Google Analytics Solutions: Kerzu 2011

Web Analytics TV #23 - The Holiday Episode

23 Kerzu 2011

Welcome to the holiday episode of Web Analytics TV! Web Analytics TV, as you well know by now, is powered by your amazing questions. In this merry episode we had questions from France, Australia, Sweden, India, Germany, The Netherlands and the US.

If you’re new to this show, our process is simple.

Step 1: You ask, or vote on, your favorite web analytics questions. Vote on next week’s questions using this Web Analytics TV Google Moderator site.

Step 2: From a secret undisclosed location at the Googleplex Avinash Kaushik & Nick Mihailovski answer them. :-)

In this episode we award the “Ninja of the Episode” and award it to Maggie in Bulgaria, for a great question about the difference between the days and visits to transaction report and the time lag reports in multi channel funnels. Maggie, just email us and we’ll send you a signed copy of Web analytics 2.0.

OK. Here is the list of last episodes questions.

In this action packed episode we discuss:

(0:35) Working with changes in various country’s cookie policies

(1:56) Recommendation for tracking bounces on content sites

(4:32) Tracking exit links from your website

(7:00) Tracking and reporting customer lifetime value

(9:47) Days to purchase vs time lag reports in multi-channel funnels

(11:48) Cross domain and sub-domain tracking using a GACP

(13:01) Funnel visualization via the API

(16:03) Interaction hits and impact on quota

(16:41) Tracking internal referrals / campaings / house ads

(17:51) Why visits and entrances are the same for page level custom vars

(19:54) Comparing mondays, week over week

(20:42) Time between setting profiles filers and seeing data in reports

Here are the links to the topics we discuss:

Funnel visualization using paditrack

Vote on developer issue in our issue tracker

Justin Cutroni explains how to use internal site search to track internal campaigns

Use Excellent Analytics, GA Data Grabber, Next Analytics to extract data into excel

Check out the Google Analytics App Gallery for great tools

As always, if you need help setting up Google Analytics or leveraging the advanced configuration options, we recommend hiring a Google Analytics Certified Partner.

If you found this post or video helpful, we'd love to hear your comments. Please share them via the comment form below.

This series would not be possible without your awesome questions. Please submit them on our public Google Moderator site, and while you’re there don’t forget to vote for your favorite questions. Avinash and I will answer them in a couple of weeks with yet another entertaining video.

Thanks!
Posted by Nick Mihailovski, Google Analytics Team

Advanced Segments for Holiday campaigns

20 Kerzu 2011

up 12% this yearAdvanced Segments

(if you don’t have e-commerce tracking, you may want to create a custom advanced segment like this one:

where the goal# that you select is your most valuable goal). Traffic Sources > Search > Organic(Also try repeating this process for December 26th 2010 through January 1st 2011 to find trends during the post-Christmas week).

Content > Site Content

Posted by Jesse Nichols, Google Analytics team

Sankey Diagrams and Flow: Over A Hundred Years of Innovation

20 Kerzu 2011

Flow VisualizationSankey diagramsCharles Minnard’s

Network flow - structural changes via alluvial diagrams

Flow of Energy - energy management and power plant efficiency

Flow of Traffic - transport analysis and tournament analysis (ex. 2010 FIFA World Cup!)

Flow of Wealth - money flow, social conditions, and stock price modeling

http://www.sankey-diagrams.com/Visitors FlowGoal FlowPosted by Phil Mui, Google Analytics team

Updating the Analytics IQ Course and Exam

16 Kerzu 2011

Today, we updated the Google Analytics IQ course, available at google.com/analytics/iq, to reflect the new version of Google Analytics. An updated exam will appear during the first week of January. If you’re already in the middle of studying and plan to take the exam in December, you may wish to continue using the old version of the course, which will remain available at ConversionUniversity.com for one more week. After that, ConversionUniversity.com will host the new course.So, what’s been updated? If you’ve been practicing with the old version of Google Analytics, you’ll find that most of the knowledge you’ve acquired will be valid and useful for the new exam. But, it’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with the new version and start using it.Specifically, you should

understand accounts, web properties, and profiles in the new Google Analytics,

know the goal types and when to use each type,

understand the concepts of “metric” and “dimension”,

be aware of new Google Analytics capabilities and reports. (Try reviewing recent posts on this blog to make sure you’re up to speed.)

