Or…Confessions of a Google Analytics Junkie Loren Bast Founder, Bellusi LLC

Who this is for, what I’ll cover Who this is for Regular GA users – not complete newbies Not afraid to monkey with Javascript Don’t be afraid to ask questions! What I’ll cover Various hacks, little-known or understood features, etc. Not a feature-by-feature walkthrough Designed to give you ideas, not be an exact roadmap for things you should do Can easily fall into the trap of “give a boy a hammer…”

Who this is for

Regular GA users – not complete newbies

Not afraid to monkey with Javascript

Don’t be afraid to ask questions!

What I’ll cover

Various hacks, little-known or understood features, etc.

Not a feature-by-feature walkthrough

Designed to give you ideas, not be an exact roadmap for things you should do

Can easily fall into the trap of “give a boy a hammer…”

On the agenda Setup Profiles and Filters Tracking User Segments Event Tracking A/B Testing Goals & Ecommerce Other Tracking Tools Other Resources Q&A

Setup

Profiles and Filters

Tracking User Segments

Event Tracking

A/B Testing

Goals & Ecommerce

Other Tracking Tools

Other Resources

Q&A

To consider There are two basic visitors to your site Humans Bots Keep this in mind throughout the presentation

There are two basic visitors to your site

Humans

Bots

Keep this in mind throughout the presentation

Ensuring Correct Installation

Setup & Installation Ensure your script installation is correct Use ga.js (new in late 2007) instead of urchin.js Urchin is being phased out; new GA features aren’t available for it Are all your pages tagged? Check Traffic Sources/Referring Sites Are your own site pages coming up with high page counts? You may have problems – untagged pages are linking to tagged ones Tag not installed properly Page load issues – the tag doesn’t get called consistently Until this is fixed – your clickpath analysis, entrances/exits, etc., will be skewed

Ensure your script installation is correct

Use ga.js (new in late 2007) instead of urchin.js

Urchin is being phased out; new GA features aren’t available for it

Are all your pages tagged?

Check Traffic Sources/Referring Sites

Are your own site pages coming up with high page counts? You may have problems – untagged pages are linking to tagged ones

Tag not installed properly

Page load issues – the tag doesn’t get called consistently

Until this is fixed – your clickpath analysis, entrances/exits, etc., will be skewed

Your domain as high referrer Page 1 (tracked) Page 3 (tracked) What GA tracks 1 Exit (Possibly 1 bounce) 1 Less Pageview Any user campaigns are lost – session is over! What GA tracks 1 Entrance (from a referring domain – yours!) Possibly 1 bounce, if user leaves after this page) Page 2 (untracked)

What GA tracks

1 Exit

(Possibly 1 bounce)

1 Less Pageview

Any user campaigns are lost – session is over!

What GA tracks

1 Entrance (from a referring domain – yours!)

Possibly 1 bounce, if user leaves after this page)

Referring Sites

Profiles Profiles provide different views of data Have multiple sites? Track them using different profiles under one account Have multiple distinct areas of one site? Subdomains, subfolders, etc. Use profiles to make analysis easier Want to track different data on the same site? Set up profiles as if you’re tracking two distinct domains ( Hack #1 )

Profiles provide different views of data

Have multiple sites?

Track them using different profiles under one account

Have multiple distinct areas of one site?

Subdomains, subfolders, etc.

Use profiles to make analysis easier

Want to track different data on the same site?

Set up profiles as if you’re tracking two distinct domains ( Hack #1 )

Tracking one site, different data Useful as a “sandbox” Create a new profile as if you were going to track a different domain, but enter in the same domain Create new variables for multiple scripts var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker(“UA-<accountID>-1”); pageTracker._trackPageview(); var pageTracker2 = _gat._getTracker(&quot;UA-<accountID>- 2 &quot;); pageTracker2 ._trackPageview( <different data> ); What do you mean, <different data>?

Useful as a “sandbox”

Create a new profile as if you were going to track a different domain, but enter in the same domain

Create new variables for multiple scripts

var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker(“UA-<accountID>-1”);

pageTracker._trackPageview();

var pageTracker2 = _gat._getTracker(&quot;UA-<accountID>- 2 &quot;);

pageTracker2 ._trackPageview( <different data> );

What do you mean, <different data>?

