Google Analytics Solutions: April 2009

Seminars for Success coming to Melbourne, Phoenix and Toronto in May

April 30, 2009

Seminars for SuccessGoogle Analytics Authorized Consultant Google Analytics – Introduction & User Training
Thursday, May 14 - Melbourne, Australia
Tuesday, May 26 - Toronto, Canada
Wednesday, May 27 - Phoenix, AZ
Walk away from day one with the knowledge to take actionable information out of Google Analytics and drive your business decisions. Day one topics include:

Introduction to Web Analytics

Common Interface Features

Dashboard Reports & Customization

Understanding Visitors

Much, Much More…

Google Analytics – Advanced Technical Implementation Friday, May 15 - Melbourne, Australia
Wednesday, May 27 - Toronto, Canada
Thursday, May 28 - Phoenix, AZ Day two takes you through Google Analytics configurations, best practices, filter set ups and advanced installs and implementations. Day two topics include:

Profiles and Strategies

Filters – Uses and Implementation

Profile and Filter Combinations

Goals & Funnels - Configuration & Setup

And much, much more…

Landing Page Testing with Google Website Optimizer
Friday, May 29 - Phoenix, AZ

The Google Website Optimizer experts present this practical course taking you through the process of testing your site to improving your users’ experience and seeing your conversion rates soar. The course includes an overview of Website Optimizer, loads of testing best practices, and hands-on experience to better understand and run A/B and multivariate tests on your website and key landing pages. Seats are limited, so register today!

Melbourne Seminars for Success

Toronto Seminars for Success

Phoenix Seminars for Success

Posted by Sebastian Tonkin, Google Analytics Team

Analytics and AdSense, Together at Last

April 29, 2009

Linking your Analytics and AdSense Accounts

Click the link that says "Integrate your AdSense account with Google Analytics" on the Reports > Overview tab

Follow the on-screen instructions

help center article
Which Reports are Available

The Top AdSense Content report allows you to see more details about specific pages on your site and analyze ad performance. For instance, if you find that some of your pages generate a high number of pageviews but aren't monetizing as well as other pages, you can focus your optimization efforts on improving these pages.

The Top AdSense Referrers report can help you see how different incoming traffic sources contribute to your revenue.

Last, the AdSense Trending report lets you analyze how your site generates revenue during different times of the day and different days of the week.

How to Read the Reports

Help CenterPosted by Sebastian Tonkin, Google Analytics Team

The Analytics Pro's Tools of the Trade

April 28, 2009

Why you need tools and what you can use them for
hire someonereally good

JavaScript errors,

cookie problems, or

client-side page load time issues (not to be confused with slow connections... this is different).

Tools every Google Analytics professional should have
1) The Browser to Start with: FirefoxFirefox browseradd-ons
2) Working with JavaScript: Firebug for Firefox This is where the march of add-ons for Firefox begins. The first and probably most important tool in the box is Firebug, an add-on for Firefox. Use the following Firebug features when debugging Google Analytics implementations:

Detecting JavaScript errors quickly and easily - identify the script and line of code within the script that is the culprit

Testing JavaScript code within the browser environment without having to edit an actual page on the server using the script console window in Firebug

much
3) Working with Cookies: Web Developer Toolbar in FirefoxWeb Developer Toolbar

4) Tracking the Data Stream: Live HTTP headersLive HTTP headersBonus configuration option for Live Headers:

5) Page Execution Speed: Chrome JavaScript ConsoleGoogle's new Chrome BrowserTip:Google Analytics professionalTools for Internet Explorer

6) JavaScript Debugging in Internet Explorer: DebugBarDebugBar
7) Live Data Stream Analysis in Internet Explorer: Fiddler2

8) Cookies in Internet Explorer: IE Cookies Viewer

In Conclusion

Firefox browser

Firebug for Firefox

WebDeveloper Toolbar for Firefox

LiveHTTPHeaders

Internet Explorer

DebugBar: web developer toolbar for Internet Explorer
Fiddler2 for request header analysis
IE Cookies Viewer

Chrome

JavaScript Console tool for latency measurement

Analytics ProsGoogle Analytics Authorized Consultant

Back to Basics: Using Motion Charts

April 27, 2009

The Motion Charts feature seems like an advanced tool, but it's actually designed for Analytics users at all levels. It's useful for spotting trends and relationships amongst individual variables when your visits may look flat as an aggregated set of data. Today, we'll illustrate how Motion Charts can graph and compare several keywords over time.

