This summer the OSU Extension website turned one! With one year of analytic data on how people are using the site, we have more insight into how the site is performing and how things have changed since launch.

Basic site stats

June 1, 2018 – June 1, 2019

• Pageviews: 2,826,166 (up 107% from previous year)
• Document downloads: 314,605
• Average time on site: 1 min. 34 sec. (up 71% from the previous year)
• Bounce rate: 66.77%

Content type stats

Top 10 visited pages

1. Small Farms landing page (75,663)
2. Home page (75,159)
3. Are there male and female peppers? (61,318)
4. Don’t be timid when pruning grapes (33,179)
5. Programs list (28,647)
6. What are short day and long day plants? (25,163)
7. Monthly garden calendars (23,910)
8. Locations list (23,665)
9. State Master Gardener landing page (23,315)
10. Gardening topic landing page (22,952)

How visitors get to the site

• Search (e.g. Google): 839,379
• Social media: 68,809
• Links from other sites: 56,815
• Other (email links, bookmarks, typing URL from printed material, etc.): 173,528

Top search terms

What people search for once on the Extension site:

1. 4-H or 4H: 832
2. Soil testing or soil test: 719
3. Compost tea or compost tea brewer: 673
4. Horse: 384
5. Jobs: 345
6. Master Gardener: 330
7. Canning: 297
8. Forms: 275
9. Calendar: 262
10. Blueberries: 230

What people put into search engines (e.g. Google) to arrive on the Extension site:

1. OSU extension service (or similar): 1,195
2. [county or city] extension: 944
3. Feeding bees dried sugar: 212
4. Maggots in compost: 131
5. What do quail eat: 107
6. Pruning apple trees in summer: 76
7. Food preservation 68
8. What do robins eat: 67
9. Glycemic load chart: 53
10. Fungus gnats: 51

Changes since launch

As more content has been added to the site, the number of people visiting the site has increased. In June 2018, 81,755 users visited the site, while 109,065 visited in June 2019 (70% increase).

People appear  to have an easier time finding what they need. Usage of search was slightly lower June 2019 than June 2018, meaning people are having more success finding what they need through browsing. Additionally, the number of pages people visit in a session has gone down, while the average time spent on a page is up. This suggests that people don’t need to view as many pages to find what they are looking for.

Going forward

Over the next year, EESC will continue to collect data from web analytics. We will also begin to collect qualitative information through usability testing, site surveys, feedback forms, interviews, and more.

Thank you

A sincere thank you to everyone who has helped make the website a success by: entering content, reviewing documentation and help materials, asking questions at webinars and trainings, meeting with us to discuss content strategy, or any of the other ways Extension faculty and staff have contributed to our web presence. We hope  this time next year we will have even better results to share with you.