In the coming year, based on current announcements, Google Analytics is set to go through an almost unprecedented amount of evolution. My postulation is that by this time next year the tool will be almost unrecognizable. [My favorite is Visitor Analytics, and visitor level segmentation that will be pervasive throughout the product. This is insanely cool.]
But it turns out Google Analytics, just like SiteCatalyst, WebTrends, and other web analytics tools, already has plenty of pretty valuable deeply insightful stuff in it. Yet so few people have mastered what's already there. Sometimes I wonder if we should actually be all that excited about the insanely cool stuff if the sanely cool stuff remains unmastered.
As we hopefully look forward to an exciting year, let's take a moment to address the latter challenge. Allow me to help you with your resolution of mastering the sanely cool stuff!
One way to do it is for me to just tell you what my top ten Google Analytics reports are that you could familiarize yourself with. The problem is that you'll know where to go, but not what to look for when you get there.
Each selection by me of a top ten (standard!) report in Google Analytics below includes a small brain dump of quick insights, Google Analytics tips if you will, I seek when I'm looking at that report. The stories and examples will hopefully help you intelligently approach your own data in these reports and quickly find insights you can action / share with your management team.
[Sidebar for people who want to be BIG winners]
Before you log into Google Analytics it is really really helpful to get context about the company/client's business.
I realize that you are pressed for time and you might not want to do it. But in case you want to win big rather than just win, I encourage to read the six tips outlined in this post: The Biggest Mistake Web Analysts Make… And How To Avoid It!
I guarantee that if you invest this time, you'll find 5x better insights when you log into Google Analytics or Adobe SiteCatalyst. If you don't invest this upfront, fun, time you'll hurt my feelings but I'll understand, you don't want to win big. :)
[/Sidebar for people who want to be BIG winners]
Below are the top ten standard reports in Google Analytics that you should know well, especially if you are only a part-time user of Google Analytics.
If you are an Analyst, of any tool, check out the Bonus tips included to kick your efforts up a notch or two.
Everything here's simple. You don't have to be a particularly deep expert to find value in this training.
1. Sources Overview report.
Start with the pie. It helps you understand how reliant the company/client is on Search (too much is actually not good). What other sources are big for them? If you don't see other sources (campaigns – email, social, display) are not tagged. A very bad thing.
Like everything in life, you want a balanced portfolio (left).
Then go to Traffic Source > Sources > Campaigns to get a feel for how many display, social, email, other campaigns the company might be running. What's their performance? Very good context.
Search is always big for everyone. So you want to drill down into the Traffic Source > Sources > Search > Overview to understand the macro balance between Organic and Paid (this, by default, will only show AdWords though it can show Bing, Yandex etc).
It is hard to get overall search keyword performance in GA, so grab this quick custom report All Search Performance and apply the standard advanced segments to it (Non-paid Search Traffic, Paid Search Traffic). Tons and tons of insights here. Better organic keywords, performance for same words between organic and paid, goal value comparisons, so much more. Go crazy.
While you look at three reports, you quickly end up with a robust understanding of *all* the things the company is doing and a detailed understanding of paid and organic search performance.
Bonus: Download the All Traffic Source End to End report for best, in depth, analysis. [Make sure you are logged into GA, then click on the link, save the report to your account.]
2. Landing Pages report.
Zero companies will win without great landing pages. You stink there, bye, bye large amounts of money. Great landing pages equals more customers enticed to engage plus higher conversions plus higher (AdWords) quality score.
Start by looking at the top 20 landing pages. Content > Site Content > Landing Pages.
Identify ones with high bounce rates. What is wrong with them? Visit them. Missing calls to action broken links, not enough content, content unrelated to the ads, something else? Low hanging fruit. Fix it.
Learn to apply the top traffic segments (see #1 above) to this report. Find high bounce rates for one segment (Paid Search) and look at other segments (Display) where pages have low bounce rates. Learn from the winners, apply to the losers.
Bonus: Smart people look at the Page Value delivered by each landing page and not just bounce rates. Sadly it not easy to find. No worries, I've got your back. Download this custom report: Landing Pages Analysis .
For each page now you know how often it is a landing page (Entrances/Pageviews), how much it stinks (Bounce Rate), how much money it is making you (Page Value). Ignore your home page or any cart or checkout pages that might show up. Look at all others.
Why do some pages only make 97 cents and others make you almost four dollars? Prioritize using a mix of bounce and page value, analyze details using referring keywords and referring urls (drilldowns are already built into above custom report!).
3. Goals Report.
Macro + Micro Conversions. Macro + Micro Conversions. Macro + Micro Conversions. Macro + Micro Conversions. Macro + Micro Conversions. Macro + Micro Conversions.
Got it? Macro + Micro Conversions!
The difference between companies that win and the companies that will lose is simply this: Economic Value.
So look at the standard goals report. Conversions > Goals > Overview. This report shows all the goals converting, in addition to the ecommerce order now conversions.
Are there at least six micro conversions identified? Yes? Good. Does each goal have values identified? Yes? Magnificent. The company you are analyzing is ready to rock the web!
If the answer to either question is no, at best the company will scratch out a living on the web. More likely their competitors are going to slap them around.
What are the high micro conversions you need to start focusing on (G6, G7, G2, G1 above)? Do you understand how elements of your paid, owned, earned inbound marketing efforts drive each of these? How do these goals tile to your macro conversion, G3? Does the CEO understand the complete value of digital ($233,810 above)?
Bonus: Ecommerce is sexy, so don't forget to look at that. Specifically focus on what products are being sold. Go to Conversions > Ecommerce > Product Performance. (For this to work the ecommerce tag has to be implemented right. If it is not you have bigger problems.)
What are the top selling products, what's the average quantity? How about when you apply segments for your top traffic sources? What is Search really good at selling? What about Social? What about Display? What about in Florida vs. New York? Understand, have a smarter CEO conversation.
4. Conversion Funnels Report.
Fastest. Way. To. Make. Money.
