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• Consent management platforms : Keys to compliance and user trust

  14 juin, par Joe

  Today’s marketing managers and data analysts face a tricky balancing act : gaining meaningful customer insights while respecting user privacy. Finding ways to navigate the maze of complex privacy regulations while managing consent at scale can be daunting. 

  Consent management platforms (CMPs) offer a solution. They allow companies to collect data ethically, manage user consent efficiently, and comply with privacy regulations like Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).

  This guide explains everything you need to know about CMPs : how they function, why they’re essential for data governance, and how they work hand-in-hand with analytics platforms to promote transparency and build trust with users.

  What is a consent management platform (CMP) and what is it for ?

  A consent management platform (CMP) helps organisations collect, organise, and store user consent for personal data processing purposes. In short, it’s a tool that ensures data collection respects user privacy and complies with regulations like the GDPR and CCPA.

  Without a CMP, businesses could face hefty fines and penalties for violating data privacy laws in different parts of the world. This shows how vital these tools are to all modern businesses.

  How do consent management platforms work ?

  CMPs give users a clear and straightforward way to provide explicit consent for data collection. These platforms manage both the technical aspects of consent storage and the user experience on your site or app.

  Here’s a simplified breakdown :

  • Cookie consent banners : The CMP displays a banner whenever a user visits your website. This banner explains the types of personal information collected and for what purpose.
  • User choice : The user can accept or reject cookies and trackers. They can often customise their preferences to choose which specific data types they’re willing to share.
  • Preference storage : The CMP stores the user’s choices. This information helps ensure that you only collect and process the permitted data.
  • Integration with other systems : CMPs integrate with other systems, such as analytics platforms and advertising networks, to ensure that data collection and processing comply with the user’s choices throughout the customer experience.

  

  A key feature of CMPs is their role in shaping privacy policy design. This design encompasses the layout, visual elements, and cues employed to seek user consent.

  A recent study by Karlstad University in Sweden showed that privacy policy design significantly influences user comprehension and willingness to disclose information. In other words, it affects consent rates considerably and is key to enhancing data collection.

  Importance of consent management for compliance

  As the world becomes increasingly interconnected, consent management is taking centre stage. Although it applies to all technologies and systems that gather or handle personal data, few instances are as relevant as smart homes.

  Smart home devices have unique access to our personal spaces and private lives. They represent a unique challenge to consent management since one person is potentially granting access to personal data from themselves and other people who may be inside or around the house.

  A 2023 study by the University College London and the University of Oxford pointed out that clear design principles and granular, contextual permission structures are essential in these situations.

  However, consent management isn’t just best practice. It’s a widespread legal requirement. Not meeting these requirements can result in hefty penalties and reputational damage to your organisation.

  Consent management under GDPR

  The European Union’s GDPR is a data protection law applicable to organisations that process the personal data of individuals residing in the European Economic Area (EEA). It’s based on the principle of opting in.

  The GDPR is one of the strongest data privacy laws globally. For non-compliance, fines can be up to €20 million or 4% of the company’s total global turnover (whichever is higher).

  It’s also one of the most heavily enforced privacy laws. According to enforcementtracker.com, Meta was fined €1.2 billion in 2023, with GDPR fines reaching over €2 billion that year alone. In the UK, the largest GDPR fine is €22.05 million, according to Statista. It pays to comply.

  The GDPR has specific rules around consent, including that it must be :

  • Freely given : Users must not be pressured or coerced.
  • Specific : Must be given for specific data processing purposes.
  • Informed : Users must be provided with clear and concise information.
  • Unambiguous : Permission must be granted through clear and affirmative action, such as checking a box or tapping a button.

  CMPs help you meet these requirements by providing a transparent and user-friendly way to obtain and manage consent.

  Consent management under CCPA

  The CCPA is another privacy protection law for businesses collecting personal information from California residents. It grants Californians the right to know what data is being collected about them, to prevent it from being sold, and to request its deletion.

  CMPs support CCPA compliance by enabling users to exercise their rights and ensuring transparent data collection practices.

  Managing consent under other regulatory frameworks

  In addition to the GDPR and CCPA, numerous other privacy regulations can impact your organisation. These regulations include :

  • The COPPA in the US
  • Brazil’s LGPD
  • Japan’s APPI
  • Canada’s PIPEDA.
  • Australia’s Privacy Act 1988 

  A CMP will help streamline the process by providing a clear, practical framework to ensure you meet all applicable requirements.

