This document provides tips for getting more value from a Google Analytics account, including tracking social media, emails, customizing dashboards, blocking internal traffic, setting up goals and funnels, improving website URLs, and linking Google AdWords accounts. Key recommendations include using tracking URLs to measure social media traffic, filtering reports to remove internal users, customizing dashboards to show important metrics, defining goals to understand website value, and linking AdWords to analyze paid search performance. The overall message is that taking these steps can provide deeper insights and accountability to optimize digital marketing efforts.
Google Analytics: Make Your Site Work Harder from MIMA Summit
1. Make Your Site W k H d
M k Y Si Work Harder
Simple Tips to Get More From Your Google Analytics Account
g y
Jeff Sauer
Three Deep Marketing
www.threedeepmarketing.com
651-789-7701
@jeffsauer
@threedeep
#mimasummit
6. It s
It’s on 50% of the world’s websites*
world s
*According to Google, Google Analytics is on 50% of the Alexa top 1 Million Websites
7. What can I do with Google Analytics?
• Track Social Media
• Track E il
T k Emails
• Customize Your Dashboards
• Block Internal Traffic
• Set Up Goals and Goal Funnels
• Website and URL Structure
• Link Adwords with Analytics
• Improve Site Search
• Segment Traffic
• Track Events
www.threedeepmarketing.com | @jeffsauer | @threedeep
9. Is Social Media Working?
Problem: W know we need to do Social
P bl We k dt d S i l
Media, so we have a presence on
Facebook and T itt
F b k d Twitter… but I have no
b t h
idea if this generates incremental visitors,
leads
l d or sales on my website
l b it
www.threedeepmarketing.com | @jeffsauer | @threedeep
10. Social Media Tracking
How Do I Track the Social Media Traffic To My Website?
www.threedeepmarketing.com | @jeffsauer | @threedeep
11. Step 1: Building a Tracking URL
Facebook or
Twitter or
LinkedIn
Google Analytics URL Builder: bit.ly/GAURLBuilder
12. Step 2: Use Your Tracking URL
Add your Tracking URL to each message
/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=so
cialmedia&utm_campaign=Twitterfeed
&utm_content=Twitter
13. Step 3: Segment Social Media Traffic
Create advanced segments to track social media visits
www.threedeepmarketing.com | @jeffsauer | @threedeep
14. Social Media Tracking in Action
Social Media
had 15
conversions
this month!
www.threedeepmarketing.com | @jeffsauer | @threedeep
15. Benefits of Tracking Social Media
Tracking Social Media in GA will:
• Help you understand how social media
visitors behave on your website
• Allow you to fine tune your messages to
match your goals
• Establish
E t bli h accountability f your social media
t bilit for i l di
campaigns and allow them to be compared
to other traffic sources
www.threedeepmarketing.com | @jeffsauer | @threedeep
17. Are emails generating revenue?
Problem: I know all about the open and
interaction rates of the emails I’m sending,
but I don’t know how much money they’re
generating.
How can I track the ROI of individual
emails, and my entire email program?
www.threedeepmarketing.com | @jeffsauer | @threedeep
18. Improperly Coded Email Traffic
Why does my email traffic show up as a referral or a
direct visit?
www.threedeepmarketing.com | @jeffsauer | @threedeep
19. Step 1: Add tracking to URLs
Using the URL builder, generate a unique tracking string for all URLs in your email. Add these to
your email as you would all URLs.
*If you link to a domain other than one you own, and you do not have access to that site’s
analytics, you do not need to add tracking to those URLs (i.e. Facebook, YouTube).
Google Analytics URL Builder: bit.ly/GAURLBuilder
20. Step 2: Filter site traffic by email
Select Campaigns from Traffic Sources
Filter by Medium
Look for ‘Email’ in the list
Select the Ecommerce tab to see revenue, goals tab to see goals
*Make sure ecommerce tracking is set up properly beforehand
www.threedeepmarketing.com | @jeffsauer | @threedeep
22. Benefits of Email Tracking
Tracking Email Marketing will:
• Assist in measurement of the ROI of your email
program in online retail
• Allow you to start determining the effectiveness of
your email campaigns RIGHT NOW
• Will not replace the reports provided by your ESP
(Email Service Provider), but it can enhance and
inform your email program with respect to:
• A/B testing
• Geographic campaign traction and penetration
• Consumer interest and preference
24. Right Metrics, Right Time
Problem: Wh I installed G
P bl When i t ll d Google l
Analytics, they created a dashboard for
me, b t th t d hb d d
but that dashboard doesn’t show me
’t h
the information that matters for MY
business and I d ’t h
b i d don’t have ti
time t di i
to dig in
and find what I need
www.threedeepmarketing.com | @jeffsauer | @threedeep
25. Typical Dashboard View
This information is easy to read, but what does it mean?
