Google Analytics For Business - A Beginners Guide

Google Analytics
For Business
Linsey Burnard
@LinseyBurnard

Linsey Burnard
Digital Marketing Exec
I graduated in 2010 from De Montfort University with a Masters in Marketing
Management and a keen interest in all things digital.
In June 2014, I furthered my education by gaining a diploma in online
marketing.
I am currently a member of both CIPR (Chartered Institute of Public
Relations) and IDM (Institute of Direct and Digital Marketing).
I have been a Google certified professional for two years, with Indulge
Media who are an official certified Google Partner.
Let’s break the ice...

2
How to setup Google Analytics properly
How to use goals & event tracking
Understand key reports & metrics and learn what to do with
them
Show value and get buy-in on your proposals
What you’ll learn today

For this first chapter I’ll show
you how to setup Google
Analytics properly. Including:
● Tracking code
● User permissions
● Views (Profiles)
● Site search tracking
● Custom alerts
● Advanced segments
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Getting off on the right foot

Before you start and set up a new
Analytics account, be sure to see if
tracking code is already present
on your site.
● To do this, visit the developer
tools area within your
browser.
● Choose View page source
● Choose Edit -> Find in your
browser.
● Type in UA-
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Is Analytics already installed?

Before you start you’ll need a
Google account.
● Go to google.com/analytics
● Complete The Form
● Click
● Provide your developer with
this code for implementation
on your website
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Creating your account

● Manage Users (Admin): Can manage account users (add/delete
users, assign permissions for other users).
● Edit: Can perform administrative and report-related functions and
see report data. Includes Collaborate.
● Collaborate: Can create personal assets, and share them. Can
collaborate on shared assets, for example, edit a dashboard or
annotation.
● Read & Analyze: Can see report and configuration data.
Each of these permission levels can be set at the Account, Property,
and View levels.
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Managing user permissions

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- Top level of
organization.
- Must be set up before
tracking a web property.
- Each property collects
user data. - Tracking
code is generated for
each property.
- One property is set by
default.
- Home to all reports for
individual web properties
in the profiles section.
- Can have one or many
per property.
- Apply filters to customize
views.

● Set up a new property when
you want to manage multiple
domains within the same
account.
● One property is set up in the
main account setup process.
● Fill in the New Property page
after selecting Create new
property from the middle
(Property) column on the
Admin page.
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Property

● Each domain is assigned its
own UA number (tracking
code).
Why set up properties?
● to organize data for several
websites
● great for companies who
own multiple websites (ex:
microsites, subdomains,
sister businesses)
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Property

● Are a platform on which you
can view filtered data quickly
by creating profiles with
specific data sets.
● To create a new view from
your account’s default (and
inclusive) view:
○ Click on Admin
○ Click on the view you
want to duplicate.
○ Select View Settings
○ At the top of the page,
click “Copy view”
○ Name the new view
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View

Why use them?
● to include or exclude data sets from your reports’ default views.
● to restrict staff access to specific data within the account (for example if
you want to only give access to data for a specific campaign).
The details
● You can have up to 50 views per account.
● Always keep a master / unedited view within your account.
● Make a copy of the master view and apply filters as necessary.
● Changes made to the view will only affect data collected from the present
forward.
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View

Filters set on your custom views allow you
to see your most important data quickly.
Why use filters?
To filter out data that is not helpful in your
reporting (ex: visits coming from within
your organization).
● Select Filters in the Admin section
of your account, after selecting your
view to include or exclude:
○ Search terms
○ AdWords Campaign
performance
○ IP address
○ Visitor location, web browser
and more.
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Filters

Within your account and after
selecting your chosen view from
the drop-down, choose View
Settings.
● Switch on site search (if
applicable) and enter your
query parameter
● In the Query Parameter field,
add in the words or letters
that designate a query (ex:
search, query, s, q); may be
located between “?” and “=”
in the URL.
● Switch on e-commerce
tracking*
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Site search & e-commerce tracking

● Select your currency
○ Choose the currency in which transactions on your website occur
● Add e-commerce tracking code to your site
○ Refer to Google’s Developer Guide
● Determine if you need cross-domain tracking
○ To be used when your shopping cart/checkout are on a different
domain than your e-commerce store
● Be aware of differences between Analytics and Adwords tracking.
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E-commerce tracking
The details