  Key features to look for in a CMP

  Choosing the right CMP is crucial for global business.

  Here are some key features to consider :

  Custom banners

  Consent banners are often among users’ first digital interactions with your brand. It should be clear, concise and visually appealing. Look for a CMP that allows you to :

  • Customise the banner’s design to match your website’s branding and aesthetics.
  • Control the banner’s positioning for optimal visibility.

  End-user management tools

  The CMP should also offer a user-friendly interface allowing visitors to grant, manage and withdraw consent.

  This includes customisable banners, granular permissions, and a preference centre. The latter is a dedicated space where users can manage their preferences anytime.

  Integration capabilities with existing systems

  The CMP should integrate with your existing technology stack, including your analytics platform, marketing automation tools and CRM. This integration ensures a smooth workflow and prevents data silos.

  How to select the right CMP for your organisation

  To find the perfect CMP, focus on your specific needs and priorities. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you make an informed decision :

  Assessing organisational needs and goals

  Start by clearly defining your organisation’s requirements. Consider the following :

  • Types of data collected : What personal data do you collect (for example, cookies, IP addresses, location data) ?
  • Compliance requirements : Which privacy regulations must you comply with (GDPR, CCPA, COPPA) ?
  • Website or app complexity : How complex is your website or app in terms of user interactions and data collection points ?
  • Budget : How much are you willing to invest in a CMP ?

  Comparing features and pricing

  Once you thoroughly understand your needs, you can compare the features and pricing of various CMPs. Look for key features like :

  • Customisable banners
  • Granular options
  • Preference centre
  • Integration with existing systems
  • Analytics and reporting

  Once you’ve shortlisted a few options, compare the pricing and choose the best value for your budget. Take advantage of free trials before committing to a paid plan.

  Checking verified user reviews

  Read user reviews on platforms like G2 or Trustpilot to get an idea of the strengths and weaknesses of different CMPs. Look for reviews from similar organisations regarding size, industry and compliance requirements.

  Integration with a privacy-focused analytics platform

  A consent management platform acts as the bridge between your users and your analytics and marketing teams. It ensures user preferences are communicated to your analytics setup, so data collection and analysis align with their choices and comply with privacy regulations. 

  Finding a consent manager integration that works with your analytics setup is essential for businesses.

  Top five consent management platforms

  The CMP market is pretty competitive, with many players providing excellent solutions. According to Emergen Research, it was valued at $320.9 million in 2021 and is growing at 21.2%.

  Here are five of our top choices 

  1. usercentrics

  usercentrics is a comprehensive CMP with customisable banners, granular consent options and a preference centre.

  

  usercentrics geolocation rulesets page (Source : Usercentrics)

  This Google-certified CMP allows you to create global and regional consent rules to ensure compliance with local regulations like GDPR, CCPA and LGPD. For a smooth implementation, usercentrics provides access to a knowledgeable support team and a dedicated customer success executive.

  It’s worth noting that Usercentrics is the CMP we use here at Matomo. It helps us in our mission to collect and analyse data ethically and with a privacy-first mindset.

  • Key features : Customisable banners, granular permissions, cross-domain and cross-device capabilities, automatic website scans, reporting and analytics.
  • Pricing : Usercentrics offers a free plan and four paid subscription plans from €7 to €50 per month.

  2. Osano

  Osano is a user-friendly CMP focusing on transparency and ease of use.

  

  Osano’s main dashboard (Source : Osano)

  Osano can scan websites for tracking technologies without impacting the user experience.

  • Key features : Customisable banners, multi-language support, granular consent options, a preference centre and access to a knowledgeable team of compliance specialists.
  • Pricing : Osano offers a self-service free plan and a paid plan at $199 per month.

  3. Cookiebot

  Cookiebot is another popular CMP with numerous integration options, including Matomo and other analytics tools. 

  

  Cookiebot consent banner options (Source : Cookiebot)

  • Key features : A cookie scanner, a privacy trigger or button allowing users to change their consent settings, a consent management API and advanced analytics.
  • Pricing : Cookiebot offers a free plan and paid plans ranging from €7 to €50 per month.

  4. CookieYes

  CookieYes is well-suited for small businesses and websites with basic privacy needs. 

  

  CookieYes cookie banner options (Source : CookieYes)

  It offers various features, including multilingual support, geo-targeting, privacy policy generation, and a preference centre. CookieYes also integrates with analytics and CMS tools, making it easy to implement as part of your stack.

