Until the release of Annotations within Google Analytics you were probably referring to a calendar or spreadsheet to find out what caused certain spikes in traffic. Annotations solves this by allowing Google Analytics users to add notes to dates within Google Analytics reports.
Creating Annotations Within Google Analytics
1. Click the annotation toggle link below the graph within your Google Analytics profile.
2. Select the date for the annotation and click '+ create new annotation'.
3. Enter your note (up to 160 characters), select if you would like the note to be shared or private and click 'save'.
A
shared annotation will be visible to all users who have access to the particular Google Analytics profile. A
private annotation will only be visible to you.
Top 5 Events To Track Using Annotations:
- Email newsletters and email marketing campaigns
- Offline advertising launches (e.g. print, radio, TV)
- Marketing events or milestones (e.g. product launches)
- Website changes (e.g. interface design or promotional banner)
- Key calendar events (e.g. public holidays, Valentine's day)
Labels: Google Analytics, Google Analytics Tips, new Google Analytics features
Powerful. Flexible. Intelligent.
Google has officially announced the release of new Google Analytics features which strongly position the product as an enterprise-level web analytics platform. Much anticipated additions to the tool include the ability to
define up to 20 goals per profile (previously limited to 4),
Intelligence reports that provide automated and custom alerts to changes in metrics and dimensions, and the ability to track visitors into Multiple Custom Variables (previously known as Custom Segments).
New Google Analytics features include:
- Intelligence Reports
- Automatic and Custom Alerts
- Expanded Goals
- Site Engagement Goals
- Advanced Table Filtering
- Expanded Mobile Reporting
- Share Advanced Segments
- Share Custom Reports
- Multiple Custom Variables
Google Analytics Gets Smart With Intelligence Reports
The new Intelligence reports allow you to see if significant changes are occurring within your Google Analytics data. For example;
you received more visitors than expected,
your bounce rate is increasing or you have experienced a
spike in revenue from new visitors to your site. The Automatic Alerts within Google Analytics Intelligence provide you with this level of detail automatically and it is provided for historical data (back to mid 2008) in your profiles.
Automatic Alerts also let you know when things aren't going well:
Taking Intelligence reports to the next level with Custom Alerts allows you to define your own alert triggers and receive an email alert. For example you can create a
Custom Alert to notify you (within Google Analytics and via email) when your
Google AdWords campaign traffic meets a revenue target or when your
organic (or free) keyword term from your SEO efforts has resulted in a certain number of visitors to your site.
Now Google Analytics really is smart!
Want More Goals In Google Analytics?
Google Analytics: Now With 20 Goals Per Profile
One feature that we have all wanted for a while now is the ability to set more than 4 goals per profile.
Each Google Analytics profile can now be setup with 20 goals. These are also conveniently arranged in 4 groups containing 5 goals each.
Site Engagement Goals In Google Analytics
Evaluating the effectiveness of content based sites just got easier with site engagement goals in Google Analytics. Standard goals are great for reporting on particular actions you want your visitors to take (buying online, filling out a contact form or registering for your email newsletter) but
what if your primary objective is providing quality content and an engaging experience for your visitors? Site engagement goals are your answer, now you can set a goal conversion for time on site or pages per visit allowing you to access the power of goal reports within Google Analytics.
If you are a SMB (Small to Medium Business), non-profit, government or any organization with a content or branding focused site you should definitely begin using site engagement goals.
Filtering Within Google Analytics Reports
Google Analytics Table Filtering allows you to
filter the data presented within particular table reports. This allows you to quickly refine the data to your particular parameters, for example removing particular dimensions (like pages) based on metrics (like time on page) that are skewing your analysis.
Exploring the example further, you could take your Top Content report and then use Table Filtering to only include pages where visitors spend more than 0 seconds and less than 30 seconds.
This gives you direct access to under performing pages based on time on page. Then you can drill-down further by applying advanced segments (All Visitors, Search Traffic, Direct Traffic and Referral Traffic) to the report to establish if Traffic Sources relate to the under performance of the pages.
