Advanced Web Metrics with Google Analytics E-Book

Brian Clifton

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 745

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2010

Beschreibung

Packed with insider tips and tricks, this how-to guide is fullyrevised to cover the latest version of Google Analytics and showsyou how to implement proven Web analytics methods and concepts.This second edition of the bestselling Advanced Web Metricswith Google Analytics is the perfect book for marketers,vendors, consultants, and Webmasters who want to learn theinstallation, configuration, tracking techniques, and bestpractices of Google Analytics.* Google Analytics is a free tool that measures Web siteeffectiveness and helps users better understand how web siteperformance; this book is a detailed usage guide written by one ofthe software's original creators* Explains what filters keep data accurate, how to measure Flashusage and tag for e-mail marketing, and what visitor segmentationprovides the most useful feedback* Examines principles and practices of Web analytics, then showshow to use GA's reports and how to track dynamic Web pages,banners, outgoing links, and contact forms* Discusses advanced setups for configuring goals and filters,how to integrate GA with third-party systems, and how to leveragethe new APIAdvanced Web Metrics with Google Analytics, SecondEdition is valuable for both novice and experienced users ofGoogle Analytics.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

Praise

Praise for Advanced Web Metrics with Google Analytics, Second Edition

Copyright

Publisher's Note

Dedication

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Foreword

Introduction

Who Should Read This Book

What Is Covered in This Book

GA IQ Coupon

How to Contact the Author

Part I: Measuring Success

Chapter 1: Why Understanding Your Web Traffic Is Important to Your Business

Website Measurement—Why Do This?

Information Web Analytics Can Provide

Where to Start

Decisions Web Analytics Can Help You Make

The ROI of Web Analytics

How Web Analytics Helps You Understand Your Web Traffic

Where Web Analytics Fits In

Where to Get Help

Summary

Chapter 2: Available Methodologies and Their Accuracy

Page Tags and Logfiles

Cookies in Web Analytics

Understanding Web Analytics Data Accuracy

Improving the Accuracy of Web Analytics Data

Privacy Considerations for the Web Analytics Industry

Summary

Chapter 3: Google Analytics Features, Benefits, and Limitations

Key Features and Capabilities of Google Analytics

How Google Analytics Works

What Google Analytics Cannot Do

Google Analytics and Privacy

How Is Google Analytics Different?

What Is Urchin?

Summary

Part II: Using Google Analytics Reports

Chapter 4: Using the Google Analytics Interface

Discoverability and Initial Report Access

Navigating Your Way Around: Report Layout

Summary

Chapter 5: Reports Explained

The Dashboard Overview

The Top Reports

Understanding Page Value

Understanding Data Sampling

Summary

Part III: Implementing Google Analytics

Chapter 6: Getting Up and Running with Google Analytics

Creating Your Google Analytics Account

Tagging Your Pages

Back Up: Keeping a Local Copy of Your Data

Using Accounts and Profiles

Agencies and Hosting Providers: Setting Up Client Accounts

Getting AdWords Data: Linking to Your AdWords Account

Getting AdSense Data: Linking to Your AdSense Account

Common Pre-implementation Questions

Summary

Chapter 7: Advanced Implementation

_trackPageview(): the Google Analytics Workhorse

Tracking E-commerce Transactions

Campaign Tracking

Event Tracking

Customizing the GATC

Summary

Chapter 8: Best-Practices Configuration Guide

Initial Configuration

Goal Conversions and Funnels

Why Segmentation Is Important

Choosing Advanced Segments versus Profile Filters

Profile Segments: Segmenting Visitors Using Filters

Report Segments: Segmenting Visitors Using Advanced Segments

Summary

Chapter 9: Google Analytics Hacks

Why Hack an Existing Product?

