GA – Client Project Part 1 – TO DO LIST 1 (Week 2) Mgmt5074 .docx

GA – Client Project Part 1 – TO DO LIST 1 (Week 2)
Mgmt5074
Fanshawe College | [email protected] Page 1
The purpose of the individual client project is to give you a
chance to do a deep dive into a company's
web analytics data and try to draw some implications about
what it might mean for their
business. The project should push you to make some
recommendations based on the data you
analyze and the tests you will run.
I believe that Web Analytics data can uncover important
findings in 4 key areas:
UX = The way a user interacts with a website.
For example, GA data can show us where users are clicking, the
paths they are following on our
website and whether they appear to be finding what they're
looking for.
Later in November, in the 2nd part of the project, you will be
conducting live UX tests with

UserTesting.com credits.
Traffic Acquisition = Where a website user comes from.
For example, GA data can tell us how our most profitable
customers find our website and can help us
determine ways to get more of that sort of traffic.
Tech SEO = Website coding, design and content elements that
can help/impede organic search
rank.
For example, GA data can point to pages that have not been
named properly or whose URL might
not be user / search engine friendly.
CRO = Improving a conversion process/path.
For example, GA data can uncover problematic parts of a
conversion funnel.
For the term project, each of you have been assigned a different
client to study. Each client can be
found in the master GA account.
Mgmt5074

Check the client assignment form to see which company you
have been paired with.
Visit the client's website and absorb as much as you can.
Make sure you can find the client in the GA interface. You
might have to search by company name
OR URL.
There is NO need to contact the client you're working with.
They have agreed to give us access
to their data for learning purposes but have not agreed to be
contacted by students this
semester. Many have just finished a demanding project in the
Google Online Marketing Challenge
with us. If you have questions, please direct them my way.
A reminder that this is an individual project but that doesn't
mean you can't collaborate to come up
with creative ideas. Each submission, however, should be
unique.
When it's submitted, the project will be a very succinct
document that includes only the MOST
meaningful data and conclusions that you have found in your

investigations. There are no
introductions, no superfluous information, no unnecessary
graphs/charts. You won't have the space
to include it all.
To get down to the good stuff that should be included, you have
to do lots of thinking and
digging. Each week I will prompt you with questions to ask
yourself to ensure you're moving in the
right direction. In the week preceding the project due date, it
will be your job to dig through the
answers to all of your questions and pull out the best of the
best. Only those observations that you
believe would have the most impact on the organization should
be included. All of this preliminary
investigation should be detailed weekly but does not necessarily
get submitted.
This week's project to-do list is as follows:
1. Define the purpose of your client's website.
2. Define the audience(s)/persona(s) you believe the site is
targeting. How do you know?
3. Is there a clear and definable "conversion" on the site?
https://www.fanshaweonline.ca/content/enforced2016/16F/7494
17-MGMT-5074-01OL-

16F/Client%20Assignment.OL16.pdf?_&d2lSessionVal=MkxB
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Mgmt5074
4. How does the site make that purpose clear? Ie. what are the
calls to action, are the
paths to conversion clear?
5. Do you believe that purpose would be clear to the target
audience(s)/persona(s)?
The questions above should begin to help you uncover UX tests
you might want to run later. For
example, if you don't think it's clear how to go about finding the
lead generation form, you could ask
your test panel to do that and analyze their thought process as
they attempt to get there.
Much of the project will involve you coming up with hypotheses
based on intuition and/or GA
data. For example, the GA data might point to a navigation
issue. You might see that users often go
back and forth between two pages and you might hypothesize

they are confused. This hypothesis
could be testing with your UX credits.
Once you have given lots of thought to the website and its
objective, it's time to turn to the GA data
and start to dig. It might take you some time to uncover
nuggets of data that are worth talking
about. If it's not meaningful or you're having trouble drawing
implications for the company, then I
don't want to read about it in the report. I should not have to
say "SO WHAT?" when I'm reading your
report.
For now, start exploring the client's GA data and I will have
some specific ideas for you next week
once we have finished looking at the Audience Dimension.
GA – Client Project Part 2 – TO DO LIST 1 Mgmt5074

The general guidelines for the project remain the same (ie. page
length & formatting). The grading rubric is
attached the end of the document. Note that all portions of the
rubric may not be relevant to your
project. Where you decided to focus on other things and omit a
section, that element of the rubric will simply
be removed and other sections will become more heavily
weighted in the overall grade. Content generation,
backlink analysis, and UX testing are all mandatory components
of the project.
Mandatory Section A: Content Generation
1. Content Generation Ideas
As you know, great content leads to backlinks which can lead to
improved organic rank for the site as a whole.
Great content also improves a site’s chances of ranking on long
tail terms.
The primary goal of great content is to become the online
authority for a topic(s) related to your industry. The
authority provides answers to questions, solves problems, and is
the go-to place for interesting, informative,
and unique information.
Think first about your client’s target audience and put yourself
in their shoes. What kind of questions do they
have? What kind of problems do they need solved?

Remember the difference between product/service information
and shareable content!
You are expected to get creative by outlining 3 content ideas for
your client.
Your ideas should be supported with research:
1. Keyword research to uncover topics that are actively being
searched. Don’t worry about only choosing
topics that have high search volume (these can often be very
competitive topics and hard to rank for anyhow
– and who wants to create a me-too piece of content?). Use the
Google Keyword Planner tool as a means to
develop your ideas.
2. Internet topic research – what are the hot topics that are
being discussed in online forums related to your
client’s industry, check social media and blogs?
3. Competitive/Company research – what is the competition
talking about? Check out online companies all
over the world that operate in the same industry as your client
for cool ideas that you can build off of, twist
around or repurpose. Don’t simply copy ideas you see online
but instead, use this information to formulate

