1. Web Analytics Principles & Scope, 2. Google Analytics Basic Setup, 3. Web Analytics Reports & KPI Metrics for Web Analysts focusing on SEO & SEM, 4. Google Analytics Tips, 5. Google Analytics Advanced Setup at SES Shanghai 2012 - by Gordon Choi (www.gordonchoi.com)
2. Gordon Choi – www.gordonchoi.com
2009-Present (Shanghai, China)
Web analytics integration & SEO/SEM analytics
integration for online travel industry (e.g. Ctrip.com)
2002-2008 (South Africa + Hangzhou, China)
Performance-based SEM/SEO for global & Chinese
markets
1991-2001 (South Africa)
A bit of computer programming & didn’t do much
Before 1990 (Hong Kong)
Just a kid
http://www.gordonchoi.com/
3. Web Analytics Essentials
1. Web Analytics Principles & Scope
2. Google Analytics Basic Setup
3. Web Analytics Reports & KPI Metrics for Web
Analysts focusing on SEO & SEM
4. Google Analytics Tips
5. Google Analytics Advanced Setup
http://www.gordonchoi.com/
5. What is Web Analytics? Why Web Analytics?
What is WA?
- Web analytics is the measurement, collection,
analysis and reporting of Internet data for purpose
of understanding and optimizing web usage –
Avinash Kaushik & Wikipedia.org
Why WA?
- Web statistics of your site are captured 24 hours a
day & can be built into regular web reports.
- Connects web statistics to your KPI metrics.
- Helps identifying areas on your site that need
improvement.
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6. Data Capture Methods & Tools
1. Web Log Files
- Data captured on server side
- Smallest data unit = By web element e.g. CSS, ico
2. JavaScript Tags
- Data captured on browser side
- Smallest data unit = By web page e.g. HTML
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7. JavaScript-based WA
Benefits:
1. URL based
2. Cookies based
3. Easy installation with JavaScript tags
4. Allows customized setup to capture more user
actions / events
5. No / minimal data storage issue
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8. JavaScript-based WA
Shortcomings:
1. May require good URL structure planning
2. No bot data e.g. Googlebot, baiduspider
3. No page error data
4. Doesn’t work on non JavaScript based browsers
5. JavaScript heavy web pages
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9. JavaScript-based Web Analytics Tools
WA Examples:
1. Google Analytics
2. Yahoo Web Analytics
3. 百度统计 (Baidu) - CN
4. Adobe Site Catalyst - Paid
5. 99Click – CN / Paid
6. Piwik – Open Source
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10. Google Analytics
Basic Setup
Multiple Sub-domains
Chinese Search Engines
Profile Filters
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11. Google’s Web Data Cycle
1. Web users visit websites in the Internet
2. Google crawls the Web & stores web data in the Index
3. Google collects web data from sites using GA & stores web
data in GA servers
4. Google provides website’s organic search data to users
through GWT
5. Google provides website’s analytics data to users through
GA
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12. How does Google Analytics (GA) work?
Google Analytics Tracking Code (GATC):
<script type="text/javascript">
var _gaq = _gaq || [];
_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-1234567-8']);
_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>
GA collects visitors’ web usage data on your site
through this basic GATC which is JavaScript based.
Make sure you install GATC on EVERY page of your
site.
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13. How does Google Analytics (GA) work?
1. A web user visits a page on your site.
2. Your web server returns the page’s content and
the GATC to the user’s browser.
3. The GATC executes, captures the page view,
cookies & other visitor details and sends the data to
GA’s servers.