Customizing the List of Recognized Search Engines

Labeling Visitors, Sessions, and Pages

Tracking Error Pages and Broken Links

Tracking Referral URLs from Pay-Per-Click Networks

Site Overlay: Differentiating Links to the Same Page

Matching Specific Transactions to Specific Referral Data

Tracking Links to Direct Downloads

Changing the Referrer Credited for a Goal Conversion

Roll-up Reporting

Summary

Part IV: Using Visitor Data to Drive Website Improvement

Chapter 10: Focusing on Key Performance Indicators

Setting Objectives and Key Results

Selecting and Preparing KPIs

Presenting Your KPIs

KPI Examples by Job Role

Using KPIs for Web 2.0

Summary

Chapter 11: Real-World Tasks

Identifying and Optimizing Poorly Performing Pages

Measuring the Success of Site Search

Optimizing Your Search Engine Marketing

Monetizing a Non-E-commerce Website

Tracking Offline Marketing

An Introduction to Google Website Optimizer

Summary

Chapter 12: Integrating Google Analytics with Third-Party Applications

Extracting Google Analytics Information

Working with the Google Analytics Export API

Call Tracking with Google Analytics

Integrating Website Optimizer with Google Analytics

Summary

Appendix A: Regular Expression Overview

Understanding the Fundamentals

Regex Examples

Appendix B: Useful Tools

Tools to Audit Your GATC Deployment

Firefox Add-ons

Desktop Helper Applications

Appendix C: Recommended Further Reading

Books on Web Analytics and Related Areas

Web Resources

Blog Roll for Web Analytics

Index

Advertisement

Praise for Advanced Web Metrics with Google Analytics, Second Edition

Web analytics has become an essential part of every online marketer’s toolkit. But you can’t just rely on the flood of data alone—you need to interpret it, and in many cases, fine-tune reports to accurately reflect your own goals and objectives. The second edition of Brian Clifton’s Advanced Web Metrics with Google Analytics is a comprehensive roadmap to helping you get the most from your metrics—an indispensable guide to helping you take your online marketing campaigns to the next level.

—Chris Sherman, Executive Editor, Search Engine Land

The field of web analytics has evolved very quickly both in terms of the tools as well as best practices. Fortunately, Brian Clifton has done the hard work for us in updating his excellent first book so this second one is the must-read for anyone looking to get the most value out of Google Analytics and web analytics more broadly.

—Ashley Friedlein, CEO, Econsultancy

Advanced Web Metrics is a unique book that combines high-level management advice and nitty-gritty detail in an easy to understand and, above all, useful way. It’s great for web managers, analytics specialists, and marketers alike.

—Dan Drury, Director, Bowen Craggs & Co., and Author of the Financial Times Index of Corporate Website Effectiveness

If you’re looking for a practical, tactical guide in how to implement and think about web marketing optimization, look no further. Brian Clifton spells it out by industry, by job function, by Key Performance Indicator, and more.

Brian has been studying and consulting on web optimization since the inception of online marketing. He provides an in-the-trenches look at making the most of a free but powerful tool that every web owner should get to know. This is the hands-on guide to what you need to know that answers questions like:

So what do I do with all this web data?

How do I use all these reports?

How do I measure the impact of promotion codes and discounted pricing?

How can I make sure I’m going to earn my bonus?

—Jim Sterne, Founding Director and Chairman of the Web Analytics Association

In a time when companies are aggressively trying to do more with less, Brian delivers an arsenal of real-world examples and techniques for wringing more opportunities from our website and marketing campaigns. Guarantee your future employment—buy, read, and implement all of the techniques of this outstanding book.

—Bill Hunt, Coauthor, Search Engine Marketing Inc.

If you are in search of an excellent, in-depth guide to traffic conversion, look no further. Brian explains how to make informed decisions based on how visitors interact with your content. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who is serious about improving their bottom line through data-driven decisions rather than guess work.

—Hessam Lavi, Former Search Quality Team Lead, Google

Brian worked for Google, and there are few people I know who know more about Google Analytics (GA). His book is typically thorough and has many great examples of how to get the best out of the tool. What I liked most, however, was the fact that a lot of the principles and practical ideas could be applied to any analytics tool, not just GA.