your own unique content. You can also check competitors'
backlink profiles (see next section) to see what
content gets linked to often. Also check their social media
profiles to see which content gets shared most
often.
4. Existing site content - what sort of content has your client
produced in the past? If you feel it's good
content (based on our definition of good content), can we create
similar, complementary content? For
example, if a blog post about the health benefits of chow chow
tea has achieved some links and social shares,
can we follow that up with a post about home remedies made
from chow chow tea. We're building on the
original idea that achieved success and following it up with a
complementary, value-added piece.
PS. Chow chow is obviously my lame invention but you know
what I mean :)
Remember that customers/prospects have different questions
throughout the buying journey. Different
pieces of content can help them move along that journey to
conversion.
Justify your content generation ideas by referencing your
thought process/research.
Mandatory Section B: Backlink Analysis & Competitive
Comparison
Use Moz’s Open Site Explorer to complete this section of the
report. Don’t forget that the free version of the
tool limits your daily searches from the same IP address so
don’t leave this section until the last minute as you

may have to execute your research over several days.
1. Direct online competitor backlink profile comparison
Backlinks can be a factor in organic rank. To understand how
your client compares against its online
competitors from a backlink profile perspective, we use MOZ’s
“Compare Link Metrics” tab to contrast the
volume of links and linking root domain that our client has
achieved compared to other companies. In
choosing the companies that you contrast your client against,
consider those that are ranking organically on
the same core key terms as your client. If your client is a local
business serving a specific geo-region, then it
makes sense to only compare them against other local
businesses in the same geo-region.
There are two numbers that you should report on:
1. Total External Equity-Passing Links
2. Followed Linking Root Domains
Comment on the volume of links your client has achieved
compared to others and the dispersion of those
links. Don’t forget that volume of links could be less important
than quality of links but this analysis doesn’t
show that.

3. Assess your client’s backlink profile.
Provide a list of the top 5 most interesting, meaningful websites
linking to your client’s site (they can be links
that pass or do not pass link equity). This does not necessarily
mean websites that have a high Domain
Authority (DA). You can have a meaningful link from a new
website that hasn’t necessarily build up its DA yet.
In that list, discuss the context of the link. For example, is the
link a news article about Healthy Living in which
your client is mentioned because of its innovative new product
that lowers cholesterol?
Use that list to generate ideas for generating additional
backlinks. For example, if Joe’s Garden Centre is
linking to your article about how to prune ferns, then Sue’s
Garden Centre might be interested in doing the
same. You can suggest to your client that they begin to develop
a relationship with Sue’s Garden Centre in the
ways we discussed in class. Be specific about how that
relationship should be developed.
To do this, you must figure out the purpose of Sue’s Garden
Centre website. Who is their target audience?
How can you infiltrate that relationship by helping Sue achieve
her objectives? Be specific here with examples
of content that will be irresistible to Sue. Content that she can’t
help but link to because her audience will care
so much about it.

If your client has no or few existing backlinks then say so in the
report and proceed to the competitive analysis
portion in section 2 below.
4. Assess other similar companies’ backlink profiles
Do the same as in Step 1 for a few other similar companies who
have great backlinks. You will get some great
ideas from them.
To determine your competition, search some keywords in
Google that you believe should trigger your client to
rank (eg. Organic pork farmer) and see which companies are
actually ranking. If you need to simulate an IP
address if your client is not located in London, use Google’s Ad
Preview Tool.
But the companies that you assess here for ideas don’t have to
be direct competitors to your client. They can
be similar companies from around the world who operate in the
same industry and who have done a good job
of generating links.
Section C: Referral & Social Traffic Analysis

This section can't be mandatory for all students as some clients
may not have generated any referral or social
traffic. If they have, you should be analyzing it and if there are
meaningful implications, they should be
included in the report.
While Moz will report on any backlink that exists, GA can only
report on those backlinks that generate traffic
(ie. that are clicked on). GA will report on the behavior of the
visitor that comes from those links which can be
hugely valuable in assessing the quality of a link from a
customer building and conversion perspective.
We love to build high quality links because they can do great
things for our organic rank but we love links even
more because they should produce immediate traffic to our site
which could lead to conversions.
The purpose of this section of analysis is to understand where
most of your client’s referral traffic is coming
from and where the highest quality referral traffic is coming
from so we can build more of it. For referral
traffic coming from social networks it's important to understand
the nature of the traffic. Is it owned or
earned? What was the content that led to the link in social
media? What are the implications for future
content generation?
Start by answering the following questions: (Remember to filter
out the referral traffic that is clearly SPAM).

1. Which referral and/or social sites are driving the most traffic
for your client?
2. Which referral and/or social sites are driving the highest
quality traffic to your client’s site? Don’t
forget to filter out sites that are driving very low traffic (eg.
<20 visits). Where possible, use goal
conversion rate instead of engagement stats.
For example:
Referral Site/Path # of Visits Pages/Visit Time on Site Bounce
Rate
Abc.com/123 400 5.65 3:41 23%
Def.cm/456 250 4.7 2:59 25%
Ghi.com/789 223 4.9 2:54 27%
Referral Site
Average
3.4 1:40 38%
3. *Most Important* What would you recommend to fully
leverage this and potentially get more traffic

from these sites and similar sites? Refer to the in class slides
for examples. These suggestions should
be different than the recommendations that you have already
made.
Be sure to explore the nature of the link. It’s not enough to say
“abc.com is linking to my client”. What is the
context of the link? What is the landing page the link is driving
traffic to? Only then can you provide
meaningful recommendations going forward.
If the referral traffic is coming from a social media network, for
example, talk about the content that was
shared that led to the traffic. From there, come up with
concrete and creative ideas to create and share more
content of that nature.
Note: When you see google.ca or google.com as a referral site it
means the traffic is not attributable to a
keyword and won’t be bucketed under “Search Engine” because
the click has come through a listing in Google
News, Finance, Shopping, Image, etc…. All of these Google
properties have search functions and their results
can be integrated into blended search. When you click on a
Google property listing in blended search, it will
show up with a referral path of /. /ig are listings in iGoogle.
/img are images. etc.. For the purposes of this
report, don’t report on Google as a referral source. We’ll
concentrate on Google as a source of traffic by
keyword in the search engine section.
If any referral traffic appears to have been paid for (ie. the
Bayfield Mews example from class), then we need
to include a segment about tagging URL in campaigns.