The conversion path is three or four pages. What's your abandonment rate? Why is it a criminal 65%? Is there a better way to make money than to take it from people who have started the checkout process and want to give you money?
This post is about standard GA reports, but the standard cart/checkout funnel visualization in GA is value deficient. So as your standard report use Paditrack. For the same number of button presses you'll get 25x more value than Google Analytics.
Where do most people drop off? How can you have a minimum number of text fields? Is it possible to not have garish banner ads in the checkout process? When do people enter coupons? Is the error checking when the person submits the page or is it (awesomer) in-line when the person moves from one field to the next?
Bonus: Apply top traffic sources segments to the above report. Or just apply the top paid search referring keyword to the funnel report…
Do you see differences in abandonment rates? Why? What is causing a particular keyword, email campaign, display ad, offer, to convert higher or lower? What lessons can be applied to all other visitors? Go fix!
5. MCF Assisted Conversions Report.
Multi-channel attribution was the flavor of the month for every month in 2012. It will be the same in 2013. And just as in 2012 magic pills will be scarce, FUD will be plentiful, and vendors will promise the moon. You, I guarantee it, will be just as confused. :)
But get to know the assisted conversions report. It is fairly straightforward.
If *all* your campaigns *always* include campaign tracking parameters, this report is really good at answering this critical question: Is channel x more likely to be at the end of the conversion process or drive traffic that might convert later via a different channel? It is extremely valuable to know the answer.
Conversions > Multi-Channel Funnels > Assisted Conversions.
In the above case I was astonished that while our email was primarily a direct response "here's a coupon to convert" marketing, it actually drove more conversions via other channels (!).
Impact? 1. We were not giving email enough credit. 2. Were we sending emails to people we had seen recently on our site? 3. If email assists, can we understand its order in the conversion process and which channel it most assists? (Yes. Go to Top Conversion Paths reportand search for Email.)
Even if you never get into the mess of attribution modeling and all that other craziness, you are much smarter by just analyzing the data, and implications, from at this report.
Bonus: You will want to know what to do about attribution modeling craziness. :) Read answers to questions one, two and three here: Attribution Modeling, Org Culture, Deeper Analysis. After that if you can't resist the itch, go play with the, now free to everyone, Attribution Modeling Tool in GA. Read the three answers first, please.
6. Mobile Devices Report.
Mobile is all the rage. You can't walk into any about digital or not about digital at all meeting without a solid grasp of where the company is when it comes to mobile.
This is a standard report in GA, but I've pressed a few buttons to make it smarter. You'll find the report in Audience > Mobile > Devices. On top of the graph click on Select A Metric and choose Goal Conversion Rate. Now you know the Visits and the Conversions. Smart.
Then on top of the table click on the Pivot icon (see mouse below). Then from Pivot By choose Source.
First, you quickly learn what the main big mobile consumption platforms are. Second, equally quickly, you know the main sources of traffic via mobile are. [If you remember from our first report above, direct was #3 in overall and social was #4, but on mobile direct is #1 and social is #3. Did you realize your acquisition was distinct on mobile? Does your mobile marketing reflect that?]
As you look at the "scorecard" (just under the graph) you can look at the little numbers in gray and understand overall mobile performance compared to site performance. Very handy.
Bonus: Download a super awesome all-encompassing mobile custom report: Complete Mobile Performance Report. It has unique built in drill-downs, customized metrics that give you the ability to deeply analyze mobile data by devices, search behavior and content content consumption (click on each tab). You will never need another standard mobile report!
7. In-Page Analytics Report.
Traffic Sources > Content > In-Page Analytics.
There is no simpler way to understand how consumers are behaving on a company's website then to just look at their clicks. In-Page does that really well. Just look at the link, look at the corresponding number.
On the home page it is so easy now to see which product categories people really care about (Calico Critters! Put them on sale! Buy all the keywords! Run email campaigns! :). You can also easily see that zero people have clicked on the ScooterX Skateboard (time to remove it), at least some care about Mini-Motos but what people really care about is the Marble Run (pimp away!).
I hear you. Clicks are ok but you only care about money. No worries. Change the metric on top of the page to Goal Values and bam! What you now see is the distribution of which link is making you how much money. Sweetness.
This report is your easiest way into Web Analytics.
Bonus: Open your top landing pages in this report and then apply the Advanced Segment (button on top of the report) for your big traffic sources to see how differently your visitors click. Then at least for your top most landing pages, consider creating a custom one for each of the main traffic source.
Bonus 2: GA now allows for enhanced link attribution in this report. That is very cool because if you have a link in the header, a link in the side bar and a link in the main body all pointing to the same product page, Analytics will show you exactly how many people click on each of those links. You can then eliminate the big promo in the side bar because you now have data which shows that zero people click on it (because it looks like a banner ad!).
8. Location Report.
People have weird conceptions of where their traffic comes from. Sure they can sprout the number of tweets or top search keywords, but rarely do they have a robust understanding of the geographical distribution of their audience.
Illuminate yourself by going to Audience > Demographics > Location. Then on top of the graph change the metric from Visits to Goal Conversion Rate.
The default view (Visits) will always underline your bias. For me it is always USA #1 (hurray!). But USA is only 40% of my traffic. And when I look at Conversion Rates there are a whole bunch of countries that are way better than USA (#47!). There are 14 countries with Conversion Rates 2x of USA (OMG!).
That changes things, right? Changes campaign targeting, changes content development, changes social strategies, changes product mix, changes keywords for search engine optimization.
You can run this type of analysis at a State and a City level as well, the results are always eye opening / preconceived notions busting.
Bonus: Every GA report shows clicks you actually get, there is only one that shows you clicks you could possibly have gotten. Traffic Sources > Search Engine Optimization > Geographical Summary.
It shows, by country, where you currently show up on Google properties (Impressions) and the number of clicks you get. It took me 110k impressions to get 10k clicks in the UK and 60k impressions to get 10k clicks in Germany. Time to dial up SEO awesomeness in the UK!
9. Site Search Terms Report.
Another hugely underutilized resource is the intent your visitors are actually expressing on your site by typing into your site search engine (best way to stink is not to have one).