The biggest challenge with analytics is that there is a fundamental lack of process to get people involved and interested in how analytics can help them achieve their business goals. Brian addresses this with a simple KPI process that could be implemented in any business. In short, good stuff!

—Steve Jackson, Director of Business Insights at Kwantic, and Author of Cult of Analytics

Brian is one of the most knowledgeable people in the field of web analytics. He has poured his years of experience working with various clients into this book. It provides you with everything you need to know about Google Analytics and is an invaluable resource for all those who want to drive actionable insights from web analytics data.

—Anil Batra, Vice President of Search & Analytics, POP

Brian shares his great experience of web analytics in a book that offers clear configuration steps to leverage Google Analytics to the max while providing supportive information to convey the concepts. The combination of hands-on examples and learning scenarios offers the best of both world. It’s a must-read to get beyond basic metrics and achieve online optimization.

—Stephan Hamel, CEO and Lead Consultant, immeria.net, and Director, Web Analytics Association

This book has it all! It explains what a marketer needs to understand and guide an internal analytics team (or implement it themselves), and it advances you beyond just collecting data by showing real-world examples of analysis and its application. Use the book as your guide to improving your results and business. You can’t lose!

—Sara Andersson, CEO and Senior Strategist, Search Integration AB, and Chairperson, Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO), Scandinavia

Brian highlights which are the most important things to get right in setup and how to exploit the most important, yet underused, Google Analytics features like goals, funnels, advanced segmentation, and event tracking.

—Dr. Dave Chaffey, Digital Marketing Author and Strategy Consultant at Marketing Insights Limited

Senior Acquisitions Editor: Willem Knibbe

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Vice President and Executive Group Publisher: Richard Swadley

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Book Designer: Franz Baumhackl

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Proofreader: Jen Larsen, Word One New York

Indexer: Robert Swanson

Project Coordinator, Cover: Lynsey Stanford

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Cover Image: iStockPhoto

Copyright © 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

ISBN: 978-0-470-56231-4

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Clifton, Brian, 1969–

Advanced Web metrics with Google Analytics / Brian Clifton.—2nd ed.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-470-56231-4 (pbk.)

1. Google Analytics. 2. Web usage mining. 3. Internet users—Statistics—Data processing. I. Title.

TK5105.885.G66C55 2010

006.3—dc22

2009052154

TRADEMARKS: Wiley, the Wiley logo, and the Sybex logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates, in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. Google Analytics is a trademark of Google, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc. is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Dear Reader,

Thank you for choosing Advanced Web Metrics with Google Analytics. This book is part of a family of premium-quality Sybex books, all of which are written by outstanding authors who combine practical experience with a gift for teaching.

Sybex was founded in 1976. More than 30 years later, we’re still committed to producing consistently exceptional books. With each of our titles, we’re working hard to set a new standard for the industry. From the paper we print on, to the authors we work with, our goal is to bring you the best books available.

I hope you see all that reflected in these pages. I’d be very interested to hear your comments and get your feedback on how we’re doing. Feel free to let me know what you think about this or any other Sybex book by sending me an email at [email protected]. If you think you’ve found a technical error in this book, please visit http://sybex.custhelp.com. Customer feedback is critical to our efforts at Sybex.

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Neil Edde

Vice President and Publisher

Sybex, an imprint of Wiley

“Advanced web metrics is about doing the basics very well and applying it in a clever way”

—Sara Andersson, CEO, Search Integration AB

Acknowledgments

As for the first book, writing this second edition has been both very rewarding and very hard work. The second edition started off as a list of straightforward updates, yet turned out to be a complete rewrite of content—such is my obsession with producing what I hope is a worthy book.