Section D: Search Engine Organic Traffic
Another optional section to the report but should be included
for those students who are able to glean some
interesting insight. Everyone should execute the analysis but
whether it makes it into your report is up to you
depending on whether you think it's the most compelling
content to discuss.
As you know it’s very hard to come up with hugely meaningful
analysis for this bucket of traffic.
The best thing that we can do is look at which pages on our
client’s site drive the most organic traffic. So that
is to look at organic search landing pages.
You will probably notice that your client’s home page generates
the most organic traffic for the site. That’s
normal. Now you need to check and see whether other, deeper
product and/or service pages are bringing in
their fair share of organic traffic too. For example, is the
summer camps page on the Boy and Girls club site
bringing in any traffic of this nature? I would hypothesize that
it should be for queries like “summer camp

london ontario”. If it’s not, is it because no one is searching on
that query? (check the AdWords Keyword
Planner) Or is it because the page is not ranking well
organically? (Do an incognito search to see what’s
ranking for that query).
Sometimes the best way to approach this section is to begin by
picking out the 3 or 4 deep website pages that
you believe should be generating organic traffic for your client
(ie. product category pages) and then check to
see whether that is the case or not. If not, the recommendation
is to optimize the page for search. You are
not expected to know how to do that exactly but you could
provide a list and example of pages that are
ranking well organically for the key terms in question. If there
is anything on those pages that stands out as
different or better than your client’s page, you can make a list.
And one more piece of analysis all teams should execute: Did
you uncover any landing pages in Phase I of
your report that had high bounce rates? Now would be the time
to investigate the source of traffic that
generated those visits. This analysis can often reveal problems.
For example:
Segment = Organic Traffic with High Bounce Rate Landing
Pages (all search engines), May 1-Oct 3, 2014
Add commentary related to the apparent suitability or non-
suitability of the page (based on engagement) vis-
à-vis the keyword YOU THINK drove the traffic. Put yourself
in the shoes of a searcher who has executed this
particular query and arrives and the landing page. What kind of
experience are you providing? Is the content
relevant to the keyword?

In some cases it may be very natural for users to bounce from a
page if it provides them the
answer/information they’re looking for you. You have to be the
judge
GOOGLE ANALYTICS CLIENT REPORT PART 2
GRADING RUBRIC
Not all sections
weighted equally
80-100% 70-79% 60-69% Less than 60% Grade
Section A: Content
Generation Ideas
/20
MANDATORY
SECTION
3 creative and unique
content ideas that are
relevant to the client’s
target audience.
It is clear the ideas
have been routed in
research (keyword

research, internet topic
research, competitive
research).
The content is
shareable/linkable
content NOT website
information.
This section is above
average.
3 ideas are present
but content is average
and may not be
unique and/or
shareable/linkable
content.
It may not be clear
how the ideas were
generated.
Content ideas might
be incomplete,
justification not
present, content is not
unique and/or
shareable.
This section is below
average.
This section is
incomplete
Section A: Content
Generation Ideas

Comments
Section B: Backlink
Analysis &
Competitive
Comparison
/20
MANDATORY
SECTION
Exceptional backlink
analysis and
competitive
comparison.
5 of the top client
backlinks are outlined
and the link context
discussed.
From those links, more
linking ideas are
outlined.
2 or 3 competitors’
backlink profiles are
presented.
5 of the top
competitors’ backlinks
are outlined and the
link context discussed.
From those links, more
linking ideas are
outlined.

The section is
complete but may lack
insight in backlink
analysis and/or link
ideas.
Parts of this section
are incomplete.
This section is below
average
This section is
incomplete.
Section B: Backlink
Analysis &
Competitive
Comparison
Comments
Section C: Referral

& Social Traffic
Analysis
/15
Excellent analysis of
referral and social
traffic.
Student has identified
with referral sites have
drive the most traffic
and has commented
on the quality of that
traffic.
They have also clearly
outlined a plan to
leverage that
information and get
more traffic from those
sites and/or similar
sites.
Analysis is good here
but the student may
have failed to fully
outline how the
current referral traffic
can be leveraged.

Below average analysis
of referral traffic with
missing implications.
Incomplete
analysis.
Section C: Referral
& Social Traffic
Analysis Comments
Section D: Search
Engine Organic
Analysis
/10
Excellent analysis of
search engine traffic by
landing page. The
student has identified
deep website pages
that should be
generating organic
traffic but may not be.
Analysis is average
here but may lack
deep insight.
Analysis is below
average but an

attempt has been
made.
Analysis is
incomplete.
Section D: Search
Engine Organic
Analysis
Comments
Section E: Goals
/10
The student has clearly
identified ALL micro
and macro goals that
should be tracked in
GA.
The student has
clearly identified some
micro and/or macro
goals that should be
tracked in GA.
Micro and/or macro
goal identification is
present but
incomplete and/or
incorrect.
The goal

identification is
incomplete,
incorrect, or
missing.
Section E: Goals
Comments
Section F: User
Experience Videos
MANDATORY
SECTION
/25
All 3 annotated UX
videos have been
produced.
The planning
worksheet is complete.
A complete set of
meaningful and
insightful
recommendations

based on user
comments is provided.
All 3 annotated UX
videos have been
produced.
The planning
worksheet is
complete.
The recommendations
might not be linked to
user commentary
and/or be meaningful.
This section may be
incomplete OR lack
the analysis and
insight required in UX
recommendations.
This section is
incomplete and/or
missing.
Section F: User
Experience Videos
Comments
Spelling/Grammar/
Writing Style/
Presentation
Professional

presentation of final
report. No errors in
spelling, capitalization,
punctuation, citing and
grammar. Appropriate
word choice, and
sentence structure
utilized throughout
report.
Good presentation of
final report. Few
errors in spelling,
capitalization,
punctuation, citing
and grammar.
Appropriate word
choice, and sentence
structure utilized
throughout report.
Basic presentation of
final report. Some
errors in spelling,
capitalization,
punctuation, citing
and grammar.
Inappropriate
presentation of
final report. Several
errors in spelling,
capitalization,
punctuation, citing
and grammar.