  • Key features : Customisable consent banners, granular consent options, preference centre, integration with Matomo, reporting and analytics.
  • Pricing : You can use CookieYes for free or subscribe to one of their three paid plans, which range from $10 to $55 per month.

  5. Tarte au Citron

  Tarte au Citron is an open-source, lightweight, and customisable CMP developed in France.

  

  (Source : Tarte au Citron)

  Its focus is on transparency and user experience. It provides many features free of charge, but many do require some technical knowledge to deploy. There’s also a paid subscription with ongoing support and faster implementation.

  Tarte au Citron integrates with Matomo, which is also open-source. If you’re building an open-source stack for your analytics, Matomo and Tarte au Citron make an excellent pair.

  • Key features : Open-source, customisable consent banners, integration with Matomo, works with over 220 services.
  • Pricing : You can deploy the open-source core for free, but Tarte au Citron offers three paid licenses starting at €190 for one year and reaching €690 for a lifetime license.

  How to implement cookie consent the right way

  Implementing cookie consent requires precision, time and effort. But doing it wrong can result in significant legal penalties and severe reputational damage, eroding user trust and impacting your brand’s standing. Here are the key dos and don’ts of consent :

  

  Provide clear and concise information

  Use plain language that is easy for anyone to understand. Avoid using technical terms or legal jargon that may confuse users.

  Prioritise transparency

  Be upfront about your data collection practices. Clearly state what data you collect, how you use it and who you share it with. Provide links to your privacy and cookie policies for users who want to learn more.

  Offer granular control

  Give users detailed control over as many of their cookie preferences as possible. Allow them to choose which categories of tracking cookies they consent to, such as strictly necessary, performance and marketing cookies.

  Implement user-friendly banners

  Ensure banners are prominently displayed, easy to understand, and use clear and concise language. Also, make sure they’re accessible to all users, including those with disabilities.

  Respect “do not track” settings

  It’s essential to honour users’ choices when they enable their “do not track” browser setting.

  Document consent

  Maintain a record of user consent. This will help you demonstrate compliance with data privacy regulations and provide evidence of user consent in case of an audit or investigation.

  Regularly review and update consent policies

  Review and update your customer consent policies regularly to ensure they comply with evolving data privacy regulations and reflect your current data collection practices.

  Cookie consent pitfalls to avoid

  Here are some common pitfalls to avoid that may lead to legal penalties, loss of user trust or inaccurate analytics :

  • Avoid lengthy and complicated explanations. Overwhelming users with dense legal jargon or overly technical details can lead to consent fatigue and reduce the likelihood of informed consent.
  • Don’t force users to accept all cookies or none. Blanket consent options violate user autonomy and fail to comply with regulations like the GDPR.
  • Don’t make information about your data collection practices hard to find. Hidden or buried privacy policies breed suspicion and erode trust.
  • Avoid pre-checking all cookie consents. Pre-checked boxes imply consent without explicit user action, which is not compliant with GDPR and similar regulations. Users must actively opt in, not out.

  Emerging consent management trends 

  Consent management is constantly evolving and driven by new technologies, regulations, and user expectations. Here are some emerging trends to watch out for in the short term :

  • Increased automation : AI and machine learning are helping automate consent management processes, making them more efficient and effective.
  • Enhanced user experience : CMPs are becoming more user-friendly, focusing on providing an intuitive experience.
  • Privacy-preserving analytics : CMPs are being integrated with privacy-preserving analytics platforms, such as Matomo, to enable organisations to gain insights into user behaviour without compromising privacy.
  • Google Consent Mode : In 2024, Google rolled out Consent Mode v2 to align with the Digital Markets Act. Due to upcoming privacy regulations, more versions may be coming soon.

  The Privacy Governance Report 2024 also highlights the increasing complexity of managing data privacy, with more than four in five privacy professionals taking on additional responsibilities in their existing roles. This trend will likely continue in the coming years as more privacy laws are enacted.

  Addressing upcoming privacy regulations

  Data privacy and user consent requirements continue to emerge and evolve. Businesses must stay informed and adapt their practices accordingly.

