Google Analytics Blog

Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) - Teach People to Fish

2009-07-14T15:54:00.000-07:00

What works better, a centralized web analytics team with deep technical knowledge, or non-expert users spread throughout an organization? This was the question faced by Amy Sample when she joined PBS Interactive as web analytics director in the fall of 2007. Amy shared her story with us in response to our call to share your web analytics story.

Implementation

PBS Interactive helps individual PBS producers and local PBS stations create and promote microsites for programming like NOVA, American Masters, and Sid the Science Kid. Amy had the difficult task of helping these managers make educated decisions about how to improve their online show sites.

When Sample came on board, she learned that PBS had standardized on a single analytics tool. This was a good first step, but few at the company were familiar with the tool and the reports it generated were not being used to take action. Producers wanted to know more about how people interacted with microsites for their programs, but they weren't sure what to focus on. At the same time, the analytics group had a hard time keeping up with demands from so many stakeholders. According to Sample "The producers wanted to dig deeper into their site data than a monthly report could provide."

Amy's response was two-fold. First, after consulting with a pilot group of producers and other members of the interactive group, she decided to deploy an installation of Google Analytics. In Sample's words "We chose Google Analytics because we had to deal with a diverse group of needs and very limited resources. We wanted a system where a user with very little training could get insights right away."

Second, Sample worked with LunaMetrics, a Google Analytics Authorized Consultant, to manage the complex issues PBS faced with cross-domain tracking and a complicated account structure. LunaMetrics also created training materials, hosted an on-site training for PBS staff, and conducted a series of training webinars for producers and local stations.

Applying the Data

As it turns out, despite challenges around getting resources assigned to tag pages and working out the right account structure, deploying Analytics was actually the easy part. In Sample's experience, the more challenging problem came in spreading knowledge and awareness of Analytics through the organization in a way that lets people take action on the data. "My approach has been to teach people how to fish," Sample explains, "It's been about doing training classes and one-on-one work with key practitioners, creating specific training decks by job function and getting other groups to use Analytics data in their daily activities."

Google Analytics has been a key facilitator in the transformation of PBS online. Stakeholders are no longer focused on monthly reports. Increasingly, they are using Analytics to inform actual business decisions. Here are some examples highlighted by the PBS team:

Site Search Tracking - The PBSKIDS.org site has implemented changes as a result of insights gleaned from site search tracking that have increased traffic to the site 30% in the last year.
Funnel Optimization - The PBSKIDS Island team used funnels to optimize their registration path resulting in a 3x improvement in conversion rate.
Content Optimization - An analysis of users’ video consumption behavior on PBS.org and PBSKIDS.org led to the development of the PBS Video and PBSKIDS GO! Broadband portals. PBS went even further, basing a full 2008 PBS.org redesign on the data that indicated which content visitors access.
Advertising Optimization - PBS' marketing group also looks at post-click behavior for their display ad campaigns to zero-in on referring sites that send high-quality traffic. They use this information to optimize successive campaigns.

Long-Term Vision

Sample's long term vision is to extend Analytics to measure engagement with PBS content both on-site and off-site. She also hopes to gauge the impact of online content on TV tune-in and track online donations, while expanding her training efforts to teach producer colleagues how to segment traffic and drill deeper into visitor behavior on their microsites.

The lesson learned is that no matter what analytics tool you're using, a well-planned deployment is only a first step. The hard part is "teaching people to fish," and making analytics data a key component in your organization's everyday business decisions.

Posted by Sebastian Tonkin, Google Analytics Team

Fun And Helpful Updates To The API

2009-07-13T13:51:00.000-07:00

Recently, we released important updates to the Google Analytics Data Export API and our developer documentation. Here are some highlights.

If you are pulling large amounts of historical data, we've increased the the total amount of data you can request from the API from 1,000 rows to a new the new maximum of 10,000 rows. This is a great feature to reduce the amount of work needed to pull large amounts of data from the API.
The Data Export API uses dimensions and metrics and we've relaxed the restrictions on what combinations of these you can request. For example, you can now request (D1. Visitor) and (D3. Content) level dimensions in the same request. This update allows you to answer questions like:
- For page, what keywords had the highest bounce rate (ga:bounces/ga:entrances)?
- For a group of pages, what large companies (ga:NetworkLocation) were viewing my content and how enagaged (ga:TimeOnPage) was one company vs. another?
Finally, for each profile listed in the Account Feed, we've added the profile's configured timezone and currency settings. Here is an example in XML of the updated account feed.

Documentation:
The Export API exposes data through feeds, and we've updated our API reference section making it easier for developers to understand how they work. Each feed now has it's own section and you can click on each feed's parameters to learn how it works. Here's where the feed documentation section appears:

Of note is that all of the above updates were prioritized based on feedback we received from developers. Thanks! If you have any comments or requests specific to the Google Analytics Data Export API, please let us know through our Data Export API User Group. Also, you can stay up to date with the details of these updates by joining our analytics-api-notify group.

Posted by Nick Mihailovski, Google Analytics API Team

New "Data Driven Discussions" video: Avinash and Nick give each other a piece of their minds

2009-07-09T09:10:00.000-07:00

Avinash, our Analytics Evangelist, and Nick, our Developer Relations Manager, both come from a long history of working with web analytics and both enjoy a good debate. In fact, I often hear them bickering in a good-natured way - or not good-natured at all with much name calling - about the topic of this episode: what do you disagree about in terms of each other's approach to web analytics?

Web analytics is a highly collaborative practice, more of which we'll cover in future episodes of DDD, and with just a little work, it can be a fascinatingly useful moving target. It's a struggle to balance what can be done with what data is valuable, and as a discipline it should always be approached with a spirit of pragmatism, which both our practitioners touch on in this video while clearly having fun.

It's a lively topic where we learn what's important to Avinash and Nick. Hopefully it also shows that no matter the approach, the most important thing is that the dialogue is actually happening and analysis is getting started. And near the end, you'll hear about one issue they both agree is a big challenge in terms of measurement, and what they think about it's usefulness.

There are more of these videos to come where you can enjoy more fireworks between Avinash and Nick and be inspired. And, please continue to contribute questions for future episodes to google.com/analytics/ddd. We'll get to them over the next few months.