Comments
TOTAL
/100
GA – Client Project General Guidelines Mgmt5074
Here are some general guidelines for the term project.
Assume you have been asked to report to the owner of the
company on the most pressing issues and compelling insights
that you can find in the Google
Analytics data. What would you report on?
By this time, you should have lots of data gathered. It’s now
your job to weed through it and pick out the best of the best.

The best data, the best
insights/implication, and the best recommendations. You will
not have the space to talk about it all. Please limit your report
to 3 -5 pages max.
You WOULD NOT say “Your site bounce rate is 60%.” She
would look at you and say “So What?”.
But you could say something like this…
“MOBILE USER EXPERIENCE
In the past 12 months, bounce rate from mobile devices has
grown from 55% to 70%. Given that mobile traffic now
represents over 50% of total traffic to the
site, we need to investigate whether mobile visitors are satisfied
when they’re on our site. Because we are a firm that focuses on
animal adoption, we would
hypothesize that mobile users could not find what they’re
looking for on one page and therefore a 70% bounce rate is
indicative of problems on the site and
would contribute to a low conversion rate. From the data, we
can see that 80% of mobile users land on the home page from
Apple iPhones. The home page
looks like this (insert screenshot).
According to Google’s mobile friendly checker, it is deficient in
the following ways: (insert list)
We would also hypothesize that mobile user experience is not
optimal because of these additional reasons: (insert your own

list)
A good example of mobile user experience can be found at
www.animalsforu.com (fictitious): (insert screenshot)
Here are 5 ways their mobile user experience is superior to
ours: (insert your list)
Given our hypotheses and supporting data, we would suggest
the following recommendations to improve mobile user
experience and mobile bounce rate:
(insert list)
We will be testing the mobile version of the website with
UserTesting.com in Project Part 2.”
http://www.animalsforu.com/
Here is a checklist of things to watch out for:
1. No title page, no bibliography, no introduction, no
conclusion. This is a professional report – just get to the meat
of the data + recommendations. You
can precede a section like the one above with an underlined
paragraph title. If you need to paraphrase and quote someone

else’s content you can
include a short link to the website from which you found the
data immediately following it (goo.gl/r5u8i) or you can include
it in a footnote.
2. Include lots of visuals ONLY when they are needed to
illustrate what you’re talking about and when they ADD value.
For example, don’t chart bounce
rate in 2014 and 2015 when you can simply say it was 45% in
2014 and grew to 55% in 2015. A chart will not help me see
that any better. But if you’re
talking about a slow growing trend over time that is best
visualized, then you could put it in a chart.
3. Charts, graphs, screenshots, etc… must be labelled AND
referred to in the body of the report. Don’t thrown in charts and
expect me to figure out their
relevance.
4. Screengrabs from the GA interface are messy. Create your
own custom charts and graphs. You can export any data from
GA into .xls for the purposes of
creating your own chart.
5. If you’re referencing GA data, make sure I know the time
frame of the data.
6. Be sure you have filtered out any irrelevant & spam traffic.
Somewhere in the report (in the header, or footer, or elsewhere)
I should know the nature of

the filter you have applied.
7. Be sure you’re analyzing statistically significant data. Don’t
say “the bounce rate from Burlington is 75%!!!” when there
have only been 10 visitors from
Burlington. Stretch out your time frame and you might see more
reliable trends.
8. Make it meaningful. That’s the most important thing you can
do. Don’t worry if you don’t know the answers or can’t explain
the data trend. It can be
sufficient to simply mention that it warrants further
investigation if you think it’s one of the most important things
you can talk about.
9. Restrict your report to 3-5 pages, with 1.5 line spacing, in
Word doc format only.
The grading rubric is below. Every client will have different
issues and, consequently, each project will look different. You
DO NOT necessarily need to complete
all 3 sections below (audience, content, and SEO). Remember,
you’re choosing the most compelling issues that would mean the
most to the company you’re
studying.

GOOGLE ANALYTICS CLIENT REPORT PART 1
GRADING RUBRIC LIZ GRAY
80-100% 70-79% 60-69% Less than 60% Grade
Audience Dimensions
Exceptional analysis of relevant
data.
The data used is always
meaningful and accurate.
The report consistently presents
the implications of the data.
The report consistently drives
implications through to
recommendations for the client.
Custom data segments have been
used for advanced analysis.
This section is above average.
Full and complete analysis of
relevant data.
The data used is meaningful
and accurate.
The report presents the
implications of the data most
of the time.
Some good recommendations
based on data analysis are

presented to the client. Some
custom data segments have
been used for advanced
analysis.
Satisfactory analysis of relevant
data.
Not all data used is meaningful
and accurate.
Partial identification of the
implications of the data.
Implications are not always
translated to
recommendations
Few custom data segments
have been used for advanced
analysis.
This section is below average.
Incomplete analysis of relevant
data and data used is often not
Little to no identification of the
Implications are not translated
to recommendations for the
client.
No custom data segments have
analysis.
This section provides little
insight or value added.
Audience Dimensions

Comments
Content Dimensions
Exceptional analysis of relevant
data.
The data used is always
The report consistently presents
the implications of the data.
The report consistently drives
implications through to
recommendations for the client.
Custom data segments have been
used for advanced analysis.
This section is above average.
Full and complete analysis of
relevant data.
The data used is meaningful
and accurate.
The report presents the
implications of the data most
of the time.
Some good recommendations
based on data analysis are
presented to the client. Some
Satisfactory analysis of relevant
data. Not all data used is

Partial identification of the
Implications are not always
translated to
recommendations. Few
analysis. This section is below
average
Incomplete analysis of relevant
data and data used is often not
Little to no identification of the
Implications are not translated
to recommendations for the
client. No custom data
segments have been used for
advanced analysis. This section
provides little insight or value
added.
Content Dimensions
Comments

