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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
- Sprache: Englisch
Get the most out of the free Google Analytics service--and get more customers Google Analytics allows you to discover vital information about how end users interact with their Web sites by collecting vital data and providing tools to analyze it, with the intention of improving the end-user experience and, ultimately converting users into customers. This indispensible guide delves into the latest updates to the newest version of Google Analytics--3.0--and explains the concepts behind this amazing free tool. You'll discover what information to track, how to choose the right goals and filters, techniques for reading Google Analytics reports and graphs, and, most importantly, how to compile this data and use it to improve your Web site and attract more potential customers. * Takes an in-depth look at Google Analytics 3.0 and walks you through the possibilities it offers * Explains how to read Google Analytics reports and graphs so that you can compile this data and use it to improve your Web site and attract more users * Shares techniques for converting end users into customers * Features tips and suggestions for getting the information you need from Google Analytics reports and then converting that information into actionable tasks you can use With Google Analytics, Third Edition, you&'ll be well on your way to retrieving the information you need to convert visitors to your site into customers! Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.
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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011
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Table of Contents
Cover
Title
Copyright
Dedication
About the Authors
About the Tech Editor
Credits
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Overview of the Book and Technology
How This Book Is Organized
Who Should Read this Book
Tools You Will Need
Moving On
Part I: Getting Started with Google Analytics
Chapter 1: What’s New in Google Analytics
Two Years Equals Lots of Changes
Betas Galore
Chapter 2: Why Analytics?
What Are Analytics?
What Google Analytics Is Not
Chapter 3: Creating Your Analytics Account
First, You Need a Google Account
Signing Up for Google Analytics
Adding Tracking Code to Your Pages
Google Analytics on Secure Pages (https)
Navigating Analytics
Chapter 4: The Settings Dashboard
Analytics Settings
Web-Site Profiles
User Management
Chapter 5: Account Dashboard Basics
Navigating from the Dashboard
Standard Dashboard Modules
Sorting Data with Segmentation
Working with Date Ranges
Part II: Analytics and Site Statistics: Concepts and Methods
Chapter 6: E-commerce Concepts and Methods
What Works in E-commerce
Understanding Your Customers
What Measurements Matter
Chapter 7: Basic Metrics and Concepts
Identifying People and Not-People
Visits and Visitor Metrics
Visit Duration
Bounces and Single-Page Visits
Traffic Metrics
Chapter 8: Setting Up E-commerce
Enabling E-commerce within Your Profile(s)
The Google Analytics E-commerce Code
General E-commerce Coding Guidelines
E-commerce Tracking on Subdomains and Separate (Third-Party) Domains
E-commerce Tracking with Google Checkout; Other E-commerce Platforms
Tracking Other E-commerce Platforms
Part III: Advanced Implementation
Chapter 9: Advanced Dashboard Features
Creating Special-Purpose Dashboards
Suggested Dashboards for Specific Roles
Creating Custom Reports
Chapter 10: Filtering Analytics Data
Using Filters to Further Segment Visitors
A Short Lesson in Regular Expressions
A Slightly Longer Lesson on Regular Expressions
Managing Filters
Advanced Filters
Chapter 11: Setting Goals
Understanding Goal-Setting
Monetizing Goals
Setting Up Goals
Measuring Goals That Result in Conversions
And a Couple More…
Chapter 12: Funneling Visitors to Their Destination
What’s a Funnel and Why Is It Important?
Establishing Funnels
Tracking Funnel Results
Chapter 13: Google AdWords Integration
Why Sync in the First Place?
Syncing Your Google AdWords and Analytics Accounts
Special Cases and the GCLID
Tracking E-mail, Banner, and Other Non-AdWords Marketing
The AdWords Report Section
Other Reports Displaying AdWords and Non-AdWords Data
Chapter 14: Hacking Google Analytics
A Review of Subdomain/Cross-Domain Tracking
Setting up Duplicate Profiles
Why Create Duplicate Profiles?
Filtering Out Internal Traffic
Other Neat (Advanced) Filters
Tracking PDF (and Other) File Downloads
Customizations with the Google Analytics Tracking Code
Tracking Coupons and Discounts (E-commerce)
Tracking Social Media
Part IV: The Reports
Chapter 15: Analyzing Visitors
Visitors Overview
Benchmarking
Map Overlay
New vs. Returning
Languages
Visitor Trending
Visitor Loyalty
Browser Capabilities
Network Properties
User Defined
Chapter 16: Traffic Sources
What Traffic Analysis Can Tell You
Traffic Sources Overview
Direct Traffic
Referring Sites
Search Engines
All Traffic Sources
AdWords
Keywords
Campaigns
Ad Versions
Chapter 17: Content Overview
Determining the Value of Web-Site Content
Content Overview
Additional Content Reports
Chapter 18: Site Search
Configuring Your Profile(s)
Site Search Overview (Metrics)
Site Search Reports
The Philosophy of Site Search
Why Are People Searching on My Web Site in the First Place?
Chapter 19: Event Tracking
Why Bother with Event Tracking?
Implementing Event Tracking
Tracking File Downloads as Events
Can Events Be Tracked as Goals?
Event Tracking Reports
Using Events in Advanced Segments
Chapter 20: E-Commerce Tracking
Ecommerce Overview
Total Revenue
Conversion Rate
Average Order Value
Product Performance
Transactions
Visits to Purchase
Days to Purchase
Appendix A: Where To Go from Here
Google Resources
Google Analytics Blogs
Index
End User License Agreement
Guide
Cover
Table of Contents
Begin Reading
List of Illustrations
Chapter 1: What’s New in Google Analytics
Figure 1-1: Motion Charts are another way to visualize your data segments and dimensions to spot trends you might not otherwise see.