Posted by Jeff Gillis, Google Analytics Team

Segment your Traffic with the User Defined Report

2009-07-07T17:00:00.000-07:00

Have you ever been in the Visitors section of your favorite Google Analytics profile and wondered what the heck “User-Defined” was? Well today it's time to find out.

So, what is “User-Defined?"

The user defined variable allows you to "label" a visitor if they complete a certain action on your site, such as making a purchase or visiting a key page. These labels are useful because they last across multiple visits to your site.

These labels are often called Custom Segments (or Custom Segmentation). You can see the data from these Custom Segments in the User Defined report, which is the last report of the Visitors section in Google Analytics.

How do I add these “labels” to my website visitors?

Making use of the User-Defined report in Google Analytics requires a bit of extra coding help from your IT department or webmaster, but it’s often well worth the effort.

For example, let’s say that I want to add a label of “customers” to any visitor who reaches my shopping cart’s receipt page. In order to do this, I would add an additional line of code to the Google Analytics Tracking Code (GATC) on my receipt page. It would then look something like this:

Notice the line in bold that includes _setVar. When this is present on a page within the Google Analytics Tracking Code, an additional cookie (called the __utmv cookie) gets set on a visitor’s computer, with its sole purpose being to identify the visitor by the label (or value) that you used in the code. If you take a look at the code example above, you will see that I used the term “customers,“ the label that I want to appear in the User Defined report.

Now, on their next visit to the site, they will be identified as a part of the “customers” segment in the User Defined report, allowing you to perform analysis on all visitors who have purchased something from your online store. Neat, huh?

Can I use _setVar when someone clicks on a link instead of visiting a page?

Yes - you can also use the pageTracker._setVar function when someone clicks on an important link on your site, or makes a key selection on an important form that you want visitors to fill out. For example, if you wanted to add a custom label to any visitor who clicks on your “Live Help” applet, you can ask your IT department or webmaster to add an “onClick” event, and give them the following line of code:

onClick="pageTracker._setVar('Needs Help');"

What will this look like in the end?

When all of your coding is complete, check the User Defined report after about a day or so and you should see something like this:

After the data has been collected by Google Analytics, you can interact with it just like you would with any other report. Click on the “Goal Conversion” tab directly above the table to see how many customers have reached key pages of your site, or use the dimensioning feature to see what sources of traffic were responsible for bringing these special visitors to your website!

Are there any other ways to use _setVar?

One neat usage of the _setVar function is to use it to exclude your own traffic from reports when using a dynamic IP address. For example, let’s say that you wanted to exclude your entire company’s traffic from appearing in reports, and your company uses dynamic IP addresses.

Because it would be nearly impossible to write a filter to exclude traffic from a dynamic IP address, you can create an HTML page that is not a part of your website and add Google Analytics Tracking Code with the call to _setVar and a label of “employees” (or something similar).

Next, you can ask each employee to visit that page from their browser of choice – this will drop a cookie on their computer, identifying them as “employees.” Finally, you can then apply a filter with the following specifications to your profile, and your internal traffic will be excluded:

Filter Type: Custom Filter >> Exclude
Filter Field: User Defined
Filter Pattern: employees
Case Sensitive: No

Some technical notes about Custom Segmentation:

As we just talked about, when a person visits a page calling the _setVar function, the __utmv cookie is set on their computer. This is a persistent, first-party cookie that has a lifetime of two years. This means that every time a user with a __utmv cookie returns to your site, the label assigned to the user will continue to identify them as such until they either delete the cookie or visit another page with another call to _setVar with a different label.
The purpose behind something like a User-Defined report - and Custom Segmentation in general - is that it is not designed to be updated very often. This label, for the most part, should be a permanent one for a visitor. You should only use _setVar on pages like a receipt page of a shopping cart, or an account registration “success” page for a visitor who becomes a member of your site. You shouldn’t use _setVar on your homepage, or use several different _setVar’s with different labels scattered across many pages of your website.
Google Analytics - at this time - only has the capacity to store one custom segment at any one time for one website. So if you are using multiple calls to _setVar on your site, Google Analytics can only store the latest value that a visitor runs into in the __utmv cookie. John Henson at LunaMetrics – a fellow Google Analytics Authorized Consultant - has created a custom version of the Google Analytics Tracking Code that can support multiple custom segment labels at any one time.
On the other hand, Google Analytics uses what they call the “first association” of the session for visitor session calculations. If you are using multiple calls to _setVar on your site, be aware that if a user runs into the first one, and then runs into the second one in the same visit, their Goal Conversion and Pages per Visit metrics would be attributed to the label of the first encounter with _setVar.
For page view calculations, Google Analytics uses the most recently defined value. So if a person runs into the second instance of _setVar on your site, all of their pageviews afterwards - including the current pageview - will be attributed to the second _setVar’s label, even though as we just learned in #4 above, visitor session information is attributed to the first encounter of _setVar.

A full, technical explanation of _setVar and the User-Defined Report can be found here.

Summary

The User Defined report in Google Analytics is a great place to start segmenting your traffic. With a little bit of help from your IT department, you can not only begin to collect awesome data, but you can also begin to gain advanced knowledge about what makes your VIP website visitors register, sign-up for your newsletter, or purchase something from your online store. This will definitely help you become that Analysis Ninja that Avinash Kaushik loves to talk about!

Written by Joe Teixeira of MoreVisibility, a Google Analytics Authorized Consultant.

Using Google Analytics and Website Optimizer Together -- in 60 Seconds

2009-07-02T15:47:00.000-07:00

A couple of months ago, we published a post on making your site a closer. But, before your website can close a sale, it has to get the visitor's attention. Presenting your visitor with a landing page that's relevant to what she's looking for is the best way to start the conversation and proceed towards the conversion or sale. Of course, you'll want to pair your landing pages with the appropriate keywords and ads. But, what else can you do to get more visitors to become customers?

Google Website Optimizer can help you identify the copy, images, and page layout combination that is most effective at getting visitors to convert. The key is to use Google Analytics to find out which landing pages are least effective, so you can start working on those first. Our first Google Analytics + Website Optimizer in 60 Seconds video shows you how.

Do you have a tip on using Google Analytics and Website Optimizer together? Feel free to post a comment and share. And, be sure to check out the techie guide for more advanced Website Optimizer tips.