Google URL builder:
● Any campaigns not linked to
an AdWords account should
be given custom URLs.
● Track activity from
advertisements, marketing
campaigns, email
newsletters, ad variations
etc, with unique URLs.
● Allows you to track specific
campaigns or ads for
performance, when more
than one is used on a given
site.
● https://ga-dev-tools.appspot.
com/campaign-url-builder/
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Tagging campaigns

● Log in to GSC using the
login credentials for your
Analytics account.
● Enter the domain of your
website and click Add site.
● To verify your ownership of
the website, choose
Recommended method
and then click Verify.
● May need to upload a meta
tag if this method does not
work.
● https://www.google.com/w
ebmasters/tools/home?hl=
en
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Linking to other Google Accounts
Google Search Console

● The login credentials for
your Google Analytics
account and Google
Adwords account must
match.
● Login to your Google
Analytics account.
● Navigate to the Admin tab.
● In the middle column, select
AdWords Linking.
● Click +New Link Group
● Select the account you want
to link from the list.
● Choose the Google
Analytics views you want the
account linked to and link.
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Linking to other Google Accounts
Google AdWords

● Log in to your
MailChimp account.
● Navigate to your
Account settings.
● Within Integrations,
navigate to Google
Analytics, Contacts and
Docs.
● Authorize the
connection.
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Linking to email platforms
MailChimp

● Login to your account and
select the Client Settings
tab.
● On the right-hand side,
select Google Analytics
Integration.
● Click the box beside Enable
Google Analytics
Integration.
● Enter your website’s
domain in the Domains to
track text area.
● Name your traffic source
(Campaign Monitor, CM
Email Marketing, etc.)
● Save
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Linking to email platforms
Campaign Monitor

Overview of reports
Definitions and use
What to look for in key reports
Identifying your most valuable traffic
Using Analytics to guide marketing activity and business decisions
Using Analytics to get buy-in
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Metrics & reports

Real-Time
Audience
Acquisition
Behaviour
Conversions
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Overview of reports
Standard reports

Sessions
The number of overall sessions, and not unique sessions, to your website or any element of
the site itself.
Users
The number of unduplicated visitors to your site during a specific time.
Bounce rate
The percentage of visits that leave your site after viewing only one page, without taking any
action. Can be an indicator of low quality content / content which does not match the visitor’s
expectations.
Goal / E-commerce conversion rate
Important for understanding which traffic sources are sending the highest quality traffic.
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Key metrics

This reporting feature is most useful for high traffic sites as it allows you to see,
in real time:
● The number of active users on your website
● The location of users
● How current users came to your site (traffic sources)
● Which pages on your site users are viewing
● What pre-set actions (events) are currently occurring
● Which pre-set conversion actions are occurring
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Real-Time

Geo (location)
● Get data about your audience’s location at the continent, region, country and city levels.
● See if your targeted marketing campaigns are sending increased users from your target
locations to your website.
Technology (Browser & Operating System)
● Determine which browsers and operating systems users are using (ex: Chrome, Safari,
Internet Explorer and Windows, Mac)
● A good way to find out if there are any issues with specific browsers. You can find this
out by seeing if there is a high bounce rate or low goal conversion rate.
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Audience
Key Data

Mobile
Overview
● Determine which devices users are using to view your site.
● A helpful stat when trying to get buy-in for a responsive website, mobile site or mobile
app. Year-on-year comparison reporting can be most telling.
Devices
● View which mobile devices are being used to view your site, from iPads to iPhones,
Android devices and more!
● Great for determining if there are any usability / viewability issues on your site for a
specific device (seen by high bounce rate, low goal conversions)
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Audience
Key Data

All Traffic
Source/Medium
● See all the sources sending traffic to your website
● Spot trends or anomalies in traffic from a specific source
Referrals
● See which other websites have sent traffic to you (via a link on their site)
● A helpful report when trying to see which sites are sending quality traffic to you (refer to
bounce rate, goal conversion rate, average visit duration & pages per visit).
Search Console
● View the top landing (entrance) pages for each visit from organic search
● See how visible your site is in organic search for specific keyword phrases
● Must be linked to a Google Search Console account for this report to work
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Acquisition provides data on how your audience arrived on your site
Acquisition
Key Data