We hope you enjoy the updated online course and best of luck on the exam!Posted by Alden DeSoto, Google Analytics Team

The power of visualization with the Google Analytics API and Google Earth

15 Kerzu 2011

Newland communitiesShufflePointGoogle AnalyticsGoogle EarthChief IngredientGoogle Analytics APIKMLGoogle Analytics App GalleryShufflePointGoogle Analytics Developer Program

Greater insights from the Site Speed report - Technical section

14 Kerzu 2011

Site Speed reportSo what’s new?ExplorerPerformanceMap Overlay

Where to access the Site Speed Technical section

Site Speed with Technical section metrics overlayedWhat are the new metrics and what you can do with them?ExplorerMap OverlayPerformanceAvg. Page Load Time

Avg. Redirection Time - the time spent in redirection before fetching this page. If there are no redirects, the value for this metric is expected to be 0.

Avg. Domain Lookup Time - the average amount of time spent in DNS lookup for this page.

Avg. Server Connection Time - the time needed for the user to connect to your server.

Avg. Server Response Time - the time for your server to respond to a user request, including the network time from the user’s location to your server.

Avg. Page Download Time - the time to download your page.

If you notice that some of the metrics are higher than expected, review your site operations and test if changes lead to improvements. For example, if you notice that Avg. Domain Lookup Time is high, you might want to change your DNS provider. A high Server Connection Time, on the other hand, is a metric that you might not be able to reduce.

To most significantly increase your website’s speed, evaluate your Site Speed report for metrics that have the largest values and target those for improvement. Below is a list of actions that you can take to help solve issues with each of these metrics:

High Avg. Redirection Time - analyze whether the redirects are necessary. Also check sources to see if a specific referrer is causing high redirect latency.
High Avg. Domain Lookup Time - consider changing DNS provider that provides consistent and lower response times.
High Avg. Server Response Time - reduce backend processing time or place a server closer to users.
High Avg. Page Download Time - reduce your initial data size.

Looking for additional ways to improve your site speed? Be sure to view your site’s performance by browser type and Geo location. Your pages may need to be optimized to display faster on a specific browser or for a specific country. Visit the Map Overlay tab to gain insights by region and add “browser” as a secondary dimension to see the impact by browser.

Google Analytics Enhancements for Mobile Apps

13 Kerzu 2011

EasyTracking Library - automatic session management, better integration with Google Analytics SDK

Updated Google Analytics SDK - More reliable method for sending hits, Android Market referral issue fixed, available via the Android SDK manager

More samples - new open source application aimed to help reduce the ramp up time for new developers who want to track their apps

EasyTracker Libraryhttp://code.google.com/p/analytics-api-samples/downloadstrunk/src/tracking/mobile/android/EasyTrackertrunk/src/tracking/mobile/ios/EasyTrackerNotepadNew Versions of Google Analytics SDK for Android and iOSiOShttp://code.google.com/apis/analytics/docs/mobile/ios.htmlAndroidhttp://code.google.com/apis/analytics/docs/mobile/android.htmlMobilePlaygroundtrunk/src/tracking/mobileNew Home for the Mobile Tracking Documentationhttp://code.google.com/apis/analytics/docs/mobile/overview.htmlReporting Problems and Feature Requestshttp://code.google.com/p/analytics-issues/issues/list

PrivacyStar scales Android business with AdMob & Google Analytics

13 Kerzu 2011

10 billion on AndroidPrivacyStarAdMob

Google Analyticsfull case study

Introducing the Google Analytics Core Reporting API

8 Kerzu 2011

Google Analytics Core Reporting APIa larger projectVersion 3.0new client librariesVersion 2.4version 3.0Google APIs ConsoleGoogle Analytics Management APIData Export API changelogdeveloper documentationData Export API Google group

Reaching Your Goals with Analytics: Webinar follow-up

8 Kerzu 2011

How do I do data analysis?60-second YouTube videosWhy should I use Goals if I don’t have a product to sell?Flow Visualization toolWhich types of Goals should I use?Event trackingEcommerce in Google AnalyticsWhat are good trends to measure for websites without a shopping cart?How do I set up Google Analytics for my site?Help Centerdifferent implementation scenarioscertified partnersWhat are Goal match types/settings?Help Center articleHow do we determine what goal value to set?How do we test alternate landing pages?Google Website OptimizerWhat are the top 5 metrics to share with the CEO?Multi-Channel FunnelsGoogle Analytics dashboardseasy-to-read formathelp centerPosted by Sara Jablon Moked, Google Analytics team