SEO
Excellent analysis of SEO
elements including meta titles,
meta descriptions, URL naming
convention, and canonicalization
issues if relevant.
Good analysis of SEO elements
including meta titles, meta
descriptions, URL naming
convention, and
canonicalization issues if
relevant
Satisfactory analysis of SEO
convention, and
relevant
Incomplete analysis of SEO
convention, and

relevant
SEO Comments
Spelling/Grammar/
Writing Style/
Presentation
Professional presentation of final
report. No errors in spelling,
capitalization, punctuation, citing
and grammar. Appropriate word
choice, and sentence structure
utilized throughout report.
Good presentation of final
report. Few errors in spelling,
capitalization, punctuation,
citing and grammar.
Appropriate word choice, and
sentence structure utilized
throughout report.
Basic presentation of final
report. Some errors in spelling,
capitalization, punctuation,
citing and grammar.
Inappropriate presentation of
final report. Several errors in
spelling, capitalization,

punctuation, citing and
grammar.
Comments
Use of the data
(proper filters set,
date ranges, etc.)
All spam traffic has been filtered
out. Consistent use of
reasonable date ranges and date
ranges are always identified.
Spam traffic has been filtered
out. Reasonable date ranges
have been used most of the
time and date ranges are
always identified.
Not all spam traffic has been
filtered out. Date ranges might
not be suitable and aren’t
always identified.
Spam traffic has not been
filtered out. Date ranges are
not suitable and not identified.
Comments

TOTAL
GA – Client Project Part 1 – TO DO LIST 3 (Weeks 5/6)
Mgmt5074
Don't forget to review the General Guidelines & Rubric
document that outlines expectations for the
project.
Here are the sample questions to ask yourself this week. Please
don't forget the list of questions is
not exhaustive and you are encouraged to come up with your
questions to use when analyzing the
data. Again, not all clients will face the same issues. You may

find nothing notable to talk about in
this section and for others, this section might constitute the bulk
of their report.
Investigate your client’s URL naming convention. If you think
URLs should be improved, you should
rewrite a sample set (approx 5). Usually the best way to lay it
out is in table format with the old URLs
on the left and the suggested, new ones on the right.
Investigate your client’s meta titles. If you think meta titles
should be improved, you should rewrite a
sample set (approx 5). Usually the best way to lay it out is in
table format with the old meta titles on
the left and the suggested, new ones on the right. Don't forget
you're asking yourself the following
questions of meta titles:
1.Are they too short or too long?
2.Do you they reflect on page content?
3.Do they set the client apart on the SERP? (to assess you must
search your client's top keywords in
Google to see what other listings appear)
4.Are they unique per page?

Investigate your client’s meta descriptions (must look at source
code, not GA). If you think meta
descriptions should be improved, you should rewrite a sample
set (approx 5). Usually the best way to
lay it out is in table format with the old meta descriptions on
the left and the suggested, new ones on
the right. Don't forget you're asking yourself the following
questions of meta descriptions:
1.Are they present at all?
2.Are they too short or too long?
3.Do you they reflect on page content?
4.Do they set the client apart on the SERP? (to assess you must
search your client's top keywords in
Google to see what other listings appear)
Mgmt5074
5.Are they unique per page?
Have you noticed any dead links, 404 error pages, etc. that may

impact user experience on the site?
Check the site for duplicate content and make recommendations
on how to eliminate it. (ie. 301
redirects)
Which pages on the site are viewed most/least often? Does it
make sense given the content/goals of
the site? Look at this information by different customer
segment (ie. mobile, converters). Take care
that you are not unintentionally grouping pages together by
looking at Page Titles that might have
been assigned to multiple pages.
Which content do new users view most often? Does this make
sense given what you believe first time
users should be doing on the site? If so, is this content
accessible and easy to find?
Which content do returning visitors view most often? Does this
make sense given what you believe
returning users should be doing on the site? If so, is this content
Which content do mobile users view most often? Does this make
sense given what you believe
mobile users should be doing on the site? If so, is this content

**Don’t forget that if you’re viewing the data by page title,
there may be more than one URL using
the same page title. Click on the page title. If more than one
URL appears, be sure to report on URL,
not page title (unless the grouping makes sense…ie page 1, 2, 3
Black Tea).
Which pages on the site are viewed the least often? If you can
provide reasons or even hypothesize
as to why you think the page is not being viewed often, do so.
If you believe this content is important,
provide suggestions for how its views can be increased.
Are there pages on the site that are being viewed over and over
again in the same session (ie. are
visitors pogo-sticking)? You’ll be able to tell if this is the case
when a page’s pageviews are 2x, 3x, 4x,
etc… larger than its unique pageviews. If this is the case, does
it make sense (you’ll have to visit the
site and play around to tell if it’s normal or not)? If it’s not
normal/good suggest ways that it can be
fixed.

Mgmt5074
On which pages do people spend the most time? Does this make
sense given the content on the
page?
On which pages do people spend the least time? Does this make
sense given the content on the
page?
Which pages are acting as the landing page for the site most
often? Do these pages provide the right
user experience? Segment this question and look at most
common landing pages for different users
(ie. mobile, new/returning)
Which pages are visitors bouncing from most often? Don’t
forget the page had to be a landing page
for a bounce to have occurred. Can you make any
recommendations to improve bounce rate for
individual pages? Don’t forget to filter out pages with low
pageviews here (ie. Less than 100 or 50
depending on the volume of data that you’re dealing with). You
don’t want to be reporting a page

has a 100% bounce rate when it’s only had 5 pageviews. That’s
useless.
Which pages on the site are most often the last page viewed
(high % exit) ? This data will show the
client where people are leaving the site. Don't forget that every
session has to end at some
point. We just want to look at the data to make sure these exit
points make sense and we're leaving
visitors with the right impression.
Explore a navigational summary for key pages. For example,
where do most people go after the
homepage? Is this where you think the client would want them
to go? If not, how can we steer
visitors elsewhere. In general, are people navigating the site in
the way you think it was intended?
Google Analytics – Term Project Template
Student Instructions
This template is to be used in lieu of a Word document only IF
YOU WISH.
If you have already started your project, you do not need to
transfer the content to this template if you don’t want to.
You are responsible for formatting this template to suit your
needs. Design changes are not required but can be used to
enhance the presentation of the content.

