Data and analytics
Source: gov.uk (2025-05-02)

Find out how to use tools like Google Analytics and Content Data to get data on how users are interacting with GOV.UK content and improve search engine optimisation (SEO).

For some of these tools, you’ll need a GOV.UK Google Analytics account. If you do not have an account, your organisation’s analytics ‘single point of contact’ (SPOC) will need to raise a ticket. If you do not know who your SPOC is, raise an analytics ticket (https://support.publishing.service.gov.uk/analytics_request/new).

When you use Google Analytics, keep in mind that:
- the data is only from users who opt in by clicking ‘Accept additional cookies’ in the cookies banner
- the numbers found in different data tools like Content Data will differ slightly, so avoid comparing data from different sources
- you’ll usually not get accurate data from time periods before October 2023 – you can get accurate data from before then if you raise an analytics ticket (https://support.publishing.service.gov.uk/analytics_request/new)
- you’ll see a red warning symbol if the data has been sampled – you can click on the symbol and select ‘More detailed results’ to reduce sampling or you can request unsampled data
Find out what terms users are searching for

Looking at popular search terms can help you:
- identify user needs
- use popular terms in the titles, headings and first paragraphs of your content to make it easier to find – this is called search engine optimisation (SEO)
You’ll need to use different tools to find out search terms used on:
- external search sites, like Google
- the internal GOV.UK site search tool
Find search terms used on external search sites

Access a free trial of a ‘keyword planner’. You can select a term and see how it’s used in searches. For example, you can see what information users want to know about a ‘driving licence’.

Some examples include:
- Ahrefs free keyword planner (https://ahrefs.com/keyword-generator)
- Moz Keyword Explorer (https://moz.com/explorer)
- Google’s Keyword Planner (https://business.google.com/uk/ad-tools/keyword-planner/)
If you want to compare the relative popularity of search terms used over time, use Google Trends (https://trends.google.co.uk/trends/). This can help you decide which term to use in your content to make it easier to find, like ‘heavy goods vehicle’ or ‘lorry’.

Find search terms used on the GOV.UK search tool

To find the search terms used on the GOV.UK search tool:
- Go to the template internal search exploration (https://analytics.google.com/analytics/web/?pli=1#/analysis/p330577055/edit/UlmPO_S9R82qX2OI3AnOMA).
- Select ‘Make a copy’.
You’ll see the top 50 search terms used over the last 28 days.

If you want to change the time period, select ‘Last 28 days’ in the ‘Variables’ column. Looking at short date ranges will give you a greater chance of seeing full, unsampled data.

If you want to see how often a certain word or term is used:
- Select ‘+ Drop or select dimension or metric’ under ‘Filters’ in the ‘Settings’ column.
- Select ‘Search term’.
- Under the ‘Select match type’ dropdown, select either ‘exactly matches’ or ‘contains’, depending on if you’re looking for an exact match or just the presence of a word.
- In the ‘Enter expression’ text box, type in the term you want to look for. Use lowercase only – if you use capital letters you will not get the results you’re looking for. For example, use ‘evisa’ and not ‘eVisa’.
- Select ‘Apply’.
You can also use the GOV.UK trending searches dashboard (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wr5rhStohUzwK9Nd5mXrNddlIBsLwi0u8Vqy9z_XGE4/edit?gid=0#gid=0). This shows search terms that are currently ‘trending’ on the GOV.UK search tool (being searched for more than usual).