Figure 1-2: Controls allow you to start and stop the motion chart and change other visual elements.
Chapter 2: Why Analytics?
Figure 2-1: Client-side data collection takes place between the browser and the remote data collection server.
Figure 2-2: Server-side data collection takes place when a browser requests a page or file from a web server.
Chapter 3: Creating Your Analytics Account
Figure 3-1: Google wants your e-mail address, your location, and a password to create an account.
Figure 3-2: To sign up, click the Sign Up Now link.
Figure 3-3: Enter your general information here.
Figure 3-4: Enter your contact information here.
Figure 3-5: The Analytics tracking code must be added to every page of your web site that you want to track.
Figure 3-6: Analytics has many dashboards. This one controls your profile settings.
Figure 3-7: Your account number and the page tracking code are important elements to know.
Figure 3-8: Each web site that you track with Google Analytics has its own account listing.
Figure 3-9: Tracking status is displayed on the Profile Settings page.
Figure 3-10: The Tracking Code page contains additional tracking information about your web site.
Figure 3-11: You’ll find your most frequently used reports in the Dashboard.
Figure 3-12: Each level of navigation leads you deeper into collected data.
Figure 3-13: Customize the Dashboard by adding the reports you use most often.
Figure 3-14: A confirmation message lets you know the report has been added.
Figure 3-15: Reports can be e-mailed to others in one of four formats.
Chapter 4: The Settings Dashboard
Figure 4-1: The main Google Analytics dashboard
Figure 4-2: The Website Profiles menu contains up to five different profiles.
Figure 4-3: You can give other people access to your Google Analytics profiles.
Figure 4-4: Adding a new profile takes only a few seconds.
Figure 4-5: The Tracking Status screen shows status information and tracking code.
Figure 4-6: The pencil icon indicates that you can change the web-site profile name.
Figure 4-7: Delete the text in the textbox and replace it with the desired profile name.
Figure 4-8: Use the sorting buttons to separate all web-site profiles from starred web-site profiles.
Figure 4-9: You can edit profile settings for several categories from this page.
Figure 4-10: Confirm deletion of a profile before the process is complete.
Figure 4-11: The User Manager lets you control who can access your account.
Figure 4-12: To add a new user, enter some simple information and click Finish.
Figure 4-13: Set user permissions in this drop-down menu.
Figure 4-14: You’re prompted to confirm that you want to delete users from your program.
Chapter 5: Account Dashboard Basics
Figure 5-1: Customize the dashboard to meet your specific needs.
Figure 5-2: This report is an overview of how visitors interact with your site.
Figure 5-3: In this report, learn how many visitors came to your site during a given time.
Figure 5-4: See where your visitors are coming from with the Map Overlay.
Figure 5-5: This report shows from where traffic came to your site.
Figure 5-6: Content Overview tells which pages on your site are most popular.
Figure 5-7: In the Site Usage report you can view top-level information or drill down for more details.
Figure 5-8: Additional display options for the graph are located on the tab above the graph.
Figure 5-9: Compare metrics against metrics or against the site average for a clearer picture of site usage.
Figure 5-10: Adding reports to your dashboard is as easy as clicking a button.
Figure 5-11: When the pointer changes you can grab and move the report module.
Figure 5-12: Drag your report to its new location.
Figure 5-13: Segmenting your analytics data is one way to learn more about visitor behavior.
Figure 5-14: Create a custom advanced segment using the segment creator.
Figure 5-15: Choose a condition and value to further define the dimension or metric selected.
Figure 5-16: Add an “and†statement to further define the size of a segment.
Figure 5-17: Manage and edit advanced segments from this page.
Figure 5-18: The new location for date-range capabilities
Figure 5-19: Expand the date-range capabilities by clicking the drop-down menu.
Figure 5-20: Select two sets of date ranges to compare.
Figure 5-21: Comparative date ranges are shown as overlapped graphs.
Figure 5-22: The Timeline feature gives you a different view of your date ranges.
Chapter 8: Setting Up E-commerce
Figure 8-1: E-commerce profile settings
Chapter 9: Advanced Dashboard Features
Figure 9-1: An example executive dashboard
Figure 9-2: A suggested marketing dashboard
Figure 9-3: An example webmaster dashboard
Figure 9-4: An example small-business dashboard
Figure 9-5: An example of a content-focused dashboard
Figure 9-6: An example of an e-commerce dashboard
Figure 9-7: An example of a dashboard for local business only
Figure 9-8: Use the report creation page to create a custom report for your specific data needs.
Figure 9-9: Give your custom report a title that’s descriptive to you.
Figure 9-10: Click the desired metric and drag it to an available metrics column on the table.
Figure 9-11: Next, add an attribute to the Dimension row.
Figure 9-12: The report preview looks exactly as the finished report will look.
Figure 9-13: The Custom Reporting Overview page is where you’ll find all the custom reports that you’ve created.
Chapter 10: Filtering Analytics Data
Figure 10-1: The Filter Manager dashboard is where you create, manage, and delete your Analytics filters.
Figure 10-2: The Create New Filter page is where you start creating both predefined and custom filters.
Figure 10-3: New filters appear in the Existing Filters box.
Figure 10-4: Exclude traffic from your own IP like this.
Figure 10-5: In the site profile you can see the order in which filters are applied to data.
Figure 10-6: Rearrange the order in which filters are accessed.
Figure 10-7: Additional options on the custom-filter menu
Figure 10-8: An example search-and-replace filter
Figure 10-9: The basis of a lookup table filter
Figure 10-10: The custom filter is located in the Filter Type drop-down menu.
