Understanding how Google Analytics refers to the “Users” metric might not be clear to many of you. The “Users” data, or “Users” in Google Analytics, presents information and describes how many users were involved on your site or app.
As described in the Analytics documentation: “In order for Google Analytics to determine whether site traffic belongs to one user or another, a unique identifier must be associated with each user that is sent when a hit occurs.”
So how does Google Analytics define “Users”?
In simple terms, the “Users” metric is the number of new and returning people who visited your site over some defined period. When a user visits the site for the first time, a cookie is created on the user’s computer to which a certain unique identifier is assigned.
This identifier allows Google Analytics to characterize the person as a new user (New User). If the same person returns to visit your site at a later stage, they will be considered by Analytics as a returning user (Returning User).
However, there are situations where the same person will be considered a new user despite having visited your site before. For example, if they visited from a different device or from a different browser than the one used on the first entry, they would get a different unique identifier in a new cookie for that specific browser. For example:
- If someone visited your site via a mobile computer at work, a cookie with a unique identifier for that browser will be created, and that user will be considered a new user.
- If later that person comes home and visits the site again through the home computer, a new cookie with another unique identifier will be created, and in this case, he will be considered a completely new user.
Furthermore, if a user deletes the cookies in their browser and then visits your site, they will also be considered a new user by Analytics, even if they had visited your site previously from the same device or browser.
Why is the “Users” metric important?
The “New Users” metric in Google Analytics allows you to see how many people have visited your site for the first time over a certain period. This metric is an indication of your success in creating new users on the site if you are investing effort in marketing, say paying for advertisements and investing time in social media publishing to attract these users.
The “Returning Users” metric, on the other hand, describes how many people returned to your site and visited it more than once. For sites that publish content regularly like blogs, a high number of returning users can indicate that users find your content valuable and return to consume more.
Graph describing new (orange) versus returning users on Savvy Blog in the past year
Is a low number of users necessarily negative?
A low number of users is likely not positive in most cases, but it varies from site to site. Although a higher number of users is generally positive, consider the time, energy, and money you are spending to attract these users and also understand how they interact with the site.
For example, if you are spending money on ads that bring you 50 new users but none of them convert to regular users, it’s likely that you’ve invested money and haven’t received the appropriate return.
On the other hand, if you’re not investing money in ads but your site organically attracts 20 users, of which five convert and become regular users, then this is a more positive situation since the number of regular users on your site is growing.
So, generally, you should try to increase the overall number of users on your site over time, both new and returning users alike. Traffic and the number of users are an indication of growth for a site, but these are not necessarily the most important metrics and the goal you should blindly aim for.
Return and sales will probably be more important metrics for an online store and e-Commerce shops than the number of users visiting the site each week, despite the connection between the two.
“New Users” versus “Returning Users”
Understanding the division of users, i.e., the percentage of new users versus returning users is also important. An unproportional ratio between new and returning users can indicate several things about your site and business.
It may be that a low numerical value of returning users compared to a high numerical value of new users is a standard and normal situation in certain industries. But for other industries, this might imply that the content you are presenting does not resonate with your site’s user audience.
- For digital advertising agencies or retail e-Commerce stores (B2C), it is important to acquire both new and returning users in order to maintain their audience and increase sales.
- Conversely, for a software company selling to other businesses (B2B), acquiring new users is much more important than retaining them as returning users because the company’s goal is likely to acquire new customers interested in purchasing its product.
In Google Analytics 4, the Users metric is a bit different…
In Universal Analytics, which we have discussed so far, there are two types of metrics for the Users data: Total Users and New Users. In contrast, in Google Analytics 4, there are three metrics for this data: Total Users, Active Users, and New Users.
Interested in how to implement Google Analytics 4? Take a look at the post Implementing Google Analytics 4 on a WordPress site.
Here is a table (desktop only) that describes the differences between Analytics 4 and Universal Analytics in the context of the Users metric:
For more information on the differences between Analytics 4 and UA take a look at Google’s documentation.
Appendix – The Method of Identifying Users in Metric Calculation
As noted, to allow Google Analytics to associate traffic with a user, each interaction or involvement sends a unique identifier associated with each user. The identifier can be a single first-party Cookie named _ga which stores the unique client identifier in analytics.
Another option is the use of the User-ID feature in conjunction with the client identifier to allow more accurate identification of users across all devices they use to access the site. More information on identifiers is available in the article Cookies and User Identification in the developers’ documentation.
The Bottom Line
When you look at the “Users” metric in Google Analytics, it is important that you differentiate between new and returning users. You will want to know how each type of user behaves and how new users convert and become regulars.
You must also understand that user interaction varies according to the industry and type of business you have. Acquiring new users may be more important than a large number of returning users for certain companies, but not necessarily for your business…