Content > Site Search > Search Terms. Admire the default view for a second, but quickly switch to Goal Set 1 (or Ecommerce if you are one of the aiming to hit a low bar with no Goals defined). You'll get this view…
Do you know what are the top things people are looking for that they can't find on first glance? Above. Do you know how many of those top expressed wishes then lead to a zero (!) percent conversion rate? Above. Do you know how much money you make off each search term/expressed intent? Above.
Now would you not want all the top things people look for to have a $2.39 per search goal value rather than 0.12 or 0.63? Of course. You have work to do.
Bonus: This might be stretching it a bit but 100% of your internal site search terms should probably be on your SEO keyword list and likely a part of your Paid Search campaigns. If people are coming to your site and looking for stuff (and you have it) then there is no better signal to grow your keyword list.
In my case that is 20,217 keywords I can quickly add to my Bing/Baidu/Yandex search campaigns and start measuring performance. My additions will be geo targeted by which keywords on my site were searched for from each country!
10. E2E Paid Search Report.
I tried really hard to keep this to just standard reports, but I had to squeeze in one "standard" custom report. It comes from my recent post Google Analytics Custom Reports: Paid Search Campaigns Analysis .
The report shows the end to end view of your search campaign performance.
Any Analyst worth their salt will spent a lot of time trying to understand what is happening on the site in conjunction with trying to understand what happening inside AdWords! This report does that very effectively. Above it merges data from AdWords with your site performance data (how cute is it that you can see cost per click and revenue per click right next to each other!).
Additionally it has pre-built drilldowns (below) that allow you to navigate this performance in context of your AdWords account structure.
Identify which campaigns are actually delivering value. Identify if you can optimize your AdGroups to deliver higher performance (impressions, clicks). Identify what your Match Type decisions are doing to your performance (Broad, Phrase, Exact, what's up?).
There is a lot more you can do in terms of AdWords Analytics, most of your starting points sit in the above report. Hence it is my standard AdWords report, even if it is a custom report. Download: E2E Paid Search Report.
That's it. Ten standard reports that high insights in plain sight. And a bonus five custom reports to allow you to truly bring out your inner Analysis Ninja!
If you are able to master the standard set, you'll be above average when it comes to understanding site performance. Better still, you'll be able to identify a robust set of actions that will please the toughest CEO and over a period of time earn you a glory and a higher salary.
Now that's something worthwhile to shoot for in 2013!
As always, it is your turn now.
Are these standard reports a part of your current Analysis Ninja arsenal? Do you have a favorite standard report that is not listed above? If yes, what is amazing about it? If you use these reports already, are these the types of insights you seek? Are there other hidden insights gems that I might have overlooked above? Got a omg this is my secret weapon custom report you want to share with us?
Please share your insights, questions, favorite reports, and feedback via comments below.
Thanks, and good luck!
I love Sources>All sources report.
Great post!
We have viewed over 50 large Google Analytics accounts and have found that Multi Channel attribution cookies do not interact the same as with other reports. With practically all of our clients, Last interaction conversion revenue does not match with actual conversion information for the particular segment.
As an example: Organic search may show revenue of 2.8M$ while the last interaction conversion for organic in the same period is 1.5M$. It is happening throughout all of the accounts we measure. Big and small. This is because MCF doesn't take campaign cookies into account as do the other reports. This explains the problem in more detail: online-behavior.com/analytics/multi-channel-funnels Ideally Google would standardize the way cookies function across all reports, but currently we need to do quite a bit of deep diving to understand what is really happening.
Oggy: I'm sure someone in the GA team will read your feedback and investigate. :)
I'll just add that MCF reports do work a little differently from other GA reports from a core data processing / analysis perspective. Sometimes you'll see small differences (not big ones).
For example Days and Visits to Conversion in Ecommerce is different from Time Lag and Path Length in MCF, even though they supposedly seem to be the same thing. Use the MCF reports in this case, ditch the flawed Ecommerce Days and Visits report.
-Avinash.
The way direct visits are treated also differs from standard reporting.
Rohit: Great point. Thanks for reminding me of this.
(+Everyone, Oggy) There are currently two "conversion attribution" models at play inside Google Analytics.
All standard reports use "last non direct campaign" conversion attribution. I.E If you came on a email campaign (or organic search or display ad click or social source etc etc) and then came back again directly to the site (say x days later) and convert then your conversion will be attributed to email. Not to direct.
MCF reports use "whatever is the last source" conversion attribution. In the above scenario the conversion will be attributed to direct.
A more official explanation of all this is here: http://goo.gl/uEbxY
You can see how easily MCF and all other standard GA reports will show different numbers (as Oggy showed above).
This of course is silly and GA should standardize to one model. I personally vote for what MCF is doing.
But there is good news.
If you want to make your MCF data look like standard GA reports it is easy. Just go to the Attribution Modeling Tool (it is inside MCF and free for everyone). The table you see first will show the MCF data with the MCF model. Now click on "Select Model" and choose "Last Non-Direct Click" (model used in standard GA reports). Boom!
Now you are looking at how the two models report data and the last column in the table shows the differences between the two. This should explain almost all of the difference you (/Oggy/others) might see.
Hope this helps.
-Avinash.
PS: I did not want to complicate this but the look back window applied to reports also causes a small difference between MCF and standard GA reports. Play with the "Lookback Window" on top of the Attribution Tool. If any difference exists it will be rare and small most of the time.
Hi Avanish,
Thanks a lot for stipulating this, I hadn't been aware this was the case.
As you still see goal numbers against the source 'direct'? in standard reports, is this for traffic that has only come direct and had no other source associated previously?
When I try to download the report 'All Traffic Sources End to End Report', the E2E Paid Search Report show ups.
Can I please get the link to the sources e2e report?
Carolyn: My apologies. I should not work on my posts late in the night. :)
It is all fixed now, please click on the link again.
Avinash.
Hey Avinash,
Great post as usual!
By the way I'm really excited that you added the print and pdf function. I've requested this function some weeks ago=)
"Super Duper Awesome"!!!