4. GA may send cookie data to the user’s browser.
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14. Google Analytics Account Setup
To use GA,
1. Create a new Gmail or use your existing Gmail:
e.g. YourName@gmail.com
OR
2. Add your non-Gmail to Google Account:
e.g. https://accounts.google.com/NewAccount
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15. Google Analytics Profile Setup
To set up GA, you’ll have to be a GA Administrator
with full access to your GA account
Create a GA profile
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17. GATC Setup - Standard
GATC (standard), if your site is on only one domain
& no sub-domain, e.g.
http://www.ctrip.com/
<script type="text/javascript">
var _gaq = _gaq || [];
_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-1234567-8']);
_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>
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18. GATC Setup – Multiple Sub-domains
GATC (customized), if your site is on multiple sub-
domains, e.g.
http://www.ctrip.com/
http://hotels.ctrip.com/
http://flights.ctrip.com/
<script type="text/javascript">
var _gaq = _gaq || [];
_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-1234567-8']);
_gaq.push(['_setDomainName', '.ctrip.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>
_gaq.push(['_setDomainName', '.ctrip.com']);
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19. GATC Setup – Multiple Domains
GATC (customized), if your site is on multiple
domains & sub-domains, e.g.
http://www.ctrip.com/
http://www.lvping.com/
http://flights.ctrip.com/
<script type="text/javascript">
var _gaq = _gaq || [];
_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-1234567-8']);
_gaq.push(['_setDomainName', '.ctrip.com']);
_gaq.push(['_setAllowLinker', true]);
_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>
_gaq.push(['_setDomainName', '.ctrip.com']);
_gaq.push(['_setAllowLinker', true]);
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20. GATC Setup – Chinese Search Engines
GATC (customized), if you are to track Soso, Sogou
& Youdao as Search Engine Referrals.
<script type="text/javascript">
var _gaq = _gaq || [];
_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-1234567-8']);
_gaq.push(['_addOrganic', 'soso', 'w']);
_gaq.push(['_addOrganic', 'sogou', 'query']);
_gaq.push(['_addOrganic', 'youdao', 'q']);
_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>
_gaq.push(['_addOrganic', 'soso', 'w']);
_gaq.push(['_addOrganic', 'sogou', 'query']);
_gaq.push(['_addOrganic', 'youdao', 'q']);
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21. GA Setup – Profile Filters
Create filters to:
1. Remove traffic from internal IP addresses, e.g.
Your own IP
2. Remove traffic from internal domain names, e.g.
Intranet
3. Show all URLs in lowercase
4. Show all URLs with full paths
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22. Profile Filter: Lowercase URLs
Lowercase URL filter consolidates URLs in different
cases into a single URL & makes it easy for you to
look at your web pages per URL in GA reports.
Without filter, 2 different entries (URLs) in GA:
www.example.com/INDEX.html 20 visits
www.example.com/index.html 100 visits
With filter, 1 entry (URL) in GA:
www.example.com/index.html 120 visits
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24. Profile Filter: URLs in Full Path
For a multiple sub-domain site, 2 different URLs:
www.ctrip.com/index.html
hotels.ctrip.com/index.html
Without full path filter, URLs will show up in GA as:
/index.html
/index.html
Without full path filter, URLs will show up in GA as:
www.ctrip.com/index.html
hotels.ctrip.com/index.html
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25. Profile Filter: URLs in Full Path
Regular Expression:
http://support.google.com/googleanalytics/bin/answer.py
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26. GA Profile: Best Practices
Two types of GA access:
1. Administrator = full access to GA account
e.g. You, the web analyst, should be the Admin
2. User = view access to all reports
e.g. Anyone else can be granted user access
Profile tips:
1. You can create multiple profiles for any one site
2. Always keep 1 profile without any filter
3. User access is profile based
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27. Web Analytics
Reports & KPI Metrics
A Web Analyst’s Guide to focus on
SEO & SEM Analytics
through Google Analytics
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28. Web Analytics Reports & KPI Metrics
1. Web Analysts
2. Basic Reporting
3. Goal Conversions
4. Segmentation
5. SEM Tracking
6. SEO Reports
7. Site Search
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29. Web Analysts
What is a Web Analyst?
