Questions from our live Google Analytics webinar

We ran Australia's first live Google Analytics webinar on Tuesday 6 November 2007 and a second live webinar on Tuesday 20 November 2007. We have had participants from the UK, US, Canada and Australia, including executives from insurance and finance companies, advertising agencies, PR companies, business consultancies, interactive companies, universities, and marketing managers and web managers.

The quality of the questions in the webinar Q&A was great. I've typed up my responses and included more information and links so everyone who has taken part in our live online Google Analytics webinars can see all the questions and answers together.

Our job as a Google Analytics Authorized Consultant is to help you use Google Analytics website visitor data to improve your websites and measure the results so you can keep on improving your website and online sales and marketing initiatives to get the results and Return On Investment (ROI) you want.

We provide Google Analytics consulting services and training courses to help you achieve the results in the way and time-frame you decide is best for you.

Can you analyse a group of websites using Google Analytics?

Yes, you can separately track multiple websites within Google Analytics.

You can also track sub-domains within one Google Analytics profile.

Are there any privacy issues involved in tracking online user activity?

Google Analytics does not allow you to track personally identifiable information, for example; names, email addresses and IP addresses. Google takes privacy seriously with all their products, the Google Analytics Terms of Service (TOS) and the Google Analytics Privacy Policy cover Google Analytics.

All websites using Google Analytics are obliged under the Terms of Service to post a privacy policy.

Can you analyse previous web traffic using Google Analytics? (i.e. before you have Google Analytics setup)

No, you cannot use Google Analytics to reprocess historical traffic data.

We can help you setup Google's Urchin software to reprocess logfiles and analyse your historical visitor data.

Can you use Google Analytics with Flash websites?

Yes, a Flash website can be setup with specific tags to track interactions.

We can assist you so that your Flash website can be tracked by Google Analytics.

Is it better to use Google Analytics or Google AdWords tracking?

Google Analytics provides you with more sophisticated ways to analyse and interact with conversion data. You also get a wide variety of complimentary reports that can help you understand your website visitors.

You can also run Google Analytics parallel to Google AdWords conversion tracking.

We can advise you on the best practices for linking your Google AdWords accounts to you Google Analytics accounts.

What is the difference between Google Analytics and other analytics tools like ClickTracks and Hitwise?

Google Analytics is used by businesses of all sizes, from corporations such as Roche and Nestle to small businesses. Google Analytics is free, so once you get it set up you don’t have fees, you can spend the money on improving your website to get the results you want instead of on expensive analytics solutions.

Google Analytics will probably meet all your needs but if you are using a fee based analytics service why not setup Google Analytics and see if it meets your needs?

Does Google Analytics generate reports automatically?

Yes, Google Analytics automatically collects the data and generates all the reports.

Our Google Analytics Online Introductory Courses will show you how to export reports in PDF and CSV formats and how to setup automatic email scheduling.

Can Google Analytics be used for email campaign tracking?

Yes, you can track any type of campaign by tagging links.

We can show you how to correctly tag links and develop best practices for campaign tagging.

Can we conduct a survey using Google Analytics?

No, Google Analytics not generate surveys, but you can setup Google Analytics to track the success of your web-based survey.

Can we use Google Analytics for a one-off web event?

Yes and you can also setup Funnel Goals for specific events to track conversion rates.

How much does Google Analytics cost?

Google Analytics is a free product offered by Google.

The advantage of Google Analytics is that you can redirect budget into improving your website, rather than paying for an expensive analytics solution.

Can you use Google Analytics if you sponsor a website but you are not the actual owner?

If they install the Google Analytics Tracking Code (GATC) on all the pages of the website.

We can liaise with your web developer to ensure the Google Analytics Tracking Code (GATC) is correctly installed and that Google Analytics is properly setup.

What are the advantages of using Google Analytics e-commerce tracking compared to Google AdWords conversion tracking?