Thank you for your contribution to everyone, your idea of value will change the way the world does business.
Another slam.
Re: "But it turns out Google Analytics, just like SiteCatalyst, WebTrends, and other web analytics tools, already has plenty of pretty valuable deeply insightful stuff in it. Yet so few people have mastered what's already there. Sometimes I wonder if we should actually be all that excited about the insanely cool stuff if the sanely cool stuff remains unmastered."
Agreed. Perhaps it's time you *prefix* your mantra "Why? Then what." with "When?" :)
Happy New Year Avinash. Thanks for kickin' if off correct with such an appropriate article.
p.s. The PDF option below the title is new? Can I ask what you're using to do that? Is it a particular WP plugin?
Mark: The PDF option is via the wonderful printfriendly website. You can make your own here: http://www.printfriendly.com/button
On the right nav of the site you'll also see links to various plugins (including WordPress).
-Avinash.
Avinash,
Thank you for kicking off 2013 with a mountain of great stuff.
I always look forward to what you will open are eyes to next.
Kevin
Hey Avinash,
Great post as usual!
By the way I'm really excited that share some views for track file or download file track function through Analytics. Any easy way to download the report from Analytics.
Regards
The ability to make analytics human is a true gift.
I don't share many analytics posts with my readers, as I don't want to scare them off. But I fear I may be underestimating them. Here are ten very good ways to get to know your visitors through Google Analytics.
I believe those new to GA will be energized and excited by opening these reports in their own accounts. This is a great way to start appreciating your visitors in ways that will make the Web a better place to surf.
Great post Avainsh!
Your main goal for 2013 should be writing more posts like this!
We will measure this goal with Google Analytics :)
Great Post Avinash,
In relation to InPage Analytics I think it still has some limitation.
I'n not sure that enhanced link attribution works and the biggest limitation is that It doesn't track link to Subdomain and External links.
You know some way to make them tracked?
Thanks.
Hi Andrea
I use a tool called Ehavior.net – a clicktracking tool that integrates with GA. Gives a full overview of all click, also on not clickable items.
But i hope GA will support clicktracking correctly soon :-)
Thanks for the suggestion Jacob…I'll take a look.
Now I'm using CrazyEgg so I have no problem, but I'd like to have a better tool inside GA :)
Andrea: Jacob has an excellent suggestion in his reply.
On my blog I track outbound clicks using events (you can also use "fake page views"). First this allows me to track those clicks, but more importantly it allows me to capture those clicks as goal conversions (clicks to my books, Market Motive).
Now as I know conversion rates for those outbound clicks (on both Amazon and on http://www.marketmotive.com) I'm able to assign Goal Values and do very in-depth analysis of my acquisition campaigns inside my GA account (even though the conversions happen on third party websites).
I would encourage you to think about that as well. Here's a post on how to track outbound links as I've described above:
http://support.google.com/analytics/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1136920
-Avinash.
PS: If you don't see the Attribution Modeling Tool enabled in your account, just sign up here: http://goo.gl/kxoV2
Thanks Avinash,
I'm already using Events, but I'd like to use the InPage in a fully functional mode.
Only an hope :)
Thanks again.
Happy New Year Avinash !
May 2013 be filled with success, peace and joy.
Your posts always act as a very reliable guide to convince people looking at data a better way.
Thanks for sharing
Good strategy on how to use this tool.
I've been using Google analytic since I've engage with optimizing website but when I've found this post I've known more information about Google Analytics.
Many thanks..
Hi Avinash
As always a pleasure to read here.
One thing that really makes my day an even greater Analytics day, is using the advanced filter feature.
In your report 2, if you sort on bounce rate, it will be 100% all the way down. Add an advanced filter with "Include Visits greater than xx", and let xx be 100 or 300 or even higher, depending on the site size.
Now you have the truly prioritized list of landing pages with enough traffic to work on, and with the highest bounce rate.
Hello Avinash,
Thanks for the sharing! When I cliked "All Traffic Source End to End report " and "Landing Pages Analysis". It said "Not Found Error 404"?
Thanks!
Tracy: I've just tried this in Incognito mode and both work. Would you please try again in a different browser?
Just in case, here are the direct links to both:
https://www.google.com/analytics/web/permalink?uid=VPau_Vm4TRqpiEwqQ9FkoQ
https://www.google.com/analytics/web/permalink?uid=ok26ZT0BStyTYT-Xkv6Esw
Please be sure you are logged into GA when you try this.
-Avinash.
Ah, I got them both now by trying a different browser (Internet Explorer). Thanks you very much!
Hi Avinash,
My comment is not directly related to above post but how do we track user behavior if they have " do not track" option turned on in their browsers.
With these getting popular wouldn't it be difficult to capture site analysis using GA and other tools.
Harpeet: Privacy is an ever evolving area in context of digital, one that we should keep a close eye on. But in the annals of challenges we face in web analytics DNT occupies the lower rungs. I've taken the opportunity to spend my brain cells on the higher rung items (for example the one outlined at the top of this post).
In terms of your question, server logs continue to be a fall back source. Not as rich a source, but a source none the less that we can throw our log file parsers at.
Avinash.
Excellent Reports!
Million Thanks.
Thanks a lot for sharing this.
In Traffic Sources report, I would still add the total number of visits. How it happened to me, number of visitors will be smaller than the number of new visits and this could cause a misunderstanding (at the first sight).
Of course, it is a custom report, so anyone could change it :).
Great post Avinash. Probably my all time favorite.
I was always a huge fan of the in-page analytics but the tool doesn't seem to work on my current companies site. I've used CrazyEgg before and generally had a good experience but that doesn't tie anything back to revenues or help with click/revenue attributions. Any advice?
Happy New Years,
Nicolas
Nice post Avinash.
One suggestion about a standard report.
I think the behaviour report is under estimated. With this report you can monitor your ad campaigns really well.
You can see the following metrics:
– new and returning visitors
– Buckets for your time on site ( 0-10 seconds, 10-20 seconds etc.)