You can alter this template in any way you see fit – it is only
meant as a guide.
You are expected to write logically. If you’re able to write
logically in point form, that is okay but I suspect that, in many
areas, this wouldn’t be the most effective writing method.
You are NOT required to fill in each slide. The mandatory parts
of the project are marked as such. Delete and/or add slides as
needed.
You are responsible for choosing the most compelling pieces of
data you can find that have meaningful implications for the
company.
Visuals to support your data can be good but are not always
necessary. For example, if mobile bounce rate is 70%, you
don’t need a pie chart to illustrate that. Just say it. Remember
– do not include screenshots from Google Analytics – create
custom graphs and charts instead. DO include screenshots from
your client’s website where it will help you illustrate a point.
Client Name
Student Name:
Data date range:
Data Filter (eg. Custom Segment used):
Google Analytics Term Project: MGMT5074/Gray
Audience Dimensions
Space for visual support if needed
Data Finding:

Implications:
Recommendations:
Audience Dimensions
Data Finding:
Implications:
Recommendations:
Content Dimensions
Data Finding:
Implications:
Recommendations:
Content Dimensions

Data Finding:
Implications:
Recommendations:
URL Naming Convention
Existing URL Naming Convention:
What’s the Problem:
Recommendation & Rationale:
Meta Titles
Existing Meta Title(s):

Meta Descriptions
Existing Meta Description(s):
Other Technical SEO Issues
Data Finding:
Implications:
Recommendations:
Content Generation
*Mandatory Section*
Content Idea 1
Space to describe your content idea
Research to support your idea:

(could include any of the following: keyword research, internet
topic research, competitive/company research, existing site
content).
Content Idea 2
Space to describe your content idea
Research to support your idea:
(could include any of the following: keyword research, internet
topic research, competitive/company research, existing site
content).
Backlink Analysis
*Mandatory Section*
Backlink Profile Comparison
*don’t forget that a competitor can be a website ranking online
for the same keywords your client would want to rank for
Website Linking To Your Client/Competitor:

Open Site Explorer (Compare Link Metrics)External Equity-
Passing LinksFollowed Linking Root DomainsYour
ClientCompetitor 1Competitor 2
Commentary on above:
Backlink Building Ideas
Backlink Idea 1 & Rationale
How Will Your Client Build This Relationship?
Backlink Idea 2 & Rationale
How Will Your Client Build This Relationship?

User Experience Testing
*Mandatory Section*
UserTesting.com Test Plan
Research Objective:
Tester Audience:
4-5 Tasks for Testers to Complete:
4-5 Questions for Testers to Answer:
UserTesting.com Test Results
Summary of Findings:
Summary of Recommendations:
Links to 3 Fully Annotated Testing Videos:

Mgmt5074
This week we begin our deep dive into your client's GA data to
uncover meaningful
insights and actionable recommendations.
You will need to dig through lots of data until you find
interesting things to talk about in
your report. Not all clients will face the same issues.
The first thing you want to do is ensure you're looking at clean
and relevant data.
To do this, set up a custom segment so that you're only looking
at regional data that
would be most meaningful to your client's business.
For example, the Boys & Girls Club of London would be
concerned with local traffic.
Narrowing your data to Ontario would be sufficient to weed out
the bot traffic and
accidental traffic coming from elsewhere. It won't be perfect
but it will be MUCH better

than before.
When you set up the custom segment for your client project,
name it *Client Name + Your
Name. Note the asterisk in front. This will be our sign not to
delete it. If you ever get a
warning that we have used our max number of custom segments,
just go ahead and
delete some and then you will have room to add. Do not delete
any with an asterisk in
front. Every time you log-in, you can search for your client
custom segment and reapply it
before looking at the data.
You also need to make sure you're looking at statistically
significant data. For example,
you can't say "Mobile users from Toronto bounce from the site
at a rate 3x as high as
other mobile users" if there are only 5 mobile users from
Toronto.
The best way to approach your client's data (and any web
analytics data for that matter) is
always with a question. If the question doesn't lead to
meaningful insight, then go on to
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fz7a4LS-

H1I&feature=youtu.be
Mgmt5074
another question. For example, ”I wonder if people who visit
the site from a mobile
device view more than one page on the site?”
When you find interesting information that may be problematic,
raise red flags, or warrant
further investigation, you may not always be able to explain it
and that's okay. It's
perfectly fine to mention things the client should look into. For
example, you might see
that mobile users were, at one time, a very profitable segment
for the company but have
recently dropped off in numbers. You check traffic acquisition
sources and see that the
cause is a drop in direct traffic from mobile. This can't really be
explained but certainly
worth including in your report. As long as you include as much
data as you can (ie.

segment of traffic that has declined and the traffic source that
resulted in the decline,
you're fine).
Here are some sample questions to get you started but you
should add your own too. You
don't have to answer each of these questions in your report.
Only the most interesting
conclusions should make it to the submission.
How have total volume of sessions and/or users changed over
time? How does this trend
look over different segments of visitors? (eg. Mobile users,
sessions from different
regions). If yes, then mention it in this part of the report and
indicate you will follow up in
the next report when you investigate which traffic sources are
leading to the
increase/decrease.
How is bounce rate trending? Do you feel it’s a reasonable
bounce rate given the nature
of the site? Don’t forget to present bounce rate by visitor
segments (eg. By geo-region, by
language, by browser, by mobile device, etc…)
Do you think users are, on average, viewing a reasonable

number of pages on the
site/staying on site for a reasonable amount of time? Can
visitors get all they need in a
Mgmt5074
few pages? What can you recommend that might draw people
deeper into the site if you
think it’s important? Since bounces have 1 pageview, you
should filter out bounced visits
from this discussion. If your client is tracking conversions,
investigate whether increased
page depth leads to higher conversion rate.
Has the ratio of new to returning visitors changed? How do
new/returning visitors
engage/convert on the website? Is there anything we can do to
improve these
metrics? Is it important for the site to have returning visitors?
Does the company need to
work on getting more visitors to come back? If so, how can
they do that? What are other

similar companies doing?
Which geographic region(s) is most traffic coming from? Have
the region(s) from which
the site pulls its traffic changed over time? Are there
opportunities that you believe the
company should be capitalizing on?
Does it appear as though the site is meeting the needs of visitors
from different geo-
regions? Are bounce rates (and other engagement/conversion
metrics) higher in some
areas (within the target) than others? If possible, provide some
reasons why that might be
the case. Is there a particular geo-region(s) driving traffic that
is ultra-engaged with the
site (ie. Bounce rate much lower than average, much higher than
average session
duration/pages per session)? These may be regions that the
client might consider doing
more customer outreach.
Is bounce rate higher than average on a particular browser? This
may indicate problems
loading/displaying the page.

