{
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    "type" : "single",
    "title" : "From pageviews to progress |Digital.gov",
    "description": "From pageviews to progress",
    "home_page_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/","feed_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2023/09/12/from-pageviews-to-progress/index.json","item" : [
    {"title" :"From pageviews to progress","deck" : "A 10-year journey through the lens of the Digital Analytics Program","summary" : "A 10-year recap of GSA’s Digital Analytics Program (DAP) highlights its impact on federal government agencies and the public, high-level observations using government-wide website analytics and trends, and new goals set for the next decade to help generate useful answers to meaningful questions to make government websites better.","date" : "2023-09-12T15:05:00-05:00","date_modified" : "2025-01-27T19:42:55-05:00","authors" : {"jack-avery" : "Jack Avery","marina-fox" : "Marina Fox","tlowden" : "Tim Lowden"},"topics" : {
        
            "analytics" : "Analytics",
            "content-strategy" : "Content strategy",
            "digital-service-delivery" : "Digital service delivery"
            },"primary_image" : { "uid" : "dap-10-years-total-daily-visitors-featured", "alt" :
  "Chart: Total Daily Visitors on Government Websites from 2013 to 2023.", "width" :
  "1200", "height" :
  "628", "credit" :
  "", "caption" :
  "", "format" :
  "png" },"branch" : "bc-archive-content-3",
      "filename" :"2023-09-12-from-pageviews-to-progress.md",
      
      "filepath" :"news/2023/09/2023-09-12-from-pageviews-to-progress.md",
      "filepathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/blob/bc-archive-content-3/content/news/2023/09/2023-09-12-from-pageviews-to-progress.md",
      "editpathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/edit/bc-archive-content-3/content/news/2023/09/2023-09-12-from-pageviews-to-progress.md","slug" : "from-pageviews-to-progress","url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2023/09/12/from-pageviews-to-progress/","weight" : "1","content" :"\u003cp\u003eThe \u003ca href=\"https://digital.gov/guides/dap/\"\u003eDigital Analytics Program (DAP)\u003c/a\u003e, a cornerstone of the \u003ca href=\"https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/digitalgov/about\"\u003e2012 Digital Government Strategy\u003c/a\u003e, launched in 2013 to achieve the following two goals: \u003c/p\u003e\n\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eStreamline collection and analysis of web analytics data on a federal-wide scale using consistent methodology across thousands of U.S. federal executive branch public-facing websites, and \u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMake data available to both agencies and the public.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ol\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTen years later, DAP is fulfilling its mission to help agencies improve the public’s experience with online services. DAP is a web analytics staple of the federal executive branch and a key \u003ca href=\"https://digital.gov/resources/delivering-digital-first-public-experience/\"\u003erequirement for delivering a digital-first public experience\u003c/a\u003e in the policy framework provided by the 21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act and OMB Memo M-23-22.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDAP is used by more than 4,000 federal agency staff and enables the public to understand \u003ca href=\"https://analytics.usa.gov/\"\u003etraffic across the federal web\u003c/a\u003e. DAP collects web analytics data from 6,000+ participating public-facing websites with \u003cstrong\u003emore than 40 million average daily visitors\u003c/strong\u003e and \u003cstrong\u003emore than 8 billion\u003c/strong\u003e visitors annually.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"image\"\u003e\n  \u003cimg\n        src=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/dap-10-years-total-daily-visitors.png\"alt=\"Analytics chart shows Total Daily Visitors on Government Websites from 2013 to 2023.