Web analysts are professionals who use digital
measurement tools, digitally collected data and
analysis skills to improve the Internet for
individuals and institutions
Digital (Web) Analytics Association
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30. Web Analysts
According to Avinash Kaushik…
A Web Analyst's Typical Work Day
10%
20% Reporting
10% Analyze Acquisition
Strategies
Understanding On-site
Customer Experience
Staying Plugged into the
Context
20% 20% Explore New Strategic
Options
Take Breaks
20%
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31. Basic Reporting
1. Trends on overall site traffic (i.e. visits)
2. % Direct vs. % Search vs. % Referring Sites
3. % New Visitor vs. % Returning Visitors
4. Visitor Frequency - Counts of visits
5. Visitor Recency - Days since last visit
6. Geography: countries, cities
7. Browsers, languages, mobile devices
8. Trends on SEO/SEM traffic
9. Top SEO keywords
10. Top SEM keywords
11. Top pages
12. Top landing pages
13. Site search
14. In-page analytics i.e. click distribution
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32. Basic Reporting
Decide Reporting Frequency:
1. Daily, 2. Weekly, 3. Monthly, 4. Quarterly
Metrics:
1. Visitors vs. Visits
2. Visits vs. Page Views
3. Page Views vs. Unique Page Views
4. New Visitors vs. Returning Visitors
5. Bounce Rate vs. Exit Rate
6. Time on Site vs. Time on Page
7. Clicks vs. Visits
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33. Weekly Reports
Run these reports once a week:
1. Your site’s trend by visits i.e. How many visits
per day this week vs. last week vs. this week last
year?
2. Top 10 countries or top 10 cities by visits?
3. Top 20 pages by page views?
4. Top 100 SEO keywords by visits?
5. Top 100 SEM keywords by visits?
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34. Direct Traffic vs. Search Engines vs. Referring Sites
Monitor fluctuation in traffic source types
Report frequency = Weekly
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35. Direct Traffic vs. Search Engines vs. Referring Sites
Examples on Analysis:
DT=65%, SE=10%, RS=25%
Strong brand but low SE traffic - Need to improve
SEO & SEM
DT=15%, SE=40%, RS=45%
Weak brand - Need to improve brand awareness
DT=20%, SE=70%, RS=12%
Too reliant on SE traffic – Need to diversify traffic
sources
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36. New Visitors vs. Returning Visitors
Monitor fluctuation in visitor types
Report frequency = Weekly
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37. New Visitors vs. Returning Visitors
Examples on Analysis:
New=85%, Returning=15%
1. A new website, OR website is unable retain users
2. Need a plan to retain new users
New=20%, Returning=80%
1. Monetizing through repeat users
2. Need to a plan to acquire new users
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38. Reports (Once Every 6 Months)
Run these reports once every 6 months:
1. How often do people visit your site?
2. What were the last time people visited your site?
3. What browsers (e.g. IE7, 8, 9, Firefox, Chrome)?
4. What mobile devices (e.g. IPhone, IPad, etc)?
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39. Daily Reports
Whether you track sign-ups & orders through GA or
your internal system, run this report every day:
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40. GA Goals
Track site conversions through GA’s goals.
Set up one of the goal types:
1. URL destination
2. Visit duration
3. Page / visit
4. Event
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45. Segmentation – Traffic Sources
Segment by Traffic Sources:
(none) / direct
google / organic
baidu / organic
google cpc
baidu cpc
hao123.com / referral
chinatravel.net / referral
twitter / referral
facebook / referral
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46. Segmentation – Traffic Sources
Traffic Metrics by Traffic Sources:
Conversion Metrics by Traffic Sources:
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47. Segmentation - Direct Traffic
Is Direct Traffic Really Direct Traffic?
1. Direct typing in address bar of browser
2. Browser bookmarks
3. Untagged links through Windows Live (MSN)
Messenger, emails, PDF documents, etc
4. Lost referral value e.g. Cookies reset
Some direct traffic of your site comes through
organic search as brand keywords e.g. Ctrip,
Amazon, Taobao
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48. Segmentation - Bounce Rate
Bounce Rate represents the percentage of initial
visitors to a site who “bounce” away to a different
site, rather than continue on to other pages within
the same site. Wikipedia.org
Bounce Rate = Visits Viewing 1 Page / Total Visits
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49. Segmentation – Types of Visits
3 Types of Visits to a Site:
Non-bounced &
Converted Visits
Non-bounced
Visits
All Visits
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50. Segmentation - Page Views / Visits
How important is Page Views / Visits?