– You can see how many one time visitors you've got
Nicolas: You can also try Clicktale, and in a earlier comment Jacob has also recommended Ehavior.net.
Single purpose tools all suffer from the same problem, they do just one thing really well (and they do it really really well). But it is often hard or impossible to segment the data or tie it to your other data or do pan session analysis or do other things that you'll easily find in a multi-purpose tools like SiteCatalyst or Google Analytics or others.
So there is a trade off. My recommendation is that if you've already mastered the incredible value you can get from a multi-purpose tool, you've extracted all the juice from it, then you should consider going to a single purpose tool because you would have nothing left to optimize based on data from a multi-purpose tool.
-Avinash.
I think the opposite can be true as well. I don't see single-purpose tools as the next step, actually I see it the other way around :)
Many of my projects start with Crazy Egg, because it is an awesome way to show the power of data to make actual decisions. Tools like Crazy Egg are very limited in scope, but are way better at showing value for data than multi-purpose tools, if only because the process is much faster (and beautiful!)
In fact, with quite experienced clients in the use of analytics tools, I have challenged them like this:
For two weeks, quit all your traditional tools. Do not look at any report beyond number of sales. Only work with Crazy Egg and Visual Website Optimiser (or any other visual testing tool). Analyse results.
The amount of change that comes out of those two weeks is always higher than what they had ever seen before with "traditional" reports. And this is precisely because we forced "focus". Focus on data evidence. Focus on change.
Of course this is an extreme view, and I will only suggest this as an experiment. But to me it's an eye opener. Tools need to go beyond classic reporting and start wondering how they can be useful in the real world, where people have such little time to dedicate to numbers, and action is so difficult to achieve.
Another example is Adwords. It comes with very simple analytics reports, but they are perfect for a big majority of people to make lots of data-driven decisions. That's why Adwords is such a success, among other reasons.
I'm a big fan of focused analysis. I prefer "data evidence" tools over "data overload" ones. Though I agree there's a trade off, I think multi-purpose vendors are sometimes too inclined to just collect more data instead of thinking what to do with it i the context of business.
Pere: Zero disagreement from me. (Not surprising right?)
I'm a big fan of evolution when it comes to elevating analytics sophistication. Here's a 2008 post with some really cool videos and pictures:
~ Evolve Intelligently: Achieve Web Analytics Nirvana, Successfully
Here's one:
There is a tendency to run away from what you have (from multi-purpose to single-purpose or single-purpose to multi-purpose) too quickly, without having extracted sufficient value. The hope is that glorious happiness will arrive. It rarely does. It is better to start simple, as you advocate, extract as much value as is humanly possible, then move to something else.
-Avinash.
Hi Avinash,
Have been reading and taking notes from both of your books about analytics and finding them fascinating. Your writing style is so well suited to a novice like myself =)
I loved reading through this article, looking at our GA account, learning about the custom reports and perusing to understand more.
I haven't finished your analytics books yet, so I apologize if this is an elementary question, but how do you set goals and conversion funnels if you're not truly selling anything on your site. Our company is service based, so we don't actually make sales through the website. I can see how I would track success in calls to action, but how do you put a value on a phone call, contact inquiry, blog comment or request for a complimentary strategy session? I'm only up to chapter 5 in your books, so maybe I just haven't read far enough yet?
Kathi: Step number one would be to identify the macro and micro outcomes on the site (why does the site exist). Step number two would be to identify the goal values of those outcomes. It does not matter if the site is b2c, b2b, a2z or anything else.
Please see this blog post for specific examples of both steps:
~ Excellent Analytics Tips #19: Identify Website Goal [Economic] Values
See the example of Ohio State, Caterpillar, TI and others in the post. None of them are, as you would say, traditional ecommerce websites.
Web Analytics 2.0, my second book, also walks you through more examples and details.
Good luck!
Avinash.
This is an really extensive overview full of ideas on what to track – love how you have links to custom reports, so easy to use now for my own sites!
Thanks for sharing your knowledge. I've been a fan for some time now.
I am interested in attending a conference that goes over topics in the same way you do. I don't want to learn how to use GA, but more how to dig deep into the data and tips on analysis for useful insights.
Can you recommend any conferences? Please let me know. Thank you. Amanda
Amanda: Many of the Google Analytics Certified Partners (or a combo of them together) often put together conferences that focus on teaching "data digging and tips on analysis." Find a local GACP here http://www.google.com/analytics/partners/index.html and see if those in your area are offering anything.
The best web analytics industry conference for a very long time has been Emetrics. Jim Sterne's consistency in putting the best speakers together is unmatched. You can check out a local event here: http://www.emetrics.org/
Finally if your role is more acquisition centric (even as an Analyst) and you are interested in Inbound Marketing then SES is a great conference to attend. I did all their opening keynotes around the world last year, crazy fun. http://sesconference.com/
-Avinash.
I liked how this post went through each report as if you were doing a quick analysis for a website.
It was a good refresher for me as we enter 2013. Thanks for all the knowledge during 2012, and I hope this year is even happier and more successful than ever for you!
Hallo Avinash,
Thank you for your blog.
I have 2 questions. In the "Top Landing Report" you say: "Ignore your home page or any cart or checkout pages that might show up. Look at all others".
1 ) Why should we ignore the "home page"? (It is so obvious we must take care of it, so just ignore it? This would be my answer to the business people of my companie. Do you have a better one? I bet you do).
2) Why Checkout process pages appear on this report? I have one page like that in my report, and thats because the company had a referral page where you could choose products and then press the "buy" button, and then you were redirected to the checkout process.). I can't imagine other examples…
I hope you can answer my questions. Thank you so much for your time!!!
:O! And I have my own page as a referral! :/ Why can this happen?
Anyone can shade some light on this? Thank you again!!!
Omar: Quick thoughts on the first two…. 1. The home page is not really a "landing page," I wanted to have you focus your attention on pure landing pages. 2. Because you did something weird on your site. :)
With regards to self referrals…. there are many reasons, here are some of the big ones…
* Missing analytics tracking code from landing pages.