Campaigns
● Organic keywords report shows you which search terms have been used by visitors to
your site directly from organic search.
● However, data is becoming less available unless you are also running paid search.
● To get an idea of what your (not provided) keywords may be;
○ Go to Campaigns > Organic Keywords
○ Click on (not provided) in the list.
○ Now choose “secondary dimension” > Behaviour > Landing page.
○ This method is helpful if there are specific themes on these webpages or if they are
for a specific product / service / or team member.
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Acquisition
Key Data

Site Content
● See the most popular pages on your site.
● Can assist in guiding new content on already popular subjects or guiding future product
or service offerings
● What to look out for:
○ Pages with a high bounce rate (along with a secondary dimension of traffic source);
helps you narrow down where low quality traffic is coming from. Can also use
location as the secondary dimension.
Exit Pages
● See which pages people are on when they decide to leave your site. Review these
pages and investigate causes. Test alternate versions of the page using Experiments.
(Try adding links to further relevant information, add contact link to page, change calls to
action).
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Behaviour provides data on user behaviour on your site
Behaviour
Key Data

Site Search
● See which items and information users are searching for within your site
● Can help guiding future product or service offerings (great for e-commerce)
● Can help in guiding the navigation of your site and homepage content
● What to look out for:
○ Commonly occurring keyword searches. Try moving commonly searched for
content into more prominent areas of your website.
In-Page Analytics
● View the areas of any given page that receive the greatest number of clicks.
● Great for seeing any usability issues within the page.
● Look for most clicked areas and see if these can be incorporated into a more prominent
location within your site; can guide testing of on-page elements
● Crazy Egg - www.crazyegg.com
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Behaviour
Key Data

Events
● View data pertaining to specific events you’ve set up with the Goals area of your
profile.
● Requires that additional tracking code be added to your site by a developer.
● Unique code must be added to each unique event action.
● Click through ‘category’, ‘action’ and ‘label’ to see different data views.
● When using events, you can track:
○ clicks on links within your site to another site
○ clicks on banner images
○ downloads (PDFs, images, files, etc.)
○ sign-ups & site log-ins
○ form submissions
○ videos
○ clicks on buttons
Guide to setting up events:
https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/gajs/eventTrackerGuide
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Behaviour
Key Data

There are 4 types of Goals
1. Destination (URL)
2. Duration
3. Pages/screen per session
4. Event
Goals appear as a drop-down dimension on all standard reports within a given
view.
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Goals
Goal Types

Page with a unique URL
● Goal is triggered when the
page with the Goal URL
loads.
● Enter the portion of the URL
that begins after your
domain name.
● Option to set up a Goal
Funnel with Destination
Goals.
Use
“thank you for contacting us” /
“thank you for registering” page
with a unique URL to the
submission page.
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Goals
Destination

Advanced: virtual pageviews
To be used when you load new content without loading a new page or screen.
To track these goal completions, you can use a virtual page/screen view.
● Virtual page views are viewable in the Behaviour >Site Content >All pages report
among the other pages on the site.
Why use virtual pageviews?
Your conversion/goal completion page either occurs within a pop-up or has the same URL
as the previous page; you want to set up a Goal Funnel.
Getting set up
● A qualified developer will need to make changes to your site’s code in order to
enable virtual pageviews. The code will include _trackPageview for web properties
or trackView for apps.
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Goals
Destination

A goal completion is registered
when a visit lasts for a minimum
duration.
Use
To measure engagement
Concerns
● Multi-tab browsing can result
in skewed engagement
numbers
● Behaviour > Site content >
All content > Time on Page
more useful for locating
on-page issues.
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Goals
Duration

A goal completion is recorded
when a user views at least a
specific number of pages during a
single session.
Use: To measure engagement.
Concerns:
● Could show both those
highly engaged with the
site’s content and those who
are struggling to locate
information.
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Goals
Pages / screens per session

A goal completion is recorded when interaction with set on-page elements occurs (PDF
download, video view, social media shares).
Elements of an event:
● Category: the type of event. Could be “Downloads”, “Videos”
● Action: could be “Click” for clicks on buttons, “Pause” or “Play” for videos,
● Label: optional to help you further describe the event
● Value: optional, must be a numerical value
To save time and reduce clutter in your account, set up only your most important events
as Goals. You can still track these events without setting individual goals.
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Goals
Events