Is this good? Bad? Average?
g g
www.threedeepmarketing.com | @jeffsauer | @threedeep
26. Step 1: Add Reports to Dashboard
You can add any report or views to your custom dashboard!
www.threedeepmarketing.com | @jeffsauer | @threedeep
27. Step 2 (optional): Compare to Past
Add the “Compare to Past” feature for your analytics to
p
provide g
greater depth to y
p your reports
p
Pro Tip: You can also apply advanced segments,
report on goals and add e-commerce revenue to your
dashboard if they are applied to your report
28. Step 3: Email Dashboards
Once your dashboard is properly configured, you can share
with members of your organizations by sending the dashboard
directly to their inbox
Send as PDF to
Individuals, Other
Formats for automation
Send as often
as needed
www.threedeepmarketing.com | @jeffsauer | @threedeep
29. Customized Dashboard View
Compare last
month’s
th’
analytics with
current to
determine
growth and
th d
change
See where
sales are Discover if
coming from revenue is
and h
d how your increasing and
sales when orders
conversions are most likely
are to be placed
performing
f i
30. Benefits of Custom Dashboards
Customizing your dashboard will:
• P id you a quick overview of th
Provide i k i f the
performance of the metrics most important to
you business
your bus ess
• Can be emailed to you daily, weekly, monthly
and quarterly
• Can provide comparisons to performance in
previous days, weeks, months
• All
Allows for flexibility as your b i
f fl ibilit business grows
and changes
www.threedeepmarketing.com | @jeffsauer | @threedeep
32. Visitors Aren’t Really Visitors
Problem: E
P bl Everybody i our company
b d in
uses our corporate website as their
homepage and I’ not sure if our t ffi
h d I’m t traffic
reports are accurate
www.threedeepmarketing.com | @jeffsauer | @threedeep
33. Filter Internal Traffic
Is this really an accurate visitor count?
y
www.threedeepmarketing.com | @jeffsauer | @threedeep
34. Step 1: Find your IP address
Whatismyip.com
Whatismyip com
86.75.30.909
86 75 30 909
www.threedeepmarketing.com | @jeffsauer | @threedeep
35. Step 2: Filter out IP address
Company‐block.com
Choose the
profile you
want this
filter for
CompanyNo‐Block.com
Company‐Block.com
37. Benefits of Traffic Filtering
Filtering Internal Traffic will:
• Allow you to see exactly who visited your site
• Make reporting more actionable by showing a
true picture of what happened on your site
• Bring the best metrics to the forefront and
keep reporting on track
www.threedeepmarketing.com | @jeffsauer | @threedeep
39. What is the Value of my Website?
Problem: I have had this website for
years and I’m not sure if it is generating
new business for my company
www.threedeepmarketing.com | @jeffsauer | @threedeep
40. What does it mean?
All of this information
and I don’t know what
don t
it means!
41. Determine Your Goals
Examples of common website g
p goals include:
• Ecommerce Transactions
• Completion of a form (lead collection or
newsletter opt-ins)
• Visitors downloading a whitepaper or p
g p p product
brochure
• Visitor engagement ( g comment, adding or
g g (blog , g
editing a profile, time-on-site, pageviews)
www.threedeepmarketing.com | @jeffsauer | @threedeep
42. Step 1: Decide What to Measure
Product Locator Usage Tool Usage Time Spent on Site
Page Views
Site Registration
Sweepstakes Entry
43. Step 2: Map Conversion Process
Determine your path to success; your goal funnel
Paid Search Ad
We are offering 50% off on our
site! Take a look!
www.ourcompany.com
www ourcompany com
Thank you!
Pro Tip: Make sure that each
p
URL in the funnel is unique
45. Step 4: See Results
Visitors entering funnel step
Visitors abandoning funnel step
Where did
they go?
Why did they
leave?
