Tricks and tweaks for Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager

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Tweaks and tricksFor Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics
@SimoAhava | #GAUC15 | 17 June 2015

Simo Ahava
Senior Data Advocate, Reaktor
Google Developer Expert, Google Analytics
Blogger, developer, www.simoahava.com
Twitter-er, @SimoAhava
Google+:er, +SimoAhava

Plug-and-play Analytics
Stop. Stop doing it. Stop it now.

Google Analytics is a tool
designed to work for
9,352,458*  
different businesses.
* Author’s estimate, not an official figure

It is thus conceivable
Google doesn’t know
what your business
objectives are.

23.75 %

23.75 %
Dear CMO, last month, the Ecommerce Conversion Rate on our site
was…
…which is an uplift of 3.45% compared to the previous month!

2,342,566
Dear CMO, last month, the number of sessions to our site was…
…which is an uplift of 3.45% compared to the previous month!
Digital Analytics Café 20-May-2015 | @SimoAhava

Definition of a Session
• Group of interactions that takes place on a website…
• That expires after 30 minutes of inactivity…
• Or at the end of they day…
• Or when acquisition campaign changes…
• Unless the referral is in the Referral Exclusion List…
• Or traffic is cross-domain, and cross-domain tracking is implemented…
• Unless it’s implemented incorrectly…
• Which is likely since it’s so !#/%(“% difficult…
• Unless you’re using Google Tag Manager…
• Except if you’ve implemented THAT incorrectly…

All metrics and dimensions used by
a platform subscribe to the
schemas of said platform!
GPeC Summit 11-May-2015 | @SimoAhava

All metrics and dimensions used by
a platform subscribe to the
schemas of said platform!
GPeC Summit 11-May-2015 | @SimoAhava
Sessionization Schema

This has two major implications on
how we collect, process, and
analyse the data.

Stay away from
aggregate metrics. 
1

Stay away from
aggregate metrics. 
Combine, segment, 
visualize, predict.1

Plug-and-play metrics
are crap. Data must be
collected and reported
in a meaningful way.2@SimoAhava | #GAUC15 | 17 June 2015

Tweaks & Tricks
To improve data quality at data collection time.

Trick 1: Add true hit timestamp

Create a Custom Dimension
GA

Custom JavaScript Variable to calculate ISO time
GTM

Add the Custom JavaScript Variable to your tags
GTM

http://goo.gl/fA8d0f

Trick 2: Add client Id as a dimension

Setup the GA tracker in a Custom HTML Tag
GTM

Add the client ID to the Tag, and fire with the Custom Event
GTM

http://goo.gl/dkkgZr

Trick 3: Add session Id as a dimension

Custom JS Variable to return random ID
GTM

Add the Custom JS Variable as a Custom Dimension
GTM

Trick 4: Track dwell and scroll

Custom HTML Tag fires on DOM Ready
GTM

Event Tag fires when dwell & scroll recorded
GTM

http://goo.gl/AYXiki

Custom HTML Tag to setup the listener
GTM

Bunch of Data Layer Variables to capture the data
GTM

Event Tag to send the data to GA
GTM

https://github.com/sahava/content

Trick 6: Track content with Ecommerce

Setup Enhanced Ecommerce in the GA View
GA

Figure out the terminology
GTM

Connect interactions with the data layer
GTM

Create Tags for the individual events
GTM

Enjoy the awesomeness
GA

GA
http://goo.gl/pkQmqU

Trick 7: Block Internal Traffic

Create the View Filter
GA

Create a URL Query Variable
GTM

Add the Custom Dimension to a Tag
GTM

WEB
http://goo.gl/gTauIV

Trick 8: Create custom event handlers

Custom JS Variable to work as a generic handler
GTM

GTM
http://goo.gl/IViqTG

Trick 9: Track weather as a dimension

How it works

Create Custom Dimensions
GA

Custom HTML Tag to collect the data
GTM

Event Tag to send weather data to GA
GTM

http://goo.gl/3todBm

Trick 10: Track page visibility

http://goo.gl/RgA1Zh

http://goo.gl/80o1ml

BONUS: Inject semantic data for crawlers

Custom HTML Tag to inject Meta Descriptions with
GTM
http://goo.gl/1gB762

Custom HTML Tag to inject Structured Data with
GTM
http://goo.gl/YAXonr

Data is difficult
It’s supposed to be. Stop complaining.

Rule of Data Passivity
Data does nothing. Data beats nothing.
Data is a passive medium that requires
an active agent (analyst) to interpret.

Rule of Data Subjectivity
Interpretation of data requires a well-
formulated hypothesis. The same data
set can be good for one hypothesis and
bad for another.

Rule of Data Scarcity
You will never have all the data. An
arbitrary line must be drawn in data
collection, and you must be aware of
this limitation at all times.

Data quality is directly proportional to
how well you understand the data
collection mechanism.

Thank you!
simo.ahava@reaktor.com
www.simoahava.com
Twitter: @SimoAhava
Google+: +SimoAhava

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