Posted by Melissa Hsieh, Google Analytics Team

Google Analytics Blog in German

2009-06-30T15:24:00.000-07:00

Today we're delighted to announce a new blog for our German speaking Google Analytics users. The German Conversion Room blog launched recently and is run by our colleagues in Europe. In addition to covering Google Analytics tips and advice, the new blog will also include posts about Website Optimizer and Google AdWords conversion tools such as Conversion Optimizer.

Check out the new blog today by visiting conversionroom-de.blogspot.com. You can sign up for the site feed to have weekly posts delivered directly to your inbox.

And don't forget we have other conversion focused blogs for our non US readers...

conversionroom.blogspot.com for our readers in the UK and Ireland
central-de-conversiones.blogspot.com is our Spanish conversion blog
analytics-fr.blogspot.com for our French speakers and
analytics-ja.blogspot.com in Japan

Posted by Evelyn O'Keeffe, Google Analytics Team

Back to Basics: Free Google Analytics Tools

2009-06-29T17:02:00.000-07:00

We've picked two free tools that anyone can use while setting up Google Analytics for your site. The tools below are pretty basic but are applicable to anyone tracking a campaign with an Analytics account.

URL Builder

The first tool we want to introduce our beginners to is the URL Builder. In order for Google Analytics to track your marketing campaigns effectively, you'll need to tag your online ads with the right information (e.g. campaign, medium and source) so that Google Analytics can track your marketing campaign and show you which activities are paying off. To help the the tagging process goes smoothly, you can use the URL Builder from our Google Analytics Help Center.

Tagging your campaign links will consist of a URL address followed by a question mark and your campaign variables. But, you won't need to worry about link syntax if you fill out the URL Builder form and press the Generate URL button. A tagged link will be generated for you and you'll be able to copy and paste it to your ad.

SiteScan

The Google Analytics SiteScan tool, created by EpikOne, a Google Analytics Authorized Consultant, is a very handy tool to verify that all pages on your site include the tracking code.

SiteScan picks up on some classic signs indicating that your site has improperly implemented tracking code like:

1. No data in your account. (The tracking code was either never implemented or has the wrong account number)

2. You're seeing a high bounce rate even though your site isn't a blog and has more than one page. (If you've only tagged your homepage, your Google Analytics account will be unable to identify any other pageviews from your site. )

SiteScan then reports each page in an easy-to-read CSV file after you've installed the tool. This makes it easy for you to isolate the pages with tracking problems, fix them, and effectively manage your Google Analytics Tracking Code installation.

We're constantly working on developing tools to diagnose problems associated with your account or increase the usability of Google Analytics. We hope that you find the above two tools useful and leave us a comment about any other diagnostic tools you would like to tell us about on this blog!

Posted by Christina Park, Google Analytics Team

Google Analytics on your Mobile Phone

2009-06-26T15:07:00.000-07:00

With recent launch of the Google Analytics Data Export API, Google Analytics data is starting to show up in some new places. One of the most exciting places is on your mobile phone.

In the past it was challenging to keep up with your performance data while on the go. Using the new API, a number of developers have created mobile solutions to tackle this challenge. Note, it still takes our system some time to process your data, so if you're checking today's data, proceed with caution.

For the Android OS:

Check out Mobile GA from Actual Metrics.

Mobile GA's date range comparisons

This app is great since it allows me to quickly identify what metrics are changing on my site.

I reached out to Mike and Kirk from Actual Metrics to get a sense of how difficult this application was to build. "The GA API was very easy to use, Mike mentioned, "it is extremely flexible and allows us to get the data we want. What may require multiple calls in other product APIs can be done with just one with the GA API, allowing for higher product performance. "

For the iPhone:

Analytics App by Michael D Jensen	The Google Analytics for iPhone App by Sergej Mueller	Ego App by Garrett Murray

Analytics App is great for accessing all your GA Data. The Google Analytics for iPhone app also has some great reporting. Finally, Ego App allows you to consolidate reporting from different services, such as FeedBurner and Twitter, all in one simple dashboard.

Note, these apps were developed by third parties, so if you encounter any bugs or issues, you should reach out to those developers directly.

That's it! Do you have a cool app you want to share? Post a comment and let us know!

Posted by Nick Mihailovski, Google Analytics API Team

"Data Driven Discussions" series premiere!

2009-06-25T14:11:00.000-07:00

We're lucky to have Avinash Kaushik, web analytics practitioner extraordinaire, on our team here at Google. We're also lucky to have Nick Mihailovski, our developer programs manager who was a member of the Urchin team before the acquisition by Google. And they're lucky to have each other - they are two peas in a pod. If you know one of them, you know what I'm talking about.

It's said that you can sum up a friend in three words. Me = tall, nice, good dancer :-) Sounds a little boring I know. I think Avinash and Nick could be summed up by the following: energy, intelligence and bluntness. I also find both of them inspiring and hilarious. I sit right near these guys and listen to them bicker about, I mean, discuss everything related to using data in online marketing; from best traffic metrics to monitor for certain industries, to new analysis tools or features that Google should roll out, to how to track rich internet applications, to what's going on in the online marketing industry. It may sound like standard geeky analytics stuff, but the intensity and level of expertise of their discussions is great to be exposed to. And in addition, they're easily understandable regular guys who are just passionate about changing the way marketing is done - and their belief in the power of using data is infectious.

So, we decided to bottle these discussions and share them in short YouTube videos. We recorded a series of unrehearsed, unscripted sessions where I posit a question to Nick and Avinash and then get out of the way as they answer and sometimes bicker, I mean, discuss. We didn't have a name for the series when we recorded (the marketing irony is hopefully not lost on you) and later decided to call the videos "Data Driven Discussions". They're hopefully fun, high energy, and informative. And we're going to record more, so we'd love to talk about topics you'd like to hear about. You can submit a question or vote on an already existing one for a future episode of Data Driven Discussions at google.com/analytics/ddd.

As you know, a few months ago Google Analytics released a feature called Advanced Segmentation, a staple of web analytics which was championed internally by Avinash. In this first episode above, Avinash and Nick offer their favorite ways to segment data.

All future episodes will be posted on this blog, as well as on the Google Analytics Youtube Channel.