\"/\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\n\u003ch2 id=\"oceans-of-data\"\u003eOceans of data\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOver the course of the last decade, DAP has consistently delivered website metrics and reports—from the usage of web browsers to operating systems and mobile devices, to \u003ca href=\"https://digital.gov/2015/04/16/using-a-hypothesis-driven-approach-in-analyzing-and-making-sense-of-your-website-traffic-data/\"\u003eseasonal trends\u003c/a\u003e and \u003ca href=\"http://analytics.usa.gov\"\u003ereal-time analytics\u003c/a\u003e. Whether traveling through \u003ca href=\"https://digital.gov/2013/11/06/nps-gov-use-of-digital-analytics-program-beyond-the-numbers/\"\u003enational parks\u003c/a\u003e and \u003ca href=\"https://digital.gov/2015/09/28/nasa-lunar-eclipse-a-supermoon-match-made-in-metrics-heaven/\"\u003eviewing the heavens\u003c/a\u003e, or flying to \u003ca href=\"https://digital.gov/2013/09/17/digital-analytics-program-goes-to-the-moon/\"\u003ethe Moon\u003c/a\u003e and \u003ca href=\"https://digital.gov/2015/07/16/dwarf-planet-giant-numbers-nasas-mission-to-pluto-goes-global/\"\u003ePluto\u003c/a\u003e, DAP has collected \u003ca href=\"https://digital.gov/2014/04/01/digital-analytics-program-dap-oceans-of-data/\"\u003eoceans of data\u003c/a\u003e helping the U.S. government gauge the public’s immediate response to digital content during national and global events. In fact, the largest traffic surge in DAP’s history was recorded on January 18, 2022, when \u003ccode\u003eCovidTests.gov\u003c/code\u003e launched, offering free at-home COVID-19 tests to the public. DAP was able to share CovidTests.gov real-time traffic data with agencies and the public on analytics.usa.gov. \u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrom January 1, 2013 to August 4, 2023, visitors cumulatively spent \u003cstrong\u003eapproximately 7.7 billion days\u003c/strong\u003e (\u003cstrong\u003eor 21 million years\u003c/strong\u003e) on government websites tracked by DAP. In no specific order, some of the most popular and frequently viewed content included: \u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://tools.usps.com\"\u003eMail and package delivery (USPS)\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://forecast.weather.gov\"\u003eNational Weather Service forecasts (NOAA) \u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://www.usajobs.gov\"\u003eApplying for U.S. government jobs (OPM)\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://www.nlm.nih.gov/\"\u003eResearching medical information on MedlinePlus and PubMed (NIH)\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://ceac.state.gov\"\u003eApplying for U.S. visas (Department of State)\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://www.uscis.gov/\"\u003eApplying for permanent residency and U.S. citizenship (USCIS)\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/\"\u003eLooking for all things “outer space” (NASA)\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"http://ssa.gov\"\u003eApplying for social security benefits (SSA) \u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://www.irs.gov/\"\u003eResearching tax information and filing taxes (IRS)\u003c/a\u003e \u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDAP reported that there were close to 4 billion pdf downloads\u003c/strong\u003e across government websites in the last ten years, with the most downloaded documents being the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Form 1040 and the Form 1040 Instructions. Other top downloaded pdf documents included the IRS Form W-9 (Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification), Department of State Form DS-11 (Application for U.S. Passport), U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Form I-9 (Employment Eligibility Verification), and Social Security Administration (SSA) Form SS-5 (Application for a Social Security Card).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMobile traffic had a strong and steady growth\u003c/strong\u003e from just 13% of all visitors on government websites in 2013 to nearly six out of ten (58%) visitors in 2023. The majority of mobile visitors (56%) used Apple iPhones when on government websites.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn contrast, desktop visitors declined from 80% in 2013 to 40% in 2023. For desktop browsers, 43% of visitors used Chrome, 35% were on Safari, and 7% used Internet Explorer.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"image\"\u003e\n  \u003cimg\n        src=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/dap-10-years-visitors-by-technology-chart.png\"alt=\"Chart: percent of users on desktops, mobile, and tablet on government websites from 2013 to 2023.\"/\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNearly half\u003c/strong\u003e (\u003cstrong\u003e47%\u003c/strong\u003e) of visitors came to government websites using \u003cstrong\u003eorganic search\u003c/strong\u003e, which has remained the largest acquisition channel of online visitors since 2013. \u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSome of the most popular search terms were similar to the most popular web content; eight of them are: \u003ccode\u003eusps tracking\u003c/code\u003e, \u003ccode\u003eirs.gov\u003c/code\u003e, \u003ccode\u003enational weather service\u003c/code\u003e, \u003ccode\u003esocial security\u003c/code\u003e, \u003ccode\u003eusa jobs\u003c/code\u003e, \u003ccode\u003etaxes\u003c/code\u003e, \u003ccode\u003eirs\u003c/code\u003e, and \u003ccode\u003enasa\u003c/code\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"image\"\u003e\n  \u003cimg\n        src=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/dap-10-years-visitors-by-acqusition-channel-chart.png\"alt=\"Chart: percent of government website users by acquisition channel (organic search, direct, social media, referral) from 2013 to 2023.