Before we go on… Skim the Google Analytics Tracking API http://code.google.com/apis/analytics/docs/gaJS/gaJSApi.html A handful of calls are useful, but the one we care about most (right now) is: _trackPageview (opt_pageURL) Allows you to specify the URL (or data) that Google Analytics records, not the actual page URL ( Hack #2 ) For example: pageTracker._trackPageview(“I_like_marshmallows”)

Skim the Google Analytics Tracking API

http://code.google.com/apis/analytics/docs/gaJS/gaJSApi.html

A handful of calls are useful, but the one we care about most (right now) is:

_trackPageview (opt_pageURL)

Allows you to specify the URL (or data) that Google Analytics records, not the actual page URL ( Hack #2 )

For example:

pageTracker._trackPageview(“I_like_marshmallows”)

The page URL http://foodsite.com/Recipes/Meat-and-Poultry/Chicken/Main.aspx pageTracker._trackPageview(); What you want Google to track in your sandbox profile http://foodsite.com/FoodCategoryPage pageTracker2 ._trackPageview( “/FoodCategoryPage” ); Tracking different data

The page URL

http://foodsite.com/Recipes/Meat-and-Poultry/Chicken/Main.aspx

pageTracker._trackPageview();

What you want Google to track in your sandbox profile

http://foodsite.com/FoodCategoryPage

pageTracker2 ._trackPageview( “/FoodCategoryPage” );

Profile Filters Profile filters Discard data you don’t care about Data that is filtered out is PERMANENTLY deleted from that profile Therefore, create one completely unfiltered, raw profile to keep complete data records Name it such that people know not to use it unless they know what it’s for (ie, “Danger – Raw Data!”) What data should you discard? Anything that: Makes analysis harder Shouldn’t be seen by certain users Examples: Corporate IP addresses (internal traffic), subdomains or subfolders with pages that don’t interact much with each other, etc.

Profile filters

Discard data you don’t care about

Data that is filtered out is PERMANENTLY deleted from that profile

Therefore, create one completely unfiltered, raw profile to keep complete data records

Name it such that people know not to use it unless they know what it’s for (ie, “Danger – Raw Data!”)

What data should you discard? Anything that:

Makes analysis harder

Shouldn’t be seen by certain users

Examples:

Corporate IP addresses (internal traffic), subdomains or subfolders with pages that don’t interact much with each other, etc.

Profile filters Aggregate data to canonicalize your pages Make Google think that many individual pages show up as one…so… These pages: www.yourdomain.com/page.php ?ref=1 www.yourdomain.com/page.php?ref=2 www.yourdomain.com/page.php?ref=3 Are really one page www.yourdomain.com/page.php Filter out the “ref” tag, and Google Analytics will treat the three pages as one

Aggregate data to canonicalize your pages

Make Google think that many individual pages show up as one…so…

These pages:

www.yourdomain.com/page.php ?ref=1

www.yourdomain.com/page.php?ref=2

www.yourdomain.com/page.php?ref=3

Are really one page

www.yourdomain.com/page.php

Filter out the “ref” tag, and Google Analytics will treat the three pages as one

Now: a word about SEO Real world example of how to use the hacks When you’re creating filters for you…think about your visiting bots They don’t know that “ref” in querystrings should be filtered out, so… www.yourdomain.com/page.php?ref=1 www.yourdomain.com/page.php?ref=2 www.yourdomain.com/page.php?ref=3 Are still 3 distinct pages to them (with diluted “link juice”)* * Standard SEO caveats apply: should the pages be crawled in the first place? Are those URLs only generated by “humans”, not bots? Etc., etc.

Real world example of how to use the hacks

When you’re creating filters for you…think about your visiting bots

They don’t know that “ref” in querystrings should be filtered out, so…

www.yourdomain.com/page.php?ref=1

www.yourdomain.com/page.php?ref=2

www.yourdomain.com/page.php?ref=3

Are still 3 distinct pages to them (with diluted “link juice”)*

* Standard SEO caveats apply: should the pages be crawled in the first place? Are those URLs only generated by “humans”, not bots? Etc., etc.

Canonical fixes Real world example, cont’d Google has worried about this…and in Feb 2009, came out with a fix – canonical tagging http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/canonical-link-tag/ Put this tag in your header on pages that need it: <link rel=&quot;canonical&quot; href=&quot;http://yourdomain.com/page.php&quot;/> Track it using: One of your “sandbox” GA accounts (hack #1) pageTracker2._trackPageview(<canonical_URL>) (hack #2)

Real world example, cont’d

Google has worried about this…and in Feb 2009, came out with a fix – canonical tagging

http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/canonical-link-tag/

Put this tag in your header on pages that need it:

<link rel=&quot;canonical&quot; href=&quot;http://yourdomain.com/page.php&quot;/>

Track it using:

One of your “sandbox” GA accounts (hack #1)

pageTracker2._trackPageview(<canonical_URL>) (hack #2)

One last word about profiles Profiles can be used for much more than analytics Example – to give your partners, customers, vendors reporting on only “their” portion of your site

Profiles can be used for much more than analytics

Example – to give your partners, customers, vendors reporting on only “their” portion of your site

User Segments Two types of segmentation Session based (“who visited from the last email newsletter?”) Cookie based (“what do ‘registered’ users do on their repeat visits to the site?”)