Find out how users get to your content

Check where users are coming from

This can help you figure out:
- how users are finding your content
- what users may have already read
- Go to the template page referrers exploration (https://analytics.google.com/analytics/web/?pli=1#/analysis/p330577055/edit/j6Xz86Y0TaKL-P2KtIgXWQ).
- Select ‘Make a copy’.
- Select ‘+ Drop or select dimension or metric’ under ‘Filters’ in the ‘Settings’ column.
- Select ‘Page path and screen class’.
- Under the ‘Select match type’ dropdown, select either ‘exactly matches’ or ‘begins with’. Using ‘begins with’ will also show results for HTML attachments and chapters in a guide.
- In the ‘Enter expression’ text box, copy in the URL slug. That’s everything after ‘gov.uk’ in the URL.
- Select ‘Apply’.
- If you want to change the time period, select ‘Last 28 days’ in the ‘Variables’ column and choose the new time period. Looking at short date ranges will give you a greater chance of seeing full, unsampled data
You will now see a table that shows:
- all referrers (the places people came from) to your page, including other pages of GOV.UK, other websites, Google or social media
- how many views of the page there were from each referrer
Unknown referrers (such as URLs typed into the browser, clicks on bookmarks and links in emails) will appear as a blank entry.

Check if users have used URLs with UTM parameters

If you’ve created URLs with UTM parameters (https://ga-dev-tools.google/campaign-url-builder/) as part of a communications campaign, you can find out how many times each of these have been used:
- Go to the Google Analytics traffic acquisition report (https://analytics.google.com/analytics/web/#/p330577055/reports/explorer?params=_u..nav%3Dmaui&ruid=lifecycle-traffic-acquisition-v2,life-cycle,acquisition&collectionId=xx-xxxx-xxxx&r=lifecycle-traffic-acquisition-v2).
- Set the time period you’re interested in using the dropdown in the top right hand corner. You can also turn on an option to compare date ranges.
- Select the ‘+’ under the search bar and search for ‘session’.
- Select ‘Session campaign’.
- You can then use the search bar to look for the ‘campaign name’ part of your UTM parameters. You’ll see how many sessions (periods of interaction on the site by a user) were started from those UTM parameters and details about how many users engaged with the content.
- You can also select ‘Session source’ or ‘Session medium’ if you want to search for the ‘campaign source’ and ‘campaign medium’ parts of your UTM parameters.
Check which search terms are used in the GOV.UK site search to find your content

This can help you find out:
- what terms in your content are being searched for
- what users are hoping to see when they find your content
- Go to the template internal search referrers exploration (https://analytics.google.com/analytics/web/?pli=1#/analysis/p330577055/edit/Nb6ZWL1KT72xQ8qndbZ6IA).
- Select ‘Make a copy’.
- Select ‘+ Drop or select dimension or metric’ under ‘Filters’ in the ‘Settings’ column.
- Select ‘Link URL’.
- Under the ‘Select match type’ dropdown, select either ‘exactly matches’ or ‘begins with’. Using ‘begins with’ will also show results for HTML attachments and chapters in a guide.
- In the ‘Enter expression’ text box, copy in the URL slug. That’s everything after ‘gov.uk’ in the URL.
- Select ‘Apply’.
- If you want to change the time period, select ‘Last 28 days’ in the ‘Variables’ column and choose the new time period. Looking at short date ranges will give you a greater chance of seeing full, unsampled data.
You will now see a table that shows:
- the search terms used to find your page
- how many views of the page there were from each search term
Find out how users interact with your content

Check how many users have viewed your content

This can help you find out:
- how many users could be reading your content
- how many times users come back to your content in one visit to GOV.UK
Use Content Data (https://content-data.publishing.service.gov.uk/content).

This shows you a page’s:
- ‘Unique page views’ - the number of visits in which the page was viewed at least once
- ‘Page views’ - a count of every time the page was viewed, including if someone goes back to view a page several times during a single visit
- ‘Page views per visit’ - an average of how many times a page was viewed during a user’s visit, with a high average (above 1.4) suggesting users have to come back to the same page several times during one visit
If you’re not expecting users to come back to the same page several times in one visit, this could suggest that they are having trouble finding information.