Google Analytics gives you access to the following e-commerce reports:

• Total revenue
  
• Conversion rate
  
• Average order value
  
• Product SKUs
  
• Product Categories
  
• Transactions
  
• Visits to purchase
  
• Time to purchase

Once you have Google Analytics e-commerce tracking setup you can also access e-commerce related data throughout Google Analytics and segment reports according to e-commerce values.

We can setup Google Analytics e-commerce tracking for your website.

How do you track PPC (Pay Per Click) campaigns that are not Google AdWords campaigns?

You will need to tag the links in your 'non-AdWords' PPC campaigns.

Google AdWords campaigns are automatically tagged for Google Analytics.

How do I get started using Google Analytics?

You can set it up yourself but you won't automatically get the type or quality of data you need and without training you won't understand how to make best use of its features to maximise the value and benefits you get from it for your organisation.

Google Analytics is bit like learning French, a few words might be enough for you to get by if you are taking a quick trip but if you need it for your career it may be essential for you to speak it fluently or it's purely business you are interested in you may need an bi-lingual consultant to guide you.

As a Google Analytics Authorized Consultant we can provide you with consulting services and training courses at exactly the level you need to achieve your website and online sales and marketing objectives and measure the results using Google Analytics.

Labels: Google Analytics, Google Analytics online training

Google Analytics Site Search: Usage Report

Understanding how your visitors use your website's internal search function has become easier with the new Site Search reports within Google Analytics.



In this post I will specifically look at how the Site Search Usage report can be used to evaluate how your internal search function may, or may not be performing to your organization's needs.

The Usage Report

The Usage report allows you to see the percent of website visitors using your internal search function and those who are not. If you know your search function is in need of an upgrade, and there area a high percent of visitors engaging with the internal search function, then you should consider upgrading your internal search function to better meet their needs.



If your website is already running a enterprise level search solution, like the Google Search Appliance, then this report will allow you to begin measuring the ROI (Return On Investment) of your search solution.

The Goal Conversion tab within the Usage report allows you to dive further into how your website's internal search is performing. Allowing you to see if visitors using your internal search are more likely to convert or not.

The following questions will make you think critically about your internal search:

• Can visitors find the information they require in order to convert without using the internal search?
  
• Where is the search box located on your website?
  
• Is the search box consistently located across your entire site?
  
• Are visitors getting the search results they expect?
  
• Does your internal search cope with spelling mistakes?
  
• Do visitors using search spend more time or view more pages on your website?

Once you have a good understanding of how your internal search is setup and used you will be able to improve its performance. The Site Search Usage report will then allow you to gauge the effectiveness of your improvements.

Labels: Google Analytics, new Google Analytics features, site search

Setting up Google Analytics Site Search

Step 1

Perform a search on your website and look at the URL.

In this example a search for 'analytics' has been performed.



This example shows a search for 'analytics', the resulting URL is http://www.example.com/search?q=analytics. Note that the Query Parameter is 'q'.

(Please note that your website's internal search may return a much longer URL, for example http://www.example.com/search.asp?site=example&area=products&term=analytics. Note that the Query Parameter is 'term'.)

Step 2

Log into Google Analytics and click 'Edit' on next to the website profile.



Step 3

Click 'Edit' for your Main Website Profile Information.



Step 4

Select 'Do Track Site Search'.



Step 5

Enter the Query Parameter from your internal search.



Selecting 'Yes, strip query parameters out of URL' will prevent your search from showing up in your Content reports, for example:



Selecting 'No, do not strip query parameters out of URL' will include your search results in your Content reports, for example:



Site Search also allows you to setup categories. This can be used if your internal search has the ability to segment results across different areas of your website. To setup categories you will need to know the parameter that returns results for the different areas of your website. For example if you are using a Google Mini or Google Search Appliance the Category Parameter would be 'site' on a default configuration.

If your search does not have categories do not enter a Category Parameter.

Labels: Google Analytics, new Google Analytics features, site search