The Overlooked Web Design Tool That Gives You Free Conversion Insights

What’s good y’all, John D. Saunders here. You know the vibes.

A lot of folks still treat web design like a guessing game. Colors, layouts, CTAs — they launch, hope for the best, and wait for feedback. But here's the thing: you already have the data. You just might not be using it.

Today, I want to break down how we use Google Analytics to make strategic, money-making design decisions. No guesswork. No fluff. Just insights that help us design sites that perform.

Let’s get into it.

Start with the Acquisition Overview

The first tab I always hit is Acquisition. This tells me exactly where traffic is coming from. For Black Illustrations, for example, we found that the bulk of our traffic comes directly from people typing in our URL that's brand awareness at work.

But what really caught my eye? The referrals. These are other websites and platforms linking back to us sites like Tools.design, our Gumroad page, and UX Library.

Here’s the play. When you see consistent traffic from another site, reach out. Start the convo. Offer a collab, maybe an exclusive pack or some value-driven content. You're already getting traffic from them, imagine what happens when you partner up.

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Check the Behavior Overview to See What’s Poppin'

Next stop is Behavior, then Overview. This is where things get real. You can see your top-performing pages, bounce rates, and which paths users are taking through your site.

For us, we saw that the homepage, our packs overview, and one particular pack were dominating traffic. So what did we do? We redesigned the homepage to highlight our best-sellers front and center. No guessing. Just using data to amplify what’s already working.

This is the kind of simple move that can instantly increase conversions.

Site Content: All Pages View

If you want to go deeper, head to Site Content, then All Pages. This gives you a granular view of your top 10, top 25, or even top 50 most-visited pages. You’ll see bounce rates, average time on page, and user flow. Use this info to prioritize updates. A high-traffic page with a high bounce rate?

That’s your design priority. A low-traffic page with a high conversion rate? Promote it harder. It’s like having a heat map for where to focus your energy.

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Audience Breakdown: Know Your Device Mix

Lastly, go to Audience, then Mobile Overview. This tab is clutch. It tells you where your traffic’s coming from desktop, mobile, or tablet. And in our case? Over 60 percent was desktop. So we double down on desktop-first design, making sure it’s clean and conversion-focused before we optimize for mobile.

That’s not to say mobile doesn’t matter. It does. But the device breakdown helps you prioritize what gets design time first.

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The Bottom Line

Google Analytics isn’t just for marketers. It’s a design tool. A strategy tool. A growth tool. If you’re still making site changes based on vibes instead of data, you're missing the mark. The insights are right there.

Use them to reorder your homepage, prioritize device-specific tweaks, create offers and partnerships with top referrers, and turn high-traffic pages into conversion hubs. And the best part? It’s all free.

Till next week fam, and keep building smart!