For example, let's say you want to graph traffic over time for each of the top keywords in the report below. You can easily do so by going to the Keywords report under the 'Traffic Sources' section.

Of course, you can click each keyword to see a graph over time, but this doesn't allow you to make comparisons.

However, Motion Charts allow you to graph and compare individual keyword performance over time. To access Motion Charts click the "Visualize" button at the top of most reports, such as the "Keyword" report located under "Traffic Sources."

You can now see that, except for a dip in traffic between Mar 23 and Mar 30, "google store" sent more traffic every day than the other keywords. "google downloads" sent the least amount traffic each day.

But this graph also provides a bonus. If you set the size of the dots to represent revenue, you can identify the days during which traffic actually paid off in revenue. For example, "google store" doesn't generate revenue every day (even when it sends lots of traffic). "google shop" and "google software" frequently generate revenue, but not as much as "google store".

Generating this graph is easy. Just follow these steps:

Go the Keywords report (or any other report with table data) and click 'Visualize.'
Select "Time" for the X-axis and "Visits" on the Y-axis. For Size, select "Revenue" (or any other metric you want to track).
Now, select the keywords you want to graph (use the 'Select' box below the 'Size' menu) and select Trails. Press 'Play' or drag the slider across to the end of the time period.

After following these steps, a graph like the image above should appear. If you've selected a lot of keywords, your labels may bunch together, but you can drag and reposition the labels to see parts of the graph that are obscured.

Of course, you can use this technique on any report which has a 'Visualize' button. If you discover a new use for this technique, please post a comment and share your best practice with us.
Posted by Alden DeSoto and Christina Park, Google Analytics Team

Advanced Segments Swissotel Style

April 23, 2009

way back in 2006

recent talkfull storypresentationPosted by Sebastian Tonkin, Google Analytics Team

Attention Developers: Google Analytics API Launched!

April 21, 2009

A Google Analytics API has long been one of our most widely anticipated features. Today we're pleased to announce that the Google Analytics Data Export API beta is now publicly available to all Analytics users!

What's so exciting about an API? The API will allow developers to extend Google Analytics in new and creative ways that benefit developers, organizations and end users. Large organizations and agencies now have a standardized platform for integrating Analytics data with their own business data. Developers can integrate Google Analytics into their existing products and create standalone applications that they sell. Users could see snapshots of their Analytics data in developer created dashboards and gadgets. Individuals and business owners will have opportunities to access their Google Analytics information in a variety of new ways.

For example, how would you like to access Google Analytics from your phone? Now you can, with this Android application from Actual Metrics. How about accessing Analytics from your desktop? It's here from Desktop-Reporting.

And if you're interested in seeing how integrating Google Analytics can enhance your own business take a look at these examples. MailChimp has integrated Google Analytics into their email marketing platform and ShufflePoint® provides a service for adding Google Analytics data into PowerPoint® presentations. See how youcalc has created apps that allow you to mashup Google Analytics, AdWords, Salesforce.com and other enterprise data.

Check out more customer examples on our developer site. These apps demonstrate only some of the creative possibilities and we know you'll discover other interesting ways to use the Analytics API.

So, how does the API work?

The Data Export API is easy to use and provides read-only access to all your Analytics data. Any data that's available through the standard Analytics web interface is available through the API. The Analytics API is a Google Data API. This is the same API protocol for Google Calendar, Finance and Webmaster Tools. If you've used any of these APIs, the Google Analytics Data Export API will look very familiar to you.

