An overview of Google Analytics

1. Endless Possibilities!
SDDU Seminar 24 July 2013
James Little
Screenshot and images used as per http://www.google.com/permissions/using-product-graphics.html

2. Overview

3. General > Specific
• What
• How
• Why

4. What
“Google Analytics (GA) is a free service offered by
Google that generates detailed statistics about the
visitors to a website.”
Source : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Analytics
“Google Analytics provides powerful digital
analytics for anyone with a web presence, large or
small. It's one of the most powerful digital analytics
solutions available – and it's free for anyone to use.”
Source: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1008065?hl=en-GB

5. How
• Visitors to website:
– Search engine results
– Direct
– Links from social media
• Tracking code on website
• Google Analytics Website

6. How
• Need a Google Account
• Analytics web-based accessed via
www.google.com/analytics

7. How

8. Why

9. Why
• Commercial versus Educational?
• Same insights and knowledge – different
purposes

10. Why – Google’s Overview
Executives can learn:
• Which marketing initiatives are most effective
• Accurate website traffic patterns/trends
• Which customer and customer segments are most valuable
Marketing Professionals can learn:
• Where visitors come from and what do they do on the site
• How can the website convert more visitors into customers
• Which keywords resonate with prospects and lead to conversions
• Which online ad or creative is the most effective
Content & Developers can learn:
• Where people leave the site
• Which pages retain visitors the longest
• What search terms people use to find the site
Based on: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1008065?hl=en-GB

11. Specifics

12. Why

13. Why
• Spend five minutes writing down your initial
thoughts on areas, projects or resources that
you see Google Analytics as potentially being
useful for (you can use Google’s descriptions
as a guide)
• We’ll come together to discuss for a further
five.

14. How
• SDDU Google Account
• Username: leedssddu@gmail.com
• Password: googlepassword

15. How - SDDU
• SDDU Google Account
• Currently tracks SDDU website
• Can add any other website you may have

16. Metrics & Dimensions
• Many types of information available
– Dimensions: Describe Data
– Metrics: Measure Data
DIMENSION METRIC METRIC
City Area (in sq. miles) Population
San Francisco 231 800,000
Berlin 334 3.5 million
Singapore 224 5.2 million

17. Metrics & Dimensions
• Metrics:
– Visits
– Unique visitors
– Page views
– Average time on site
– Device used
– Web browser used
• Full list of dimensions and metrics

18. How - Reports
• Many ways to access information
• Potentially overwhelming!
• Reports
– Dashboard
– Standard Reports
– Custom Report

20. Dashboard

21. Dashboard
• Provides an overview of metrics and
dimensions
• Provides a default set of information but can
be customised

22. Standard
Reports

23. Demo

24. Standard Reports - Audience
• Who is visiting your site
– Demographics
Which location in the world
– Behaviour
Type of visitor (new/returning)
– Technology
Browser, device and network
– Mobile
Specific mobile device
– Visitor Flows
Visual representation of route taken through site

25. Standard Reports – Traffic Sources
• How people are visiting your site:
– Referrals
links from other sites
– Direct Traffic
www.sddu.leeds.ac.uk
– Search engine:
Ad-hoc - normal searching
Paid – from a paid link
Advertising - from a result of paid keywords

26. Standard Reports – Content
• How content is being viewed
– Site Content
How often each page is being viewed
– Site Speed
How quickly the pages are loading
– Site Search
How people are searching within the site
– In-page Analytics
A visual representation of activity on each page

27. Custom Reports
• Your own combination of information or
metrics
• Can be created and shared

28. Intelligence Events & Real-Time
• Intelligence Events picks up major changes in
visitors, pageviews or bounce-rate
• Real-time provides live information about the
website.

29. Why
• Understand:
– More about your visitors
– Use and popularity of content
– Trends of access
• Inform work:
– Areas to improve on
– Gaps in provision (content and structure)
– Promotion activities

30. Hands-On Time
• Thinking about the types of information that
may be useful for your project, area or
resource have a go at finding this information
from the SDDU website
• Log into SDDU Google Analytics Account
– U: leedssddu@gmail.com / P: googlepassword

31. Next Steps
• Get Google Analytics onto your site
– Request a tracking code
• Access Google Analytics
– Request username and password
– Shared access to all areas
• How did you find using Google Analytics?
• More advanced session on specific features?

32. Thank you