The Language report shows visitor data based on the language configured in the visitors’ operating system. That is important to keep in mind when using this report. Just because I have my operating system configured in American English does not necessarily mean I am visiting your site from the United States or that my native language is English. This is not a geographical report. Where it can be useful however, is in developing your site to meet your users’ needs and deciding where to put your marketing dollars. Do I have a large percentage of Spanish speaking visitors? Maybe French speakers come to my site in high numbers but bounce after viewing my landing page. Should I have a French version of my site?
Navigate to the language report from the menu on the left under the visitors heading. Your default view is going to be visits. But use the drop down box (1) to select a view that works for you and to compare metrics.
If you have goals set up be sure to gather insights from the goal conversion (2) tab. Do Japanese speakers (or those with their operating systems configured for Japanese) sign up for more newsletters or place items in their shopping cart more than English speakers? Maybe a newsletter geared towards that user’s language or products tailored for a Japanese market makes sense. Find the insights and use them to improve your users’ experiences on your site.
To help you use and understand this report better, here are few of the more common language codes:
de-at – German Austria
de – German Standard
el – Greek
en – English
en-ca – English Canada
en-gb – English United Kingdom
es – Spanish
fr-ca – French Canada
fr – French Standard
he – Hebrew
it – Italian Standard
ja – Japanese
ko – Korean
nl – Dutch Standard
pl – Polish
pt-br – Portuguese Brazil
pt – Portuguese Portugal
ru – Russian
zh-cn – Chinese PRC
zh-tw – Chinese Taiwan
Up Next: Visitor Reports – Visitor Trending – Visits
Mike Small
Mike Small leads the SEM and paid search efforts at WebShare. You can find out more about Mike here.
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