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51. Segmentation – Advanced Segments
Segment: Traffic Metrics & Conversion Metrics by
Traffic Sources of all Non-bounce Visits
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52. Segmentation – Non-bounced Visits
Again, Traffic Metrics by Traffic Sources (but, of all
non-bounced visits):
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53. SEM Tracking
Your website may have both SEO & SEM traffic.
Ensure all SEM visits are tracked & appear in GA
Traffic Sources report as:
google / cpc
baidu / cpc
If SEM visits aren’t correctly tracked, they will mix
up in organic (SEO) visits & appear as:
google / organic
baidu / organic
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54. SEM Tracking - Google AdWords
Link all your Google AdWords accounts to your
Google Analytics account
Enable auto-tagging in Google AdWords
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55. SEM Tracking – Other Search Engines
Tag your all your Baidu SEM URLs:
utm_source=baidu
utm_medium=cpc
utm_term=web+analytics+2.0
utm_campaign =analytics+books
http://www.example.com/?utm_source=baidu&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=web%2Banalytics%2B2.0&utm_cam
Use Google’s URL Builder to generate the tagged
URL (or just use Excel):
http://support.google.com/googleanalytics/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=55578
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56. Four Stages of SEO
Four Stages of SEO:
1. Pages Indexed in Search Engines (e.g. Google)
2. Keyword Ranking
3. SEO Visits to Your Site
5. SEO Conversions
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57. SEO Reports
The purpose of SEO reports are for monitoring:
1. Traffic Trends (i.e. Entire Site, Per Sub-domain,
Per Site Section)
2. Spider Behavior (e.g. googlebot, baiduspider)
3. Page Errors (i.e. Status Codes 404, 302, etc)
4. Keyword Ranking
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58. SEO Reports – SEO Visits
Daily Traffic Trends with Week-over-week & Year-
over-year Comparison e.g. Google Organic Visits
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59. SEO Reports – SEO Visits
Daily Traffic Trends by Sub-Domains & by Site
Sections e.g. Google Organic Visits
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60. SEO Reports – Pages Indexed
Pages Indexed by e.g. Google, by Sub-domains, by
Site Sections
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61. SEO Reports – Keyword Ranking
Keyword Ranking report:
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62. SEO Reports – GWT, Web Log Files
Spider data & Page Error data can be found from 2
sources:
1. Google Webmaster Tools (GWT)
2. Your Site’s Web Log Files
Google Webmaster Tools provide SEO reports with
basic & limited data, but is ready for access & easy
to use.
Web Log files have full data, but aren’t easy to use
& will require your web administrator & software
developer to extract the data for you.
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63. SEO Reports – Log Files
1. Pages crawled per googlebot IP
2. Kilobytes downloaded per googlebot IP
3. Time spent per page per googlebot IP
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64. SEO Reports – Log Files
Page Errors: Pages with Status Codes 404 (not
found) or 302 (moved temporarily)
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65. SEO Reports – Landing Pages
How much does a page contribute to conversions?
1. Top Landing Pages by Visits
2. Top Landing Pages by Conversions
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66. Site Search
Site search allows visitors find products on your
site by entering keywords.
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67. Site Search
Site search data allows you to understand visitors’
intent:
1. What products do people search the most?
2. What is a product’s conversion rate?
i.e. No. of items sold / No. of searches
3. What do people search for that you don’t have?
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68. Site Search – Seasonal Trends
The popularity of the top site search keywords may
change in different months & in different seasons.