  

  In 2025, several new privacy regulations are going into effect, including :

  • New state-level privacy laws in eight US states :
    • Delaware (1 January 2025)
    • Iowa (1 January 2025)
    • Nebraska (1 January 2025)
    • New Hampshire (1 January 2025)
    • New Jersey (15 January 2025)
    • Tennessee (1 July 2025)
    • Minnesota (31 July 2025)
    • Maryland (1 October 2025)
  • The EU’s Artificial Intelligence Act (which will be implemented from 1 August 2024 through 2 August 2026) and other AI-focused regulations.
  • The UK Adequacy Decision Review has a deadline of 27 December 2025.

  Organisations that collect, process or otherwise handle data from Europe and the above-named US states should proactively prepare for these changes by :

  • Conducting regular privacy impact assessments
  • Reviewing consent mechanisms regularly
  • Implementing data minimisation strategies
  • Providing user-friendly privacy controls

  Future-proofing your consent management strategy

  CMPs are essential for managing consent preferences, protecting user privacy, and earning customers’ trust through transparency and ethical data practices.

  When choosing a CMP, you should consider key features such as integration capabilities, customisation options and user-friendly interfaces.

  Integrating a CMP with a privacy-first analytics solution like Matomo allows you to collect and analyse data in a way that’s compliant and respectful of user preferences. This combination helps maintain data integrity while demonstrating a strong commitment to privacy. 

  Start your 21-day free trial today.

• Unlocking the power of web analytics dashboards

  22 juillet, par Joe — Analytics Tips, App Analytics

  In the web analytics world, we have no shortage of data — clicks, views, scrolls, bounce rates — yet still struggle to extract valuable, actionable insights. There are facts and figures about any action anybody takes (or doesn’t take) when they visit your website, place an order or abandon their shopping cart. But all that data is often without context.

  That’s where dashboards come in : More than visual summaries, the right dashboards give context, reduce noise, and help us focus on what matters most — whether it’s boosting conversions, optimising campaigns, or monitoring data quality and compliance efforts.

  In this article, we’ll focus on :

  • The importance of data quality in web analytics dashboards
  • Different types of dashboards to use depending on your goals 
  • How to work with built-in dashboards in Matomo
  • How to customise them for your organisation’s needs

  Whether you’re building your first dashboard or refining a mature analytics strategy, this guide will help you get more out of your data.

  What is a web analytics dashboard ?

  A web analytics dashboard is an interactive interface that displays key website metrics and data visualisations in an easy-to-grasp format. It presents key data clearly and highlights potential problems, helping users quickly spot trends, patterns, and areas for improvement.

  Dashboards present data in charts, graphs and tables that are easier to understand and act upon. Users can usually drill down on individual elements for more detail, import other relevant data or adjust the time scale to get daily, weekly, monthly or seasonal views.

  Types of web analytics dashboards

  Web analytics dashboards may vary in the type of information they present and the website KPIs (key performance indicators) they track. However, sometimes the information can be the same or similar, but the context is what changes.

  Overview dashboard

  This offers a comprehensive overview of key metrics and KPIs. For example, it might show :

  • Traffic metrics, such as the total number of sessions, visits to the website, distinct users, total pages viewed and/or the average number of pages viewed per visit.
  • Engagement metrics, like average session duration, the bounce rate and/ or the exit rate by specific pages.
  • Audience metrics, including new vs. returning visitors, or visitor demographics such as age, gender or location. It might also show details of the specific device types used to access the website : desktop, mobile, or tablet.

  An overview dashboard might also include snapshots of some of the examples below.

  Acquisition dashboard

  This reveals how users arrive at a website. Although an overview dashboard can provide a snapshot of these metrics, a focused acquisition dashboard can break down website traffic even further. 

  They can reveal the percentages of traffic coming from organic search engines, social platforms, or users typing the URL directly. They can also show referrals from other websites and visitors clicking through from paid advertising sources. 

  An acquisition dashboard can also help measure campaign performance and reveal which marketing efforts are working and where to focus efforts for better results.

  Behavioural dashboard

  This dashboard shows how users interact with a website, including which pages get the most traffic and how long visitors stay before they leave. It also reveals which pages get the least traffic, highlighting where SEO optimisation or greater use of internal links may be needed.

  Behavioural dashboards can show a range of metrics, such as user engagement, navigation, page flow analysis, scroll depth, click patterns, form completion rates, event tracking, etc. 

  This behavioural data lets companies identify engaging vs. underperforming content, fix usability issues and optimise pages for better conversions. It may even show the data in heat maps, click maps or user path diagrams.

