Surprising statistics from our Google Analytics

For all University websites, we use Google Analytics to tell us things like:

• How many people are visiting the website
• Peak traffic days and times
• How people are navigating through the website
• How people are getting to the website
• What devices they're using

So you know: all web ambassadors can have access to their Google Analytics, so you can see these things for yourself. We'll also teach the basics of Google Analytics in our upcoming advanced web class. Most often, we look at and compare analytics on a semester-by-semester basis, but sometimes weekly or monthly can be beneficial.

But today, we want to share the sheer volume of traffic that comes to the University's main website over the course of a year.

By the Numbers

Let's start with the biggest one. Over the course of a year, louisiana.edu receives more than 3.5 million visits. Let that sink in for a second. That's 3.5 million pairs of eyes looking at our academics, admissions, research, campus life — everything.

But there's more. For every time someone visits the site, on average, they spend almost three minutes looking around and view at least two pages. Taking that into account, that means our site visitors have looked at 7.68 million pages combined. Woah, right?

The Most Traffic in One Day

Remember this gem: louisiana.edu/message? That April Fool's Day prank is responsible for giving us 38,867 visits in one day. Compare that to our weekday average of 17,000 visits, and — again — woah.

Desktop, phone or tablet?

Of all the visitors we get to our website, about 70% use a desktop computer. Of those not using a desktop computer, 25% use a phone and 5% use a tablet. Those may not seem like large numbers, but when you combine phone and tablet use, you get more than one million visits from someone on the go.

How do they find us?

That's a complicated question. In general, though:

• 43% use Google to find UL Lafayette
• 40% come directly, meaning they type "louisiana.edu" into their browser
• 11% come from outside websites, most of which are UL Lafayette college, department and office websites
• 4% come from social media

How do I find these numbers for myself?

Just ask! We can give you access to Google Analytics for your website. We are also doing annual website reviews using Google Analytics. If you haven't received a site review, contact me and I'll put you at the front of the line, or wait — I'll get to it eventually. We have a bit of a backlog, dealing with 190+ sites and all.

As always: direct any questions or comments to me at webcontent@louisiana.edu.