I have never considered myself a natural writer. Endlessly agonizing over every sentence, I would yearn for perfection, or at the very least adequacy. The first book, written while working twelve hours a day at Google, took me eighteen months to finish (mainly written on trains and planes or in various hotel rooms across Europe or in the US). This time I got myself organized and even more obsessive (if that were possible) and completed the second edition in six months. The relief of my much-supportive partner, Sara, friends, and family is almost palpable.

Yet the process of writing remains enjoyable. In fact, I am already looking forward to my next writing project, though I am undecided as to what that should be! However, I am not a one-man band, and many people have happily contributed their time to make this book even better than the first.

First, special thanks go to Alex Ortiz-Rosado, Nick Michailovski, and Tomas Remotigue, all of Google, who have significantly contributed to my knowledge and understanding of the internal workings of Google Analytics over the years. All worked late and on their own time to sanity-check and expand on the technical aspects of this book. Alex is my much-appreciated technical editor. His eagle eye for detail and patience at explaining some of the more complex intricacies of Google Analytics have enabled me to write a much more comprehensive book.

Significant feedback, help, and brainstorming were also freely provided by Shelby Thayer, a web analytics practitioner, enthusiast, advocate, and all-round nice person working for Penn State University. Shelby kindly proofread and commented on every page of this book, ensuring content relevance and continuity.

Thanks also go to Leonardo Naressi and Eduardo Cereto of Direct Performance for their expertise and advice with Flash event tracking; Ophir Prusak of POP, who provided detailed explanations and workarounds when integrating Google Analytics with Website Optimizer; Dan Drury and Abdurashid Atahanov of Bowen Craggs & Co. Limited for their input on effective KPI strategies within large corporations; Neal McGann and Andre Wei of VKI Studios for sharing their experience of Website Optimizer; Jeremy Aube of ROI Revolution for his continuous support of the GAAC community; Sara Andersson for her generous advice and strategic thinking regarding integrating offline and online marketing and for sharing her ideas on search marketing, social media engagement, and life in general; Avinash Kaushik for reviewing this book and for honoring me by writing the foreword; Mikael Thuneberg, Nikki Rae (Fresh Egg Ltd.), Eran Savir (Kampyle), Ravi Pathak (Tatvic), and Eyal Eldar (easynet (seperia) Ltd.) for providing case study content to include with Chapter 12; and all members of the Google Analytics Authorized Consultants (GAAC) network for their stimulating discussions, experiences, and thoughts when implementing Google Analytics for their clients.

Last but not least, many thanks to the Wiley publishing team: Willem Knibbe, whose enthusiasm for this topic meant that I was always going to produce a second edition of this book; Tom Cirtin, who kept the structure and cohesion going in a straight line throughout; Dassi Zeidel, Linda Recktenwald, and Jen Larsen, and the many other people at Wiley who work tirelessly in the background to help create and polish what I hope you will consider is an enjoyable and informative read. Ultimately this was my mission, for what potentially can be a very dry subject.

That’s quite a long list, with people from all over the world (at least seven countries) helping to shape, expand, and improve the content provided. I hope I have remembered everyone.

About the Author

Brian Clifton, PhD, is an internationally recognized Google Analytics expert who consults on website performance optimization for global clients. Coming from a web development and search engine optimization (SEO) background, he has worked in these fields since 1997. His business was the first U.K. partner for Urchin Software Inc., the company that later became Google Analytics.

In 2005, Brian was the first person with web measurement experience to join Google Europe. As former Head of Web Analytics for Google Europe, Middle East, and Africa, he defined the strategy for adoption and built a team of pan-European product specialists. He is now CEO and Senior Strategist for Omega Digital Media.

Brian received a BSc in chemistry from the University of Bristol in 1991 and a PhD in physical and theoretical chemistry in 1996. Further work as a postdoctoral researcher culminated in publishing several scientific papers in journals, including Molecular Physics, Colloids and Surfaces, and Langmuir. During that time, he was also an international weightlifter, representing Great Britain at world and European championships.