  Goals and ecommerce dashboard

  Dashboards of this type are mostly used by e-commerce websites. They’re useful because they track things like sales goal completions and revenue targets, as well as conversions, revenue, and user actions that deliver business results. 

  

  The typical metrics seen here are :

  • Goal tracking (aka conversions) in terms of completed user actions (form submissions, sign-ups, downloads, etc.) will provide funnel analysis and conversion rates. It’ll also give details about which traffic sources offer the most conversions.
  • Revenue tracking is provided via a combination of metrics. These include sales and revenue figures, average order value, top-selling items, revenue per product, and refund rates. It can also reveal how promotions, discounts and coupons affect total sales.
  • Shopping behaviour analysis tracks how users move from browsing to cart abandonment or purchase.

  These metrics help marketing teams measure campaign ROI. They also help identify high-value products and audiences and provide pointers for website refinement. For example, checkout flow optimisation might reduce abandonment.

  Technical performance dashboard

  This monitors a website’s technical health and performance metrics. It focuses on how a website’s infrastructure and backend health affect user experiences. It’ll track a lot of things, including :

  • Page load time
  • Server response time
  • DNS lookup time
  • Error rates
  • Mobile optimisation scores
  • Browser usage
  • Operating system distribution
  • Network performance
  • API response times
  • Core web vitals
  • Mobile usability issues

  This information helps organisations quickly fix issues that hurt SEO and conversions. It also helps to reduce errors that frustrate users, like checkout failures. Critically, it also helps to improve reliability and avoid downtime that can cost revenue.

  Geographic dashboard

  When an organisation wants to analyse user behaviour based on geographic location, this is the one to use. It reveals where website visitors are physically located and how their location influences their behaviour. Here’s what it tracks :

  • City, country/region 
  • Granular hotspots
  • Language preferences
  • Conversion rates by location
  • Bounce rates/engagement by location
  • Device type : Mobile vs. tablet vs desktop
  • Campaign performance by location
  • Paid ads effectiveness by location
  • Social media referrals by location
  • Load times by location

  Geographic dashboards allow companies to target marketing efforts at high-value regions. They also inform content localisation in terms of language, currency, or offers. And they help identify and address regional issues such as speed, payment methods, or cultural relevance.

  Custom segments dashboard

  This kind of dashboard allows specific subsets of an audience to be analysed based on specific criteria. For example, these subsets might include :

  • VIP customers
  • Mobile users
  • New vs. returning visitors
  • Logged-in users
  • Campaign responders
  • Product category enthusiasts. 

  What this dashboard reveals depends very much on what questions the user is trying to answer. It can provide actionable insight into why specific subsets of visitors or customers drop off at certain points. It allows specific metrics (bounce rate, conversions, etc.) to be compared across segments. 

  It can also track the performance of marketing campaigns across different audience segments, allowing marketing efforts to be tailored to serve high-potential segments. Its custom reports can also assist in problem-solving and testing hypotheses.

  

  Content performance dashboard

  This is useful for understanding how a website’s content engages users and drives business goals. Here’s what it tracks and why it matters :

  • Top-performing content
    • Most viewed pages
    • Highest time-on-page content
    • Most shared/linked content
  • Engagement metrics
    • Scroll depth (how far users read)
    • Video plays/podcast listens
    • PDF/downloads of gated content
  • Which content pieces lead to
    • Newsletter sign-ups
    • Demo requests
    • Product purchases
  • SEO health
    • Organic traffic per page
    • Keyword rankings for specific content
    • Pages with high exit rates
  • Content journey analysis
    • Entry pages that start user sessions
    • Common click paths through a site
    • Pages that often appear before conversions

  All this data helps improve website effectiveness. It lets organisations double down on what works, identify and replicate top-performing content and fix underperforming content. It can also identify content gaps, author performance and seasonal trends. The data then informs content strategy and optimisation efforts.

  The importance of data quality

  The fundamental reason we look at data is to make decisions that are informed by facts. So, it stands to reason that the quality of the underlying data is critical because it governs the quality of the information in the dashboard.

  And the data source for web analytics dashboards is often Google Analytics 4 (GA4), since it’s free and frequently installed by default on new websites. But this can be a problem because the free version of Google Analytics is limited and resorts to data sampling beyond a certain point. Let’s dig into that.