Two types of segmentation

Session based (“who visited from the last email newsletter?”)

Cookie based (“what do ‘registered’ users do on their repeat visits to the site?”)

Session based Single visit tracking Tracking visitors from emails, banner ads, URL shorteners (for Tweeting, etc.) Let’s do a sample exercise I’m about to tweet about my latest blog post! How can I track visits from it in GA? (Oh, and I used a a tinyURL to my post)

Single visit tracking

Tracking visitors from emails, banner ads, URL shorteners (for Tweeting, etc.)

Let’s do a sample exercise

I’m about to tweet about my latest blog post! How can I track visits from it in GA?

(Oh, and I used a a tinyURL to my post)

Campaign Tracking TinyURL, and other URL shorteners Use 301 (302, 307) redirects 301s don’t show as referrers (but rather direct traffic) Only way to track is via campaign tagging (or distinct landing page not easily reachable in other ways) Campaign Tracking http://www.google.com/support/googleanalytics/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=55578 Helps you build: http://mydomain.com/cool-blog-post? utm_source =twitter_followers& utm_medium =tweet& utm_campaign =Tweets_for_April

TinyURL, and other URL shorteners

Use 301 (302, 307) redirects

301s don’t show as referrers (but rather direct traffic)

Only way to track is via campaign tagging (or distinct landing page not easily reachable in other ways)

Campaign Tracking

http://www.google.com/support/googleanalytics/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=55578

Helps you build:

http://mydomain.com/cool-blog-post? utm_source =twitter_followers& utm_medium =tweet& utm_campaign =Tweets_for_April

Tracking this tweet, and all future ones Create an Advanced Segment

Create an Advanced Segment

Apply the segment to reports

Being diligent about campaign tagging Yes, it can be tedious Some URL shorteners have APIs, so you can automatically add your tracking tags to them (I haven’t experimented with them)

Yes, it can be tedious

Some URL shorteners have APIs, so you can automatically add your tracking tags to them

(I haven’t experimented with them)

Cookie Based User Segments For tracking repeat users, visitors to special areas of your site, etc. Members vs. non-members, purchasers vs. window shoppers, etc. Use _setVar(newVal), from the API ( Hack #3 ) A visitor to http://mysite.com/soccer.php _setVar(“soccerFan”) A visitor to http://mysite.com/baseball.php _setVar(“baseballPlayer”)

For tracking repeat users, visitors to special areas of your site, etc.

Members vs. non-members, purchasers vs. window shoppers, etc.

Use _setVar(newVal), from the API ( Hack #3 )

A visitor to http://mysite.com/soccer.php

_setVar(“soccerFan”)

A visitor to http://mysite.com/baseball.php

_setVar(“baseballPlayer”)

Cookie based tracking A gotcha! _setVar overwrites any previous value So a user visits: First 30 “soccer” pages – gets tagged as “soccerFan” 31 st page is a baseball page – gets overwritten as “baseballPlayer” Solutions Use sparingly Minimize the values you set, pages you set things on Ie, only set a user as a “purchaser” if she gets to the “order confirmation page”; no other page on the site sets anything Or…

A gotcha!

_setVar overwrites any previous value

So a user visits:

First 30 “soccer” pages – gets tagged as “soccerFan”

31 st page is a baseball page – gets overwritten as “baseballPlayer”

Solutions

Use sparingly

Minimize the values you set, pages you set things on

Ie, only set a user as a “purchaser” if she gets to the “order confirmation page”; no other page on the site sets anything

Or…

Multiple values … store more than one value in the variable Append multiple values in a var using Hack #4 User value becomes: “/eyes=blue/hair=blonde” Using superSetVar <3 rd party script> See http://tinyurl.com/6cg4j4 Implementation (after installing script): superSetVar('/eyes=blue'); superSetVar('/hair=blonde');

… store more than one value in the variable

Append multiple values in a var using Hack #4

User value becomes: “/eyes=blue/hair=blonde”