For the JavaScript and Java programming languages, we've provided client libraries to abstract and simplify the process. We're also working on supporting more programming languages. In the meantime, for any programming language you want to use you can make requests directly to the API over HTTP and access the data in XML.

How do I get started?

There are three key resources you'll want to use when you start developing on top of the Google Analytics API. First, all the documentation you need can be found on our Developer site at Google Code. Here you'll find example code, a developer guide, FAQ, and the complete API reference.

Second, be sure to sign up for the Google Analytics API Notify email group so you get the key announcements on feature updates, code changes and other service related news that relate to the API. (Don't worry, this will be a low-traffic email list and we promise to only send emails when there is something important that affects developers.)

Finally, you'll want to become a part of the Google Analytics developer community by joining the Google Analytics APIs Group. This user forum is a great way to share ideas and get feedback from other developers. We also check in on these forums so let us know what you think about the API there, and share your ideas and your applications with us. We look forward to seeing your creativity!

Posted by Nick Mihailovski and the Google Analytics API Team

Back to Basics: Pressing the right buttons

April 20, 2009

1. The 'Graph by' button

Beneath the date range selector for your graphs, there is a 'Graph by' feature that lets you graph your data by day, week, or month so you can analyze trends according to the selected view. Some Visits reports have an additional hourly view you can graph by if you really need that extra granular level of data. Get more details about each graph view here.

2. 'Views' button

The 'Views' buttons underneath the graph gives you the option to view your top content data by a variety of criteria - either by data table, pie chart, bar graph, or comparison view.

For the Top Content report, the 'Comparison' view is very useful to spot which pages outperform or underperform the site average. In the Comparison view shown above, we've sorted the pages based on the number of pageviews they each received and are comparing the bounce rate for each page to the site average. We can instantly see that the page that received the most page views also underperformed the site average in terms of bounce rate. But the second and third pages out performed the site average bounce rate.

Read some tips about keeping your visitors on your site and improving your site's conversion health.

3. Dimension segmenting pull-down menu

The 'Dimension' pull-down menu lets you segment one report within Google Analytics by one variable, giving you further context about your visitors. For the content detail reports, you can see how people came to a particular page by changing the dimension to 'Source,' or see what kind of traffic has been referring people by clicking 'Medium.'

If your site is seen in multiple languages, try selecting 'languages' for the dimension. Once you see an unusual spike in visits for a particular language or country, try modifying your site to serve your customers (i.e. translating certain pages or adding country-specific products) and see if your conversions grow, like this guy's. You never know if Mexicana music is enjoying a new revival in Venezuela!

4. Graph mode option

Visualize and compare two metrics at a time for a selected report by selecting from the 'Graph mode' pull-down menu in your reports. Comparing two metrics can show trends you may not have been able to spot solely from within your data table. Although there isn't much actionable insight this feature may give you, you can use it to raise some educated guesses about your traffic patterns and test them out.

To learn how to use the multi-line graphing feature, please read this article.

Hopefully this post has you starting out your week by pressing all the right buttons in your reports!

Posted by Christina Park, Google Analytics Team

Urchin Search Referral URL Update

April 15, 2009

A brief update to yesterday's post about Google.com search referrals. We initially reported that Urchin Software might require a patch to handle the new URL structure, but after some additional testing, it turns out no patch is needed. Urchin can handle both the current and new URLs. The latest release (Urchin 6.5) has a bunch of new features, including the ability to tap into the AdWords API, so we suggest everyone upgrade regardless!Posted by Bretty Crosby, Google Analytics Team

An upcoming change to Google.com search referrals; Google Analytics unaffected

April 14, 2009

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=flowers&btnG=Google+Searchhttp://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=7&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.example.com%2Fmypage.htm&ei=0SjdSa-1N5O8M_qW8dQN&rct=j&q=flowers&usg=AFQjCNHJXSUh7Vw7oubPaO3tZOzz-F-u_w&sig2=X8uCFh6IoPtnwmvGMULQfw/search?/url?Posted by Brett Crosby, Google Analytics Team

Using Site Search Features in Creative Ways

April 14, 2009

What is Site Search in Google Analytics?onGoogle Site SearchGoogle Mini Search ApplianceContent Management Systemsite-search tools available today

How does Site Search work?Request URI

A visit used site search

The search term "email tracking" was used once

This search was conducted in the "support" category

afterThis is an incredibly important feature because it allows analysis of progression and relationship from one independent variable (search term) to another.

