This document provides an overview and agenda for a Google Analytics training session. It covers key topics like SEO and analytics, new features in Universal Analytics like custom dimensions and user ID tracking, and analysis techniques. Definitions of important analytics terms are also included. The training will explain how Google Analytics works and the different types of reports available to analyze audience, acquisition, behavior, and other metrics.
2024 WTF - what's working in mobile user acquisition
Google Analytics Get Up to Speed
1. Google Analytics
Get Up to Speed
Jay Murphy
October 15, 2014
Trionia.com
jmurphy@trionia.com
@trionia
www.linkedin.com/in/jaymurphy/
2. Agenda
SEO and Analytics
– Site Search
– Landing Pages
– Matched Keyword
– (not provided) Insights
What’s new with Google
Analytics?
– Universal Analytics
– New Features
Timeout Settings
Referral Exclusions
Demographic Reports
Remarketing
Custom Dimensions
User ID (Session )
Enhanced eCommerce
– Analysis Tactics
3. Why Measure?
With information about your visitors you
can better decide:
– How to improve your website,
– How to spend time and money on specific
topics and marketing,
– How to reach your audience – how to reach
new audiences…
6. How Google Analytics
Works
(continued)
Google processes the information and
stores it as Dimensions and Metrics
Dimensions
Metrics
7. How Google Analytics Works
(continued)
Reports then present using Dimensions
and Metrics
– Dimensions are ‘things’ we want to measure
Page name, referrer, campaign, country, …
– Metrics are the ‘things’ we can count
Pageviews, visit (session), time on site,…
Some are calculated
– Universal Analytics can create our own
custom dimensions and metrics!
10. SITE SEARCH
SETUP
In the Google
Analytics Admin go
to View Settings
Turn on Site Search
Add the Query String
Parameter
Option – Add
Categories
19. Google Analytics Code
Upgrade Step 2
Change Asynchronous (or older code):
<script type="text/javascript">
var _gaq = _gaq || [];
_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-XXXXXXX-Y’]);
_gaq.push(['_setDomainName', ‘coolsite.com']);
_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);
(function() {
var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true;
ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js';
var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s);})();
</script>
To this – Google Universal Analytics:
<script>
(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){
(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),
m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)
})(window,document,'script','//www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js','ga');
ga('create', 'UA-XXXXXXX-Y', ‘coolsite.com');
ga('send', 'pageview');
</script>
19
20. Universal Analytics
Upgrade Installation Check
– Check on your Google Analytics
Admin > Property Settings > Tracking Info –>
Tracking Code
UA-XXXXXXX-Y
20
www.coolsite.com
Cool Site
21. Universal Analytics
Tag Assistant Check
Download Tag Assistant from the Chrome
Store (this only works in Google Chrome)
22. Universal Analytics
Tag Assistant Check
A Green ‘Tag’ Icon shows
that tagging is working
Click on the Tag to see
more information about the
page tagging
Will also tell you about
other tagging including
remarketing, conversion,
and other marketing tags
23. Timeout Settings
Timeouts have always been configurable – but it
had to be done in code. Can be configured in
the Admin.
Why do this?
– What if people watch videos on your website for more
than 30 minutes? Set the session timeout to the max
video length.
– Some purchases have a very long lead time – for
example in construction the sales cycle can be nine
months to a year.
25. Referral Exclusions
How to remove those pesky referrals from your
own websites?
– Like timeout setting this used to be done with code on
each of the websites – but now this can be done right
from the Admin Panel.
27. Demographic Reports
A new features is demographic reports
that include:
– Age
– Gender
– Affinity Groups
For example: movie lovers, travel buffs, …
– In Market Segments
People investigating specific products
33. Remarketing Lists
Once “Display Features” are active on an
accounts “Remarketing Lists” are available
These are groups of users that can be
targeted in current or future campaigns
Market home loans directly to people looking at
real estate
Travel information to people who visit travel sites
34. Display Features
Remarketing List
Now that Display Features is
turned on you can also create
remarketing lists…
www.coolsite.com
www.coolsite.com
Cool Sites Inc. www.coolsite.com Main Coolsite.com View
35. Custom Dimensions
A very powerful feature for helping to
better understand users and groups of
users.
– You define the Dimension name
– Scope defines data association
‘Hit’s good for tracking a onetime activity
– A video play or form submission
A ‘Session’ to track a visitor login
‘User’ scope is useful to track across sessions
38. User ID
AKA Session Unification
VERY EXCITING!