Expanded Mobile Reporting In Google Analytics
Google Analytics now allows for improved tracking of mobile devices, so you can now
track interactions within your iPhone and Android apps to measure usage and engagement.
A new tracking code for mobile sites built using PHP, Perl, JSP and ASPX will also become available, allowing you to
track all web-enabled mobile devices (not just mobile devices that run JavaScript).
Share Your Advanced Segments And Custom Reports
Advanced Segments and Custom Reports are powerful tools to drill deeper into your data. Now you can
quickly share your Advanced Segments and Custom Reports with your colleagues making it easier to collaborate on the analysis of your site.
Multiple Custom Variables
This advanced feature opens up more opportunities for custom tracking using Google Analytics. Our team will be updating our custom Google Website Optimizer tracking solution to make use of Multiple Custom Variables, as well as looking at how we can make use it to attribute first and last click to conversions.
Previously Custom Variables (also known as custom segments or _setVar) allowed you to assign a visitor with one User Defined value, now with Multiple Custom Variables you will be able to set each visitor with numbers User Defined values.
Labels: Google Analytics, Google Analytics Tips, new Google Analytics features
The Google blog (
Motion Chart Scavenger Hunt Followup) revealed new motion chart features, comments on the changes have already been posted. Here, there are some of the changes I discovered and their possible benefits.
1. Data SelectionThe first new feature easy to find is the select/deselect option. It is possible to select 0, 1 or more items from the list, making easier to know which information is displayed.
2. Bar chartAt the top-right side of the graph you can find a new tab to see the same information shown in the bubble graph but this time as a bar chart. When you move from one type of graph to the other, some information about the new settings is kept such as the elements selected, and opacity, but not the zoom in/out property.
3. Zoom in - Zoom outNow it is possible to zoom in the information shown in the bubble and bar chart. The steps are explained in the tool in order to Zoom in.
a. Put your mouse in the chart area.
b. Hold down the left mouse button and draw a rectangle over the items you want to zoom in.
c. Release the left mouse button.
d. In the menu that pops up, select 'Zoom in'.
4. Bubble opacityIn my opinion one of the most useful new features is the ability to manage the bubble opacity. At the right side of the graph there is a tool icon[
], clicking in there you can find a slider from 0% to 100% to define how opaque do you want the items that are not selected. In the next 2 images you can see the same element with using the opacity in 0% and in 50%.
5. Tools advancedFinally, there is an option for advanced users that shows a piece of code to be embedded in flash code.
Those who have previously used the motion chart can notice that there was also a change in the way to show the color dimension bar. Before it was placed horizontally, now it is vertical, making easier to see the scale in numbers but taking more space in the page.
Some of the benefits I have discovered so far are:1. Hide/Show Information: The rule used to manage the opacity is very useful when you don't want to show some information. You can select the items you want to display and set the opacity to 0% or if you want to see all the bubbles without any difference between the selected and unselected, you can setup the opacity to 100% e.g. imagine that you need to record the behaviour of three dot points to show them in a presentation and you want to hide irrelevant information related to the other points. Well, with the new select and opacity option it is possible, you only have to select the dot points you would like to show and set the opacity to 0%. Then, click on the "play" [
] button to see the chart in action during the period of time selected.
2. Clean Graph: Also the opacity is useful to clean the screen in order to understand better the graph when you are using the trail option and you want to see only the information of one, two or other specific number of bubbles.
3. Using bubble opacity and zoom in together help to focus on information that you really want to see and avoid distractions.
4. Zoom in small Data: The "zoom in" is really useful for those cases where you have the dimension size setup and some small bubbles or overlapped compared to other data. In the previous version when this happened you had to leave the dimension size set to "same size". However, now it is possible to have different sizes and for those we are interested in just use the zoom in functionality.
5. Quick Data Selection: The selection feature is useful when you want to show information quickly about some specific data. It is easier to select from the list of the 10 first items displayed in the right side rather than check every element in the graph. If we want to reset that, we just need to click in the option "deselect all" which is enabled once we have selected at least one item from the list.
