4 CollectingactionabledatawithGoogleAnalytics4.1 Creatinganaccount Settingupanaccount

• Totrackawebsite,apieceofJavaScriptcodemustbeaddedtoeverypageofthesite(atthetop,beforetheclosingheadtag).

• Totrackamobileapp,amobilesoftwaredevelopmentkit(SDK)mustbedownloaded.ThereisanSDKforAndroidaswellasiOS.

CheckingtheimplementationAssoonasthecodeisadded,datashouldappearintheReal-Timereports.

Othertaggingscenarios

• Onewaytoaddthetrackingcodeisviaatagmanagementtool.• Someplatformsprovidepluginstosimplifythetaggingprocess.

4.2 Understandingtheaccountstructure Accounts

AGAaccountissimplyalogicalwayforabusinesstogroupdatafromallofitsdigitalassetstogether.Therearealsocertainsettingsthatcanbeappliedtotheentireaccount,e.g.managingtheuserswhohaveaccess.PropertiesEachaccountcancontainoneormore“properties”thatindependentlycollectdata.EachpropertyisassignedauniquetrackingIDthattellsGAexactlywhichdatashouldbecollected,storedandreportedtogether.Typically,uniquepropertiesarecreatedforallofabusiness’digitalassets.Thedatafordifferentpropertiesisstoredandreportedindifferentplaces,sodatacannotbeviewedinaggregateformultipleassets.Roll-upreportingInordertoviewdatafortwoassetstogether,theimplementationmustbeadjustedtocollectallthedatainasinglepropertyusingthesametrackingcodeacrossbothassets.Thisiscommonlyknownas“roll-upreporting”.ViewsForeachproperty,thereistheoptiontocreatedifferentviewsofthedata.Aviewcandefineauniqueperspectiveofthedatafromaparentproperty.BestpracticesforcreatingviewsUsuallymultipleviewsarecreatedforeachpropertyinordertoprotectandmanageallthedata.Eachpropertyshouldhaveatleastthreeviews:

1. Thedefault“unfilteredview”.Thisisthebackupforthedata.2. A“masterview”whichhasalloftherequiredsettingsapplied.3. A“testview”fortestingchangestotheconfiguration.

OnceGAhasprocessedthedata,thedatacanneverbechanged,andadeletedviewcannotberecovered,soabackupviewisveryimportant.Whenanewviewiscreated,GAdoesnotautomaticallycopyoveranyhistoricaldatafromtheoriginalview.Onlynewdatawillbeaccessible.

4.3 Settingupbasicfilters Howfilterswork

Duringprocessing,GAappliesfilterstotherawdatacollectedfromawebsiteorapp.Thistransformeddataiswhatappearsinthereports.SettingupfiltersFiltersapply“conditions”todatawithinaview.Iftheconditionistrue,thenGAtakessometypeofaction;otherwise,GAdoesnotdoanything.Filters,likeallconfigurationsettings,cannotbeappliedretroactively.1. Selectthefilterfieldtoidentifythetypeofdatatoevaluateorchange.2. Specifythecondition,orsetofrules,forthefilter.3. ChoosetheactionthatGAshouldtakeiftheconditionistrue.PredefinedandcustomfiltersPredefinedfiltersaretemplatesforsomeofthemostcommonfilters;customfiltersallowcustomizationoffilterstofitalmostanysituation.Therearemanytypesoffilters,forexampleexcludefilters,includefilters,lowercasefilters,uppercasefilters,andotheradvancedfiltersthatallowfilterfieldstoberemoved,replacedandcombinedinmorecomplexways.UsingmultiplefiltersMultiplefilterscanbeappliedtothesameview.Butfiltersareappliedintheorderthattheyappearintheconfigurationsettings,soordermatters.FilterlibraryOnceafilteriscreateditisaddedtotheFilterLibraryforthewholeaccount,meaningthatfilterscanbereusedandappliedtoanyview.

4.4 Settingupgoalsandecommerce Macroandmicroconversions

GoalsareimportantformappingthedatainGAtotheKPIsofabusiness.Macroconversionsarethemainbusinessobjectives.Microconversionsaretherelationshipbuildingactionsthatleaduptoamacroconversion.

ConversionmetricsOnceGoalsareenabled,therearenewmetricsavailable,suchasnumberofconversionsandconversionrate.ThesemetricscanbefoundinalmosteveryreportinGA,whichallowsusefulsegmentationofconversiondata.TypesofGoalsinGoogleAnalyticsTherearefourtypesofGoals,allofwhichareconfiguredattheviewlevel.Eachgoalisabitdifferenttosetup,buttheyallexisttotrackconversions.Goalsthattrackuseractions1. ADestinationGoalisapagethatusersseewhentheycompletean

activity.Aconversionistriggeredwhenauserviewsthespecifiedpage.Foramobileapp,aScreenViewGoalwouldbeusedinstead.

2. AnEventGoalistriggeredwhenauserdoesaspecificaction.SitesneedtohaveEventTrackingimplementedtousethistypeofGoal.

Goalsthatmeasureuserengagement3. APagesperVisitGoalistriggeredbasedonnumberofpagesviewed.4. ADurationGoalistriggeredbasedonthedurationofauser’svisit.