Figure 10-11: Advanced filters use a combination of input data and RegEx to produce the output.
Figure 10-12: You can cull your fields from many possible sources.
Figure 10-13: Your nearly finished filter.
Figure 10-14: An advanced filter for an advanced user (congratulations)!
Figure 10-15: Filter in search engine traffic.
Figure 10-16: Filter out CPC traffic.
Figure 10-17: Confirm that you want to delete the selected filter.
Chapter 11: Setting Goals
Figure 11-1: A simple lead-acquisition goal
Figure 11-2: The goal value for each lead goes in the Goal Value field.
Figure 11-3: If you’re tracking sources, you can see where people are coming from.
Figure 11-4: Source of returning traffic holds key to returning-visitor value.
Figure 11-5: What’s your CPM?
Figure 11-6: Results show a moderate degree of disloyalty.
Figure 11-7: Track revenue on single pages (or groups of pages) using AdSense channels.
Figure 11-8: From this screen you can turn your new channel on and off or delete it.
Figure 11-9: Use channel controls to select channels to show in report.
Figure 11-10: A two-day report for the
On the Edge
channel of advertising
Figure 11-11: The
On the Edge
channel by day
Figure 11-12: Create goals in the Conversion Goals and Funnel menu.
Figure 11-13: Create a goal to track on the Goal Settings page.
Figure 11-14: Once created, goals appear on your Profile Settings page.
Figure 11-15: Make your changes on the Goal Settings screen.
Figure 11-16: The Goals Overview report is a snapshot of the metrics available.
Figure 11-17: The Goal Detail report adds details on conversions and abandonment.
Figure 11-18: The Total Conversions report shows how many goal conversions occur each day.
Figure 11-19: The Conversion Rate report shows conversion percentages by day.
Figure 11-20: View the pages that led to a conversion in the Goal Verification report.
Figure 11-21: Reverse Goal Path shows how users reached goal-conversion pages.
Figure 11-22: The Goal Value report shows the daily value of goal conversions.
Chapter 12: Funneling Visitors to Their Destination
Figure 12-1: The number of visitors who start the defined path to a goal conversion is rarely the same number who complete that goal.
Figure 12-2: The Goal Settings page is where you’ll find the form needed to create a funnel for your goal.
Figure 12-3: Fill in the fields of the Define Funnel form to create a funnel for the goal you have set (or are setting).
Figure 12-4: The Goal Abandoned Funnels report shows how often visitors abandon a funnel before conversion.
Figure 12-5: The Funnel Visualization report shows how visitors travel through a funnel.
Chapter 13: Google AdWords Integration
Figure 13-1: Syncing AdWords and Analytics
Figure 13-2: Destination URL Auto-tagging and AdWords Cost Data
Figure 13-3: Google Analytics URL Builder
Figure 13-4: An AdWords Campaign report
Figure 13-5: The Clicks tab in the AdWords campaign report
Figure 13-6: AdWords keywords
Figure 13-7: The Keyword Positions report
Figure 13-8: The TV Campaigns report
Chapter 14: Hacking Google Analytics
Figure 14-1: Include filter by hostname
Figure 14-2: Excluding two IP addresses
Figure 14-3: Creating a Regular Expression for a range of IP addresses
Figure 14-4: Writing the hostname in front of the request URI
Figure 14-5: Goal Setup for your downloadable (PDF) file
Chapter 15: Analyzing Visitors
Figure 15-1: Visitors Overview highlights important numbers in the Visitors report section.
Figure 15-2: There is hidden functionality within the structure of a report.
Figure 15-3: Compare two metrics using the Graph Mode options.
Figure 15-4: Visitor Segmentation provides a quick glance at segmentation data.
Figure 15-5: Technical Profile shows an overview of users’ technical capabilities.
Figure 15-6: Benchmarking reports enable you to compare your site to other, similar sites in your industry vertical.
Figure 15-7: Before you can access the Benchmarking report, you must enable data sharing with Google and others.
Figure 15-8: The Benchmarking report lets you compare your web site to the industry average.
Figure 15-9: Map Overlay shows the countries, regions, states, and cities visitors come from.
Figure 15-10: Use this report to separate new visitors from ones who visited earlier.
Figure 15-11: The Language report shows you the set language of visitors.
Figure 15-12: The Visits report is for all visitors, new or returning.
Figure 15-13: Amazon uses cookies to personalize the content it serves to visitors.
Figure 15-14: This report shows how many site visitors are absolute unique visitors.
Figure 15-15: The Pageviews report shows how many pages were viewed in a specified period.
Figure 15-16: Average Pageviews shows the average number of pages per visitor.
Figure 15-17: The Time on Site report is another indicator of site-content quality.
Figure 15-18: Bounce Rate data shows the percentage of visitors who saw only one page.
Figure 15-19: The Visitor Loyalty report shows you how often visitors return to your site.
Figure 15-20: The Recency report shows you how often visitors return to your site.
Figure 15-21: Time visitors spend on your site is detailed in the Length of Visit report.
Figure 15-22: The Depth of Visit report shows how many pages your visitors go to.
Figure 15-23: The Browsers report shows browsers used to access your site.
Figure 15-24: The Browser Version detail shows the final level of browser data.
Figure 15-25: The Operating Systems report tells you the operating systems visitors use.
Figure 15-26: The Browsers and OS report shows the combinations visitors use.
Figure 15-27: The Screen Colors report shows what color-rendering standards visitors use.
Figure 15-28: Use the Screen Resolutions report to find out how visitors see your site.
Figure 15-29: The Flash Versions report suggests what Flash version to use for openers.
