each).
To segment to a specific page, look to the right of where you selected the secondary dimension. There’s a search bar. Instead of clicking the search bar, click the “Advanced” button next to it. This opens up a new section with several options.
Click the “Default Channel Grouping” button and type “Landing”. Select the “Landing Page” option. Change “Containing” to “Exactly matching”. Type the post URL you want to see into the last box and hit “Apply.” This should show you only that page, and how much traffic per channel. (Note: the post URL must be exact and must follow the right syntax. This means you must use /page instead of website.com/page — so only type what comes after the .com part).
Way #2 — by Referrer (this shows you exactly which website sent people to your post).
Click “Acquisition” from the left-hand menu and click the dropdown for “All Traffic”. Select “Referrals”.
Right under the line graph, on the left, you’ll see “Primary Dimension” with several options listed out. Select the “Landing Page” option. Click on the post you want to see details on. This will take you to a new page
Right under the line graph, on the left, you’ll see “Primary Dimension” and options (again). Select “Other” and you’ll get a dropdown. Click that and type “Source”. Select the “Source” option. This now gives you a list of sites that people used to find your page.