* Improperly set up redirects (in campaigns or other cases), make sure all redirects are permanent.
* If you have a complex sub domain or multiple domain setup it is not done properly.
* In some rare cases these can also be issues, users continuing from the same page across sessions (say they leave your site open in a tab).
For a couple of other issues please checkout the official Google Analytics help-center:
http://support.google.com/analytics/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1011827
-Avinash.
I love Pivot table reports.
Very informative. Thanks Avinash
Hi – I have been trying to get into Google Analytics for some time now.
I believe this article, and I read a few that you linked to, have given my the solid foundation that I have been trying to establish. I feel much stronger now in Google Analytics.
Thank you for taking the time to write this article. I also enjoy your writing style.
Hi Avinash,
Thank you for another great post. One point I wanted to raise, which I noticed when comparing to my own Landing Pages Value report – if you set the first dimension as Landing Page, rather than Page, you will end up with a very different page value. I find the page value of the page when this dimension is set as Landing Page to be quite useful in helping me determine which landing pages to consider setting up PPC campaigns for. My favourite OMG customised report (which actually has to be set up as a Shortcut) may not be relevant for everyone, and is only really valid if you have 3 or less steps in your conversion funnel – I've named it Conversion Funnel by Landing Page. Here goes:
1. Set up each step of your conversion funnel as a goal (for example, Search Results Page, Checkout Page, Purchase Page).
2. Create a segment for each of those goals.
3. Create Custom Report with Metrics as Visits, Entrances/Pageviews, Pages/Visit, Avg. Visit Duration, Bounce Rate, Per Visit Goal Value
4. Use Dimensions of Landing Page, Source / Medium
5. Then apply your conversion goal segments in order:
a) All visits
b) Search results page
c) Check-out page
d) Purchase page
6. Then save it as a Shortcut, which will save the segments into the report.
This report then shows me the breakdown of traffic from each stage of the conversion funnel the next by landing page, so I can see exactly which landing pages/products are struggling to convert, and where along the conversion funnel they're struggling.
Hope this is helpful to someone – sorry, couldn't share it as a custom report due to the specific goals having to be set up.
Cheers,
Adrian
Sorry, just to clarify, my first paragraph relates to your #2. Landing Pages Analyses.
Google analytics must be the primary SEO tool for everyone.
Nice read.
The In-page Analytics report is awesome for clients who "think" they know what people do on their website. In the past this one has really been an eye opener. Try it out.
@jephmaystruck
I've decided to share what I can here, in case this is useful for anyone else:
https://www.google.com/analytics/web/permalink?uid=7K5es_5hRCGwwxWEKQMb6g
GA is not like walking in the park. It s hard when you want to get real good data. But still you can get easy some essential things. That above was helpful.
Hi Kaushik,
Very insightful post.
I used to often limit myself to
a) The Top Entry and Exit pages and do as you rightly said "Learn from the winners, apply to the Losers )
b) The Top Keywords contributing to the traffic.
c) The Top Cities / Countries
d) The Bounce rate of the keywords and then try to extrapolate the data and work out better keywords keeping the intent in mind.
Your article is a eye opener and I have learned I need to add more parameters to it.
I have a query : Regarding Top Exit pages : How do I fish out the Top exit pages via the Organic SEO alone. I am really struggling to find it. Your help would be much appreciated.
Again. Great post.
Imtiaz: One simple way to accomplish this is to go to the Exit Pages (Content > Site Content > Exit Pages) report and then from the Advanced Segments (top of that report) check on "Non-paid Search Traffic" and click Apply.
Now you are looking at exit rates for people who came via organic search from any search engine.
I hope this helps.
Avinash.
Hi Avinash,
I look forward to the new Google Analytics but as you say there is so much functionality in the current set of Analytics tools that we do not use. Thanks for you for sharing this very informative breakdown!
Great features… when can we expect the latest features?
Thank you Avinash for the information.
I am studying for Google Analytics Individual Qualification test, and your reports and top 10 list is a great way to test what I know and what I need to know.
I appreciate your thorough post.
Why does Google Analytics block a big percentage of the keyword data? Also why are a significant percentage of visitors not counted in total visitor stats? It's usually 20-30% less visitors than other stats programs. This is the most important information for 90% of website owners. Is this going to change in 2013 or do we have to buy premium from Google for 150K? I know these are tough questions but it's information that critical to small businesses that rely on GA.
Dex
Dex: Google Analytics does not block any keyword data, Google is. I know that sounds like the same thing but sadly it is not. For https (secure) searches the keyword referrer is not passed to the site which means no web analytics tool, including GA, can report that data.
You can learn more about it here: Smarter Data Analysis of Google's https (not provided) change: 5 Steps
Data in web analytics tools can be different for many reasons (it does not matter if you have GA Premium or SiteCatalyst or WebTrends etc). Understanding why is important, here's a blog post that will help you: The Ultimate Web Analytics Data Reconciliation Checklist
Good luck!
-Avinash.
Great post as always, especially nice to learn about Paditrack.
Will give that a go at some point.
Once again.. Great post Avinash..
I think the platform and mobile devices reports would be in focus this year due to high usage of smart-phones/tablets.
Could you please let me know some ideas how we can assign unique IDs to visitors and can use them as segmentation to offer personalization on website?
Prashant: There are quite literally 15 different ways of doing this and 16 ways to get that wrong. Hence my recommendation would be to work with a GACP to understand your unique situation and work with you to implement a solution. You'll find a list here: http://www.bit.ly/gaac
With Universal Analytics, currently in beta, your ability to focus on a person and do some incredible visitor segmentation is going to be amazing.
-Avinash.
Thanks Avinash for the explanation. I worked with Rick Curtis (He was my manager @ General Mills) and learned a lot from him in Digital Analytics.
– Prashant
Excellent! This demonstrates the use of the custom reporting capability of Google Analytics to deliver analysis with meaningful business value. We've taken it one step further by using NEXT, the power tool for web and social media analysts, to combine each of the custom reports into a single dashboard. http://www.nextanalytics.com/website-sources-overview-report/
By combining them, all the information is available in one place, and the data is automatically refreshed with one click. This report is free. Use it as a template to tailor and enhance it to meet the unique needs of your organization's business.