  Google Analytics 4 (GA4)

  It’s the default option for most organisations because it’s free, but GA4 has notable limitations that affect data accuracy and functionality. The big one is data sampling, which kicks in for large datasets (500,000+ events). This can skew reporting because the analysis is of subsets rather than complete data. 

  In addition, user privacy tools like ad blockers, tracking opt-outs, and disabled JavaScript can cause underreporting by 10-30%. GA4 also restricts data retention to 2-14 months and offers limited filtering and reduced control over data collection thresholds. Cross-domain tracking requires manual setup and lacks seamless integration. 

  One solution is to upgrade to Google Analytics 360 GA360, but it’s expensive. Pricing starts at $12,500/month (annual contract) plus $150,000 minimum yearly spend. The costs also scale with data volume, typically requiring $150,000−500,000 annually.

  

  Matomo’s built-in dashboards

  Matomo is a better solution for organisations needing unsampled data, longer data retention, and advanced attribution. It also provides functionality for enterprises to export their data and import it into Google BigQuery if that’s what they already use for analysis.

  Matomo Analytics takes a different approach to data quality. By focusing on privacy and data ownership, we ensure that businesses have full control over all of their data. Matomo also includes a range of built-in dashboards designed to meet the needs of different users. 

  The default options provide a starting point for tracking key metrics and gaining insight into their performance. They’re accessible by simply navigating to the reports section and selecting the relevant dashboard. These dashboards draw on raw data to provide more detailed and accurate analysis than is possible with GA4. And at a fraction of the price of GA360. 

  You can get Matomo completely free of charge as a self-hosted solution or via Matomo Cloud for a mere $29/month — vs. GA360’s $150k+/year. It also has other benefits :

  • 100% data ownership and no data sampling
  • Privacy compliance by design :
    • GDPR/CCPA-ready
    • No ad-blocker distortion
    • Cookieless tracking options
  • No data limits or retention caps
  • Advanced features without restriction :
    • Cross-domain tracking
    • Custom dimensions/metrics
    • Heatmaps/session recordings

  Customisation options

  Although Matomo’s default dashboards are powerful, the real value lies in the customisation options. These extensive and easy-to-use options empower users to tailor custom dashboards to their precise needs.

  Unlike GA4’s rigid layouts, Matomo offers drag-and-drop widgets to create, rearrange or resize reports effortlessly. You can :

  • Add 50+ pre-built widgets (e.g., traffic trends, conversion funnels, goal tracking) or create custom SQL/PHP widgets for unique metrics.
  • Segment data dynamically with filters (by country, device, campaign) and compare date ranges side-by-side.
  • Create white-label dashboards for client reporting, with custom logos, colours and CSS overrides.
  • Schedule automated PDF/email reports with personalised insights.
  • Build role-based dashboards (e.g., marketing vs. executive views) and restrict access to sensitive data.

  For developers, Matomo’s open API enables deep integrations (CRM, ERP, etc.) and custom visualisations via JavaScript. Self-hosted users can even modify the core user interface.

  Matomo : A fully adaptable analytics hub

  Web analytics dashboards can be powerful tools for visualising data, generating actionable insights and making better business decisions. But that’s only true as long as the underlying data is unrestricted and the analytics platform delivers high-quality data for analysis. 

  Matomo’s commitment to data quality and privacy sets it apart as a reliable source of accurate data to inform accurate and detailed insights. And the range of reporting options will meet just about any business need, often without any customisation.

  To see Matomo in action, watch this two-minute video. Then, when you’re ready to build your own, download Matomo On-Premise for free or start your 21-day free trial of Matomo Cloud — no credit card required.

• Organic Traffic : What It Is and How to Increase It

  19 septembre 2023, par Erin — Analytics Tips

  Organic traffic can be a website’s most valuable source of visitors. But it can also be the hardest form of traffic to acquire. While paid ads can generate traffic almost instantly, you need to invest time and energy into growing traffic from search engines.

  And it all starts with understanding exactly what organic traffic is. 

  If you want to understand what organic traffic is, how to measure it and how to generate more of it, then this article is for you.

  What is organic traffic ?

  Organic traffic is the visitors your website receives from the unpaid results on search engines like Google, Bing and DuckDuckGo. 

  The higher your website ranks in the search engine results pages and the more search terms your website ranks for, the more organic traffic your site will receive. 

  Organic traffic is highly valued by marketers, partly because it has a much higher clickthrough rate than PPC ads. Research shows the top organic result has a 39.8% CTR compared to just 2.1% for paid ads.

