If you are managing a website as well as analysing your performance over time it is also extremely helpful to know how your site is performing compared to competitor sites. Google Analytics provides a useful way to review your performance via its benchmarking report.
To view benchmarking data you must have signed up to share data with Google - either when you set up Analytics on your site or subsequently via amending your profile.
To view benchmarking data, click onto "Visitors" in the left hand menu of your Google Analytics report and then click onto "benchmarking".
Based upon the amount of traffic you receive Google will categorise your site as either "small", "medium" or "large". By default when you click onto "benchmarking" you will be shown a series of reports comparing your site performance to the overall average of sites of a similar size. As patterns of traffic can vary considerably across sectors, for a better comparison it is recommended that you select sites within your industry sector for comparison. To do so click onto the "Open Category List" and drill down to select your industry - for example charities appear under "Lifestyles / Charitable and Non Profits".