Figure 15-30: Learn how many of your visitors have Java support.
Figure 15-31: The Network Location report provides useful information about visitors.
Figure 15-32: The Hostnames report shows which URLs users accessed to reach your site.
Figure 15-33: The Connection Speeds report shows what level of Internet service visitors use.
Figure 15-34: The User Defined report displays data according to your segmentation requirements.
Chapter 16: Traffic Sources
Figure 16-1: The Traffic Sources Overview is a quick snapshot of your site traffic.
Figure 16-2: Export reports in various formats to share with management and colleagues.
Figure 16-3: Direct Traffic shows how well the public knows your site or brand.
Figure 16-4: See where your site traffic originates in the Referring Sites report.
Figure 16-5: The Search Engines report shows how search engines affect site traffic.
Figure 16-6: The All Traffic Sources report shows where all your site traffic originates.
Figure 16-7: Learn what sources drive traffic to your web site in this report.
Figure 16-8: The Source/Medium detail report shows how these are connected.
Figure 16-9: The AdWords Campaigns report tells you how campaigns perform.
Figure 16-10: The most telling data about AdWords campaigns is on the Clicks tab.
Figure 16-11: The AdWords Ad Groups report shows specifics for a single campaign.
Figure 16-12: Click a keyword in the Ad Groups report to go deeper into the data.
Figure 16-13: The AdWords Keyword report lets you look at data in yet another way.
Figure 16-14: In the Keyword Positions report you can see where your keyword ads appear.
Figure 16-15: The TV Campaigns report lets you see how your AdWords TV campaigns are faring.
Figure 16-16: The Keywords report shows what keywords are drawing visitors to a site.
Figure 16-17: The Campaigns report quickly shows you how all your campaigns are performing.
Figure 16-18: The Campaign detail report shows a specific campaign.
Figure 16-19: The Source dimension enables you to see what sources drive traffic.
Figure 16-20: The Medium dimension enables you to see which ad medium performs best.
Figure 16-21: The Ad Versions report tracks different versions of an ad campaign.
Figure 16-22: The URL Builder tool helps create tags for different campaigns.
Chapter 17: Content Overview
Figure 17-1: The Content Overview shows the most important data on your content.
Figure 17-2: The Navigation Summary shows how the page fits into the path users took through your site.
Figure 17-3: Examine navigation data for any page on the site using the Content menu.
Figure 17-4: Use the Analyze menu to see navigation data that’s filtered differently.
Figure 17-5: Use the Entrance Paths report to learn where visitors started and ended.
Figure 17-6: The Entrance Sources report shows where users came to each page from.
Figure 17-7: The Entrance Keywords report shows which keywords bring in the most traffic.
Figure 17-8: The Top Content report shows the pages users came to directly most often.
Figure 17-9: The Content by Title report shows content metrics by title, not URL.
Figure 17-10: The Content Drilldown report shows how valuable subpages are.
Figure 17-11: The Top Landing Pages report shows where visitors landed—and bounced.
Figure 17-12: The Top Exit Pages report shows the pages from which visitors leave most often.
Figure 17-13: The Site Overlay report shows how many clicks each link gets.
Figure 17-14: The quality of your links is displayed in the pop-up box.
Chapter 18: Site Search
Figure 18-1: Site Search configuration options
Figure 18-2: Using trackPageview to collect the search query
Figure 18-3: Site Search Overview metrics
Figure 18-4: Site Usage report
Figure 18-5: The Search Terms report
Figure 18-6: Destination Pages report
Figure 18-7: Site Search Trending report
Figure 18-8: Comparing the top 10 keywords and the top 10 search terms
Chapter 19: Event Tracking
Figure 19-1: The Event Tracking Overview report
Figure 19-2: The Event Tracking Categories report
Figure 19-3: The Event Tracking Actions report
Figure 19-4: The Event Tracking Labels report
Figure 19-5: The Event Tracking Trending report
Figure 19-6: The Event Tracking Hostnames report
Figure 19-7: Setting up an advanced segment with events
Figure 19-8: An advanced segment applied to Google Analytics
Chapter 20: E-Commerce Tracking
Figure 20-1: View basic e-commerce metrics on the Ecommerce Overview report.
Figure 20-2: View revenues by day in the Total Revenue report.
Figure 20-3: The Conversion Rate report tells how many visitors reach conversion goals.
Figure 20-4: The Average Order Value report breaks down average order value over time.
Figure 20-5: The Product Overview report shows sales and revenues over time.
Figure 20-6: Click the name of a product to drill down into additional data about it.
Figure 20-7: The Product SKUs report shows which SKUs generate revenue.
Figure 20-8: The Product SKUs detail report shows additional drill-down data for that SKU.
Figure 20-9: The Product Categories report shows which categories sell best.
Figure 20-10: The Transactions report shows each transaction in a given timeframe.
Figure 20-11: The Transaction detail report adds information about each transaction.
Figure 20-12: The Visits to Purchase report shows how many visits before a purchase.
Figure 20-13: The Time to Purchase report tells how many visits precede a purchase.
List of Tables
Chapter 12: Funneling Visitors to Their Destination
Table 12-1: Funnel URLS
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Google Analytics™
Third Edition
Jerri Ledford
Joe Teixeira
Mary E. Tyler
Google Analytics™ Third Edition
Published byWiley Publishing, Inc.10475 Crosspoint BoulevardIndianapolis, IN 46256www.wiley.com
Copyright © 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published simultaneously in Canada
ISBN: 978-0-470-53128-0
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.
Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: The publisher and the author make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales or promotional materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every situation. This work is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. The fact that an organization or Web site is referred to in this work as a citation and/or a potential source of further information does not mean that the author or the publisher endorses the information the organization or Web site may provide or recommendations it may make. Further, readers should be aware that Internet Web sites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read.
For general information on our other products and services please contact our Customer Care Department within the United States at (877) 762-2974, outside the United States at (317) 572-3993 or fax (317) 572-4002.
Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books.
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Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley logo, Wrox, the Wrox logo, Wrox Programmer to Programmer, and related trade dress 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.
For Chip, because your interest is genuine, and you help more than you know. Thanks so much, Chipper!
About the Authors
Jerri Ledford has been a freelance business-technology writer for more than 10 years, with more than 1,000 articles, profiles, news stories, and reports online and in print. Her publishing credits include: Intelligent Enterprise, Network World, Information Security Magazine, DCM Magazine, CRM Magazine, and IT Manager’s Journal. She has also written a number of books. When not writing, she divides her time between Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee, hiking, gardening, playing with electronic gadgets, and playing “tech support” for friends and family.
Joe Teixeira is currently the manager of web Intelligence at MoreVisibility, an online advertising agency. Joe has earned Google Analytics Authorized Consultant (GAAC) status for his company, which is an elite group of companies worldwide that provides support with the Google Analytics product. Joe also has a Google Analytics Individual Qualification (GAIQ), and is a Top Contributor on the Google Analytics Help Forum. He is also the sole contributor for his company’s “Analytics and Site Intelligence” blog, and has appeared as a guest author this year on the official Google Analytics blog.
Mary Tyler is a professional technology journalist and a former software and web developer. She specializes in open source, enterprise software, intellectual property, motorcycles, and anything Macintosh.
About the Tech Editor
Todd Meister has been developing and using Microsoft technologies for more than 10 years. He’s been a technical editor on more than 50 titles ranging from SQL Server to the .NET Framework. Besides editing technical titles, he is an assistant director for computing services at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana.
Credits
Acquisitions Editor
Scott Meyers
Project Editor
William Bridges
Technical Editor
Todd Meister
Senior Production Editor
Debra Banninger
Copy Editor
Sadie Kleinman
Editorial Director
Robyn B. Siesky
Editorial Manager
Mary Beth Wakefield
Production Manager
Tim Tate
Vice President and Executive Group Publisher
Richard Swadley
Vice President and Executive Publisher
Barry Pruett
Associate Publisher
Jim Minatel
Project Coordinator, Cover
Lynsey Stanford
Compositor
Maureen Forys, Happenstance Type-O-Rama
Proofreader
Nancy Carrasco
Indexer
Robert Swanson
Cover Illustration
Michael E. Trent
Acknowledgments
My new co-author, Joe Teixeira, deserves a great deal of praise. He jumped into this project and worked quickly to help ensure that you get the best possible book. Joe, thanks so much for all you’ve done. It’s been great working with you, and I hope we’ll have the opportunity to work together again soon.
We couldn’t have created the book without the help of some very dedicated Googlites. To David Salinas, Brett Crosby, Christina Powell, Michael Mayzel, and Brandon McCormick, thanks for all your help and for pointing us in the right direction. And thanks to my very own Google Guy, Alex Ortiz. Your passion for and belief in Google Analytics comes through, my friend. I am more appreciative than you’ll ever know for your answers and your efforts in ensuring that there are great screenshots for our readers to see.
There’s also an entire team of people at Wiley who helped make the book possible. My thanks go to Todd Meister, our amazing (and super-patient) tech editor, Scott Meyers, and Mary Beth Wakefield (wonderful, helpful people), and Bill Bridges, who deals with my writerly eccentricities as if they were normal! It’s because of his patience and attention to detail that my thoughts seem to flow well. Thanks to all of you (and to anyone I may have overlooked).
—Jerri Ledford
Thank you, Jerri, for this wonderful opportunity to co-author this book with you.
—Joe Teixeira
Introduction
In late 2005, Internet behemoth Google purchased a leading web analytics firm, Urchin, and began offering the service free of charge to certain well-placed technology publications’ web sites. Not long after that, Google launched the Google Analytics service based on the Urchin software, offering it to the general public as a completely free service. Response was incredible—overwhelming—and a quarter of a million new accounts were created overnight, with an estimated half to three-quarters of a million web sites tracked.
All of this caught Google unprepared, and people had to be turned away because there weren’t enough resources to support everyone who wanted an account. Google began taking e-mail addresses for interested webmasters who couldn’t be accommodated at launch.
How did this happen? How did Google so grossly underestimate the demand for Google Analytics? After all, at $200/month, Urchin did okay—it had good software and a relatively low price point for the industry, but it wasn’t exactly inundated with clamoring customers.
Apparently, assessments based on Urchin’s sales weren’t exactly accurate. The demand for real analytics is huge, and the price tag of free is exactly the price tag that draws in the masses.
But what are analytics? Most webmasters know enough to realize that they need analytics. But do they know how to read them? How to use them? Are analytics just site stats on steroids, or can they be used by the average webmaster, who is a layman and not a professional, to improve the performance of a web site?
The answer is that, with Google Analytics, the average webmaster can use analytics to improve the performance of a site. And well over a half-million users have figured this out, using Google Analytics.
So many users have turned to Google Analytics and begun to make suggestions about the program that the design team at Google decided it was time to implement some new features and make the application easier to use. And that’s how the Google Analytics 2.0 application was born. Then, continuing in that vein, Google Analytics has consistently been changed and updated as features have been added, changed, and removed.