Where the "creative" uses begin

Site Search has two independent dimensions: category and keyword or term

If multiple searches are performed during the same visit they will all be recorded under the Search Terms report and can be related by way of the Refinements report

Any Request URI that contains a query string matching the defined parameters for search term and category will trigger a "site search" to be recorded

meaningfulwasn't site searchuseful and relevantCreative use in action: unlimited User-Defined segmentsuser-defined segmentation cookieone way or anotherAnd note: this should not be confused with the recently released Advanced Custom Segments tool which is extremely powerful and can be used to create any number of custom segments. additionalThe Scenario

andorHow to make it happen:

In the example above (tracking fields in a form to create Site Search segments) you'll need to generate a virtual pageview with a defined Request URI syntax. For this example use:

pageTracker._trackPageview('/custom/lead-form/segment.html?segcat=[segment type]&segterm=[segment value]')

Where "segcat" is the identifier for a Site Search "category", "segterm" is the identifier for the Site Search "term", "[segment type] is either "industry" or "product", and "[segment value]" changes depending on the form field value.

For each industry and product field option on the form, create an "onclick" element that calls the pageTracker script with the corresponding values for "segment type" and "segment value" defined for that field.

The result will be a "pageview" hit each time a visitor selects a form option. Let's say you have 5 industries available and 10 products of potential interest, the resulting data would show which industries are most commonly selected and in what order, as well as which products are most desired, and how the products relate to each other via the Refinements report.

Why not use use Event Tracking for this?request accessWhat are other creative uses for Site Search?

Tracking Rich Internet Applications (RIA's) using this Site Search method rather than Event Tracking can provide some advantages,

Tracking store product interest when the Category and Product name are persistently available in the URI or a Virtual Pageview can reveal new product interest trends for online retailers,

And using Site Search in creative ways to measure Internal Ads and Cross-promotions will clear the mist on what promotions really drive sales on your site.

In Closinghighly advisableJustin CutroniEpikOneMike PlummerPOPAnalytics ProsGoogle Analytics Authorized Consultant

Urchin.js is going dark!? No, it isn't.

April 10, 2009

Faster, smaller source file

Automatic detection of HTTPS

Increased namespace safety

More convenient set up for tracking e-commerce transactions

More customizable code for interactive Ajax-based sites

Ability to take advantage of the most up-to-date tracking functionality as it is added to Google Analytics

Posted by Brett Crosby, Google Analytics Team

April Seminars for Success - Boston, Orange County and Honolulu

April 8, 2009

Google Analytics – Introduction & User Training

Introduction to Web Analytics

Common Interface Features

Dashboard Reports & Customization

Understanding Visitors, Traffic Sources, Content, Goals and Ecommerce

Motion Chart Visualization

Analytics Best Practices for Branding, Lead Generation & Ecommerce

And much, much more…

Google Analytics – Advanced Technical Implementation

Profiles and Strategies

Filters – Uses and Implementation

Goals & Funnels - Configuration & Setup

Ecommerce Implementations

Site Search, Event Tracking, Custom Reporting and Advanced Segmentation

And much, much more…

Landing Page Testing with Google Website Optimizer

An overview of testing and Website Optimizer

How to identify problematic pages and estimate sample sizes

Loads of testing best practices drawn from real tests and case studies

Hands-on lab experience in setting up, configuring, & launching both A/B and Multivariate tests

How to interpret the data and run follow up experiments

Boston Seminar Registration

Orange County / Honolulu Seminar Registration

Posted by Eva Woo, Google Analytics Team

Regular Expression Tips and Tricks

April 7, 2009

What are Regular Expressions and Why Use Them?
Regular Expressions (RegEx) are a set of characters you can use match one or more strings of text. The main reason to use Regular Expressions is that they support wildcard matching, letting you capture a lot of variations (in URLs for example) using a single string of characters.