Posted by Jeff Gillis, Google Analytics Team

Seminars For Success July - Edmonton, Canada

2009-06-24T16:10:00.000-07:00

Hello, Edmonton Canada! Home of the worlds largest shopping and entertainment center (West Edmonton Mall) and gateway to some of the North's most spectacular National Parks and our first Seminars for Success in province of Alberta!

Our Google Analytics Seminar Leader, Benjamin Mangold from Mangold Sengers is making a special trip from his home country of Australia to teach the Google Analytics Intro and Advanced session. These are great in person trainings and will jump start you in Google Analytics. Return from these trainings with a practical understanding of how to use these products for your business along with some great tips & best practices.. and maybe some pictures of Elk and Bighorn Sheep.

They're tooting the horns on how beneficial these courses are. Here's what a recent attendee said:

"Well worth it all, travel, money and the time spent at the seminar flew by. "
David Wentworth Barton Publishing, attendee Seminars for Success, June 2009, Miami, FL

Google Analytics – Introduction & User Training

Edmonton, Canada - Tuesday, July 7

Day one offers an introduction to Google Analytics and then some. Learn how to turn the sea of web analytics data into information that you can use to make the decisions that drive your bottom line. Day one topics include:

Introduction to Web Analytics
Common Interface Features
Dashboard Reports & Customization
Understanding Visitors, Traffic Sources, Content, Goals and Ecommerce
Motion Chart Visualization
Analytics Best Practices for Branding, Lead Generation & Ecommerce
And much, much more…

Google Analytics – Advanced Technical Implementation

Edmonton, Canada - Wednesday, July 8

The second day will show you how to install and configure the advanced features and capabilities of Google Analytics. We'll show you how to use every ounce of this tool with tips and tricks, technical aspects, and how to avoid common problems. Day two topics include:

Profiles and Strategies
Filters – Uses and Implementation
Goals & Funnels - Configuration & Setup
Ecommerce Implementations
Site Search, Event Tracking, Custom Reporting and Advanced Segmentation
And much, much more…

Seats are limited, so register today for the July seminars!

Twittering with Google Analytics and Google Website Optimizer

2009-06-23T15:24:00.000-07:00

Our good friend John Marshall just posted this Facebook status update: "cycling to work this morning I hear the birds twittering. Instinctively I wonder if they should be doing something more productive."

Lol, John. He's referring to twitter.com and the fact that with it, your opportunities to waste time have increased. Anyone following Ashton Kutcher? Consider this recent tweet:

you are the man @tonyhawk skates the halls of the white house http://twitpic.com/7sx4j

Actually, that is kinda cool. Definitely a good way to waste time if you want to. =) And we appreciate how Twitter has been a powerful force in the current Iranian election. It's a novel and intimate way to broadcast - and even moreso to listen - many to many.

If you work with and love web analytics like John does and we do, then following some tweets from thought leaders in the industry will keep you on the forefront of what's going with your favorite products. It's an energizing and quick way to connect and engage, in 140 characters or less. Here are a few Google Analytics and Google Website Optimizer-related tweets from last week along with some of their latest and greatest posts.

Brett Crosby
twitter.com/brettc(@brettc)
Google Analytics Group Product Marketing Manager
Twitter bio: "One man brand"

New Aberdeen report, Google Analytics wins enterprise: http://bit.ly/HK3RY
9:13 AM Jun 22nd from web
New Google Analytics website launched, what do you think? http://www.google.com/analytics (retweet all you want)
about 15 hours ago from web

Google Analytics cost data issue fixed, no longer in "direct": http://bit.ly/18eGbk
about 20 hours ago from web
Now use Conversion Optimizer with Google Analytics goals: http://analytics.blogspot.com/2009/06/import-your-google-analytics-goals-into.html
10:45 PM Jun 17th from web
RT @avinashkaushik 2 say the downside of free tools is U have 2 invest in people is wrong. Paid tools with Analysts? Free tools=more $ 4 U.
11:01 AM Jun 17th from web
How to visually explain analytics to the world: http://bit.ly/1p1U0J
10:26 PM Jun 15th from web
@DennisMortensen sounds like it is going to be extremely entertaining... esp'ly if you end up having to do it in your underwear.
9:30 PM Jun 15th from web in reply to DennisMortensen

Avinash Kaushik
twitter.com/avinashkaushik (@avinashkaushik)

Analytics Evangelist, Google
Twitter bio: "Author - Web Analytics: An Hour A Day | Analytics Evangelist - Google | Co-Founder - Market Motive Inc"

Want to improve conversion rates? Consider following Seth Godin's specific advice for ecommerce: http://tr.im/p4SL
about 3 hours ago from web
Hurray! Auto-tagged Google paid search campaigns move back fm Direct 2 the Search report: http://tr.im/p4vp Thanks Phil!
about 3 hours ago from web
[And this is in NYC!] What is a Browser? Video, 3 mins http://tr.im/oYTe
about 14 hours ago from web
"Simplicity good. But simple it is not." - Yoda.
about 21 hours ago from web
@links4legends You could set them up as separate sources http://tr.im/oYPH and then segment them as normal. Pls try it.
about 22 hours ago from web in reply to links4legends
Just look at it... http://tr.im/oYc0 Its the most perfect gorgeous day in San Francisco. I love this city!
about 24 hours ago from web
The best free e-book on Web Analytics+Testing+Usability, 30 pages: http://tr.im/oT6x So simple ur grandma will love it!
9:18 AM Jun 18th from web
This is cool web analytics: The 50 most frequently looked-up words on nytimes.com in 2009: http://tr.im/oSQf
11:38 PM Jun 17th from web

Trevor Claiborne
twitter.com/tclaiborne (@tclaiborne)

Google Website Optimizer Product Marketing Manager
Twitter bio: "Product Marketing Manager for Google Website Optimizer and a nice guy too"

Free new AdWords interface webinar today at 11 AM PDT. Register here: http://bit.ly/1kePS
about 6 hours ago from web
Holy crap - RT @MotivityCMS: Google Website Optimizer Increases Conversion 591% http://ow.ly/eH8e. I love #gwo
10:02 PM Jun 17th from TweetDeck
@oggy Sure it can. Are you doing an A/B or an MVT test? Happy to walk you through it if you DM an email address.
4:15 PM Jun 16th from web in reply to oggy
@waynepelletier What issue are you seeing? And have you read this: http://bit.ly/VBYWL? GA and GWO should play nicely together.
10:06 AM Jun 11th from web in reply to waynepelletier
RT @josh_baker Interpreting Google Website Optimizer’s Page Sections Report http://tinyurl.com/quasvf #GWO #optimization - Nice post!
10:17 AM Jun 4th from web
In Seattle for #SMX. Come to my session Deep Dive into the New AdWords Interface tomorrow at 11.Also at the Google booth for #GWO
1:11 PM Jun 1st from web

Justin Cutroni
twitter.com/justincutroni (@justincutroni)

Google Analytics Authorized Consultant with Epikone and author of Google Analytics Shortcut
Twitter bio: "Dad, husband, skiier, hiker, cook, data nerd, author."