Ask yourself, ”What do users want to accomplish on my client's
site from their mobile
device?” Check out the site on a mobile device (more than one
type if possible). Do you
think it's easy for them to accomplish this/these task(s)? How
does mobile traffic behave
Mgmt5074
Fanshawe College | [email protected]anshawec.ca Page 4
compared to desktop traffic (ie. bounce rate, conversion rate)?
If behaviour is different, do
you think this is normal? Based on the data you're seeing,
should the client be
investigating how their site renders on a particular mobile
device?
Run your client’s site through Google’s mobile-friendly test
tool. What suggestions does
Google have to improve mobile-friendliness? Don't forget these
suggestions are
electronically generated. Now, do your own manual test based
on what you have learned

in class so far. Are there other elements of the mobile site that
you believe need to be
changed to improve the user's experience? Be sure to include
lots of screenshots to
illustrate your points.
A hint when you're pulling data: The longer the time frame, the
bigger the data set and the
more reliable the numbers. When possible, pull year over year
data to see trends over
time. This will rule out seasonality that may impact the data.
For example, comparing Jan
- Jun to Jul - Dec data might not always be a great idea.
https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/
Follow these steps in setting up your UX Tests:
1. Define Your Research Objective
Your research objective should be manageable and achievable in

a short UX Test.
It's often best to loop in Project Part 1 and test a problem or
issue that you identified previously.
For example, The Whole Pig might be experiencing some
conversion issues and we hypothesize
that it's because customers can't find product information.
Your research objective would be: To determine if site users
locate the information they need when
deciding whether or not to buy.
2. Define Your Tester Audience
Do you have a broad audience or do you want to get specific in
the type of tester required for your
project?
Remember that if your tester parameters are really narrow, it
might take longer for the system to find
you qualified testers and your results will be delayed. If this
happens, just let me know.
Develop a list of screener questions, if applicable, to ensure you
end up with the right kind of tester.
3. Build Your Test Plan
a) List the series of 4-5 tasks you want your testers to complete.
Example: Try to find the product page for organic bacon.

b) List 4-5 questions you want your tester to answer.
Example: Were you confused when trying to find product
information on the site?
Remember the tasks you assign should be listed in a logical
order.
Tasks can be broad or specific depending on the objective of the
study and/or your preexisting
hypotheses and suspicions.
All instructions should be concise and easy to follow. You
might like to test your instructions on a
friend before you launch the official test to ensure they are
understood.
4. Launch Your Study
To redeem your gift code, you’ll first need to create an account.
Here’s how to do it:
Start here.
1. Fill out & submit ‘Get user feedback’ form.
2. Order a test.

3. Create your unique test.
4. Instead of paying use the gift code: U-FC1
That’s it! Your test has been ordered and in about an hour you
should have your videos to review!
And when you’re ready to run another test, simply log back into
your dashboard, start a new test, and
enter your gift code for payment.
** Start your test with 1 participant and then launch the other
two once you’re happy with results**
5. Analyze & Document the Results
a. Remember the Objective.
b. Make annotations as you’re listening.
c. What do users find frustrating? What do users find easy?
d.How long did it take users to complete tasks? This could
indicate good/poor UX.
e.Present the information/findings in a constructive way.
Once you're done, you can show off your new skills, by adding
this UserTesting certificate to your
LinkedIn profile.
Now that your UX tests are complete, follow the steps below to
organize the information into your Part

2 report.
MANDATORY SECTION : User Experience Videos
For this section you are required to submit the following
included in Project Part 2:
A) Appendix 1: links to your 3 annotated User Testing Videos
(not included in 3-5 page limit)
https://www.usertesting.com/users/sign_up?client=true
https://lnkd.in/bC5jTyw
To annotate your videos, you will need to listen to them first.
Then summarize the important points in
the form of annotations for your client and I to read.
Annotations can be completed within the UT
platform.
B) Appendix 2: User Testing Study Plan outlining the
following: (not included in 3-5 page limit)
-Test Objectives
-Test Target (eg. gender, income, age, web expertise, location)

-List of 4-5 Tasks
-List of 4-5 Questions
C) Summary of recommendations for the client based on testing
videos (included in main
portion of Report Part 2 and does count in 3-5 page limit)
GA PROJECT – PHASE 1 – MORE SUGGESTIONS
I have just graded a set of GA Phase 1 papers from another
section and the results weren’t as high as I hoped.
Consequently, I would like to provide some more suggestions
based on the submissions I saw.
1. This is a compilation of the most meaningful data you can
pull from GA for your client. At the end, read your
document and ask yourself what value you are bringing. That
will determine your grade. If I have to ask myself
“So what?” after reading anything in your report, there will be
no grades awarded to that portion of the report.
For example, I still have students saying “Site bounce rate is
55% which is not good.” That means nothing – first