SettingupdestinationgoalsWhenselecting“Destination”astheGoaltype,thecorrectGoalpagemustbespecified.ItisnotnecessarytoentertheentireURL–justtherequestURI(thesectionafterthedomainorhostname).TherearethreechoicesfortheURIMatchType:“Beginswith”,“Equals”,and“RegularExpression”.GoalverificationTheGoalverificationtoolprovidesaquickwayoftestingtheGoalsettingsbeforecompletingtheset-up.Clicking“VerifythisGoal”givesanexpectedconversionratefortheGoal,basedonthenewsettings,forthelast7days.GoalvalueTheGoalvaluefieldallowsspecificationofamonetaryvalueforaGoal.ThismeansGAcaninterprettheGoalvalueasactualrevenue,andthuscalculatekeymetricssuchasadvertisingROIandaveragepervisitvalue.GoalfunnelsForeachDestinationGoal,afunnelcanbesetup.Afunnelisthedistinctprocessthatusersareexpectedtocompletepriortoconversion,definedbythespecificpagesleadinguptotheGoalpage.Thereisnomatchtypeforthefunnelsteps–GAusesthesamematchtypeusedontheGoalpage.

Multi-ChannelFunnelsreportsInadditiontoconversionmetrics,settingupGoalsalsoactivatesMulti-ChannelFunnelsreports.ForeachGoal,thesereportsshowauser’spathtowardconversionacrossmultiplevisitstothesite.

EcommercereportingForsitesthatsellproductsorservicesonline,GAecommercereportingcanbeusedtotracksalesactivityandperformance.Ecommercereportsshowtransactions,revenue,andmanyothercommerce-relatedmetrics.Settingupecommercetracking1. First,enableEcommercereportingwithintheGAwebsiteview.2. Second,addtheGATrackingCodetothepaymentreceiptpage.3. Finally,addsomeadditionalecommercetrackingcodetothereceipt

pageinordertocapturethedetailsofeachtransaction.Goaltrackingvs.ecommercetrackingThereisonekeydifferencebetweenGoalconversionsandecommercetransactions:aGoalconversioncanonlybecountedonceduringavisit,butanecommercetransactioncanbecountedmultipletimesinavisit.Goalvaluesshouldonlybesetfornon-ecommerceGoals.ThisisbecauseGoalvalueiscumulative:iftransactionsaretrackedwiththeecommercetrackingcode,GAwilladdthetransactionvaluetotheGoalvalue.

4.5 Collectingcampaigndata CampaignandtrafficdimensionsinGoogleAnalytics

GAcapturesanumberofdimensionsaboutwhereeachusercamefrom.Twoofthesearesourceandmedium.Thesourceisthereferralwebsite,andthemediumisthemechanismbywhichtheuserarrivedatthesite.GAdetectsthreedefaultmediumswithoutanycustomization:

• “Organic”representstrafficthatcomesfromunpaidsearchresults.• “Referral”isfortrafficfromanother(non-searchengine)website.• “None”appliestousersthatcomedirectlytothesiteusingtheURL.

CustomcampaigntrackingthroughlinktaggingCampaignsaretrackedinGAusinglinktagging.Thisinvolvesaddingextrainformationtothelinksthatusersclickontogettothesite.Thisextrainformationisstoredincampaigntags,andoverwritesthedefaultcategorizationthatwouldnormallybeassignedtotheincomingtraffic.Therearefivecampaigntagsthatcanbeusedwhentrackingacampaign.Thefirstthreeshouldalwaysbeused,butthefinaltwoareoptional:

• The“Source”and“Medium”tagsoverwritethedefaultvalues.• The“Campaign”tagisusedtonamethemarketingcampaign.• The“Term”tagidentifiesthekeywordforpaidsearchcampaigns.• The“Content”tagisusedtodifferentiateversionsofanadvert.

TheGoogleAnalyticsURLbuilderTheURLbuildertoolexplainshowtoconstructcampaigntagscorrectly.1. TousetheURLbuilder,firstenterthedestinationURLfortheadvert.2. Next,entervaluesforeachcampaigntag(e.g.source,medium,name).3. Useconsistentspellingandcapitalization,sinceGAiscase-sensitive.4. Useconsistentvaluesforthespecificmediums,forexample“cpc”for

cost-per-click,“social”forsocialmedia,and“display”fordisplayads.

Auto-taggingforGoogleAdWordsAdWordsauto-taggingautomaticallypopulatesthefivecampaigntagdimensions.Additionally,auto-taggingimportsdimensionsspecifictoAdWordscampaigns,likekeywordmatchtypeandadvertplacementdomain.Bydefault,AdWordsauto-taggingisenabledforGAaccounts.ChannelsinGoogleAnalyticsChannelsinGAprovideawaytoorganizerule-basedsegmentsoftrafficbasedoncampaign,keyword,source,ormedium.GArecognizesseveralchannelsautomaticallyaspartofthepredefinedBasicChannelGrouping:

• Direct• Email• Social• Organic• Display

Additionalchannelscanalsobedefinedaccordingtoindividualneeds,andcanbeaddedtoeithertheBasicgroupingortocustomgroupings.CampaignandtrafficreportinginGoogleAnalytics1. TheAllTrafficreportshowsdataaccordingtoSourceandMedium.

Thisincludesalltaggeddimensionsaswellasthedefaultmediums.

2. TheCampaignsreportshowsdataforcampaigns.ItincludesdataforeachtaggedcampaignaswellasforeachAdWordscampaign.

3. ThePaidSearchkeywordsreportshowsthetaggedkeywords.

4. InformationfromtheContenttagisalsoavailable.Toseetrafficby

Content,thePrimaryDimensionneedstobechangedtoAdContent.