Are you an @avinashkaushik fan? Are you a Timbuk2 fan? Check out their new bag: http://tr.im/nTO8 How about a discount Avinash? :)
6:21 AM Jun 9th from tr.im
@BrainsOnFire Try creating an INCLUDE filter to only include traffic from your home country.
1:49 PM Jun 3rd from TweetDeck in reply to BrainsOnFire
What it's like to be the Comcast's Twitter guru. Could you handle 6,000 email a month + 30,000 tweets? http://tr.im/njlb
11:17 AM Jun 3rd from tr.im

Ok, I'm a fan of using new media (Utube) 2 drive innovative marketing ideas.But I think this might be going a bit too far! http://tr.im/niXp
10:01 AM Jun 3rd from tr.im
RT @jonathanpb: Podcast catchup #1: my interview with @justincutroni is now posted online #btv http://bit.ly/3iSL Thanks Jonathan!
5:43 AM Jun 3rd from TweetDeck
#GA ToTD:Advanced Segment data sampling sucks.To avoid create different profiles for the segments that you need to measure accurately.
5:42 AM Jun 3rd from TweetDeck
Has anyone used SeeWhy abandonment tracking? Looks like a simple way to follow up on abandoned carts. http://tr.im/ncly
11:56 AM Jun 2nd from web
Went a whole week without any social media. Quiet, but very refreshing. Surprisingly the world has not changed that much :)
11:33 AM Jun 2nd from web

Bryan Eisenberg
twitter.com/TheGrok (@TheGrok)

Google Website Optimizer Authorized Consultant with FutureNow.
Twitter bio: "Website Conversion, Persuasion Architecture expert and best selling author of Waiting for Your Cat to Bark, Call to Action, and Always Be Testing."

Web Analytics and Yellow Lobsters http://tinyurl.com/mr5lt2
about 8 hours ago from twitterfeed
Conversion Rate Exercise: Why Should I Do Business With You? http://tinyurl.com/m6rok7
4:25 AM Jun 18th from twitterfeed
Import web analytics data from Google Analytics in to an Excel spreadsheet http://tr.im/oTQi #wa
2:15 AM Jun 18th from TweetDeck
Bagging the Conversion Elephant: Google Analytics Blog http://tr.im/oQZC
3:36 PM Jun 17th from TweetDeck
Are Your Analytics Causing You to Lose 30% of Your Sales? http://tinyurl.com/lha4sq
12:24 PM Jun 17th from twitterfeed
RT @minethatdata: #IRCE Top 500 Internet Retailers represent 65pct of e-commerce sales. Mercy.
6:45 AM Jun 17th from TweetDeck
RT @Mike_Stelzner: Interesting stats on how much video people watch online: http://bit.ly/srS6L
6:16 AM Jun 17th from TweetDeck
Do you think Twitter will become obsolete?- iMedia connection's Jason Clark does - http://tr.im/owWI
5:37 AM Jun 15th from TweetDeck
The Day the Media Died http://bit.ly/12Le0c
4:17 AM Jun 14th from TweetDeck

Posted by Jeff Gillis, Google Analytics Team

New Analytics Desktop Wallpapers

2009-06-22T10:48:00.000-07:00

Late last week we launched an updated version of the Google Analytics website. Some keen-eyed observers noticed that we updated our logo as well. This is consistent with a larger Google effort to update logos on all of our consumer and business products.

Consumer product logos now generally have the word Google followed by a lower case word in blue. While business products like Google Analytics are in upper case with everything following Google in gray. To celebrate the new look, we not only updated our website and blog, but one of our newest team members created some new desktop wallpapers in his 20% time. Thanks Leo.

If you're note sure how to add these to your desktop, check out this tutorial by eHow.

Traditional Blend	Download: 1024 x 768 1280 x 1024 1280 x 800 1440 x 900 1680 x 1050 1920 x 1200 2560 x 1600
The Shiny	Download: 1024 x 768 1280 x 1024 1280 x 800 1440 x 900 1680 x 1050 1920 x 1200 2560 x 1600
Organic	Download: 1024 x 768 1280 x 1024 1280 x 800 1440 x 900 1680 x 1050 1920 x 1200 2560 x 1600

Posted by Brett Crosby and Leo Baghdassarian, Google Analytics Team

Google Analytics Gets a New Site

2009-06-19T11:49:00.000-07:00

We've given the Google Analytics site a refresh! Drawing upon insights from conversations with the Google Analytics community -- both online and in person, and from looking carefully at our own Analytics reports, we've reorganized the site to do a better job of exposing the information you're looking for. And, we've added a dash of visual style in the process.

How did we go about deciding what needed to be changed? The vast majority of visitors come to the site simply to log in to their accounts. After filtering these visits from our analysis, we looked at conversion rates -- new account sign ups-- and what content people looked at. It was clear that much important content, for example relating to training and professional services, was too buried for people to find. Although some visitors used the search box, we were surprised to find relatively few searches for education and professional services. Our guess is that not enough people know about these services, so we decided to create new sections for this content and address site navigation to make it more intuitive.

So, what is the result? Here are a few highlights.

The new updated Product area groups key features to help new and prospective users understand how the parts work together and how Google Analytics fits into the larger ecosystem of Google offerings that includes AdWords and Website Optimizer.

Considerable resources -- both free and fee-based -- are available to organizations using Google Analytics. The Support section provides a single point of access to these resources ranging from online communities to professional services offered by Authorized Consultant companies. You can quickly search our expanding global network for an Authorized Consultant in your region that specializes in the areas you'd like help with, whether that be installation assistance, consulting, customized training, or Urchin Software.

