Understanding Google Analytics: Who's Oggling My Company

UNDERSTANDING GOOGLE ANALYTICS:
WHO’S OGGLING MY COMPANY?

Kimberly Swetland
September 20, 2012

ANALYZE THIS!
• Web analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of
internet data for purposes of understanding and optimizing web usage. It is
often done without the permission or knowledge of the user, in which case
— particularly with third party cookies which can be shared between
different web sites — it can be a breach of privacy.
• Web analytics is not just a tool for measuring web traffic but can be used as
a tool for business and market research, and to assess and improve the
effectiveness of a web site. Web analytics applications can also help
companies measure the results of traditional print or broadcast advertising
campaigns. It helps one to estimate how traffic to a website changes after
the launch of a new advertising campaign.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Analytics

HOW WAS GOOGLE ANALYTICS CREATED?!
• Google acquired Urchin Software Corp. in April 2005. Google's service was
developed from Urchin on Demand. The system also brings ideas from
Adaptive Path, whose product, Measure Map, was acquired and used in the
redesign of Google Analytics in 2006.
• The latest version of Google Analytics tracking code is known as the
asynchronous tracking code, which Google claims, is significantly more
sensitive and accurate, and is able to track even very short activities on the
website. The previous version delayed page loading and so, for
performance reasons, it was generally placed just before the </body> body
close HTML tag. The new code can be placed between the
<head>...</head> HTML head tags because, once triggered, it runs in
parallel with page loading. Several updates later, towards the end of June
2012 Google released an official mobile app for Google Analytics

THE TECHNOLOGY BEHIND THE SCENES
• Google Analytics is implemented by including what is known as a "page tag". This is referred to
as the Google Analytics Tracking Code (GATC) and is a snippet of JavaScript code that the user
adds onto every page of his or her website. If JavaScript is enabled in the client browser then
the GATC code collects visitor data and sends it to a Google data collection server as part of a
request for a web beacon.
• To function, the GATC loads a larger Javascript file from the Google webserver and then sets
variables with the user's account number. The larger file (currently known as ga.js) is typically
18 KB in size and if caching is enabled in the client browser then ga.js is only downloaded once
at the start of the visit as it will be cached throughout the session. As all websites that implement
GA with the ga.js code are using the same master file from Google, a visitor that has previously
visited any other website with this code implemented, will also have the file cached on their
machine. The result is that the page overhead of including the GATC on web pages is kept to a
minimum.
• If cookies are enabled on the client browser then in addition to transmitting information to a
Google server, the GATC sets first party cookies on each visitor's computer. This is used to store
anonymous information such as whether the visitor has been to the site before (new or returning
visitor), what is the timestamp of the current visit and what was the referrer site or campaign the
visitor came from e.g. search engine, keywords, banner or email.
• If the visitor arrived at the site by clicking on a link tagged with Urchin Tracking Module (UTM)
codes such as:
• http://toWebsite.com?utm_source=fromWebsite&utm_medium=bannerAd&utm_campaign=fundr
aiser2012
• the tag values are passed to the database too.

MOBILE WEB AND HOLES IN THE SYSTEM
• In addition, Google Analytics for Mobile Package allows GA to be applied to
mobile websites. The Mobile Package contains server-side tracking codes
that use PHP, JavaServer Pages, ASP.NET, or Perl for its server-side
language.
-Ad filtering programs can block
-Don’t have java-enabled script
-Privacy networks like Tor can mask actual geographic location
-Deleting/Blocking cookies – highest impact

LOGGING IN TO GOOGLE ANALYTICS

SITE USAGE METRICS

By default, Google
shows you the last 30
days of activity.
However, you can
change this setting, or
even compare two
different date
ranges, for example
August 2008 versus
August 2007.* Lower bounce rate
by fixing pages

*http://www.flyte.biz/resources/newsletters/08/08-google-analytics.php

DASHBOARD APP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOc_f_YPDQ4

DASHBOARD CUSTOMIZATION

You can move your dashboard around, add new reports, or remove ones
you don’t like with drag and drop simplicity.

TRAFFIC SOURCES

Tagging traffic sources like newsletters or blogs.

Establish Marketing Relationships with companies referring you traffic

T YPES OF ANALYSIS TOOLS

• Content
• Mobile
• Conversion
• Social
• Advertising

Multi-Channel Funnels
Your customers research, compare, and make purchase decisions at
different times and in different places, so measuring return solely based
on the last click gives an incomplete picture and potentially misses
important insights about how you reach your most valuable customers.

Direct

Referral

Search

OTHER FEATURES OF GOOGLE ANALYTICS
Goal Setting
-Values

E-Commerce
https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/gajs/gaTrackingE
commerce

GOOGLE ANALYTICS
• http://www.google.com/analytics/features/analysis-tools.html

LEGISLATION

• In May 2011 it was ruled that EU websites must get user permission to store
non-essential cookies on client computers. Website owners were given 1
year to comply before legal action is enforced. This will result in all EU
websites having to stop collecting Google Analytics data without the consent
of the end user.

OTHER SITES WITH ANALYTICS TOOLS

3rd Party Web Publishing (built-in)

LIST OF WEB ANALYTICS SOFTWARE
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_web_analytics_software

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
A performance indicator or key performance indicator (KPI) is an industry
jargon for a type of performance measurement. KPIs are commonly used by an
organization to evaluate its success or the success of a particular activity in
which it is engaged. Sometimes success is defined in terms of making progress
toward strategic goals, but often success is simply the repeated achievement of
some level of operational goal

MARKETING
• Some examples are:
• New customers acquired
• Demographic analysis of individuals (potential customers) applying to become customers, and the
levels of approval, rejections, and pending numbers.
• Status of existing customers
• Customer attrition
• Turnover (i.e., revenue) generated by segments of the customer population.
• Outstanding balances held by segments of customers and terms of payment.
• Collection of bad debts within customer relationships.
• Profitability of customers by demographic segments and segmentation of customers by profitability.
• Many of these customer KPIs are developed and managed with customer relationship management
software.
• Faster availability of data is a competitive issue for most organizations. For example, businesses
which have higher operational/credit risk (involving for example credit cards or wealth management)
may want weekly or even daily availability of KPI analysis, facilitated by appropriate IT systems and
tools.

YEAH, BUT
WHAT CAN I DO
ONCE I HAVE
THIS
INFORMATION?

20 KPIS YOU SHOULD MONITOR
http://www.webseoanalytics.com/blog/20-kpis-you-should-monitor-in-google-
analytics/

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL SOURCES
http://www.flyte.biz/resources/newsletters/08/08-google-analytics.php

Understanding Google Analytics: Who's Oggling My Company

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