The purpose of this book, Google Analytics, Third Edition, is to explain the concepts behind analytics and to show how to set up Google Analytics, choose goals and filters, read Google Analytics reports and graphs, and use that information to improve your web-site performance. Advanced information about topics such as filtering, goal setting, and e-commerce tracking, and more in-depth explanations of some of the theories of analytics, are among the new features added.
We provide numerous examples of the ways companies use these reports to do business better, and we illustrate how some of the functions of Google Analytics work. We have even included examples of web sites and usage patterns to help you understand the value of the reports and capabilities available through Google Analytics.
Overview of the Book and Technology
Google Analytics is a powerful tool for measuring the success of your web site, your marketing efforts, and your products and services. With that in mind, we strive to give you all the tools you’ll need to begin using the program immediately if you’ve never used it before. That includes explanations of how to get started using Google Analytics, as well as chapters on how to find and use reports.
We’ve also tried to explain some of the concepts of analytics and what each of the Google Analytics reports means, in the grand scope of your business. Where it’s appropriate, we tell you how these reports apply to our personal web sites; and where it’s not, you’ll find both fictional examples and examples of real companies that use Google Analytics.
What’s new in this book is the advanced material that you’ll see as well as fairly extensive updates to all the material that was included in previous versions. We include information that takes you beyond just getting into Google Analytics. Of course, you’ll learn all about what’s new with the program, but more important, you’ll learn how to use the application for more in-depth analysis of your web-site statistics.
Using the advanced techniques and tips provided throughout the book, you’ll be able to drill down deeper, find more specific information, and use information in ways that you never have before when using Google Analytics. There’s even an entire chapter of advanced material to help you hack Google Analytics to gain still more value from the application.
How This Book Is Organized
The book is divided into several parts. Each part is arranged to help you understand Google Analytics better. In later parts, the chapters correspond with the Google Analytics user interface. Here’s a quick map of what each part contains:
Part One: Getting Started with Google Analytics
—This part contains five chapters. After an opening Chapter 1, Chapter 2 introduces you to the concept of analytics and the reasons why you should use Google Analytics. And then, in Chapter 3, we help you get started using Google Analytics by walking you through setting up your Google Analytics account. Chapters 4 and 5 help you understand how to navigate through Google Analytics and make the best use of the dashboard features that the program has.
Part Two: Analytics and Site Statistics: Concepts and Methods
—Any web-site Analytics can be a little intimidating if you don’t understand the metrics that are used. To help end confusion, this part of the book is designed to give you an overview of the concepts and measurement methods that are used in Google Analytics. Chapter 6 gives you the basic concepts of e-commerce. Chapter 7 walks you through the basic analytics concepts and metrics that you might find confusing. And Chapter 8 will help you get e-commerce reporting set up so that you’ll have access to all that Google Analytics has to offer.
Part Three: Advanced Implementation
—There’s much more to making use of Google Analytics than just setting it up and reading reports. Google Analytics offers a variety of features that let you really dig into information about your web-site visitors so you can reach more visitors and reach them better. In Chapter 9 you’ll learn all about the advanced dashboard features that Google Analytics has and how you can use those features to your advantage. Chapter 10 helps you to understand and begin using filters to learn more about your site visitors. And in Chapter 11 you’ll find everything you need to know about setting goals. Then in Chapter 12 we extend your knowledge of goals by introducing you to goal funnels and showing you how to set them up. AdWords integration is covered in Chapter 13, and Chapter 14 offers a wealth of hacking information that will allow you to extend the capabilities of Google Analytics.
Part Four: The Reports
—You’ll find most of the information on reports in Google Analytics in the Reports section of the book. Each of these chapters follows the structure of the reports. Chapter 15 covers the visitor reports. Chapter 16 walks you through the traffic reports. Chapter 17 teaches you how to use the content reports. In Chapter 18 you’ll learn all you need to know about the site search reports, and in Chapter 19 the event tracking reports are explained. Finally, in Chapter 20 you’ll learn about the e-commerce reports. Through all of these chapters, we’ll explain the reports in addition to giving you insight on how to best use them to improve your web-site traffic.
We suggest that whether you’re interested in Google Analytics for marketing, content optimization, or e-commerce, you should skim through the whole book first. Even if you don’t want to know which of the pages on your site sells the most gadgets, there is value to be found in these reports, and we show you where to find it.
Once you’ve read through the book, keep it near your computer and use it to refresh your memory on how to use a report or where to find it.
As noted earlier, each report is included in a chapter that corresponds with a report section in Google Analytics. We’ve tried to maintain a structure similar to that of Google Analytics to make it easier for you to find everything. If you don’t know where something is located in the program, look at the illustrations in the book. They’ll show you exactly where we found it.
One more note about the illustrations you’ll find here. You may notice that some of them have no data. We’ve done this on purpose. Chances are that there will be areas of Google Analytics where data is not yet being collected. This is because you have to set up your web site and some of the reports and then give them time to collect data.
We’re leaving these blank figures just so you can see what they might look like before you have data in them. In the majority of illustrations, however, you’ll find varying amounts of data. In some cases, examples of micro-businesses are used, and in others we’ve included examples of larger businesses. Again, this is to help you understand the varying levels at which Google Analytics can be used to improve the effectiveness of your site.
Who Should Read this Book
Do you have a web site or blog that you’d like to track? Can you edit the HTML on that site? Are you web savvy but not an analytics expert? If that’s you, you’ve got the right book. We tried to explain everything in the following pages in the context of how small-business owners and micro-business owners might need to use it. These concepts apply to home-business owners as well. There is a wide audience for Google Analytics. Our aim is to help the beginning and intermediate users become experts, so you’ll find information in these pages that runs the gamut from very basic to quite advanced.