46. Let’s Make it a Success
There is more than one path to success for
your website!
www.threedeepmarketing.com | @jeffsauer | @threedeep
47. Benefits of Goal Tracking
Defining and Tracking Goals will:
• Assist you in setting up funnels to determine
where visitors drop off on your site
• H l you establish value f actions t k on
Help t bli h l for ti taken
your website
• Allow you to report on the performance of
each individual traffic driver to your site
• Enable you to report on engagement metrics
y p g g
like time on site and total page views
• Let you report on up to 20 specific actions
www.threedeepmarketing.com | @jeffsauer | @threedeep
49. Page URLs Not User Friendly
Problem: Dynamic URLs don’t make any
sense when they show up in my Analytics
reports and it makes it really hard to do
www.threedeepmarketing.com | @jeffsauer | @threedeep
50. Step 1: Identify the Problem
These all look the same, I have no idea which page
is which?
www.threedeepmarketing.com | @jeffsauer | @threedeep
51. Step 2: Establish Page URL Structure
Your Site should have a URL structure that
reflects the pages, not query string ID's
– www.example.com/Products/Product.aspx?ProductId
=46116ccf-816b-4c09-a7e0-1b3oc1aech
– www.example.com /Total-
Stage/Preschooler/Education-Materials.aspx
Which is easier to read? Which URL would
be easier to identify in Google Analytics?
y g y
www.threedeepmarketing.com | @jeffsauer | @threedeep
52. Step 3: Fix Your URLs
There are many ways to fix your URLs
• Ch
Change URL structure i your CMS
t t in
• Custom Page Names (using
pageTracker._trackPageview(“fixed rl")
pageTracker trackPage ie (“fi ed url"); )
• Friendly URL rewrites (.htaccess for Linux
servers,
servers IIS for Windows servers)
www.threedeepmarketing.com | @jeffsauer | @threedeep
53. Easy to Read URLs
I know exactly which page I am analyzing now
www.threedeepmarketing.com | @jeffsauer | @threedeep
54. Benefits of Easy to Read URLs
Making your URLs easy to read will:
• Make page level analysis much easier and
effective
• Help with Organic SEO (search engines
don t
don’t like to read dynamic URLs either!)
• Minimize opportunity for errors in analysis
• Allow for better grouping of pages in custom
reporting
www.threedeepmarketing.com | @jeffsauer | @threedeep
56. What is my paid search ROI?
Problem: I think that my Google AdW d
P bl thi k th t G l AdWords
is successful because I get leads from my
website, b t I h
b it but have no id what
idea h t
keywords are the most valuable and ROI
is t i
i not in my vocabulary
b l
www.threedeepmarketing.com | @jeffsauer | @threedeep
57. Enhance Your Search Marketing
Without Linking AdWords, my keyword reports
can b b i
be boring
www.threedeepmarketing.com | @jeffsauer | @threedeep
58. Step 1: Link Your AdWords to Analytics
www.threedeepmarketing.com | @jeffsauer | @threedeep
59. AdWords Reports in Google Analytics
AdWords reporting provides standard analytics metrics at a
campaign, ad group, and keyword level
campaign ad group and keyword level
(Traffic Sources > AdWords > Campaigns)
www.threedeepmarketing.com | @jeffsauer | @threedeep
60. Day Parting AdWords in GA
Day Part reports shows AdWords performance
based on the time of day.
(Traffic Sources > AdWords > Day Parts)
www.threedeepmarketing.com | @jeffsauer | @threedeep
61. Position Analysis in Google Analytics
Keyword Position report gives insight into how keywords perform at
different ad positions on the search engine results pages
(Traffic Sources > AdWords > Keyword Positions)
(Traffic Sources > AdWords > Keyword Positions)
www.threedeepmarketing.com | @jeffsauer | @threedeep
62. Benefits of Linking AdWords with GA
Linking AdWords to Analytics will:
• Integrate standard AdWords metrics into the
Google Analytics interface, including: Clicks,
Impressions, Costs and ROI
p ,
• Hold your AdWords keywords to a greater level of
accountability
• All
Allow you t i
to increase conversion rates and l
i t d lower
expenses
• Enable you to tightly control your ad budget by
only bidding on keywords that produce positive
ROI
www.threedeepmarketing.com | @jeffsauer | @threedeep
64. What are they hoping to find?
Problem: I have a search box on my
website, yet I have no idea if people use
it, why they use it, and how they use it
www.threedeepmarketing.com | @jeffsauer | @threedeep
65. What do they want? Are they finding it?
What do people search for on my website?