These are just some of the benefits of the new features. I'm pretty sure you will find more, specially when you start playing with the tools together e.g. bubble, zoom in, trails and different size dimension together.
I think the motion chart is a utility that allows us to visualize different data in one single graph. There is only one more feature I would like to have to give 10 points to this tool, and it is the option to change the range of date without going back to the normal report located in the menu.
Labels: Google Analytics, Motion Chart, new Google Analytics features
Almost 1 year ago I wrote a brief article about
why Microsoft Analytics sucked and today Microsoft have announced the end of Microsoft Analytics. Competition in the web analytics market place is essential and as feature sets increase, greater competition drives innovation and creative thinking.
Microsoft Analytics has remained clunky and more importantly slow - way, way too slow! So it does not come as a surprise that Microsoft has had to rethink the analytics front.
Microsoft's announcement raises 2 interesting questions:
- How closely is search engine marketing tied to web analytics innovation?
- Where are web analytics tools, like Google Analytics, heading?
I am not going to dwell on the first question - maybe you have some thoughts you would like to add on that topic. So I will move on to my (current) Google Analytics wish list.
Google Analytics Wish List
Google Analytics Site OverlayThe current site overlay feature is easy to hate, but aside from making it functional, I would love to see each link tracked independently and lets apply custom segments.
Google Analytics HeatmapsHeatmaps are loveable and useful for evaluating where people think they can click and how people are interacting with your site. It may not be eye tracking, but it is definitely effective.
Crazy Egg does it well, Google Analytics will rock it.
Google Analytics Realtime TrackingEverybody wants their data now!
Yahoo can do it, so, fingers crossed Google comes to the party.
Google Analytics Client InformationWho else would love to be able to tag visitors within Google Analytics and import information you have about your clients and leads? I know I would! Imagine being able to segment based on form input fields to see your clients or leads who have registered interest in a particular product or service.
Google Analytics Custom Segments For SitesHow about using the custom segments from within Google Analytics to present particular content to particular visitors on your website. While I am in this dream, why don't we combine Google Website Optimizer and Google Analytics and allow us to input the targeted content straight into Google Analytics to present on our website? Oh, and lets keep it really easy to use and make it pretty!
Labels: Google Analytics, new Google Analytics features
The Google Analytics benchmarking reports are now available for those of us who have opted in to anonymously share our data. The reports are available within the Visitors report section.
The benchmarking reports include:
- Visits
- Pageviews
- Average pages per visitor
- Bounce rate
- Average time on site
- Percent of new visitors
These reports allow you to compare your site's performance to that of sites within your industry. The feature only compares your site to "site of similar size" which ensures that small sites (e.g. a local business) are not being compared to goliath sites (e.g. a multi-national). Ensuring that you can only compare your site to a "site of similar size" also ensures a level of democracy for the reports, large organizations will be prevented from creating a tiny site to try and get access to competitive data.
An example of an site under-performing in comparison to the benchmark:
An example of a site that is better than the benchmark:
By default the initial benchmarking reports compare your site to "all sites of a similar size". To get the juicy reports and really see how you are performing you need to select "Open category list" and select a category that is the closest match to your industry. It is also a good idea to take a look at your data in comparison to other industries, for example, a winery could check their data against
Food & Drink > Alcoholic Beverages > Wine and
Travel > Attractions & Activities.
The available categories are expanding rapidly, so even if you do not currently see your industry, check the report in the couple of days and you might be pleasantly surprised.
Benchmarking category selection tool:
Labels: Google Analytics, new Google Analytics features
Google Blogoscoped has just posted an article about
tracking Google Docs using Google Analytics. You are now able to input a Google Analytics Tracking Code on your Google Docs settings page.
Unfortunately it appears that we can only track published documents with the new tracking feature. Hopefully Google Docs will soon allow us to track published forms and shared documents.
Labels: Google Analytics, Google Analytics Tips, new Google Analytics features
Google has officially launched the Urchin 6 public beta.
Urchin allows you to access Google Analytics style reports on your own servers. The new version of Urchin is aimed at enterprise customers and allows for both website and intranet user tracking.