Studying science at university during the early nineties meant witnessing the incredible beginnings of the Web. In 1991, Tim Berners-Lee, a scientist working at the CERN laboratory in Switzerland, launched the first web browser and web server to the academic community, thereby sowing the first seeds of the World Wide Web.

Although the communication potential of the Web was immediately clear to Brian, it took a little while for ideas to formulate around business opportunities. In 1997 he left academia to found Omega Digital Media, a U.K. company specializing in the provision of professional services to organizations wishing to utilize the new digital medium.

Since leaving the field of chemical research (and weightlifting), Brian has continued to write—either on his blog, Measuring Success (www.advanced-web-metrics.com/blog), as a guest writer on industry forums, or via whitepapers.

Brian holds the title of associate instructor at the University of British Columbia for his contribution to teaching modules in support of the Award of Achievement in Web Analytics. You can also hear him speak at numerous conferences around the word, where he discusses data-driven online strategies and site optimization. Brian was born in Manchester, United Kingdom, and now lives in Sweden.

Foreword

Let’s get one thing out of the way first. This is an excellent book.

If you are standing in a bookstore scanning this Foreword, rush to the checkout counter and buy it right away. You are not going to regret it. I promise.

If you have already purchased this book and are just starting to read it, then let me assure you that you are in for a delightful treat. How often do you hear that about a book about numbers?

I am thrilled that Brian has updated Advanced Web Metrics. That’s because the core reason I personally love the Web, and I do looove the Web, is that it is in a constant state of evolution. It stands to reason then that key web analytics solutions like Google Analytics also evolve.

In just the last year Google Analytics has released really wonderful features like Intelligence (which applies control limits, statistical algorithms, forecasting, and sensitivity analysis to help identify key insights), Custom Variables (now you can collect metadata about your site and visitors in a way that was impossible before), an open API (now the sky’s the limit when it comes to you being able to analyze, interpret, and display your data in unique ways), and so much more. Notice that I am not even mentioning my beloved analytical technique, Advanced Segmentation!

Especially because you have so much power at your disposal, Brian’s book is key to your success.

Five years ago, when working at Intuit, I postulated the 10/90 rule. It states, simply, that for every $100 you have to invest in making intelligent decisions on the Web, you should invest $10 in technology and $90 in people. On reflection, that rule is even more true today. You can use a portfolio of free tools for web analytics, surveys, competitive intelligence analysis, and pretty much anything else you want to do. What these tools don’t come with is the expertise and skills required to use them to the fullest potential that they all promise.

That is where Brian comes in.

Brian has spent a lifetime in the field of web analytics (okay, okay, lifetime as thought of in Internet years!). He has deep expertise by being a practitioner. He has worked at Google and helped influence Google Analytics while he was working with some of the largest companies in the world to help them measure what they thought was impossible to measure. In the last couple of years, through his consulting practice, he has made that last quest his full-time job.

I cannot think of anyone better to gently walk us down the path of morphing from Reporting Squirrels to Analysis Ninjas. Advanced Web Metrics with Google Analytics starts at an easy clip, explaining the basics, getting you acquainted with the new world of data. It then steps up slowly but steadily to a crescendo, where you are truly dancing with the data.

I have had the privilege of writing two web analytics books, and I learned so much about Google Analytics by reading Brian’s book. I am confident you are in for a similar experience.

Let me close with this thought: Getting access to data in our world is easy. Taking that data and revolutionizing how your business makes decisions, makes money, and makes your customers happy are not easy.

This book will make that not-easy journey easier.

Good luck!

Avinash Kaushik

Author, Web Analytics 2.0 and Web Analytics: An Hour a Day

Analytics evangelist, Google

Introduction

Although the birth of Web took place in August 1991, it did not become commercial until around 1995. In those early days, it was kind of fun to have a spinning logo, a few pictures, and your contact details as the basis of your online presence. My first website was just that—no more than my curriculum vitae online at the University of Bristol. Then companies decided to copy (or worse, scan) their paper catalogs and brochures and simply dump these on their websites. This was a step forward in providing more content, but the user experience was poor to say the least, and no one was really measuring conversions. The most anyone kept track of was hits, which nobody ever really understood, though they were assumed (incorrectly) to be visits.