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69. Site Search – Online Travel Sites
Some websites provide “restricted” site search
e.g. Hotel search on an online travel site:
Beijing, 01Apr2012, 03Apr2012, Swissotel Beijing, 2000,
Chaoyang, 5
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70. Google Analytics Tips
URL Structure, Dashboards,
Multi Channel Funnels,
Real Time Report, Custom Reports
Annotations, Visitors Flow,
Cookies, Data Sampling
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71. URL Structure: Best Practices
Good URL structure allows quick retrieval of data
through filtering reports by URLs:
tripadvisor.com/Hotels-
tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-
tripadvisor.com/VacationRentals-
tripadvisor.com/Attractions-
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73. URL Structure: Best Practices
Make it easy to record granular SEO data:
site:tripadvisor.com/Hotels atlantic city
site:tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review atlantic city
site:tripadvisor.com/VacationRentals
site:tripadvisor.com/Attractions
49,900 pages (of this type) indexed by Google
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80. GA Multi Channel Funnels
Top Conversion Paths – Some traffic sources or
paid/advertising channels aren’t the last click before
conversions, but did contribute to conversions.
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81. GA Cookies - Definition
An HTTP cookie is a parcel of text sent back and forth
between a web browser and the server it accesses.
Cookies are used to differentiate one user from another and to
pass information from page to page during a single user's
website session.
A web server uses cookies to collect data about a given
browser, along with the information requested and sent by the
visitor.
Cookies do not identify people, but rather they are defined
themselves by a combination of a computer, a user account,
and a browser.
Google
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82. GA Cookies – Types of Cookies
What do these GA cookies do?
__utma
Visitor identifier, expires in 2 years
__utmb
Session identifier, expires in 30 minutes
__utmz
Traffic source identifier, expires in 6 months
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83. GA Sampled Data
Sampling is that part of statistical practice concerned with the
selection of an unbiased or random subset of individual observations
within a population of individuals intended to yield some knowledge
about the population of concern, especially for the purposes of
making predictions based on statistical inference. Sampling is an
important aspect of data collection. Wikipedia.org
When does GA provide Sampled Data?
1. Any non pre-computed ad hoc query that reaches 500,000
visits (sessions).
2. Any query that exceeds 1,000,000 unique dimension
combinations.
Traffic Trends is more important in GA reports!
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85. Social Media Tracking
Track the social media performance through GA:
1. Facebook Like button
2. Facebook Share button
3. Twitter Tweet button
4. Google +1 button
If you have the buttons installed on your website,
you want to track the button clicks.
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86. Social Media Tracking
Add customized GA codes to your buttons
Track Facebook Like button clicks on your site:
_gaq.push(['_trackSocial', 'facebook', 'like', 'http://www.your-
website.com/social.php']);
Track Facebook Share button clicks on your site:
_gaq.push(['_trackSocial', 'facebook', ‘share', 'http://www.your-
website.com/social.php']);
Track Twitter Tweet button clicks on your site:
_gaq.push(['_trackSocial', ‘twitter', ‘tweet', 'http://www.your-
website.com/social.php']);
Click tracking for Google +1 is built-in to GA
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87. Social Media Tracking
Tag your all your Twitter Tweet URLs:
utm_source=twitter
utm_medium=social
utm_term=web+analytics+2.0
utm_campaign =analytics+books
http://www.example.com/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_term=web%2Banalytics%2B2.0&ut
Use Google’s URL Builder to generate the tagged
URL (or just use Excel):
http://support.google.com/googleanalytics/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=55578
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89. WA & SE Blogs
http://analytics.blogspot.com
http://www.kaushik.net
http://cutroni.com/blog/
http://www.roirevolution.com/blog/
http://blog.webanalyticsdemystified.com/weblog/
http://www.visualrevenue.com/blog
http://www.webanalyticsworld.net
http://www.hongkongwebanalytics.com
http://bluewhale.cc (中文)
http://www.seomoz.org
http://www.gordonchoi.com/cat/google-analytics
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90. WA & SE Books
Web analytics & search engine books:
Web Analytics - An hour a day
Web Analytics 2.0
Avinash Kaushik
Advanced Web Metrics with Google Analytics
Brian Clifton
Search Engine Marketing, Inc.
Bill Hunt & Mike Moran
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