How to Use Google Analytics to Find Your Best Content

Understanding which pieces of content resonate with your audience is the secret sauce to scaling your digital presence. Instead of guessing what your customers want, Google Analytics 4 (GA4) provides hard evidence of what is driving engagement, keeping visitors on your site, and ultimately leading to enquiries.

For Australian small business owners, this data is gold. It allows you to stop wasting time on topics no one cares about and focus your energy on the content that actually moves the needle for your bottom line. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the exact steps to find your best-performing content using the latest GA4 interface.

Prerequisites

• A Google Analytics 4 (GA4) property installed on your website.
• At least 30 days of data (for meaningful insights).
• Editor or Administrator access to your GA4 account.

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Step 1: Log in and Select the Right Property

Start by heading to analytics.google.com. If you manage multiple websites or have both Universal Analytics (the old version) and GA4, ensure you have selected the GA4 property from the account picker at the top left of the screen.

Step 2: Navigate to the Reports Workspace

On the left-hand sidebar menu, click on the Reports icon (it looks like a small bar chart). This is where the majority of your pre-built data visualisations live. Once the menu expands, click on Life cycle, then Engagement, and finally select Pages and screens.

Step 3: Set Your Date Range

Before analysing performance, you need a decent sample size. In the top right corner, click the date range. For most Brisbane businesses, we recommend looking at the Last 90 days. This accounts for monthly fluctuations and gives you a clearer picture of long-term trends rather than a one-off spike.

Step 4: Change the Primary Dimension to 'Page path'

By default, GA4 often shows 'Page title and screen class'. While titles are helpful, 'Page path and screen class' is usually better for identifying specific URLs (e.g., /blog/how-to-fix-a-leaky-tap).

Click the dropdown arrow above the first column in the table to switch the view to Page path and screen class if it isn't already selected.

Step 5: Sort by Views to Find Your Most Popular Pages

In the data table, click the heading for the Views column. This will sort your pages from highest to lowest traffic.

Step 6: Analyse 'Average Engagement Time'

Traffic isn't everything. If a user lands on a page and leaves immediately, that content isn't doing its job. Look at the Average engagement time column.

• High Views + High Engagement Time: These are your unicorns. They attract people and keep them interested.
• High Views + Low Engagement Time: You might have a great headline, but the content itself might be disappointing or poorly formatted.

Step 7: Filter for Specific Content Types

If you want to look specifically at your blog posts, use the search bar at the top of the table. If your blog URLs follow a structure like yoursite.com.au/blog/article-name, simply type /blog/ into the search bar and hit enter. This filters out your service and contact pages so you can compare like-for-like content.

Step 8: Check Your 'Key Events' (Conversions)

In GA4, "Conversions" are now called Key Events. Scroll to the right of the table to find the Key Events column. Use the dropdown under the column header to select a specific event, such as generate_lead or contact_form_submit.

This tells you which pages aren't just getting clicks, but are actually making you money. A blog post with 100 views and 5 leads is far more valuable than one with 1,000 views and 0 leads.

Step 9: Use the 'Explorations' Tool for Deeper Insights

For a more customised view, click the Explore icon (the graph with a plus sign) in the left sidebar. Select a Blank exploration.

• Add Page path as a Dimension.
• Add Views, Sessions, and Total Users as Metrics.
• Drag them into the Rows and Values columns respectively.

Step 10: Identify 'Landing Pages'

Not every page is the first one a user sees. Go to Reports > Engagement > Landing page. This report is crucial because it shows where people start their journey. If a particular blog post is a common landing page, it means your SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is working well for those keywords.

Step 11: Compare Year-on-Year Performance

To see if your content strategy is improving, go back to the date picker and toggle the Compare switch to 'On'. Select Preceding period (year over year).

Australian markets can be seasonal (e.g., pool maintenance peaks in summer). Comparing this December to last December gives you a more accurate growth metric than comparing December to November.

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Pro Tips for Content Success

• Look for 'Hidden Gems': Sometimes a page has low views but incredibly high engagement time and conversion rates. This content is high-quality but needs more promotion (e.g., share it on LinkedIn or include it in your email newsletter).
• Update Your Winners: Google loves fresh content. If you find a post from 2022 that is still getting traffic, spend 30 minutes updating the stats, adding new images, and ensuring the ABN or contact details are current.
• Mobile vs. Desktop: Check how your best content looks on a phone. Most Australian users browse on mobile while commuting or on their lunch break. If your top page has a high bounce rate on mobile, it might be loading too slowly.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Ignoring the 'Bounce' Context: A high bounce rate isn't always bad. If someone lands on your 'Contact Us' page, gets your phone number, and calls you, they might "bounce" from the site, but that’s a successful interaction!
• Focusing Only on Raw Views: Don't get blinded by vanity metrics. 10 views from qualified local leads are worth more than 10,000 views from overseas bots.
• Not Setting Up Key Events: If you haven't told Google what a "win" looks like (e.g., a form submission), you're only seeing half the story.

Troubleshooting

• "I don't see any data in my reports": Check that your tracking code is correctly installed. If you recently switched to GA4, it can take 24-48 hours for data to start appearing.
• "All my pages show as / ": This usually means your tracking code is firing, but you haven't configured your "Enhanced Measurement" settings correctly to capture page changes.

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Next Steps

Now that you know which content is performing, it’s time to take action:

• Repurpose: Turn your top-performing blog post into a series of social media tips or a short video.
• Internal Linking: Link from your high-traffic "Awareness" posts to your high-conversion "Service" pages.
• Audit the Losers: Look at the bottom 20% of your content. If it hasn't had a visitor in six months, consider deleting it or rewriting it entirely.

Need help making sense of your data or want a professional audit of your website performance? The team at Local Marketing Group is here to help Australian businesses grow through data-driven strategies. Contact us today to book a strategy session.