The Education section outlines ongoing opportunities to learn more about how to use Google Analytics more effectively. If you're an individual looking to develop skills for your career or a manager looking for cost effective ways to train your staff, you'll find the latest information you need on the Google Analytics IQ online course and test, Seminars for Success, and helpful videos.

Of course, the site won't be static. While we don't want to fall into the trap of trying to test everything, you may notice subtle site changes going forward as we use Website Optimizer to inform ongoing iterative updates.

We hope you like the new site and find it useful. Feel free to post a comment and let us know what you think. We'll share what we learn going forward. We're going to be working on the blog design and resources as well over the next couple of weeks.

Posted by Brett Crosby, Google Analytics Team

Update Regarding AdWords Cost Data Reporting

2009-06-18T16:51:00.000-07:00

Do you have a Google Analytics account that:

is linked to AdWords and
has auto-tagging enabled and
does not have AdWords cost data applied?

If so, we have an important update on how your AdWords cost data is reported. If you are among the majority of users who do not meet all three of these conditions, you can stop reading now.

In early March, we changed how Google Analytics imports AdWords cost data to improve security and provide greater control and convenience. If you were an administrator on a Google Analytics account that was affected by this change (i.e. you either had auto-tagging enabled and/or had a linked account without cost data applied to some or all of your profiles), you received an email in March asking you to link your accounts and apply cost data to all linked accounts. This remains the best practice.

This change caused autotagged AdWords search traffic for which cost data had not been applied to be reported as "direct" traffic. We have now fixed this and Google Analytics now logs autotagged/non cost data traffic as source=google and medium=cpc. Only a small percentage of customers fall into this category, but if you were affected by this issue, as of midnight PST this morning you will see a drop in direct traffic and an increase in paid traffic, appropriately. Please note that organic and non-AdWords paid traffic remains unaffected.

For more information, please read this help center article on AdWords cost data importing.

Posted by Dai Pham, Google Analytics Team

Import your Google Analytics Goals into AdWords

2009-06-17T18:26:00.000-07:00

Last month we published a post showing how you can setup Goals in Google Analytics. Today you can now import your Google Analytics Goals and Transactions into your AdWords account to use as conversion actions. This lets you track campaign ROI and optimize your account for conversions directly inside the AdWords interface.

In the past, you needed to install a separate tracking code to make use of this feature (called AdWords Conversion Tracking). Today all you need is a Google Analytics account and a Goal that receives traffic from AdWords.

One of the benefits of importing your Google Analytics Goals and Transactions into AdWords is that you can use them with the Conversion Optimizer, an AdWords CPA bidding tool that has been shown to help advertisers get more conversions from AdWords. Conversion Optimizer makes it a lot easier to manage your AdWords bidding and maximize results.

For more information including step-by-step instructions on how to import your Goals, visit the Inside AdWords Blog.

Posted by Sebastian Tonkin, Google Analytics Team

Bagging the Conversion Elephant

2009-06-17T14:18:00.000-07:00

In reading an Occam’s Razor blog post from earlier this year, “Aggregation of Marginal Gains: Recession Busting Analytics!," I noted that Avinash is discussing exactly the same experience we at FutureNow underwent. Ten years ago, low hanging fruit in the conversion improvement space meant high traffic, high impact changes from fixing obviously-wrong calls to action: bad linking, non-obvious next steps, poor UI (user interface).

In fact, for several years conversion improvement was all about UI. Remember that? The theory was (mostly from the UI people, of course), that if you just improved the UI then conversion would follow. What we found out was that if you had a weak UI then of course fixing it would help... but only so far. When it worked you got big fireworks-busting improvements, but only at a singular point in the sales process.

A few years after that it was analytics. If you simply measure everything, then (wave hands here, sprinkle magical pixie dust) you’ll “just know” what to do to improve. If you want to improve more well then just “measure more” — get more analytics apps installed. Or buy more expensive ones.

In the last year or so, the buzz word technique seems to be testing. If you just test everything then somewhere, somehow you’ll know what helps conversion. And when I say “everything”, I mean “EVERYTHING.” Testing is great — in fact, I wrote a best-selling book on this very topic, "Always Be Testing", centered specifically on Google Website Optimizer — but if there’s a bee on your grandmother’s nose, do you honestly have to do a test to determine whether to swat it away? Yet, some companies out there imply to clients they should freeze like a deer caught in the headlights unless and until they have a test to back up every decision made. And if you don’t have enough traffic for the test to be valid just drive more traffic, any traffic, even if precision comes at the cost of accuracy. It's lunacy. No thanks, m’am, that bee on Granny gets swatted and I don’t need 95% statistical confidence to make that decision.

Each time the industry thinks it’s got the elephant in its sights, that five-ton peanut-eater slips away. I think it’s because everyone keeps chasing technology as the solution to pachyderm-sized conversion improvement. If you install the right mix of digital toys, then whamo you’re sure to be the next market leader in your space. Again with the pixie dust.

But it just doesn’t work that way. What we’ve learned is that the big wins come from a long series of small wins, accumulated over time. And small wins come from experienced insight and hard work. And it has to be the type of hard work that a company is willing and able to perform. Not pie-in-the-sky goals without any mechanism for implementing.

I'd recommend focusing less on "big projects" and more on iteration. At FutureNow we did just that, re-tooling our entire business model around this "OnTarget" concept, letting clients decide how many resources they have to devote to improvement in a current cycle, and delivering experienced recommendations specifically for that cycle, and using analytics tools to measure the improvement and testing tools to back up any conclusions. "Rinse and repeat". How do you eat the conversion elephant? One small bite at a time. Exactly what Avinash was speaking about.

Posted by John Quarto-vonTivadar of FutureNow, a Google Analytics Authorized Consultant

New Video: Segment Your AdWords Data

2009-06-12T15:36:00.000-07:00

If you use AdWords, you're probably familiar with the AdWords reports in the Google Analytics Traffic Sources section. Using these reports, you can compare AdWords campaigns and ad groups against each other and track individual keyword performance. But wouldn't it be useful to instantly compare - in every single one of your reports - the performance of AdWords traffic against the performance of all site traffic? Even better, what if you could compare a specific subset of AdWords traffic to AdWords traffic as a whole and compare both of these segments to all site traffic?