  

  So, while you can pay to appear at the top of search engines (using a platform like Google Ads, for instance), you probably won’t receive as much traffic as you would if you were to rank organically in the same search engine.

  What other types of traffic are there ? 

  Organic traffic isn’t the only type of traffic your website can get. You can also receive traffic from the following channels :

  Direct

  People familiar with your site may visit it directly, either by entering your URL into their browser or accessing it through a bookmarked link ; both scenarios are counted as direct traffic.

  Social

  Social traffic includes visits to your website from a social media platform. For example, if someone shares a link to your website on Facebook, any user who clicks on it will be counted as social traffic. 

  Websites

  Social media isn’t the only way for someone to share a link to your website. Any time a visitor finds your website by clicking on a link on another website, it will be counted as “websites”. This is also known as referral traffic on some analytics platforms. 

  Campaign

  Campaign traffic encompasses both paid and unpaid traffic sources. Paid sources include advertising on search engines and social media (also known as PPC or pay-per-click), as well as collaborations with influencers and sponsorships. Unpaid sources, such as your organisation’s email newsletters, cross-promotions with other businesses and other similar methods, are also part of this mix. 

  In simpler terms, it’s the traffic you deliberately direct to your site, and you utilise campaign tracking URLs to measure how these efforts impact your ROI.

  A word on multi-touch attribution

  If you are interested in learning more about types of traffic to track conversions, then it’s important to understand multi-touch attribution. The truth is most customers won’t just use a single traffic channel to find your website. In reality, the modern customer journey has multiple touchpoints, and customers may first find your site through an ad and then search for more about your brand on Google before going directly to your website. 

  

  You are at risk of under or overestimating the effectiveness of a marketing channel without using multi-touch attribution tracking. With this marketing analytics model, you can accurately weigh the impact of every channel and allocate budgets accordingly. 

  What are the benefits of organic traffic ?

  Getting more organic traffic is a common marketing goal for many companies. And it’s not surprising why. There’s a lot to love about organic traffic. 

  For starters, it’s arguably the most cost-effective traffic your site can receive. You will still need to pay to create and distribute organic content (whether it’s a blog post or product page). You don’t need to pay for it to show up in a search engine. You continue to get value from organic traffic long after you’ve created the page, too. A good piece of organic content can receive high volumes of monthly visitors for years. That’s a stark difference from paid ads, where traffic stops as soon as you turn off the ad. 

  It also puts your website in front of a massive audience, with Google alone processing over 3.5 billion searches every day. There’s a good chance that if your target audience is looking for a solution to their problems, they start with Google. 

  Organic traffic is fantastic at building brand awareness. Usually, users aren’t searching for a specific brand or company. They are searching for informational keywords (“how to brew the perfect cup of coffee”) or unbranded transactional keywords (“best home workout machine”). In both cases, customers can use search engines to become aware of your brand. 

  Finally, organic traffic brings in high-quality leads at every marketing funnel stage. Because users are searching for informational and transactional keywords, your site can receive visits from buyers at every stage of the marketing funnel, giving you multiple chances to convert them and helping to increase the number of touch points you have.

  How to check your website’s organic traffic

  You don’t need to complete complex calculations to determine your site’s organic traffic. A web analytics solution like Matomo will accurately measure your site’s organic traffic. 

  In Matomo, on the left-hand sidebar, you can access organic traffic data by clicking Acquisition and then selecting All Channels.

  

  You’ll find a detailed breakdown of all traffic sources, including organic traffic, within the specified timeframe. The report is set to the current day by default, but you can view organic traffic metrics over a day, week, month, year or a date range of your choice.

  If you want to take things further, you can get a detailed view of organic visitors by creating a custom report for “Visitors from Search Engines only.” By creating a custom report with the segment “Channel Type is search”, you’ll be able to combine other metrics like average actions per visit, bounce rate, goal conversions, etc., to create a comprehensive report on your organic traffic and the behavior of these visitors.

  Matomo also lets you integrate Google, Bing and Yahoo search consoles directly into your Matomo Analytics to monitor keyword performance.

  How to increase organic traffic

  Follow these six tips if you want to increase the web traffic you get organically from search engines. 

  Create more and better content

  Here’s the reality : Most websites don’t get much traffic from Google. Only 40% of sites rank on the first page, and just 23% sit in the top three results. 

