Slides from my SMX Advanced presentation in Seattle.

1. How to avoid getting
embarrassed by dirty data
@rachaelgerson

2. @rachaelgerson
SEER Interactive
The Search Church
GA Top Contributor
Tech geek
Data junkie

3. Links to EVERYTHING will
be on last slide

4. Why is getting good data important?
Everyone has to be accountable

5. We’ve all been there

7. GA is used on 95% of sites

8. Issues are typically either…
Code / site issues,
GA setup issues (filters, settings,
goals, etc),
OR
User knowledge issues

9. So let’s be GA detectives for the
next 10 minutes

11. Here are some initial
questions you should ask in
order to avoid dirty data

12. Section 1: Site Issues

13. Question 1
Is your GA code on every
page of the site?

14. Missing GA code =
incomplete data

15. Use Screaming Frog to check for code
screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/

16. Already scanned site in last month?
Know your GA code’s on every page?
+1

17. Tip: Make sure GA code is also
on 404 and internal site search
result pages!

18. Question 2
Do you have more than one
set of the same GA code?

19. 1) Look for pages with amazing bounce rates
Standard > Content >
Site Content > Landing Pages

20. How to find
2) Open the source code
for these pages
3) Search for ga.js

21. How to find
You should only find one instance
with the same UA!
2
If only 1, +1

22. Question 3
Do you have more than 1 domain
or a domain + subdomain?

24. What’s your site?
Single Domain:
www.seerinteractive.com
1 Domain + Subdomain:
www.seerinteractive.com and
blog.seerinteractive.com
Multiple Domains:
www.seerinteractive.com and
www.thesearchchurch.com

25. Multiple domains / subdomains
means you need different GA code

26. Find it in GA
Oh noes
seerinteractive.com
Traffic Sources > Sources > Referrals

27. If you have multiple domains or
subdomains, check source code
+1 if GA code contains a line with
_gaq.push(['_setDomainName'

28. Filter to show full domain in GA
If using filter, +1

29. Question 4
Do you run an ecommerce
site?

30. If yes, GA ecommerce tracking

31. If using ecommerce tracking
(and it’s populating all the data)
+1

32. Section 2: GA Setup Issues

33. Question 5
Are you reporting on your
own visits?

34. Don’t want to report on our own visits

35. GA makes it ridiculously easy to
block our visits

36. If you don’t know IP, ask Google

37. Exclude IP Address
+1 if using filter

38. Question 6
Is your GA code used on
other sites?

39. What happens when your code is
placed on another site?
Affects visits, bounce rate, conversion
rate… EVERYTHING

40. How to find in GA
What we hope to see:
Audience > Technology > Network
> Hostname

41. Include Hostname filter
+1 if using filter

42. Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee
Question 7
Are you addressing
capitalization?

43. Google Analytics does not know
these are the same page:
domain.com/Analytics
domain.com/analytics
domain.com/AnAlYtIcS

44. Lowercase filter
+1 if using filter

45. Question 8
Are you tagging your
marketing efforts?

46. Google Analytics URL Builder
http://www.seerinteractive.com/?utm_source=newsletter
&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=june

47. If properly tagging marketing efforts
+1

48. Includes paid search – Need to
manually tag everything except
AdWords

49. Google Analytics
AdWords

50. Quick check
Click one of your paid search ads.
Does URL have either utm
parameters or gclid?
If yes, +1

51. Section 3: User Knowledge Issues

52. Question 9
Are you comparing branded
organic traffic to non-branded?

53. Due to (not provided), we can no longer
accurately report on this number

54. Tried applying branded vs
non-branded ratios

55. Instead, focus on landing pages

58. (np) – Page
Using this filter OR this report?
+1

59. Question 10
Did you make a filter mistake?

60. Doesn’t get much more
embarrassing than user errors

61. Couple of the recent filter errors
I’ve seen

62. “Someone on SEOmoz shared
the coolest filter!”
Implemented filter wrong on the
only profile = NO DATA

63. “I want to only include my
hostname”
Made the filter exclude rather than
include = NO DATA

64. Raw Data Profile
Filters: None
Goals: All, once tested
+1 for Raw Data profile

65. Test Profile
Filters: Any being tested
Goals: All existing + all being
tested
+1 for Test profile

66. Main Profile
Filters: All applicable filters,
once tested
Goals: All applicable goals, once
tested

67. It takes time to develop all of these
profiles, often replicating the same
settings multiple times

68. Question 11
Do you really understand GA??

69. Frequent mistake
Required first step in goals
Do you really understand GA?
+1

70. Question 12
How can I get access to my
account?

71. Currently only two GA user types:
Administrator & User

72. Personal favor to me:
Please make sure you have at least
two Admin AND know the login info

73. How to see admin
Admin > Profiles > Users

74. At least two Admin,
+1

75. Final Report Card
GA code – every page Tagging paid search
Only 1 set of same UA Brand vs Non-Brand
Domain / Subdomain Raw Data profile
Using ecomm tracking Test profile
Exclude Internal Understand GA
Hostname Account access
Capitalization Extra – Domain filter
Tagging marketing

76. Report Card Grades
A+ 13 points
A 11-12 points
B 9-10 points
C 7-8 points
D 5-6 points
F 4 or lower

77. @rachaelgerson
bit.ly/smx-2012-analytics