– The User ID feature will allow tracking across
multiple devices
It only works for users who authenticate to
your website or application
– Examples:
Game Users, Club Members, Students,
Employees, Blog Authors…
50. To Learn More
Cardinal Path is offering three days of
Analytics Courses in New York
– Google Analytics – 101, 201 and 301
When: December 10th, 11th and 12th.
REGISTER ONLINE
51. Analytics Resources
Blogs
– Occam’s Razor by Avinash Kaushik
Books
– Web Analytics Demystified – Eric T. Peterson
– Web Analytics an Hour a Day – Avinash Kaushik
Education
– Google’s Analytics Academy – with Justin Cutroni
52. Definitions
Session (Visits)
A visit is defined as a series of page requests from the same uniquely identified
client with a time of no more than 30 minutes between each page request. So
for a user who visits at 11:00 AM and then again at 11:20 this user counts as a
single unique visit; if the user clicks on a new page at 11:35 it now counts as
two visits.
Unique Visitors
A unique user (computer) that accesses a Website, while people cannot be
identified by analytics, we substitute computers. So a single computer that
accesses a website is deemed to be a Unique Visitor. (Most analytics tools use
cookies, small files saved by a browser, to determine if a machine has been to
a website before. Since many users remove cookies on a monthly basis,
unique visitors can be overstated.)
52
53. Definitions
(continued)
New Visitors
A visitor that has not made any previous visits. Again, since New Visitors are
also determined by the use of cookies saved on a visitors computer; visitors
that delete cookies show as new visitors.
Bounce Rate
The percentage of visits where the visitor enters and exits at the same page
without visiting any other pages on the site in between. (In general a higher
bounce rate is not a good sign – but some websites are designed for a single
page view before leaving, for example blogs. Use bounce rate to analyze your
site based on your site’s users goals.)
53
54. Definitions
(continued)
Average Pages per Session
The average number of page views a visitor views before ending their session.
It is calculated by dividing total number of page views by total number of
sessions.
Average Time on Site
Average amount of time that visitors spend on the site each time they visit.
(This metric can be complicated by the fact that analytics programs cannot
measure the length of the last page view, since the time is measured by start
time of second page minus the start time of the first page.)
Pageviews
A request for a file whose type is defined as a page – typical a single webpage.
An occurrence of the script being run in page tagging.
54
55. Definitions
(continued)
Page A Page B Page C Exit
Page A Page B Exit
A Day
Later
Sessions (Visits)?
Pageviews?
Unique Visitor?
Entrances Page A?
Exits Page B?
Bounce Rate Page B?
2
6
1
2
2
33%
Page B Exit
Another
Day Later
56. Definitions - Time
Page A Page B Page C
Exit
1:20 PM 1:25 PM 1:30 PM
5 Minutes 5 Minutes ?
Time on site is 10 minutes
The exact time is unknown. Several methods to track this include ‘events’ on a
page such as a video view, a timer or external link to capture this time. However
none is exact.
57. Universal Analytics
Custom Dimensions (& Metrics)
Measure Users across Devices
– User ID
New Reports / Data
– Demographics Reports
– Enhanced eCommerce
*If you want to learn how to track Caffeine Consumption with
Universal Analytics check out this video: http://goo.gl/xfOi3U
62. Acquisition -> All Traffic
Report
The All Traffic report shows traffic by
Source/Medium:
63. Reporting Interface
The reports in Google Analytics use the
same basic interface*.
The following slides will show:
– Setting date ranges, comparison, exporting,
secondary dimensions…
* There are some differences such as the navigation reports, flow reports… But in
general most reports use the same interface.
75. Audience Reports
Answers these questions (and more)?
– Where are my visitors coming from?
– Are they new visitors?
How many are new?
How many are regular visitors?
– When do my visitors come to my site?
– What browsers, version of flash, java… do
they use?
75
80. Acquisition Reports
– Where did people find out about my site?
– What proportion of visitors come to the site:
Directly, through search engines and through
referral websites?
– For search engine traffic – what keywords?
– Which referrals provide the ‘best’ traffic?
– What campaigns are most effective?
84. Behavior Reports
– What are the most popular pages?
– How do visitors navigate through the site?
– What are the top entrance pages?
How do people reach these pages?
– Where did people leave the site?
Further detail to determine if a user goal was
satisfied or it was a failed visit.