  Let’s take quality first. The best content tends to rise to the top of search engines. That’s because it gets shared more, receives more backlinks and gets more user engagement. So, if you want to appear at the top of Google results, creating mediocre content probably won’t cut it. You need to go above and beyond what is already there. 

  But you can’t just create one fantastic piece of content and expect to receive thousands of visitors. You need multiple pages targeting as many search terms as possible. The more pages search engines index, the more opportunities you have to rank. Or, to put it another way, the more shots you take, the greater your chances of scoring. 

  Use keyword research tools

  While creating great content is essential, you want to ensure that content targets the right keywords. These keywords receive a suitable amount of traffic and are easy to rank for. 

  Keyword research tools like Ahrefs of Semrush are the easiest way to find high-traffic topics to write about. Specifically, you want to aim for long-tail keywords. These are search terms that contain three or more words. Think “Nike men’s basketball shoe” rather than “basketball shoe.”

  

  As you can see, long tail keywords have a lower monthly search volume (250 vs. 1,100 using the example above) than broad terms but are much easier to rank for (14 vs. 41 Keyword Difficulty).

  

  While the above tools can help you find new topics to write about, Matomo’s Search Engine Keywords Performance plugin can help highlight topics you have already covered that could be expanded.

  

  The plugin automatically connects to APIs from all significant search engines and imports all the keywords people search for when clicking on your websites into your Matomo report. 

  If you find a cluster of keywords on the same topic that generates a lot of visitors, it may be worth creating even more content on that topic. Similarly, if there’s a topic you think you have covered but isn’t generating much traffic, you can look at revising and refreshing your existing content to try to rank higher. 

  Build high-quality backlinks

  Backlinks are arguably the most important Google ranking factor and the primary way Google assesses the authoritativeness of your site and content. Backlinks strongly and positively correlate with traffic — at least according to 67.5% of respondents in a uSERP industry survey. 

  There are plenty of ways you can create high-quality backlinks that Google loves. Strategies include :

  • Creating and promoting the best content about a given topic
  • Guest posting on high-authority websites
  • Building relationships with other websites

  Ensure you avoid building low-quality spam links at all costs — such as private blog networks (PBNs), forum and comment spam links and directory links. These links won’t help your content to rank higher, and Google may even penalise your entire site if you build them. 

  Find and fix any technical Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) issues

  Search engines like Google need to be able to quickly and accurately crawl and index your website to rank your content. Unfortunately, many sites suffer from technical issues that impede search engine bots. 

  The good news is that certain tools make these issues easy to spot. Take the Matomo SEO Web Vitals feature, for instance. This lets you track a set of core web vital metrics, including :

  • Page Speed Score
  • First Contentful Paint (FCP)
  • Final Input Delay (FID)
  • Last Contentful Paint (LCP)
  • Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)

  Take things even further by identifying major bugs and issues with your site. Crashes and other issues that impact user experience can also hurt your SEO and organic traffic efforts — so it’s best to eliminate them as soon as they occur. 

  

  Use Matomo’s Crash Analytics feature to get precise bug location information as well as the user’s interactions that triggered, the device they were using, etc. Scheduled reporting and alerts allow you to automate this task and instantly detect bugs as soon as they occur.

  Improve your on-page SEO

  As well as fixing technical issues, you should spend time optimising specific elements of your website to improve how it ranks in search engines. 

  There are several on-page elements you should optimise :

  • Image alt tags
  • URLs
  • Headings
  • Title tags
  • Internal links

  Your goal should be to include a target keyword in each element above. For example, your URL should be something like yoursite.com/keyword.

  It’s best to err on the side of caution here. Avoid adding too many keywords to each of these elements. This is called keyword stuffing, and Google may slap your site with a penalty. 

  Track your content’s performance

  One final way to increase organic traffic is to use an analytics platform to understand what content needs improving and which pages can be removed.

  

  Use an analytics platform like Matomo to see which pages generate the most organic traffic and which lag behind. This can help you prioritise your SEO efforts while highlighting pages that add no value. These pages can be completely revamped, redirected to another page or removed if appropriate. 

  Conclusion

  Organic traffic is arguably the most valuable traffic source your site can acquire. It is essential to monitor organic traffic levels and take steps to increase your organic traffic. 

  A good analytics platform can help you do both. Matomo’s powerful, open-source web analytics solution protects your data and your users’ privacy, while providing the SEO tools you need to send your organic traffic levels soaring. 

  Start a free 21-day trial now, no credit card required.