Introduction to Google Analytics
Presented by John Garretson, Assistant Digital Content Manager
What is
"Digital analytics" is the analysis of qualitative and quantitative data from your organization and the competition to drive a continual improvement of the online experience that your visitors and potential visitors have which translates to your desired outcomes Can find out Who visits the site, for how long and what they do Which keywords resonate with visitors Where theyre coming from Which page is the most/least intriguing And much, much more Once you get the hang of things, becomes easy to use and very useful tool to improve your site(s)
Why Google Analytics?
To understand what works well To discover what is not working well To improve website Return on Investment (ROI)
More than just How many page views is my site getting?
Like any key indicator for success, it all comes down to the GOALS you set
Remember the Scientific Method
Were you right? Ask a question
Analyze
Construct a hypothesis
Test your hypothesis
Logging in
Head to http://google.com/analytics Click on Access Google Analytics If logged in with My.BoiseState, should just take you there If not permitted access to Google Analytics, submit a request through OIT at https://oit.boisestate.edu/
Main Page
The main page should feature [all under the Boise State University main folder]: COBE WP or the COBE site Your respective department will fall under the COBE WP spot Global boisestate.edu or the Boise State main page We will be using the COBE WP
COBE Main Dashboard
First thought: whoa The key to Google Analytics: break it down piece by piece to then gain full understanding On the left-hand side: Standard Reports Your who, what, when, where, why & how numbers & data for your site Center Report youre focused on In this case, its Audience Overview Top right Date range From when to when will the data be within
Standard Reports
Audience (your who) Overview (general)
Demographic [N/A] Interests [N/A ] Geo Behavior Technology Mobile
Behavior (your what) Overview (your general)
Site Content Site Speed Site Search
Acquisition (your how) Overview (general)
Channels All Traffic All Referrals Keywords Social SEO
First Report: Audience
Overview (general) Specific reports within Audience report
Sub-specific reports
WHO is coming to the site
Audience
Overview features: Visits
Overall distinct individual Total # of pages viewed Avg. # of pages viewed during visit Avg. visit time % of single page visits Estimate of first time visitors
Overview (aka the fundamentals)
Graphs/Tables help visually breakdown data Data can be segmented down By time, visitor, visits, source etc.
Unique Visitors
Pageviews Pages/visits
Avg. Visit Duration
Bounce Rate
% New Visits
Within Jan. 25 Feb. 24
Key Terms Explained
Dimensions describe characteristics of your users, their sessions and actions, qualitative
Geographic location/traffic source/page viewed
Metrics quantitative measurements of users, sessions and actions, these are numbers
Total number of users on a website/avg number of pages viewed during a session/time on site
Example of Dimensions
Audience -> Geo: Location
Noticeable trends: en-us has highest visits, lowest bounce rates [English US] Map Overlay option gives option to view data in map form Country visitors are viewing site in
Example of Metrics
Audience -> Behavior: Engagement
Noticeable trends: The quicker the visit duration, the higher of visits/page views Nature of the beast (attention, distraction, etc.)
Visits? Pageviews? Unique Visitors?
What does this all mean? Whats the difference?
Key Terms Explained
Visit session on your site, ends after 30 minutes of inactivity or if the user leaves the site for 30 minutes (how long) Pageviews number of times a page was viewed Unique Visitors each individual viewing the site (a unique visitor [1] can visit the site [x] amount of times & culminate [y] amount of pageviews, but its still just 1 individual)
Unique visitors (individual)
Visits (overall)
Pageviews (how many pages viewed on site)
Second Report: Acquisition
Overview (general) Sub-specific reports
HOW are individuals getting to the site
Specific reports within Acquisitio n report
Key Terms Explained
Direct traffic visitors that type the url directly into the browser or use a bookmark Referral traffic a user lands on your site by clicking a link from somewhere else (another site, social media, search engine, etc.) Organic search visitors clicked through to your site from search results, not paid ads Social Facebook, Twitter, etc. social platforms Email email blasts, newsletters
Acquisition
Overview (aka the fundamentals)
Organic search (search engines) Referral (3rd party link clicking)
Direct (typing in URL) Social Email
Third Report: Behavior
Overview (general) Specific reports within Acquisitio n report
Sub-specific reports
WHAT or WHERE individuals are going on your site
Behavior
Overview (aka the fundamentals)
Familiar from Audience overview?
Specific pages on http://cobe.boisestate.edu
Example Page Study: Department of Accountancy
Overall Data
Page Navigation Data
Dashboards
Dashboards give you an overview of how your site(s) are performing by displaying summaries of different reports as widgets on a single page With a dashboard, you can monitor many metrics at once, so you can quickly check the health of your accounts or see correlations between different reports Think shortcut of the reports/metrics you want to see rather than continually digging
Segments
Segments allow you to isolate specific types of traffic in your Analytics data For example, segments can filter your data to see only visitors who used a specific browser or visited certain, important pages on your site, or traffic from a specific referral source or geographic location
1. Click down arrow
2. Click + Create New Segment
5. Select your respective page
4. Filter -> Page
3. Conditions
6. Name it! 7 . Save it!
Boom. Now you have your specific site data within the general COBE data for your viewing pleasure
To add specific widgets to dashboard: Head to a specific report you would like (in this instance: Behavior -> Overview -> Page -> /accountancy Under title of dashboard click Add to Dashboard
More Resources
support.google.com/analytics www.kaushik.net - Avinash Kaushik webguide.boisestate.edu For personal 1-on-1s, email me at [email protected] to set up an appointment
Thank you! Any questions?