of all, you’re assuming there is a “good” and “bad” bounce rate.
Secondly, you have not segmented the data to
understand why bounce rate is what it is. Thirdly, you are not
looking to see how the data is trending over time.
2. I should know what date range you’re looking at AND which
custom segment you have applied. You can put this
in the header or in a quick couple of lines to start your report.
3. Don’t explain bounce rate, meta titles, etc… I will assume
you know what they are and why they’re important.
You don’t have the space for lengthy definitions. I’m looking
for a content rich, action-packed 3-5 pages. The
best of the best.
4. Watch spelling and grammar. If the doc flows poorly, is
riddled with errors, or is hard to understand your grade
will be low. This is a post-grad program and expectations for
quality of writing are VERY high. Your docs next
semester are sent into industry and to Google. There is no
tolerance for poor writing.
5. Include visuals to support your document when needed (but
not when they don’t ADD value and help me
understand). If you’re talking about a page on your client’s
site, include a small screencap and point to the areas
you’re referring to. Be sure to label all visuals and refer to
them in the body of the report. They shouldn’t occupy

the bulk of the report though – one student took up 3 of 5 pages
with visuals leaving no space for content. Do
NOT include screen caps from GA (create your own charts if
necessary).
FYI – there are no marks for just submitting a paper. If you are
not demonstrating proficiency, integrating
learnings from class, and providing value, the grade will be
zero. It will not be 50% just because you handed
something in. Have no fear though – I also awarded a few
100% grades.
I am providing below a few samples of good analysis and poor
analysis and my explanations for what I like and
don’t like.
Source: student paper fall 2016 – GOOD EXAMPLE
1c. USER EXPERIENCE – Frequented Landing Pages & Bounce
Rate
Observations: Following the home page, the second most
frequented landing page on the site (with 7.47% of
landing page sessions) is the Families & Kids program page.

The 61.97% bounce rate on this page is also
significantly higher than the average (45.73%), which implies
improvements should be made on the page.
Implications: Since in over 7% of the time, the Family & Kids
program page is viewers’ gateway to the site, effort
must be made to put the Museum’s best foot forward on this
page
to ensure users are getting what they need from the content and
are satisfied with the user experience.
Recommendations: Upon review of the page, it’s clear there is a
lot of content to scroll through. It may be worth revisiting how
this
content is presented. The page may also benefit from using
visuals
to ‘sell’ the different programming. For example, the Tate
Modern Gallery in England displays its various
programs in a visually appealing way that is easy to digest
(http://www.tate.org.uk).
Liz - What do I like:
1. The observation, implication, and recommendations
breakdown. This will ensure you’re drawing meaning from
all of the data you find.

2. The supporting screencap (if it’s not clear where I’m to look
make sure you label it and refer to Figure X in the
document).
3. The student remembered that when analyzing bounce rate,
you have to be looking at landing pages. You can’t
have a bounce without a land.
Liz - What don’t I like:
1. The assumption that a 62% bounce rate is bad. Perhaps users
are content because they found everything they
needed on the page. Just make sure you rule that out.
2. A small screencap of the client’s page in question should also
be included so we can see the comparison. It would
add value and help me to visualize what the student is talking
about.
3. In the recommendations I would have liked to see answers to
these questions:
a. As a first touchpoint with customers, how does the landing
page stack up? Does it begin the relationship in the
right way?
b. Are we giving users a reason to connect with us again in the
future, knowing this is the last touchpoint we will
have with many of them?

Source: student paper fall 2016 – POOR EXAMPLE
Meta Titles:
The meta title for Downtown London Yoga could use some
work. Meta titles should be a good indicator
of content on the page. It makes for a good user experience, and
tells visitors what they can expect to see on the
website. Meta titles should be unique on each page. When you
search London yoga, Downtown London Yoga
appears to be under the fold. Since most people when they are
looking for something on any search engine, they
are more likely to click on a website that is above the fold.
Also, the meta titles are duplicated on a few pages, as
well as in all caps on the website. They are duplicated on
“Home”, “Courses”, “Schedule, Payments”, “Teachers”
and “Newsletters Subscribe”.
Liz - What I don’t like:
Nowhere do I see suggestions for new meta titles which was the
whole point here – what is the old one, what is
your new suggestion. This should be set up in a chart and best
practices as discussed in class implemented. The

document is designed to be an action-packed list of
recommendations the SME can implement right away.
Source: student paper fall 2016 – POOR EXAMPLE
User Experience
Beyond that the homepage is clean, well laid out and I believe I
can get to the important stuff rather quickly. For
example it is easy to find what types of law your firm practices,
I get recent news that could apply to me, and I
can clearly see how to contact you. There is also a quick right
up about your partners which puts a face to a name
so to speak and creates a connection which also allows for an
easy to get more information on these particular
partners.
1. This is not an exercise in what you think about your client’s
site but rather what the GA data indicates. You must
use the data to create hypotheses for testing. Always connect
your statements with GA data. It’s not about YOU
– it’s about the target audience and the only way to understand
what they think is to look at the data.

This by contrast is better than above….
If we take a look at the popularity of pages on the site by
pageview then we can see the page getting the most
traffic is the homepage, which is expected. The second most
viewed page is /contact-us/ again highlighting the
need to bring contact information above the fold on every page
of the site to make this local information as easy
to find as possible.
What is concerning is the lack of pageviews for 2 core site
pages that are integral to the conversion funnel.
Before customers buy a product of this nature, we believe they
need to:
-see what you do
-see samples of your work
-hear what others have to say
-know what you charge
-contact you
Google Analytics data leads us to believe the site is not working
in the most optimal way to facilitate that sales
cycle.
/before-after-pictures/ is the 6th most popular in terms of
pageviews and is only seen in 15% of all site visits.
archives/category/comments/ (customer testimonial page) is the
10th most popular in terms of pageviews and is

only seen in 9% of all site visits
To ensure the highest conversion rate possible, this content
should be viewed by more site visitors.
Liz - What I like:
An evaluation of UX and website layout is linked directly to GA
data, not gut feeling.
What the customer wants in the website has been explored. The
student gave thought to the conversion process
and the content that would be needed to support that process
and bring more users further down the funnel.
This fabulous discussion needs to be followed up with a
recommendations section that outlines HOW the
business should make that content more accessible. Provide
screencaps of the existing site to illustrate why
users might not be hitting on the content, and provide samples
of competitive sites who are doing a better job.
Outline a clear to-do list the business owner can follow in
implementing changes to the site.

GA – Client Project Part 1 – TO DO LIST 1 (Week 2) Mgmt5074 .docx

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