Around the year 2000, fueled by the dot-com boom, people suddenly seemed to realize the potential of the Web as a useful medium to find information; the number of visitors using it grew rapidly. Organizations started to think about fundamental questions such as “What is the purpose of having a website?” and considered how to build relevant content for their online presence. With that, user experience improved. Then, when widespread broadband adoption began, those organizations wanted to attract the huge audience that was now online, hence the reason for the rapid growth in search-engine marketing that followed.

Now, with businesses accepting the growing importance of their online presence, they are prepared to invest. But how much money and resources should an organization put into this? For example, should the site cater to ten languages, accept five currencies, and run in four browser types from visitors with six different operating systems, including mobile? How should the site be marketed, which channels are most effective, and can we predict the return on investment for the next campaign?

Answering such questions requires data and hence a measurement tool. Put simply, this is what web analytics tools, such as Google Analytics, allow you to do—study the online experience, in order to improve it.

But what can be measured, how accurate is this, and how can a business be benchmarked? In other words, how do you measure success? Using best-practice principles I have gained as a professional practitioner, this book uses real-world examples that clearly demonstrate how to manage Google Analytics. These include not only installation and configuration guides but also how to turn data into information that enables you to understand your website visitor’s experience. With this understanding, you can then build business action items to drive improvements in visitor acquisition (both online and offline), conversion rates, repeat visit rates, customer retention, and ultimately your bottom line.

Who Should Read This Book

As a great friend and mentor to me once said, “Advanced web metrics is about doing the basics very well and applying it in a clever way.” I wish I had thought of that phrase! It epitomizes everything about my approach to web analytics and this book. Thus, I have attempted to make this book’s subject matter accessible to a broad spectrum of readers—essentially anyone with a business interest in making their website work better. After all, the concept of measuring success is a universal desire.

The content is not aimed at the complete web novice, nor is it aimed at engineers—I am not one myself. Installing, configuring, or using Google Analytics does not require an engineer! Rather, I hope that Advanced Web Metrics with Google Analytics will appeal to existing users of business data as well as readers new to the field of web measurement.

As the title implies, this book is intended for people who want to go beyond the basics of simply counting hits. These can be grouped into three user groups:

Marketers These are users who have experience with search-engine marketing (paid and organic search), email marketing, social search, PR, and affiliate management but have not yet managed to find a unified measurement tool to compare these side by side. For this group, most chapters focus on integrating your analytical skills with your marketing skills and require no coding ability.

Webmasters These are experienced website builders who have the skill set and authorization to modify a website. For this group of users, the book offers sections and exercises that require you to modify your web page content; after all, web analytics is all about instigating change using reliable metrics as your guide. Therefore, knowledge of HTML (the ability to read browser source code) and experience with JavaScript are required.

Senior managers These are decision makers who require guidance on preparing a data-driven strategy and action plan for their organization. I hope to supply these readers with an understanding of what can and cannot be achieved with web analytics and specifically provide information they need to plan the resources and timelines required for building an effective Google Analytics measurement team. My aim for this group is to provide you with the information necessary in order to make “informed decisions.”

With a better understanding of your website visitors, you will be able to tailor page content and marketing budgets with laser-like precision for a better return on investment. I also discuss advanced configurations (Chapter 9, “Google Analytics Hacks”), which are not documented elsewhere. These provide you with an even greater understanding of your website visitors so that you can dive into the metrics that make sense for your organization. In as many areas as possible, I include real-world practical examples that are currently employed by advanced users.