Depending on where you are with your Google Analytics account, you might be able to skim over certain sections of the book. For example, if you’ve already set up a Google account and your Analytics account, you can glance at Chapter 3 without paying too much attention to detail. If you haven’t completed one or both of those actions, however, you probably shouldn’t skip that chapter.
If you want, you can even skim through the whole book first and then come back and focus on only the sections that apply directly to your needs at this time. The great thing about Google Analytics is that it’s designed to be a lasting resource. You can always pick the book up later if your needs change.
Tools You Will Need
As with any report that you create, there are a few supplies that you’ll need along the way. With Google Analytics, it’s fairly simple. First, you need a web site to track. It can be your own web site, your company web site, or even a blog site, so long as you have access to the HTML code for that site. You have to have access to the code because you need to alter the code so that Google can track your site.
In addition to your site, you’ll also need access to the Google Analytics program. Signing up for Google Analytics is easy; you’ll learn all about it in Chapter 3.
You may also want a Google AdWords account. It’s not essential to have, but part of the true power in Google Analytics lies in its integration with Google AdWords. If you don’t have an account and haven’t even considered using one, read through Chapter 13 and then go ahead and sign up for the account if you think it will be useful. It takes only a minute, and you can deactivate your AdWords campaigns at any time.
Finally, throughout the book you’ll find references to books on certain topics. These are not requirements, just suggestions that you may find useful if you want to know more about that specific topic. The books recommended here can be found through Amazon.com or any local bookstore. We’ve tried not to include anything obscure or hard to find.
Moving On
Enough. We’ve covered everything you’re likely to want to know about using the book, so it’s time to get on with it.
Have fun, and thanks for reading!
Part IGetting Started with Google Analytics
As analytics applications go, Google Analytics is probably the easiest (or at least one of the easiest) available in the market today. But don’t let the simplicity of Google Analytics fool you. There’s a lot of power to harness using Google Analytics, if you know how.
Before you can harness anything, though, you need to have a solid place to stand. That’s what we’re going to provide for you in this part of the book, from an application standpoint. In the chapters that follow, you’ll learn why you want to use Google Analytics, and how to set up an account and install the tracking code. We’ll also include some basics about navigating Google Analytics to help you move around as we dig deeper and deeper into the capabilities of Google Analytics in coming chapters.
If you’re an advanced Google Analytics user, this part of the book will probably all be review for you. Feel free to skip ahead (or even just to skip around and skim through what’s in these chapters for a refresher). Those who are new to Google Analytics probably need this information and should keep reading.
Chapter 1What’s New in Google Analytics
Google, like every other software company on the planet, spends a lot of time and money on R&D (Research and Development). So it should come as no surprise that Google’s programs, like Google Analytics, are in a constant state of flux. Even parts of the program that you might think are there to stay can change, literally overnight.
Google has gotten better about giving a little warning about elements of programs that disappear, but the company will still roll out a feature overnight and not let anyone even know it’s in the works until it hits the page. Google Analytics is no exception to that rule, and in the year and a half since the last update of this book, lots of things have changed. Some reports have disappeared, others have turned up, and features have changed considerably.
Fortunately, the changes all seem to be good. There are still features that would be nice to have that don’t exist in Google Analytics, but given time they’ll probably turn up, and if they don’t, then it’s not likely that you’ll miss them too much.
Two Years Equals Lots of Changes
So what’s changed since the last edition of this book was released in August 2007? Here’s the quick and dirty view of some of the most important changes:
Google Analytics Data Export API
: Google Analytics made the Data Export API available to all users. This API (which stands for Application Programming Interface) allows programmers to deeply customize Google Analytics to work with other applications, or even as a customized stand-alone. The Data Export API isn’t covered in this book, because it’s most useful to developers and very advanced users.
AdSense and Analytics Integration
: Google Analytics and Google AdSense are now linked together so that you can view the success of your AdSense campaigns.
Cost Data Settings
: You can now change your cost data settings in Google Analytics. That’s covered in Chapter 13, “AdWords Integration.”
Motion Charts
: Google Analytics now has a feature called Motion Charts that gives you a new way to view the data that’s available in your Analytics account. Motion Charts are covered in a little more depth later in this chapter.
TV Ad Metrics
: Now you can track your television ads using Google Analytics. You’ll learn more about this new capability in Chapter 16, “Traffic Sources.”
Advanced Segmentation
: The segmentation capabilities of Google Analytics have improved dramatically over the last couple of years. Advanced segmentation improves segmentation capabilities that previously existed and provides new features that allow for the creation of customized segmentation. These new features are covered in Chapter 5, “Account Dashboard Basics.”
Custom Reporting
: Ever wish you could have access to reports that are more tailored to your specific needs? Now you can. Google Analytics has added a custom reporting feature that allows you to create reports that are truly meaningful to you specifically. You’ll learn more about custom reporting in Chapter 9, “Advanced Dashboard Features.”
Event Tracking
: Event Tracking is now a section of reports that are available to help you track events that take place on your site. You’ll learn the basics of event tracking in Chapter 19.
Improved Training and Help Files
: Previously, the Google Analytics help files were frustrating at best. Trying to find something was like being caught in a House of Mirrors. Everywhere you turned, everything looked the same and there was no way to find the “real” answer to your question. Thankfully, that’s changing. And in Appendix A, you’ll find additional information about using these files and other resources that are available to you.
Lots of other, smaller changes have also been implemented. For example, the Site Overlay report has changed in appearance and the Reverse Goal Path report is going away soon (possibly even before you read this text).
Betas Galore
One thing Google is known for is its beta program. Google has often released a program or feature to the general population “in beta” to get feedback before releasing the final project. In fact, some programs have remained in beta for years.