You can use the Google Analytics engagement report (https://analytics.google.com/analytics/web/#/p330577055/reports/explorer?params=_u..nav%3Dmaui&ruid=all-pages-and-screens,life-cycle,engagement&collectionId=xx-xxxx-xxxx&r=xx-xxxx-xxxx) if you want to:
- compare view counts between different time periods – looking at short date ranges will give you a greater chance of seeing full, unsampled data
- see a breakdown of views based on what device is being used (like mobile phones, desktop computers or tablets)
You need to:
- Enter the page slug you want to look at in the central search box, below the graph. That’s everything after ‘gov.uk’ in the URL.
- Set the time period you’re interested in using the dropdown in the top right hand corner. You can also turn on an option to compare date ranges.
- If you want to see the data broken down by what device is being used, click the ‘+’ under the search bar. Search and select ‘Device category’ in the pop-up.
This will show you a page’s:
- ‘Sessions’ – the number of sessions (periods of interaction on the site by a user) that include a visit to your page, not including any repeat views
- ‘Views’ – the number of times your page was viewed, including when the same user views a page more than once
See where viewers go next

This can help you figure out:
- what users want to do after reading your content
- which links users think are relevant to them
Find out what page on GOV.UK users go to next from your content:
- Go to the template next pages exploration (https://analytics.google.com/analytics/web/#/analysis/p330577055/edit/J0FcNfnPTsOUU0bkIjO0Pg).
- Select ‘Make a copy’.
- Select ‘+ Drop or select dimension or metric’ under ‘Filters’ in the ‘Settings’ column.
- Select ‘Page referrer’.
- Under the ‘Select match type’ dropdown, select ‘exactly matches’ or ‘begins with’. Using ‘begins with’ will also show results for HTML attachments and chapters in a guide.
- In the ‘Enter expression’ text box, copy in the full URL.
- Select ‘Apply’.
- If you want to change the time period, select ‘Last 28 days’ in the ‘Variables’ column and choose the new time period. Looking at short date ranges will give you a greater chance of seeing full, unsampled data.
You can also find out how many users are clicking on an external link in your content:
- Go to the template link clicks exploration (https://analytics.google.com/analytics/web/#/analysis/p330577055/edit/ECShE9hEQ_O_N27UXzJIlg).
- Select ‘Make a copy’.
- Select ‘+ Drop or select dimension or metric’ under ‘Filters’ in the ‘Settings’ column.
- Select ‘Page path and screen class’.
- Under the ‘Select match type’ dropdown, select ‘exactly matches’ or ‘begins with’. Using ‘begins with’ will also show results for HTML attachments and chapters in a guide.
- In the ‘Enter expression’ text box, copy in the URL slug. That’s everything after ‘gov.uk’ in the URL.
- Select ‘Apply’.
- If you want to change the time period, select ‘Last 28 days’ in the ‘Variables’ column and choose the new time period. Looking at short date ranges will give you a greater chance of seeing full, unsampled data.
You can also see how many users leave GOV.UK completely after finding your content:
- Go to the template exit rates exploration (https://analytics.google.com/analytics/web/#/analysis/p330577055/edit/zu9kVijpQiS8tt_kWE5jXQ).
- Select ‘Make a copy’.
- Select ‘+ Drop or select dimension or metric’ under ‘Filters’ in the ‘Settings’ column.
- Select ‘Page path and screen class’.
- Under the ‘Select match type’ dropdown, select ‘exactly matches’ or ‘begins with’. Using ‘begins with’ will also show results for HTML attachments and chapters in a guide.
- In the ‘Enter expression’ text box, copy in the URL slug. That’s everything after ‘gov.uk’ in the URL.
- Select ‘Apply’.
- If you want to change the time period, select ‘Last 28 days’ in the ‘Variables’ column and choose the new time period. Looking at short date ranges will give you a greater chance of seeing full, unsampled data.
This exploration shows you:
- ‘Views’ – the number of times your page was viewed
- ‘Exits’ – the number of sessions that ended on your page, meaning they left GOV.UK completely
- ‘Bounce rate’ – the percentage of sessions where only 1 page was viewed, the session lasted for fewer than 10 seconds and the user did not engage with the content (like by clicking links)
You can compare views to exits to see how many users decide they do not need to read any more information on GOV.UK. That might be because they’ve found content that meets their needs, or they might have given up on finding relevant content.

A high bounce rate on navigation pages reveals a problem, as it indicates users are not engaging with the page. Changes should be made and the page measured again.