You can use this book in several ways. The most straightforward (and demanding) is to start at the beginning and follow all the steps to completion, building your knowledge in a step-wise fashion. Alternatively, I have deliberately designed the book so that you can skip around and delve straight into a chapter as needed. To help with this approach, I frequently reference content within the book or other resources for further reading. However, I do recommend you put time aside to review the initial chapters (Chapters 1–3), as these introduce important approaches to web measurement, such as accuracy and privacy considerations. Web analytics is still a nascent industry and I am actively blogging about Google Analytics, the book’s content and measurement issues in general at www.advanced-web-metrics.com. You can also follow my thoughts or what I am currently reading on Twitter (@brianclifton). You can download all presented code examples from the site using the referenced links within each chapter.

What You Will Learn

You will learn how to implement and use Google Analytics in a best-practice way. I deliberately emphasize the word use because this is the primary purpose of this book. That is, you will learn how to leverage Google Analytics to optimize your website—in terms of marketing, user experience, and ultimately conversions, all based on solid, reliable data.

What You Need

First and foremost, you need an inquisitive mind! This is not an engineering book, and you require no additional software or tools to apply the advice—just a good understanding of what your website is supposed to achieve, how your organization is marketing it, and an idea of the type of metrics that would help you judge its success.

That said, a couple of chapters do require you to have a good understanding of HTML and basic JavaScript skills. If that doesn’t describe you, read this book in conjunction with a colleague who can help you. As you will learn, web analytics requires a multidisciplinary skill set, and collaboration is the key to success.

What Is Covered in This Book

Advanced Web Metrics with Google Analytics is organized to provide you with a clear step-wise progression of knowledge building.

Chapter 1: Why Understanding Your Web Traffic Is Important to Your Business introduces you to the world of web measurement, where it fits in, and what you can achieve.

Chapter 2: Available Methodologies and Their Accuracy provides the context of what can be measured via web analytics and its limitations.

Chapter 3: Google Analytics Features, Benefits, and Limitations focuses on what Google Analytics can do for you.

Chapter 4: Using the Google Analytics Interface walks you through the user interface, highlighting the key functionality.

Chapter 5: Reports Explained reviews in detail the top reports you need to understand.

Chapter 6: Getting Up and Running with Google Analytics gets you quickly up and running with the basic install.

Chapter 7: Advanced Implementation takes you beyond the basics to give you a more complete picture of your website’s activity.

Chapter 8: Best-Practices Configuration Guide provides you with the knowledge to define success metrics (KPIs) and segment your data.

Chapter 9: Google Analytics Hacks gives you some lateral thinking for adding extra functionality to Google Analytics.

Chapter 10: Focusing on Key Performance Indicators is about how you focus on the metrics most important to you—KPIs and the process required to build them.

Chapter 11: Real-World Tasks jump-starts your analytical skills by showing you how to identify and optimize poorly performing pages, site search, and online and offline marketing. Website Optimizer is introduced as a method for testing a hypothesis.

Chapter 12: Integrating Google Analytics with Third-Party Applications shows you how to integrate data either by capturing cookies or using the new Google Analytics export API.

Appendix A:Regular Expression Overview gives you an introduction to understanding regular expressions.

Appendix B:Useful Tools describes some useful tools for helping you implement and use Google Analytics.

Appendix C: Recommended Further Reading gathers together books, blogs, and other web resources that can help you.

GA IQ Coupon

Democratizing web analytics data was a big part of the initial adoption strategy of Google Analytics. In 2007, while I was at Google, we really wanted to see such useful data being shared between sales, marketing, PR, senior management—anyone who had an interest in improving the company’s website.

However, providing such large-scale access to data presented another problem: People didn’t know how to interpret the data or what to do next. There was a serious dearth in web analytics education available to help people. I knew I could assist by writing this book, and another ambition was to establish an online learning center for Google Analytics.

It was therefore a logical step to produce an online version of our tiered internal training system so that any person, not just Googlers, could work through the online tutorials and then take the exam to demonstrate to their peers and potential employers their analytical and product-specific skills.