\"/\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\n\u003ch2 id=\"future-outlook-generating-useful-answers-to-meaningful-questions\"\u003eFuture outlook: Generating useful answers to meaningful questions \u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePowered by this “oceans of data,” DAP is marching into the next decade with a new set of goals: \u003c/p\u003e\n\u003col\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAdvance DAP data analysis\u003c/strong\u003e, and\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eExpand DAP services\u003c/strong\u003e beyond web analytics.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ol\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAdvancing DAP data analysis\u003c/strong\u003e is a shift from describing and explaining data to predicting and deriving new insights. Advanced analytics is about progressing from basic questions, such as “\u003cem\u003eHow much traffic did my website get?\u003c/em\u003e” to more complex questions, like “\u003cem\u003eWhat’s behind this? Can we predict or anticipate what happens in the future? How can we reduce the guesswork?\u003c/em\u003e”  \u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDAP will work with agency experts to help formulate meaningful questions and create customer goals as part of an integrated digital journey. Specific goals will vary between agencies, but services provided by digital government, as a whole, are accessible digital content and content-based transactions (e.g. form submissions, document downloads, video plays, email campaigns, etc.). Knowing specific goals will allow DAP to collect new data, train it, and use applied statistics to identify relationships between variables, tie data to reasons, and automate generation of insights.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eExpanding DAP services\u003c/strong\u003e. As part of the vision to collect more integrated digital journey analytics and answer meaningful questions, DAP is ready to go beyond website analytics and add new services and products. One of those services is customer feedback analytics through \u003ca href=\"https://touchpoints.digital.gov/\"\u003eTouchpoints\u003c/a\u003e. \u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDAP integration with Touchpoints will enable collecting feedback using online forms and provide qualitative customer insights alongside quantitative DAP data to paint a more complete picture of experiences with government websites.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003carticle\n  class=\"dg-note \"\n\u003e\n  \u003ch4 class=\"dg-note__heading\"\u003e\n    \u003csvg\n      class=\"dg-note__icon usa-icon dg-icon dg-icon--large\"\n      aria-hidden=\"true\"\n      focusable=\"false\"\n    \u003e\n      \u003cuse xlink:href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/uswds/img/sprite.svg#notifications\"\u003e\u003c/use\u003e\n    \u003c/svg\u003e\n    \n      Note\n    \n  \u003c/h4\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAuthors’ note\u003c/strong\u003e: We used January 1, 2013 – August 4, 2023, as the date range for all DAP data cited in decade-based analysis.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe data is across all DAP-participating, public-facing government websites. The number of websites participating in DAP increased yearly, so the yearly analysis represents a different sample size of websites.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis directional information should only be used for general insights into online visitor behavior trends.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003c/article\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eContact the DAP team at \u003ca href=\"mailto:dap@gsa.gov\"\u003edap@gsa.gov\u003c/a\u003e with any questions about the Digital Analytics Program.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWant to learn more? Join the \u003ca href=\"https://digital.gov/communities/web-analytics-and-optimization/\"\u003eWeb Analytics community of practice\u003c/a\u003e to connect with other federal analytics professionals who are using data to transform how the government interacts with the public.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDisclaimer\u003c/strong\u003e: All references to specific brands, products, and companies are used only for illustrative purposes and do not imply endorsement by the U.S. federal government or any federal government agency.\u003c/p\u003e\n"}
  ]
}