Key Urchin 6 benefits:- Easy to use and understand
- No subscription fees
- Maintain control over log files
- Can be installed behind a firewall
- Compatible with Google Analytics
- Track non-human site visitors
- Automatically track error pages
- Audit Google Analytics figures
Urchin 6 will cost $2,995 USD once it is out of beta.
Download your own 90 day demo version of the Urchin 6 beta We provide professional installation and customization services.
Contact us for details.
Urchin 6 resources: Labels: new Google Analytics features, Urchin 6
Google has updated the ga.js tracking code due to a number of problems Google Analytics users were experiencing. The initial release of the new Google Analytics Tracking Code (GATC) prevented websites from validating, did not publish correctly within Blogger templates and the new code did not work with ASP websites. The updated tracking code solves these problems.
Updated version of the ga.js tracking code:<script type="text/javascript">
var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");
document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));
</script>
<script type="text/javascript">
var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-XXXX-XX");
pageTracker._initData();
pageTracker._trackPageview();
</script>This updated tracking code does not validate for XHTML Strict websites, however adding CDATA tags solves this problem.
XHTML compliant version of the updated ga.js tracking code:<script type="text/javascript">
//<![CDATA[
var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");
document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));
//]]>
</script>
<script type="text/javascript">
//<!--[CDATA[
var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-XXXX-XX");
pageTracker._initData();
pageTracker._trackPageview();
//]]-->
</script>Here is a copy of the tracking code before the update for those of you who are interested.
Previous version of the tracking code:<script type="text/javascript">
var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");
document.write("\
\<\/script>" );
</script>
<script type="text/javascript">
var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-XXXX-XX");
pageTracker._initData();
pageTracker._trackPageview();
</script>Thank you to Justin Cutroni who posted about the updated ga.js tracking code and Jason Green who provided the XHTML Strict solution.
Labels: ga.js, Google Analytics, new Google Analytics features
The
new Google Analytics Tracking Code (ga.js) is now live. The new tracking code will give you access to new features as they are released, the first new feature will be Event Tracking.
Key features:- Smaller tracking code = faster loading speed
- Easier to use
- Automatic detection of HTTPS
- Required for new features
You will have to replace the legacy tracking code (urchin.js) with the new tracking code on your website. Google has stated that the legacy tracking code will continue to function for at least 12 months from the release of the new tracking code.
The following steps show you how to find the new Google Analytics Tracking Code:
Step 1Click 'Edit' next to the desired profile.
Step 2Click 'Check Status' on the Profile Settings page.
Step 3Replace the tracking code on your website with the new ga.js tracking code.
Labels: ga.js, Google Analytics, new Google Analytics features
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 ReportThe 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
Step 1Perform 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 2Log into Google Analytics and click 'Edit' on next to the website profile.
Step 3Click 'Edit' for your Main Website Profile Information.
Step 4Select 'Do Track Site Search'.
Step 5Enter 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
Four new features have been added to Google Analytics to coincide with the new Google Analytics interface maturing from beta to its final release. Until July 18, the previous Google Analytics interface was still available to facilitate transition to the new Google Analytics interface, also known as 'Google Analytics beta interface' and 'Google Analytics 2.0'.
Map Overlay
The Map Overlay report links to countries, rather than subcontinents. This allows you to more quickly navigate to regional specific data. For example, to access data for Australia previously you would click on the map to present Oceania, then on Australia and New Zealand and finally on Australia. Now you simply click on Australia to present the statistics for Australia.
Content by Title
The Content by Title report now presents the URL when you drill-down to a particular page. This allows you to see the URL for a particular page and identify where that page lies within your website. This is especially useful for a technical analysis of the website, for example you can now easily fix pages with identical titles.
Segment menu
The Segment menu as been added to Content reports. This allows you to now cross-segment by campaigns, referrals, keywords and other available segments for pages and sets of pages.
Quickly access table rows
A new 'go to' box has been added to reports with tables. This allows you to enter the row number you wish to view and jump to the particular row. This is especially useful with longer reports and allows you to navigate data more efficiently.
Labels: Google Analytics, new Google Analytics features