We started building the www.conversionuniversity.com online learning center in late 2007 and introduced the Google Analytics Individual Qualification (GA IQ) in November 2008. It was a huge achievement for the team and one that I am immensely proud of.

While there is nothing like a classroom workshop for a great learning environment—you not only learn the necessary skills but you also gain from the expertise of the trainer (as well as have time to pick their brains directly over a coffee!)—that’s not always possible. Fortunately, this book, conversionuniversity.com, and the GA IQ help users learn Google Analytics and then have tangible proof of their proficiency. If you haven’t taken the test, I encourage you to do so soon after reading this book. Use the coupon code on the last page to get 50 percent off the test while supplies last.

How to Contact the Author

I welcome feedback from you about this book or about anything related to website measurement and optimization. You can reach me via any of the following means:

Website: www.advanced-web-metrics.comLinkedIn interactive group for readers of this book: http://www.linkedin.com/groupInvitation?groupID=66386Twitter: http://twitter.com/briancliftonLinkedIn profile: http://uk.linkedin.com/in/briancliftonFacebook profile: http://www.facebook.com/brianjclifton

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Part I: Measuring Success

Lord Kelvin is often quoted as the reason why metrics are so important: “If you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it.” That statement is ultimately the purpose of web analytics. By enabling you to identify what works and what doesn’t from a visitor’s point of view, web analytics is the foundation for running a successful website. Even if you get those decisions wrong, web analytics provides the feedback mechanism that enables you to identify mistakes quickly.

In Part I, you will learn the following:

Chapter 1 Why Understanding Your Web Traffic Is Important to Your Business

Chapter 2 What Methodologies Are Available

Chapter 3 Where Google Analytics Fits

Chapter 1: Why Understanding Your Web Traffic Is Important to Your Business

Web analytics is a thermometer for your website—constantly checking and monitoring your online health. As a methodology, it is the study of online experience in order to improve it; without it, you are flying blind. How else would you determine whether your search engine marketing is effective at capturing your maximum potential audience or whether negative blog comments are hindering conversions? Is the user experience a good one, encouraging engagement and return visits, or are visitors bouncing off your website after viewing only a single page?

In Chapter 1, you will learn:

The kinds of information you can obtain from analyzing traffic on your siteThe kinds of decisions that web analytics can help you makeThe ROI of web analyticsHow web analytics helps you understand your web trafficWhere web analytics fits into your organization

Website Measurement—Why Do This?

It’s an obvious question and one that has an obvious answer —as provided by the 19th-century scientist Lord Kelvin, in my opening paragraph of Part I. But this question still comes up at initial meetings within an organization where website performance is being discussed. The idea of applying a measurement tool to assess a website’s effectiveness is an easy sell—every business owner/executive understands the importance of measurement, but “why do we need another measurement tool in our business?”

The most common fear is data overload—collecting more information just because you can inevitably leads to more confusion, not clarity. This is particularly the case when your website is operating as a silo, that is, not integrated with the rest of your business—a common problem if yours is a nontransactional website. Therefore, an important early step when deciding on a website measurement strategy is to define the value that web measurement can bring to your business. You can achieve this whether yours is a transactional site or not (see “Monetizing a Non-E-Commerce Website,” in Chapter 11, “Real-World Tasks”), though here I illustrate value using transactional examples because these are easier to grasp in the first instance.

Figure 1-1 shows the improvement a travel website gained by optimizing their online booking process—that is, the steps a visitor takes in order to book a chosen vacation. (In Google Analytics terminology, the booking process steps are referred to as a funnel—directly analogous to any sales funnel in your organization.)

Figure 1-1: Conversion rate change of a travel website before and after improvements. Line of best fit for guidance only.

As you can see, the changes to the booking process took several weeks to implement (the client was not confident enough to take on board all the recommendations at once!), but the cumulative impact was dramatic—a 383 percent increase in their booking conversion rate. Put in monetary terms, this equated to an annualized increase in revenue of $7.5 million.