Here are a few examples when Regular Expressions are useful in Google Analytics:

Matching multiple pages when defining a goal or funnel page
Exclude a range of IP addresses when defining a filter
Defining complex advanced segments
Including and excluding multiple URLs from reports such as the Top Content report

Check out this help center article for some basic definitions of Regular Expressions and how they work.

Tips and Tricks

Here are some tips, tricks and flourishes to make your RegEx sing.

USE TRIAL AND ERROR: There is only one really, really good way to write Regular Expressions. You can use all the testing tools in the world, but the only good way is to get them wrong, and then rewrite them and rewrite them until you are sure that they are right. So... be sure to have a profile that you can use just for testing.
KEEP IT SIMPLE: If you need to write an expression to match "new visits", and the only options that you will be matching against are "new visits" and "repeat visits," just the word "new" is good enough.
REGULAR EXPRESSIONS ARE GREEDY: They will match everything they possibly can, unless you force them not to. If your expression is "visits", it will match "new visits" and "repeat visits." After all, they both included the expression "visits." To make them less greedy, you have to make them more specific
DON'T OVER DO IT: (See #3 above.) For example, many people use a Regular Expression only when creating an IP address filter. If the IP address is 6.255.255.255, they create an expression like this: 6\.255\.255\.255 -- and forget that that will also match 26.255.255.255, etc. So in a situation like this, you really do need to start with a beginning anchor, ^6\.255\.255\.255 . A beginning anchor (called a carat), says, "To be a match, it has to start here."
MATCH EVERYTHING WITH .*: Some combinations of Regular Expressions are very special. Perhaps the most useful combination is a dot followed by a star, like this: .* And don't forget about a dot followed by a star, but in parenthesis, like this: (.*) The first one means, get everything. It is your ultimate wildcard. On the other hand, (.*) means, get everything and put it in a variable. You'll find that (.*) is very helpful when you are creating custom advanced filters.
BACKSLASH TO ESCAPE: Backslash is the most frequent RegEx you will probably use. It means, take this special character and turn it into an everyday character. So if you are trying to match to "www.mysite.com?pid=123," you have a problem -- unless you use your backslash. The question mark is a Regular Expression, and only by using a backslash, like this: "www.mysite.com\?pid=123" can you take away its special powers. If you aren't sure whether something is a Regular Expression or not, go ahead and use that backslash -- it won't do any harm.
WHITESPACE IS WHITESPACE: The most frequent question you might ask is, "How do I create a white space with Regular Expressions?" The answer is usually, just use white space. So if you need to match to "Google Analytics," you can make your Regular Expression be "Google Analytics."

Other Resources
documentationregular-expressions.infoRegEx CoachLunaMetricsGoogle Analytics Authorized Consultant

Back to Basics: Discover Analytics Checklist

April 6, 2009

Google Analytics has a variety of features that can help you explore and understand your data. But with so many features, beginners are often baffled at where to start. To help you navigate through the product, we've created the Discover Analytics Checklist which groups features into bite sized chunks. The checklist will keep track of what you've mastered and what you have yet to explore. You can start with "Install Tracking Code" and work your way to the "Advanced Features" or prioritize based on your needs (although, we do recommend you start at "Getting Started"). As an added bonus, you can sigh a self-satisfied 'Ahhh' each time you cross off an Analytics to-do from your list.

We hope this can help you keep track of your steps and give you the reference material you need for implementation troubleshooting tips. We will continue to update and expand this list as new features are launched.