Google Analytics isn’t one of those programs, of course, but it does have features that are still in beta. These features are new additions since the last edition of this book, and it’s not clear how long they’ll remain in beta.
What that means to you is that these features are subject to change over time. They could even go away—completely go away. It will depend on how well users adopt the features, and what changes are suggested for improvements.
Custom Reporting
One of the beta features available in Google Analytics is custom reporting. This feature allows you to create reports that are customized to your specific needs. For example, if you want to know how your keywords are performing in specific countries, you can set up a custom report for that.
You can create a custom report using a metric of your choice, or you can use metrics and dimensions (which are segments of your site visitors) to further define analytics that are meaningful to your specific business or even to a goal that you’ve developed to move your business forward.
Creating custom reports is covered in Chapter 9. There you’ll learn how to create a custom report that tells you exactly what you want to know about your site visitors.
Advanced Segmenting
A segment of your site visitors is basically a division or group. For example, you can segment visitors by visits that come from iPhones or even by returning visitors only. This gives you the control to look only at specific groups of visitors to see how they affect your web-site traffic or interact with your web site.
Google Analytics has always had segmenting capabilities, but the advanced segments that are offered now are a different type of grouping, brought on in part by the changing definitions surrounding analytics.
What used to be segments (campaign, keyword, language, browser, etc.) are now called dimensions. That’s because a dimension can be a general source of data (a broad category), but it’s not really going to mean much to you until you can dice it down and apply it to a specific group of visitors (or a segment).
The most useful data that you’ll be able to pull from Google Analytics will be data that can be applied specifically to give you a clear picture of your average site visitor. So using segments along with dimensions is the key to teasing the value out of analytics.
One of the coolest features of the advanced segments available through Google Analytics is that you can create customized advance segments to help you break your web-site traffic down into groups that are meaningful to your business objectives.
Chapter 5 features more information about advanced segmentation and how to create advanced segments.
Motion Charts
The last new feature that should be pointed out right from the beginning is the addition of motion charts to some reports in Google Analytics. These charts are not well-suited to all the reports; however, for reports like New vs. Returning, you can use a motion chart to get a clear picture of the trends that multiple dimensions might indicate.
For example, using the motion chart, you can see how your keywords perform by conversion rate. This helps you to see which keywords are responsible for the most visits and which are responsible for the most conversions.
Motion Charts are automatically enabled on the reports for which they are available, as shown in Figure 1-1. Just click the Visualize button at the top of the report to switch to the Motion Chart. (You can always switch back by clicking on the name of the report again.)
Figure 1-1: Motion Charts are another way to visualize your data segments and dimensions to spot trends you might not otherwise see.
As the name suggests, Motion Charts are actually moving charts. The movement helps you to see how your chosen metrics change over time. This allows you to see patterns where you might otherwise miss them. To activate the movement in the Motion Chart, click the Start arrow, shown in Figure 1-2.
Figure 1-2: Controls allow you to start and stop the motion chart and change other visual elements.
You can also add labels to the bubbles on the chart by placing a checkmark next to the label that you would like to view in the scrolling list on the right side of the chart. Checking the Trails box will also add lines to the chart, making the paths of the bubbles clearer and easier to read, but note that the trails only show up for the bubbles for which you’ve enabled active labels.
You can also switch from the bubble visual to a bar graph, if that works better for you. You’ll find the tab that switches between the two types of graphs in the upper-right corner above the graph.
In true Google fashion, too, there’s more information hidden behind the labels of the bubbles in the Motion Chart. If you place your cursor over a label, you’ll see the exact number (for whatever measurement you’ve chosen) appear on the X and Y axis.
The Motion Chart is just another way for you to visualize metrics that you’re already tracking. And looking at something from a different aspect often helps you to see more clearly a picture that you might otherwise miss.
In all, Google Analytics has lots of new features to offer—features that are designed to help you get more from the metrics that you’re monitoring. And learning how to use these metrics won’t take you long. Like every other aspect of Google Analytics, there’s more than meets the eye, but once you start using any of the new features, you’ll find that they’re worth the time it takes to get used to them.
Chapter 2Why Analytics?
If you’ve picked up this book, you probably have at least a general idea of what Google Analytics is and does. You know it’s a free application that Google makes available for web-site owners to measure their web-site traffic with. What you might not know is exactly why you want or need to measure this traffic. They have said that if you want to succeed, you should measure.
Yes, they have said this. And they advise you to know who visits your site. And obviously if they tell you to do it, then you should. But do they tell you why? (And for that matter, who are they and why do they think they know so much?)
We’ll explain a little about why you should use Google Analytics as you go through this chapter. And try to give you some examples along the way. As for who they are …
Let’s just say that they’re the people who have “been there, done that,” and they might even know a little about what they’re telling you to do. So let’s assume for now that they are correct and that you need Google Analytics, and then let’s figure out why.
What Are Analytics?
According to the most basic definition, analytics are software programs that generate metrics. Metrics are measurements. And measurements can help you benchmark desired results. Now that may seem as clear as mud, but if you’ll hang in for just a bit, maybe we can strain some of the mud out together and make the picture a little clearer.
Clarity starts with understanding a bit about what measurements are available for your web site and how those measurements are arrived at. Essentially, what most analytics applications measure is how many people come to your site, how they get there, and what they do while they’re there. Of course that’s not nearly as simple as it sounds, but it’s a good basic description.
What’s most important in that description may be the part about figuring out how those measurements are arrived at. And this is where things start to get a little complicated. First, there are a couple of ways to collect data:
Client-side data collection:
Uses data that’s installed on the user’s computer to collect data about that user’s movements on the Web.