However, a high bounce rate on content pages is not necessarily a bad thing as users could have found the information they came for and did not need to go any further.

See what files users are downloading

This can help you find out which attached files users think might be helpful for them.
- Go to the template file downloads exploration (https://analytics.google.com/analytics/web/?pli=1#/analysis/p330577055/edit/mS7e2j_oRQen1m0cAlF_Ww).
- Select ‘Make a copy’.
- Select ‘+ Drop or select dimension or metric’ under ‘Filters’ in the ‘Settings’ column.
- Select ‘Page path and screen class’.
- Under the ‘Select match type’ dropdown, select ‘exactly matches’ or ‘begins with’. Using ‘begins with’ will also show results for HTML attachments and chapters in a guide.
- In the ‘Enter expression’ text box, copy in the URL slug. That’s everything after ‘gov.uk’ in the URL.
- Select ‘Apply’.
- If you want to change the time period, select ‘Last 28 days’ in the ‘Variables’ column and choose the new time period. Looking at short date ranges will give you a greater chance of seeing full, unsampled data.
This exploration shows you:
- how many files were downloaded
- which files were downloaded – you can see the link URLs of each file
It will not count clicks on HTML attachments.

See what users are searching for after looking at the content

Users might do a search using the GOV.UK search tool after they’ve found your content. This could be because:
- there’s essential information missing
- the title’s misleading and people are expecting to find something else
- the page does not contain the words a user uses or recognises
Take a look at the search terms they’re using when they’re on your content.
- Go to the template internal search exploration (https://analytics.google.com/analytics/web/?pli=1#/analysis/p330577055/edit/UlmPO_S9R82qX2OI3AnOMA).
- Select ‘Make a copy’.
- Select ‘+ Drop or select dimension or metric’ under ‘Filters’ in the ‘Settings’ column.
- Select ‘Page path and screen class’.
- Under the ‘Select match type’ dropdown, select ‘exactly matches’ or ‘begins with’. Using ‘begins with’ will also show results for HTML attachments and chapters in a guide.
- In the ‘Enter expression’ text box, copy in the URL slug. That’s everything after ‘gov.uk’ in the URL.
- Select ‘Apply’.
- If you want to change the time period, select ‘Last 28 days’ in the ‘Variables’ column and choose the new time period. Looking at short date ranges will give you a greater chance of seeing full, unsampled data.
You can also use Content Data (https://content-data.publishing.service.gov.uk/content) if you just want to see how many users are searching when on your content.

Look at feedback comments

Feedback comments can show if users:
- are having technical difficulties (like broken links)
- cannot find the information they need
- are struggling to navigate content
- do not understand something
Use Feedback Explorer (https://support.publishing.service.gov.uk/anonymous_feedback/explore) (also known as ‘Feedex’) to find out what users are saying about your content.

Users submit this feedback:
- via the ‘Is there anything wrong with this page?’ form at the bottom of GOV.UK pages
- by filling out the satisfaction survey at the end of a transaction that started on GOV.UK
You can also use Content Data (https://content-data.publishing.service.gov.uk/content) to see how many users answered ‘Yes’ to the ‘Is this page useful?’ survey linked to from the footer of every GOV.UK page.

The more users who responded, the more reliable the score is. For a more reliable score on a page that does not have many responses, choose a longer time period.

If a lot of users say they did not find the page useful, it could indicate a problem with the content. However, keep in mind that users may say they did not find the page useful if they:
- did not like the answer it gave them
- are reacting to an unpopular government policy
If you want to see comments left by users who selected ‘No’ to the ‘Is this page useful?’ survey, raise an analytics ticket (https://support.publishing.service.gov.uk/analytics_request/new) to get access.

Conduct user research

This can help you get a more in-depth understanding of how users are engaging with your content and whether it meets their needs.

Read the resources for user researchers (https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/user-researchers) for guidance on how to conduct user research.

The guidance is mostly aimed at creating new services, but a lot of it can be used when designing other types of content.