Why do all traffic curves show a "saw tooth" pattern in Google Analytics
-
Greetings Mozzers
This sounds like a dumb question, but it's bothering me just the same and I would like to think what the fine community of SEO experts at MOZ thinks
I have taken a look at the traffic curve for about 20 different sites in very different industries (home improvement, wedding party supplies, pet feeding systems) and it seems to me that they all show a saw tooth pattern, more or less like the one below.
-
Also, the weekend patterns get further amplified if you turn ppc off for the weekend.
-
I see something similar; in my case it's because we get less traffic on weekends, so there is a weekly sawtooth. Do your dips correspond to weekends?
-
Hi Tom
Thanks for your answer. And yes, this jagged edge (saw tooth) pattern changes with the timescale. Sorry about the attachment, here it is again http://imgur.com/c9w4IkF
What i would really like to know is: does someone does NOT see this pattern in their daily traffic?. I would find it remarkable if everyone showed the saw tooth pattern, independent of industry.
Cheers
-
Hey there
Looks like you've left off the attachment there, but I can imagine what you mean.
Quick question - what time-scale are you using to view things in Google Analytics?
Have you tried changing the view to weekly or monthly? You can do this by clicking the buttons on the right-hand side of the dashboard, here's a screenshot: http://i.imgur.com/SEm37Kt.png
I've found that this often gets rid of that jagged effect you're talking about and allows for smoother data lines, which can help you identify trend lines a bit more easily.
Hope this helps.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Target="_blank" and referral acquisition data
Hi, Any assistance would be greatly appreciated! I have been reading up on this topic but there is some contradictory articles out there and I was hoping someone could clarify the latest practise for me. Website A links out to four of its partner websites.
Search Behavior | | AMA-DataSet
These links are using a target="_blank". When i look at the acquisition data for any of the partner websites there is zero referral data from site A.
I tested this wasn't an analytics bug by using the real time feature while clicking the partner links to see what had happened, and to also find the source, but I found that they are all being returned as a source direct. Ideally id like it to show the referrals once more for reporting purposes. Do I need to add extra google analytics parameters/functions to track the outbound links? or should this referral data be appearing correctly and it is something unrelated to the links themselves? or should I throw in the towel and drop the target blanks? Thank you in advance for your time.
Best Regards.0 -
Image ranking in Google but not in Bing and Yahoo search results
Hello, I have one image from my blog post which is ranking well (ranking in first page for all related keywords) in Google web search as well as image search. Getting pretty good visits from the image result itself for past few days. But this image doesn't appear/rank anywhere in Bing and Yahoo search results. Can anyone tell any specific reason for the same? Any methods to follow? Any solution? Please guide me.
Search Behavior | | zco_seo0 -
Free Tool that allows you to compare traffic for multiple websites
I'm banging my head on this one. In the past I was able to use Compete.com, Quancast, Google Trends, and Alexa, but now all these sites either required you to have Pro membership (pay) or they discontinue it like Google Trends for website. I need to do this comparison for one of my client... their traffic versus 4 of their competitors. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Have a blessed Day, Benny
Search Behavior | | ACann1 -
Anyone facing issues with Google Analytics today?
For some reason all pages on our site seem to be taking ages to load as they seem to be getting stuck at the "waiting for google-analytics.com"! Anyone else facing similar issues today?
Search Behavior | | prsntsnh0 -
Recommendations for a Form Analytics software
Hello Mozzers! Currently using Adobe Analytics and Google Analytics, but looking for something dedicated to analyzing how effective our sign up pages are. What do you guys recommend? Here are some that I have found: http://revrise.com/ http://www.formisimo.com/ Perhaps there are add-ons available in GA that would offer similar data? Any help is appreciated! Thanks! Will
Search Behavior | | Newegg-NA0 -
When Googling site:mydomain.com what does listing order tell us?
To find all the pages on my site that are indexed by Google I can search using site:mydomain.com and it gives pages of results. But what does the order of results relate to? Is it page rank or strength? My list of pages doesn't appear to be in order of strength. And it's definitely not by age or alphabetical...
Search Behavior | | GregB1230 -
Does Google recognise locality
We have been undertaking some website work recently and have identified that within our own geographical location of Hull, the www.styletech.co.uk website is first on page one. However, when moving approximately 30 miles away we are on Googles fourth page. We are in an independent network area e.g. Kingston Communications rather than BT, would this have an impact on how Google responds?
Search Behavior | | StyleTech0 -
Dating Blog Posts & How Fast Google Picks up on New Pages
I had until a few months ago included the original post date of a new blog post on the site. I then removed it and none of my results in Google now include the blog post date, although for some (for articles written about events) Google includes the date of the event where you would usually see the post date. Since I did this, it seems like new blog posts are taking longer to rank on Google, some results are ranking well, and others declined relative to what I would have previously expected. What's the best thing to be doing? To include a date (considering a lot of my content is not time-relevant) or to keep it as it is now? The second thing, is I often go through and update my articles with new information and re-post it in my rss feed etc - ie the date becomes new again. How does Google treat this? Any ideas or comments would be great! Thanks
Search Behavior | | ben10001