An invitation to social sites to integrate with Google Analytics

7 Kerzu 2011

Every day, millions of people share and engage with content online. But most sharing doesn’t happen on the site where it was published, it happens throughout the social web. Marketers and publishers are looking for a comprehensive view of all interactions with their content - on and off their site - and so we’re working hard to make this happen.To enable our customers to discover who’s sharing, voting and bookmarking their content on the social web, cross-network measurement needs to become easier. So today we’re inviting social networks and platforms to integrate their activity streams with Google Analytics. Through these integrations, marketers and publishers will be able to discover off-site engagement, optimize their engagement within each social community, and measure the impact of each social channel and its associated digital investment. Any network can integrate their streams - like +1, votes, and comments - into the Google Analytics social reports, which will be fully available next year to the many marketers, publishers, and websites that are using Google Analytics for free.To make integration easy for social networks and platforms we’ve created a social data hub - it’s based on widely deployed, open web standards such as ActivityStreams and PubsubHubbub. A number of partners are already working with us to improve measurement of social actions - including Delicious, Digg, Diigo, Gigya, LiveFyre, ReadItLater, Reddit, TypePad, Vkontakte, and of course, Google+, Blogger and Google Groups.

We’ll have more to share next year, so keep reading the blog or follow us on twitter @googleanalytics for updates. If you’re a social network or platform interested to learn about integrating with Google Analytics you can visit our developer site where you’ll find more information. Phil Mui, Group Product Manager & Ilya Grigorik, Engineering Manager, Google Analytics

3 last-minute Analytics tips for the holiday season

6 Kerzu 2011

If you're a marketing professional, you've probably spent months preparing your holiday campaigns. But have you focused so much on great creative that you've neglected your measurement plan? Don’t despair: there’s still time to make the most of your holiday marketing and measurement. Here’s some food for thought to help you make sure your Analytics is adding value this season and setting you up for success next year.
1. Stuffing your stockings: all the best treats for your marketing funnel
Online shoppers are increasingly taking a considered, comparative approach to making purchases. Consumers are now consulting an average of 10.7 sources when making a buying decision - double the rate of 2010. That means that all steps of the marketing funnel are more important than ever. So make sure to take all the steps to conversion into account when measuring your campaigns this season.
With Multi-Channel Funnels reports in the new version of Google Analytics, you can see not just the last click prior to conversion, but also how earlier interactions influenced the purchase decision. For instance, your customer may have clicked on an organic search link immediately prior to purchasing, but in the weeks before to the purchase, he clicked on a display ad, followed links from a post on a social network, and later visited your site directly. With Multi-Channel Funnels, you can see these earlier assists and take this influence into account when optimizing campaigns throughout the holiday season. You’ll also have a rich set of data to plan next year’s campaigns, as you can plan around those channels that drive awareness and consideration earlier in the purchase process.

2. Jingle bells, mobile’s ringing
It’s hard to overstate the enormity of the mobile opportunity this holiday season as consumers turn to smartphones and tablets for both product research and purchases. Mobile searches have grown dramatically in the last two years, and it’s predicted that 44% of searches for last-minute gifts and store locator terms will be from mobile devices.
Providing a great mobile experience is now expected, or you will lose customers. With mobile reporting in Google Analytics, you can see how users are able (or not able) to make purchase decisions. You can segment visitors based on criteria like device types and operating systems. For instance, you can compare if there are different conversion rate for iOS and Android, and make adjustments accordingly. Google offers resources to help you make your site mobile-ready, so you can take action if you find roadblocks. Finally, when measuring your marketing channels, make sure to take mobile ads into account. You can get deeper insights by segmenting out mobile advertising using the recently updated AdWords reports in Google Analytics.

3. Follow Santa’s sleigh in real time

You may have time-sensitive marketing events planned this quarter - whether it’s a daily deal marketing program, viral content that suddenly takes off, or even press coverage. Data that arrives days or even hours later is too late to make decisions during the fast-paced holiday season. With Real-Time reporting in Google Analytics, you can see the impact of these events within seconds. This can be particularly useful for social media efforts. If you post a tweet linking to your site, for example, you can see the immediate visits resulting from the post, and engage in the conversation with your customers. You can also use Real-Time to monitor the immediate impact of email offers and other campaigns that offer customers deals to purchase quickly.

So, grab those reindeer reins and have a great holiday season with Google Analytics. Best wishes for very merry marketing measurement!Posted by Bill Kee, Google Analytics team

Web Analytics TV #23 - The Holiday Episode

Advanced Segments for Holiday campaigns

Sankey Diagrams and Flow: Over A Hundred Years of Innovation

Updating the Analytics IQ Course and Exam

The power of visualization with the Google Analytics API and Google Earth

Greater insights from the Site Speed report - Technical section

Google Analytics Enhancements for Mobile Apps

PrivacyStar scales Android business with AdMob & Google Analytics

Introducing the Google Analytics Core Reporting API

Reaching Your Goals with Analytics: Webinar follow-up

An invitation to social sites to integrate with Google Analytics

3 last-minute Analytics tips for the holiday season

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