Fall 2025 Term Project:
916Socials Analytics Report

Author

Leeann Lewis-Waddell

Introduction

This Quarto report presents an analysis of website traffic for my freelance social media content service website, 916Socials , using Google Analytics 4 (GA4). Raw analytics data has been exported to Google BigQuery, and visualizations are created in Looker Studio. This report will illustrate the data pipeline from the 916Socials homepage, demonstrating key metrics about website performance and insights about user behavior.

Data Sources and Tools

  • Weebly website – hosts the site and serves pages to visitors.


  • Google Analytics 4 (GA4) – collects event-level data such as page views, sessions, and user attributes.


  • Google Search Console – provides information about how the site appears in Google Search (impressions, clicks, queries).


  • Google BigQuery – stores the exported GA4 event data in tables named events_YYYYMMDD.


  • Looker Studio – connects to BigQuery and is used to build interactive charts and dashboards.


Data Pipeline

  1. GA4 is installed on the Weebly site using a measurement ID.
  2. GA4 is linked to BigQuery so that daily event data is exported into the dataset analytics_XXXXXXXX in BigQuery.
  3. Looker Studio connects to the BigQuery dataset and reads the events_* tables.
  4. Charts and dashboards created in Looker Studio are used to summarize and visualize metrics such as traffic over time, top pages, geography, and device type.

Methods

This section uses R to query the Google BigQuery export of Google Analytics 4 (GA4) data and generate visualizations directly inside this Quarto report. Once data is available in BigQuery, the following SQL queries can be executed through R to summarize traffic, top pages, and device usage.

Analytics Report Overview

Since connecting all data-platforms and allowing the 916Socials website time to be crawled, website analytics from Google Analytics 4 (GA4), Google Search Console, and BigQuery indicate 4 total visitors. Even though the traffic is relatively meager, the subsequent data still supplies valuable insight into traffic sources, user behavior, and SEO performance.

Key Findings

Traffic & Behavior

  • Total users: 4
  • Average engagement time: approximately 5 seconds


    The low average engagement time suggests that visitors are not finding value in the the above-the-fold content of the website. I have not effectively communicated to value of the website or next steps.
  • Locations:
    • California: 2 users
    • Iowa: 1 user
    • Colorado: 1 user


      Out-of-state users suggests that SEO is improving organic reach.

SEO & Acquisition

  • 25% of traffic came from organic search


    This confirms that:

  • Google is crawling and indexing the website.

  • The site is appearing in search results.

  • Early SEO efforts (such as basic metadata and structure) are beginning to work, despite limited overall traffic.

Interpretation

  • Low engagement time (around 5 seconds) indicates that users are likely scanning the page and leaving quickly. I have the opportunity to improve here, and quickly entice potential customers to continue scrolling in order to explore the site’s services.
  • Presence of organic search traffic (25% of visits) shows that SEO groundwork is effective despite minimal content, even with a small sample size.
  • US-based traffic (California, Iowa, and Colorado) means at least 50% of traffic is not my own efforts to check the site’s functionality, proving I have achieved early visibility, although this may not necessarily be the ideal customer base for my services.

Observations

  1. Improve above-the-fold content

    • Make the main headline more clear and service-focused.
    • Add a concise subheading explaining what the site offers.
    • Include a strong, visible call-to-action (CTA).
    • Improve visuals to better entice the user.

  2. Continue SEO optimization

    • Refine page titles and meta descriptions to match target keywords.
    • Ensure images include descriptive alt text.
    • Improve internal linking so users and search engines can navigate key pages more easily.

  3. Collect more data over time

    • Continue tracking for several weeks or longer to obtain a larger, more reliable dataset.
    • With more sessions and users, patterns in behavior, acquisition, and engagement will become clearer.

  4. Create opportunities for engagement and monitor metrics

    • As traffic grows, track scroll depth, click events, and other key interactions.
    • Define, create, and track conversions (sign-ups, purchases, or form submissions).

Conclusion

Although the current dataset is small, the analytics setup is fully operational, and early indicators are positive. Organic search traffic shows that SEO implementation is starting to work, while low engagement suggests an opportunity to improve the above-the-fold experience. By refining content, continuing SEO efforts, and collecting more data, 916Socials’s performance and insights will improve over time.

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