www.threedeepmarketing.com | @jeffsauer | @threedeep
66. Step 1: Configure Site Search
Pro Tip: All you need to configure is enter the search query parameter from your
search results page URL. This is typically something like ?q=keyword or
h l hi i i ll hi lik ? k d
&search=keyword
www.threedeepmarketing.com | @jeffsauer | @threedeep
67. Dig Into Site Search Data
www.threedeepmarketing.com | @jeffsauer | @threedeep
68. Benefits of Site Search Reports
Configuring Site Search will:
• Allow you to improve navigation of your
site
• Get your visitors deeper into the content of
your site
• Help you measure how the search
functionality effects the user’s experience
user s
• Identify low hanging fruit on your website
design and information architecture
www.threedeepmarketing.com | @jeffsauer | @threedeep
70. Let’s Get Specific
Problem: When I look at the reports for
my website, the numbers rarely change
and I wouldn’t know what to do with it if
wouldn t
they did
“Don’t Puke Data… Focus your analytical and
reporting efforts on ‘What's Changed’. “
-Avinash Kaushik
www.kaushik.net/avinash
k hik t/ i h
www.threedeepmarketing.com | @jeffsauer | @threedeep
74. Example: Paid Facebook Ads
• Set up Multiple Profiles
• Use Analytics Intelligence
• Create Advanced S
C t Ad d Segments t
• Track E-Commerce Conversions
• Make Tracking SEO Friendly
www.threedeepmarketing.com | @jeffsauer | @threedeep
75. Apply Advanced Segments to Reports
Even though it’s a small percentage of visits, Twin Cities
Organic Traffic Performs Very Well!
www.threedeepmarketing.com | @jeffsauer | @threedeep
76. Benefits of Advanced Segments
Using Advanced Segments will:
• Enable you to provide true insights instead
of presenting data
• Increase your chances of finding
information th t will genuinely i
i f ti that ill i l impact your
t
business
• Allow you to drill down and go three levels
deep
www.threedeepmarketing.com | @jeffsauer | @threedeep
78. Can’t Track Clicks to Non-Pages
Problem: Measuring page views is greatgreat,
but we also want to track interactions with
our flash elements video interactions
elements, interactions,
outbound clicks and more
www.threedeepmarketing.com | @jeffsauer | @threedeep
79. Event Tracking
Who interacted with this flash movie?
www.threedeepmarketing.com | @jeffsauer | @threedeep
80. Step 1: Plan Event Tracking Strategy
1.
1 Define the events you want to track
2. Enable Event Tracking in your reporting
profile
3. For each set of events, create an event
instance
i t
4. Call _trackEvent() in the web page
source code
www.threedeepmarketing.com | @jeffsauer | @threedeep
81. Step 2: Configure Event Tracking
For each event you’d like to track, add the
following code:
<a href="http://www.facebook.com/threedeepmarketing"
p p g
onClick="pageTracker._trackEvent(‘Social Links', 'Click',
'Facebook');">Check us out on Facebook</a>
Comprehensive guide to event tracking: bit.ly/GAEventTracking
www.threedeepmarketing.com | @jeffsauer | @threedeep
82. Event Tracking Results
• Event Tracking is used to track events that
cannot be tracked by the standard page
view method of tracking
• Examples of Event Tracking use cases
include:
– Items within a Flash element
– AJAX or JavaScript functionality
– PDF or other file downloads
www.threedeepmarketing.com | @jeffsauer | @threedeep
83. Benefits of Event Tracking
Configuring event tracking will:
• Allow you to track events that happen on your
site that don’t generate pageviews, like in
Flash
Fl h moviesi
• Give insight into who left your site to external
websites
• Allow you to report on downloads of content
from your site like PDF files
site,
• Enable tracking of video views, plays, pauses
and more
www.threedeepmarketing.com | @jeffsauer | @threedeep
84. What can I do with Google Analytics?
• Track Social Media
• Track E il
T k Emails
• Customize Your Dashboards
• Block Internal Traffic
• Set Up Goals and Goal Funnels
• Website and URL Structure
• Link Adwords with Analytics
• Improve Site Search
• Segment Traffic
• Track Events
www.threedeepmarketing.com | @jeffsauer | @threedeep
85. What Else Can I Do?
• Set up Multiple Profiles Using Filters
• Use Analytics Intelligence
• Track E-Commerce Conversions
• Make Tracking SEO Friendly using # in
campaigns
• Benchmark Your Site vs. Industry
• A/B and Multivariate Tests with Google Website
Optimizer
www.threedeepmarketing.com | @jeffsauer | @threedeep