Using superSetVar <3 rd party script>

See http://tinyurl.com/6cg4j4

Implementation (after installing script):

superSetVar('/eyes=blue'); superSetVar('/hair=blonde');

Event tracking STILL in “beta” Event tracking measures non-pageview elements: Any Flash-driven element, like a Flash website, or a Flash Movie player (“Play”, “Stop”, “Rewind”) Embedded AJAX page elements Page gadgets File downloads Load times for data And more…

STILL in “beta”

Event tracking measures non-pageview elements:

Any Flash-driven element, like a Flash website, or a Flash Movie player (“Play”, “Stop”, “Rewind”)

Embedded AJAX page elements

Page gadgets

File downloads

Load times for data

And more…

Event tracking methods _trackEvent() method parameters _trackEvent(category, action, optional_label, optional_value) category (required) The name you supply for the group of objects you want to track. action (required) A string that is uniquely paired with each category, and commonly used to define the type of user interaction for the web object. label (optional) An optional string to provide additional dimensions to the event data. value (optional) An integer that you can use to provide numerical data about the user event.

_trackEvent() method parameters

_trackEvent(category, action, optional_label, optional_value)

category (required)

The name you supply for the group of objects you want to track.

action (required)

A string that is uniquely paired with each category, and commonly used to define the type of user interaction for the web object.

label (optional)

An optional string to provide additional dimensions to the event data.

value (optional)

An integer that you can use to provide numerical data about the user event.

Event tracking example #1 How many people played my video? pageTracker._trackEvent(&quot;Videos&quot;, &quot;Play&quot;, &quot; Obama sez stuff&quot;);

How many people played my video?

Event tracking example #2 When people use “search” on my site – how many click the first result returned? The second? Search for “cookies” Results: <#1> Chocolate chip <#2> Oreos <#3> Thin mints In onclick event for each pageTracker._trackEvent(“SearchResults&quot;, “clicks”, <result #>);

When people use “search” on my site – how many click the first result returned? The second?

Search for “cookies”

Results:

<#1> Chocolate chip

<#2> Oreos

<#3> Thin mints

In onclick event for each

pageTracker._trackEvent(“SearchResults&quot;, “clicks”, <result #>);

Event tracking Screenshot of menu

Screenshot of menu

If Event Tracking isn’t turned on Request it: http://code.google.com/p/gaforflash/wiki/EventTrackingRequest Or, better yet – become a GA beta tester http://code.google.com/apis/analytics/docs/tracking/trustedTester.html

Request it:

http://code.google.com/p/gaforflash/wiki/EventTrackingRequest

Or, better yet – become a GA beta tester

http://code.google.com/apis/analytics/docs/tracking/trustedTester.html

In the meantime… _trackPageView() is just Javascript ( Hack #5 ) can be called on any Javascript event – clicks, mouseovers, etc. Use one of your sandbox accounts (hack #1), and start getting creative about “URLs” that represent event actions _trackPageView(“/theDudeClickedTheThing”);

_trackPageView() is just Javascript ( Hack #5 )

can be called on any Javascript event – clicks, mouseovers, etc.

Use one of your sandbox accounts (hack #1), and start getting creative about “URLs” that represent event actions

_trackPageView(“/theDudeClickedTheThing”);

Up Next A/B testing Goals and ecommerce Other Analytics tools Other resources

A/B testing

Goals and ecommerce

Other Analytics tools

Other resources

Optimizing your content

Optimizing your content

A/B Testing Two types available Pure A/B Entire pages/funnels are different Multi-variate Multiple modules within a single page change Both test page variations with to determine the best option to drive users to a single goal, or conversion page

Two types available

Pure A/B

Entire pages/funnels are different

Multi-variate

Multiple modules within a single page change

Both test page variations with to determine the best option to drive users to a single goal, or conversion page

How to get to A/B

How to set it up

A/B in action

A/B When in doubt Choose pure A/B Pages/funnels are distinct http://mydomain/homeA.php http://mydomain/homeB.php OR http://mydomain.com/?page=a (page=b) Allows you to do much deeper content, user, and clickpath analysis What was the next most-visited page for “A” people? What was the bounce rate for “B” people? Etc.

When in doubt

Choose pure A/B

Pages/funnels are distinct

http://mydomain/homeA.php

http://mydomain/homeB.php

OR

http://mydomain.com/?page=a (page=b)

Allows you to do much deeper content, user, and clickpath analysis

What was the next most-visited page for “A” people? What was the bounce rate for “B” people? Etc.