You can do all this and more using Advanced Segments. The latest Google Analytics in 60 Seconds video shows how to create a segment that includes only AdWords traffic and then how to refine that segment to include only a specific set of keywords. We illustrate how to isolate brand related keywords in the video, but with a little experimentation, you can create the AdWords segments that are most relevant to your business. Then you could compare how frequently visitors from each segment use the search box on your site (Site Search Overview report), how many new visits versus returning visits came from each segment (New vs. Returning report), and how many visits from each segment came from New York (Map Overlay report).

You only have to define your segments once and they'll be available to any user who has access to the profile. This means you can define segments for others in your organization to use. Also, segments can be used with historical data as well as current data. So, if you want to go back and see how an AdWords segment performed one year ago, you can.

Leave a comment and share your favorite AdWords segments.

Posted by Alden DeSoto, Google Analytics Team

Track Yahoo! Search Marketing Campaigns and More with Urchin 6.6

2009-06-11T11:00:00.000-07:00

On Monday June 8, we released Urchin 6.6, a significant upgrade to our "run-it-yourself" web analytics package. This release brings some serious enterprise-level heft to the table, and also advances Urchin's marketing-analysis capabilities in a big way.

New Search Marketing Reports and Tools

Chief among Urchin's new report-side features is the Performance Comparison report. Finally you can compare the performance of your Google AdWords and Yahoo! Search Marketing (YSM) campaigns side-by-side... Yes, this means you can tap into the Yahoo! API and import your YSM campaigns automatically!

With Urchin 6.6, you can easily compare campaigns, keywords, etc., from different search engines.

There's more. Here's a breakdown of the new CPC-management tools and reports in Urchin 6.6:

YSM integration: Download your YSM campaign data via the Yahoo API.
Deep links into AdWords: Provide your login credentials and Urchin lets you jump directly from CPC reports to related management screens in your AdWords account.
Budget Alerts: If your AdWords campaigns are in danger of exhausting available funds, Urchin will tell you.
Keyword Generation Tool: Add keywords to your AdWords campaigns directly from Urchin.
Copy Campaign Tool: Duplicate existing CPC campaigns (for example, YSM campaigns) as new AdWords campaigns.
Tag Manager: Automates your keyword destination-URL building, a big timesaver.
New reports: Time on Site, Performance Comparison, CPC Structure, and more!

Urchin's new Keyword Generator Tool helps you identify promising keywords and add them to your AdWords campaign, all within Urchin!

It doesn't stop here. We've also taken a close look at how Urchin plays with other other systems in your organization. Which brings us to...

New Enterprise/IT Capabilities

Urchin has long been appreciated by web-hosting companies and enterprises for robust performance and integration flexibility. Urchin 6.6 adds key features that make it even better.

LDAP integration: Use your existing corporate authentication with Urchin, including LDAP, MSAD, etc.
Data API: Pull your Urchin report data into a CRM tool or any other system. (See the Urchin Data API documentation.)
Rollup Report: A new Urchin "home" page shows each user a list of all profiles to which they have access, with summary metrics for each profile.
Process Control: Kill a running Urchin log-processing job gracefully, without corrupting the database.
Urchin 5 to Urchin 6 Migration Utility: Haven't upgraded from Urchin 5 yet? Our new data-migration utility is much faster and less prone to errors.

Urchin's new process control functions allow you to cancel jobs without worry.

Urchin 6.6 is available now as a full-featured 30-day demo from our download servers and licenses can be purchased from any of our Authorized Consultants for US$2995. Check it out!

Posted by Scott Crosby, Urchin Team

Share your Web Analytics Story

2009-06-09T17:11:00.000-07:00

How do you use web analytics? Do you share data as part of a regular planning meeting? Do you log in once in awhile just to see how things are going?

We want to know! We're gathering information to help prioritize new features and improve Google Analytics and we need your help. If you've used web analytics data to make decisions inside your business or organization, get in touch and tell us how. Email us at gacasestudies@google.com.

We'll republish the most interesting stories here on the blog and we'll even send you a free Google Analytics tee-shirt if your story gets published. We're ready and waiting, so drop us a line!

Posted by Sebastian Tonkin, Google Team

Back to Basics: Filtering out your own IP address

2009-06-08T15:55:00.000-07:00

If you have a team of people on your marketing team constantly checking the website you're tracking with Google Analytics, filtering out specific IP addresses is one of the ways you can make sure you're not tracking irrelevant visits to your site. Excluding these IPs may help you get more accurate numbers for metrics like average time on site (since your marketing team probably spends the most time on your site every day), your visitors' geographic locations, etc.

To start filtering out IPs, follow the steps below:

Collect IPs from anyone in your office (including yourself) that you don't want to track. If they don't know what their IP addresses are, an easy way to figure it out is to go to http://whatismyipaddress.com/.
Then, sign in to your Analytics account at http://www.google.com/analytics.
If you have more than one account, select the account that has the profile you want to apply the IP exclusion filter to.
Once you're on the Profile Overview page, click 'Edit' from underneath the Actions column.
From under the 'Filters Applied to Profile' section, select 'Add Filter.'
Select 'Add new Filter for Profile.'
Enter an easily identifiable Filter name (i.e. 'My IP address,' or 'CMO's IP address).
Select the filter type labeled 'Exclude all traffic from an IP address.' The IP address field will auto-populate with an example IP address. Enter the correct value. Remember to use regular expressions when entering any IP address. For example, if the IP address to filter is:

176.168.1.1
then the IP address value will be:
176\.168\.1\.1
You may also enter a range of IP addresses. For example:
Range: 176.168.1.1-25 and 10.0.0.1-14
IP address value : ^176\.168\.1\.([1-9]|1[0-9]|2[0-5])$|^10\.0\.0\.([1-9]|1[0-4])$
Click ‘Save changes’ to finish.

Posted by Christina Park, Google Analytics Team

Bing to be Integrated into Search Engine Reports

2009-06-08T12:57:00.000-07:00

Recently Microsoft released a new search engine called Bing, which has begun sending traffic to websites with Google Analytics installed. Bing currently shows up as a referring site in the Traffic Sources reports. We are actively working on an update that will include Bing under the default list of search engines in Google Analytics.