Hi Avinash,
First- thank you for very enlightening article.
About your third tip "Goals" , I wonder if you, or someone else here can explain to me why is there a discrepancy between my goal completion (which is mean- user who visits thank you page) and the eCommerce transactions. The goal completion are bigger almost 3 time than the eCommerce transactions.
Thanks
Gil: It is very hard to diagnose things remotely without access to the site or the GA account. :)
But in general Goals for the same page should come quite close to the data captured by the Ecommerce tag. 3x seems to be off by too much (especially considering that GA will only count one unique goal per session – so even if the thank you page is reloaded 5 times in the same session, it will only count as one).
There is definitely something amiss somewhere. I would encourage you to work with a GACP who can work with your account/site and help you figure out what's up. You'll find a list here: http://www.bit.ly/gaac
-Avinash.
Going back to the initial sentences though, after using the system for many years so you think that being unrecognizable inside 12 months is a good thing?
C C: I think so.
Tools that don't evolve with the new challenges that we face, and new opportunities that are arising for the future, will die. That would not be a good thing, right?
My hope though is that the evolution is gradual and done in such a customer centric way that you never notice the change from Clark Kent to Superman. :)
Avinash.
The In-Page Analytics view looks very interesting.
Have to say that I tend to just look at 'headline' number in GA, but this article has made me think again about the depth of information that is available.
Thanks for the custom report downloads.
Awesome post.
Hallo Avinash,
I have a Question, ¿Why in the mobile report, in the ScoreCard I see different number for total visitas than in the general Audience report? In mobile report i see: 420,737, in the general report i see: 420.767.
Is a few numbers different, but i would like to ha ve a clue on that.
Thank you, so much! :)
My bad, had diferrente dates.
Hi- What is the best strategy to start treating traffic to our blog's page (landing page=@ /blog) as an external channel, as opposed to part of our overall website's traffic.
When I segregate it in Analytics, it seems like it double counts with other "sources" (referrals, facebook, organic, etc.).
Do you know anything about how this bean counting works in Google Analytics when filtering by both landing page and source?
Will: Profile filters in Google Analytics should do the trick. Here's more info on them:
http://support.google.com/analytics/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1033162
But if you need more help you can hire a GACP who can sit down with you and understand your needs and create something unique for you that will definitely work. You'll find a list here: http://www.bit.ly/gaac
-Avinash.
In the in-page analytics report, I see the the percentages based on the destination page to which the hyperlinks on the home page are linked. If there are 4 links that go to the same destination page, I see the % click number the same on all 4 of them. With this I am not able to see which of the 4 links is for example is the one that visitors are clicking the most.
Is there a way to see % of traffic that clicked on each link on a page?
Thanks, Deven
Deven: Please see Bonus 2 in the In-Page Analytics report section.
That is what you need. Enhanced Link Attribution.
-Avinash.
Hello Avinash
Any chance you could put a date on your articles? If there is one I am failing to see it. It just helps to put in to perspective with all the other things that you are writing.
Thanks
Hello Avinash,
Good day, I need your help, please. In an E.Commerce report (customized report) y included as a dimension: Country. But I see the transactions and revenue coming from countries far far away like: USA, Canada, Spain, Argentina, and Brasil. How come this can be possible, if the page is just for Peruvian people? (we just deliver to Perú).
I don't know what to think. I mean, we can have a profile just for Perú, but will not be able to see transactions from other Countries that are happening. What would be a good way to do this?
Thank you very much for your time.
Best wishes.
Omar: That is a little strange. But it is hard to figure out what might be going on with just the information in the comment.
The best option for complex GA requests is to hire a Google Analytics Authorized Professional to go through the requirements and validate and recommend the right path. You'll find a list here: http://www.bit.ly/gaac
-Avinash.
Hi Avinash,
I have a e-commerce query for which I am not able to find any helpful article online:
Client says: We need a list of the top 30 selling products in terms of Revenue and also Visits for the past 2 months.We will also need the corresponding URLs for these products.
Now there is no way to combine page URL with product or product SKU. In separate product report and pages report, the total visits and revenue for the same date range shows different numbers.
Thanks,
Khushi.
Kushi: You can do this with many of the GA Reporting Tools that are available in the Google Analytics App Gallery.
A tool like NEXT Analytics for Excel might work.
The GA Data Grabber for Excel is another good choice.
-Avinash.
Hi Avinash,
"Sometimes I wonder if we should actually be all that excited about the insanely cool stuff if the sanely cool stuff remains unmastered" –> i completely agree with what you are saying here.
As an analyst, i am always curious to check the following about any GA implementation:
1 – Is there an unfiltered master profile? Are there a number of profiles set-up which show an understanding of what needs to be measured?
2 – Have goals been defined? Do they cover the macro and micro conversions? What else could we have tracked as a goal?
3 – Is tracking of site search enabled? (and i often see many cases where the site search tracking feature is not enabled)
In answering these questions i often find that there are plenty of opportunities to leverage GA's out-of-the-box features…. simple tweaks that add more to what we can get out of the tool.
Cheers!
Anish
I've been using enhanced link attribution for a while, but I have to say that some of the click percentages are suspiciously identical for different links that point to the same place…
Thanks for having the option to PDF it, that's so cool.
Printing for later reading
Hi,
I saw your article about the Google Analytics, I am in need of some one who can install the google analytics code on everyone of my web site pages. I have expended hours doing research to see which analytics tool is the best but I am convince that GA is the key.
Please let me know if you or any one you know can help. I don't know how to do it.
Tony: You can reach out to the consultants that are approved officially by the team at Google.
You'll find a list here: http://www.bit.ly/gaac
Typically it is a good idea to pick someone close to your geographic area so that you can do meetings in person, if that is required. But for most analytics needs remote work is just fine.
-Avinash.