Goals Use them! You want visitors to do something on your website Buy something Submit a form Click on an ad Etc., etc. Make goals for those “things” A goal is represented by a destination page (or action) Can assign a single $$ value to each goal

Use them!

You want visitors to do something on your website

Buy something

Submit a form

Click on an ad

Etc., etc.

Make goals for those “things”

A goal is represented by a destination page (or action)

Can assign a single $$ value to each goal

Faves.com example Each profile has multiple goals

Each profile has multiple goals

Goals  Ecommerce What if a goal can have multiple $$ values? Use ecommerce feature, even if you don’t have a traditional ecommerce site Use to assign a $$ value to any user behavior For example – a lead generation site A prospect submits your web form and gets a confirmation page He/she has become a “lead” worth $15, even though he never bought anything Track it using the ecommerce tags! “ Goals” feature is similar, but – If user behaviors can have multiple values, you’d have to set up a new goal for *each* value

What if a goal can have multiple $$ values?

Use ecommerce feature, even if you don’t have a traditional ecommerce site

Use to assign a $$ value to any user behavior

For example – a lead generation site

A prospect submits your web form and gets a confirmation page

He/she has become a “lead” worth $15, even though he never bought anything

Track it using the ecommerce tags!

“ Goals” feature is similar, but –

If user behaviors can have multiple values, you’d have to set up a new goal for *each* value

Ecommerce code On the “bling” page pageTracker._addTrans( &quot;1234&quot;, // order ID - required “ Mortgage Dept&quot;, // affiliation or store name “ 45.00&quot;, // total - required “ 0&quot;, // tax “ 0&quot;, // shipping “ San Diego&quot;, // city &quot;California&quot;, // state or province &quot;USA&quot; // country ); pageTracker._addItem( &quot;1234&quot;, // order ID - necessary to associate item with transaction “ 5678&quot;, // SKU/code - required “ Mortgage Lead&quot;, // product name “ Subprime&quot;, // category or variation “ 45.00&quot;, // unit price - required &quot;1&quot; // quantity - required ); pageTracker._trackTrans();

On the “bling” page

pageTracker._addTrans(

&quot;1234&quot;, // order ID - required

“ Mortgage Dept&quot;, // affiliation or store name

“ 45.00&quot;, // total - required

“ 0&quot;, // tax

“ 0&quot;, // shipping

“ San Diego&quot;, // city

&quot;California&quot;, // state or province

&quot;USA&quot; // country

);

pageTracker._addItem(

&quot;1234&quot;, // order ID - necessary to associate item with transaction

“ 5678&quot;, // SKU/code - required

“ Mortgage Lead&quot;, // product name

“ Subprime&quot;, // category or variation

“ 45.00&quot;, // unit price - required

&quot;1&quot; // quantity - required

);

pageTracker._trackTrans();

Airline site example In this example, no airline tickets were actually purchased on this website; the user simply indicated an intent to purchase by clicking on each link We still wanted to track the value of tickets that were potentially sold later, so we used the ecommerce feature of GA (not goals)

In this example, no airline tickets were actually purchased on this website; the user simply indicated an intent to purchase by clicking on each link

We still wanted to track the value of tickets that were potentially sold later, so we used the ecommerce feature of GA (not goals)

Other tools Omniture or WebTrends instead? In my opinion, GA is much better and less expensive Honorary mention: Clicktale Low cost usability analytics tool Tracks user mouse movement on your pages, gives you “videos” of what they’re doing http://www.clicktale.com

Omniture or WebTrends instead?

In my opinion, GA is much better and less expensive

Honorary mention: Clicktale

Low cost usability analytics tool

Tracks user mouse movement on your pages, gives you “videos” of what they’re doing

http://www.clicktale.com

Other resources Official Google Analytics Blog http://analytics.blogspot.com/ Unofficial Google Analytics Blog http://www.roirevolution.com/blog/ Google Analytics Knowledge base http://www.google.com/support/googleanalytics/

Official Google Analytics Blog

http://analytics.blogspot.com/

Unofficial Google Analytics Blog

http://www.roirevolution.com/blog/

Google Analytics Knowledge base

http://www.google.com/support/googleanalytics/

Questions? Loren Bast [email_address]

Loren Bast

[email_address]

Bots Google Analytics doesn’t track “normal” bot behavior (without hacking) “ Normal” bots don’t call javascript… but there are a few workarounds to track them Server side image pull of your GA image

Google Analytics doesn’t track “normal” bot behavior (without hacking)

“ Normal” bots don’t call javascript…

but there are a few workarounds to track them

Server side image pull of your GA image