If you absolutely can't wait for the upgrade, you can add the following line to your Google Analytics tracking code as a temporary solution. Note, this workaround is recommended for advanced users only. For more information on adding custom configurations to the Google Analytics tracking code, read this article.

pageTracker._addOrganic("bing", "q");

Stay tuned for updates.

Sebastian Tonkin, Google Analytics Team

Analytics Blog Now in Spanish

2009-06-05T13:34:00.000-07:00

We're very happy to announce the recent launch of Central de Conversiones, a new Spanish-language blog covering Google's measurement tools including Google Analytics, Website Optimizer, Insights for Search, AdPlanner and others.

Both Googlers and GAACs from Spanish speaking countries such as Argentina, Mexico and Spain will be sharing basic tips and advanced web analytics techniques trying to help decision makers integrate data from these tools into their business strategies.

Central de Conversiones will translate important posts from this blog but will also create content and share case studies specific to the Spanish Speaking markets. We're sure that you will find it a very useful tool.

¡Esperamos lo disfruten!

Posted by Enrique Quevedo, Google Analytics Team

Event Tracking Now Available in All Accounts

2009-06-04T13:20:00.000-07:00

Event Tracking is a feature of Google Analytics that allows you to track visitor actions that don't correspond directly to pageviews. It's a great fit for tracking things like:

Downloads of a PDF or file
Interaction with dynamic, AJAX sites
Interaction with Adobe Flash objects, embedded videos and other media

Unlike virtual pageviews, Event Tracking will not alter your pageview count. This makes it the preferred method for tracking a variety of visitor actions.

We're happy to announce that earlier today Event Tracking became available by default in all Google Analytics accounts. To access the new reports, just navigate to the Content Section of the Google Analytics interface and select the option labeled "Event Tracking."

Screenshot of Event Tracking reports

In future posts, we'll explain more about some of the ways you can put Event Tracking to good use. For now, here are some great resources to get you started:

How to send Events to Google Analytics (Code site)
Event Tracking Overview/Tutorial (Analytics Talk)
Tracking Flash Videos with Event Tracking (Inside RIA)

Note, your reports will not show data until you start sending events. You can use the above resources to find about more about how to send events to Google Analytics.

We hope you enjoy the feature. Leave a comment and let us know what you think!

Posted by Nick Mihailovski, Google Analytics Team

Seminars For Success - Sydney, Miami, San Diego, Dallas and Washington DC

2009-06-03T14:05:00.000-07:00

We are offering Seminars in 4 cities this month. That's right.. down under in Sydney, Australia and then one on each coast (Miami and San Diego) and north/south (Dallas and Washington DC) just to balance it out.

These are great in person trainings and will jump start you in Google Analytics and Google Website Optimizer (San Diego and Dallas only). Return from these trainings with a practical understanding of how to use these products for your business along with some great tips & best practices... oh and if you're lucky, a nice tan.

Here's a quote from one of our past attendees:

I was really impressed that the focus of 2 day course was less to do with number crunching and much more to do with the relationships between the site and our users. The 2 day course was really well paced and full of 'light-bulb' moments. As a result of the training I've been able to go back and make quick/simple changes to our Analytics set up so that our business users can access the kind of custom reporting that they need. The course provided insights that have helped me communicate with our 3rd Party (SEO/SEM) Agencies so that we have a united view/strategy on how we want to connect all of our metrics. This has helped inform how we will interact with our users in the future. It's great to see our website as a living breathing entity...
....I'd recommend it to anyone wanting to get their hands dirty :)
Claire Spencer, Origin Energy

Google Analytics – Introduction & User Training

Sydney, Australia - Thursday, June 4
Miami - Wednesday, June 10
San Diego - Wednesday, June 10
Dallas - Wednesday, June 17
Washington DC - Thursday, June 25

Introduction to Web Analytics
Common Interface Features
Dashboard Reports & Customization
Understanding Visitors, Traffic Sources, Content, Goals and Ecommerce
Motion Chart Visualization
Analytics Best Practices for Branding, Lead Generation & Ecommerce
And much, much more…

Google Analytics – Advanced Technical Implementation

Sydney, Australia - Friday, June 5
Miami – Thursday, June 11
San Diego - Thursday, June 11
Dallas - Thursday, June 18
Washington DC - Friday, June 26

Profiles and Strategies
Filters – Uses and Implementation
Goals & Funnels - Configuration & Setup
Ecommerce Implementations
Site Search, Event Tracking, Custom Reporting and Advanced Segmentation
And much, much more…

Landing Page Testing with Google Website Optimizer

San Diego - Friday, June 12
Dallas - Friday, June 19

Learn how to make the most of the visitors to your site with landing page testing and get hands-on experience in designing, setting up, running, and analyzing A/B and multivariate tests with Google Website Optimizer. The experts will show you how to improve your users’ experience and continually increase your conversion rates through testing. The Website Optimizer Seminar includes:

An overview of testing and Website Optimizer
How to identify problematic pages and estimate sample sizes
Loads of testing best practices drawn from real tests and case studies
Hands-on lab experience in setting up, configuring, & launching both A/B and Multivariate tests
How to interpret the data and run follow up experiments

Seats are limited, so register today for the June seminars!

Posted by Eva Woo, Google Analytics Team

Announcing the new Google Local Business Center Dashboard

2009-06-02T12:00:00.000-07:00

As a Google Analytics user, chances are you know the value of good data on traffic to your website. More data means you can make better-informed decisions about how to drive traffic to your site and to your brick-and-mortar locations. But your website is just a part of your entire web presence.

Users of Google Maps and Google Search, for example, may also be interacting with your local listing on Google. While Google Analytics is fantastic for measuring traffic to your site, there has previously been no way to measure how customers interact with other elements of your web presence. That is, until today. The Google Maps team has just launched a new dashboard in its free Local Business Center (www.google.com/lbc) that will provide you with information on how users interact with your local listing on Google Maps and Google Search.

This new dashboard provides detailed metrics on traffic to local listings on Google Maps -- helping you understand, for example, how many times your listing appears in Google.com or Google Maps local search results, what search queries lead users to your listing, and what zip codes customers come from when they search for directions to your location. This is the first time this kind of data has ever been made available to business owners, and we think you'll find it highly useful.

If you're interested in learning more, head over to the Official Google Blog for a more-detailed overview or the Lat Long blog for a walk-through of the dashboard's features.

Posted by Laura Melahn, Google Maps Team