Hi Avinash,
Tagging my urls using Google Url Buider and posting them on facebook or any social media, does it mess the Google analytics social report? I mean, will the traffic from these sources appear on the social report?
Thanks
Diogo: They should show up ok in those reports, though you should probably be careful and use parameters like social, facebook, twitter etc. Things easily recognized.
This should be pretty easy to test as well. Run a small test campaign, have some people click on it, even if inside your company, and see where the data shows up the next day.
Avinash.
I didn't thought of much about the impact it may cause to our goals at the beginning.
Usually, the use of my Google Analytics campaign is limited to just signing up and throw the tracking code into the website to watch the overview of traffic, keywords and geographical location. But after reading the above tips, I shall now move a bit further.
Hi Avinash,
Great Posting!
Any idea about the data data such as # of delivery orders, what orders are being made (types of pizza), and etc. for pizza restaurants.
Thanks
Harry
Harry: With the announcement of Universal Analytics it is now possible to send your offline data into Google Analytics. This allows you to then easily tie your website behavior with offline outcomes.
For example you could tie a keyword searched on Google to an order being placed on your website for pizza (including what kind of pizza) to if the pizza delivery was on time or if the customer asked for a refund.
-Avinash.
Hi Avinash, Is it possible to create a custom report that would show the efficacy of the 5 to 10 most recent blog posts on a WordPress platform? Specifically, I'd like to review a report that shows me how my weekly posts are performing. Thanks!
Ralph: It is possible depending on how you CMS is structured.
The Custom Reporting platform has a section called Filters. I often use this section to use my latest posts. If you are comfortable with regular expressions to do more clever things.
Another open might be to use one of the many Reporting or Business Intelligence apps, many free, that allow you to set up your regular reporting with even more flexibility. http://www.google.com/analytics/apps/
-Avinash.
Is there a way to drill down in a Search Terms report to see what people bought when they used a specific term?
For example I have people searching for something really generic as my top term and I can't understand why they searched that term and then what they bought.
Sara: I might be missing something, but… say you sell shoes and people come to your site on an upper funnel query "sara rocks."
You can log into your web analytics tool, like Adobe or Google Analytics etc., and create an advanced segment for visits with the keyword "sara rocks."
Now apply this segment to your ecommerce reports to see what they purchased. Or to your content reports to see what pages they see. Or to your Geo reports to see where they are from. Etc. Eec.
Avinash.
Great Post. I start to use GA and got an overview in a short time. Thank you very much.
It made it easier for me to look "behind the scenes" :-). Some of these analysis recommendations are in use now!
Good Afternoon Mr Avinash Kaushik.
I was trying to create Mobile Devices Report that you mentioned in part 6, but I couldn't find how to make
Visits, Pages/Visit, Avg.Visit Duration and %New Visit appear in the report. Please could you help me?
Regards
Dayanna
Dyanna: It should be pretty easy to create a custom report that shows that exact same view. I've created one for you, click the link below to download it:
https://www.google.com/analytics/web/template?uid=bgsQ4KgIQySc8xUQhBGNPA
To see the view you see in the blog post, you will have to click the Pivot button on top right of the table and choose Source as the dimension.
Avinash.
Thanks for the heads up on the location report.
We are using this for location bid adjustments in our ppc accounts now.
I'm sure I'm not alone in saying that GA kinda scares me – it's an absolute powerhouse of analytic prowess, and I feel guilty for knowing so little about it! I like to think that I've managed to delve a little deeper than the basic vanity metrics of visits, visitors and SERP rank – but I was still blissfully unaware of some of the functionality you've covered in this post! It's been a great read (a GA post that I can understand is a rare beast!), and I'll be referring back the next time I open up my GA dashboard.
Thanks for another fantastic post Avinash!
Ryan: You are so kind, thank you. I'm glad you found the post to be of value.
One of the coolest uses of GA is to get into custom reports and advanced segments because it allows you to see very little data and yet get more insights.
You can get a jumpstart by downloading some of mine directly into you Google Analytics account…
~ 3 Awesome, Downloadable, Custom Web Analytics Reports
~ Google Analytics Custom Reports: Paid Search Campaigns Analysis
~ 3 Advanced Web Analytics Visitor Segments: Non-Flirts, Social, Long Tail
Good luck!
-Avinash.
Thanks for the info, i will apply the above information to my upcoming projects.
Hi. Thank you very much of these great tips on analytics!
I am just a beginner into the world of google analytics and this is the best source I have found so far! ° Thank you! I am looking forward to learn more!
Matthias
Hi Avinash,
Thank you for the great article. I learned some great tips from your blog.
I have a question about your custom report "Landing Pages Analysis".
I see that it measures Sessions and Unique Pageviews per Page.
Google Analytic however, advises to use Unique Pageviews instead of Sessions to see the number of sessions in which a page was viewed – source: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/2934985?hl=en
According to this article when we combine sessions with a page level dimension, Sessions = Entrances.
What's your opinion on that? Which metric do you use to check how many visits a specific page received – sessions or Unique Pageviews?
Thanks in advance and continue to write such great posts!
Velizara: Please allow me to answer your question in two parts.
Landing Pages are a little bit weird (compared to all other pages). You can think of them as a session-level dimension or a hit-level dimension. All other pages in a session you'll think of as a hit-level dimension – this has big implications on the metrics you'll use to measure success of pages.
Please see this post for this important web analytics concept:
~ Excellent Analytics Tip #23: Align Hits, Sessions, Metrics, Dimensions!
Ok, on to your question… In my report I am using Visits (Sessions), Entrances per Pageviews, Bounce Rate, Avg Time on Page and Page Value. These are all fine.
If I had to redo it, I would use Unique Pageviews (to measure unique counts of a page viewed in a session – so if you see that page five times in a session, Unique Pageviews will show 1), and Pageviews (to measure how often in a session a page was viewed, this would be five in my example).
I hope this helps.
Avinash.
Very valuable collection of analytics strategies!
I have used Google Analytics for the last couple of years. This article exposes deeper layers in Analytics that I had not yet explored.
Thank you Avinash.