Event: Download
Example: Tracking the download of a PDF called Q4 report 2013
Category: reports
Action: download
Label: Q4 report 2013
If you want the Event to be logged when someone clicks on an element of the site (link,
button, image), code needs to include an onClick function.
Example snippet:
<a href=”/downloads/reports/q4report2013.pdf” onClick=”_gaq.push(['_trackEvent',
'reports', 'download', pdfName]);” target=”_blank”>Q4 Report 2013</a>
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Events
Types of event tracking

Event: Signups, form submissions and site log-ins
Example: Find out how many people have signed up to your mailing list (and be able to
attribute to a traffic source, location, etc.)
Category: form
Action: submit
Label: email subscription
Example snippet:
<input type=”submit” onClick=”_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'form, 'submit', 'email
subscription']);” value=”Join our mailing list” />
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Events

Event: Video play, pause or stop on embedded video
Example: Tracking clicks to play on a video entitled “Q4 Performance 2013”
Category: video
Action: play
Label: q4 performance 2013
Example snippet:
onClick=”_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'videos', 'play', 'q4 performance 2013',]);”
* code may vary depending on how video works on your site
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Events

Event: Interaction with social sharing buttons
Example: Clicking the twitter logo in the footer on www.indulgemedia.com
Category: social media
Action: twitter
Label: indulgemedia
Example snippet:
<a href=”https://twitter.com/indulgemedia” onClick=”_gaq.push(['_trackEvent', 'social
media', 'twitter', 'indulgemedia']);” target=”_blank”>Indulge Media on Twitter</a>
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Events

Track interaction/clicks on:
● Internal banner images (rotating banners / galleries)
● Form submissions, log-ins and sign-ups (new registrations, newsletter
signups)
● File downloads (images, PDFs, etc.)
● External links (clicks on ads, to affiliate links, social profiles, to subdomains)
● Videos
● Social share buttons (more social data in the social reports)
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Events
Why use event tracking?

You can find event reporting under Behaviour > Events
Total Events
Sum of all recorded events
Unique Events
Number of unique actions
Sessions with Event
Total number of visits during which an event was recorded
Events / Session
Average number of events per visit
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Goals
Event reporting

● Allow you to track engagement and non-purchase based conversions for
non-ecommerce sites (contact form enquiries, pages/visit, visit duration)
● Allow you to see the most popular actions on your site.
● Give you insight into any multi-page action on your site & help uncover any obstacles to
conversion (registrations, purchases, etc.)
● Determine potential usability issues with specific browsers, operating systems, mobile
devices (using low goal conversion rate as an indicator).
● Locate your most valuable traffic sources and referrers (look to see which have the
highest goal conversion rate and number of goal completions).
Guide to setting up goals:
https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1012040?hl=en&ref_topic=1007030
44
Goals
How goals can help

Reverse Goal Path
● Allows you to see, without setting up a goal funnel, the pages viewed immediately
before the goal was completed.
Funnel Visualization
● See each step of your goal funnel visualized; also see the number of people who have
exited from each step and to which pages they navigated.
● Great for helping you understand which steps in your goal funnel may include obstacles
to conversion.
Goal Flow
● Choose a starting metric to see filtered views of traffic through your goal funnel. For
example, choose Source / Medium, Landing Page, Visitor Location, Mobile device,
Operating system and more as filters of your views.
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Conversions
Key Data

E-commerce
● View a snapshot of all sales activity on your site.
Choose to graph:
○ Ecommerce conversion rate*
○ Average order value
○ Quantity (can be one or many per transaction; number of units sold)
○ Revenue
○ Transactions
○ Unique purchases (number of times a specific product was part of a transaction)
● View individual product performance as a whole, top-selling dates, etc.
Time to purchase
● View the number of days from the first visit to the transaction
● View the number of visits from the first visit to the transaction.
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Conversions
Key Data

Multi-channel funnels
● This group of reports provides insights on user engagement within your site as it leads
up to a conversion / goal completion, including:
○ Overview: Channels / traffic sources and how they overlap in the user’s journey
○ Assisted conversion data: View the number of and revenue from traffic sources
that were involved at one point in the research / purchase process.
○ Top conversion paths: The most common channels used leading up to a
conversion (direct, organic search, paid search, etc.).
○ Time lag: Time from first session to conversion including the number and value of
the conversions for each time period.
○ Path length: The number of sessions to conversion including the number and
value of the conversions for each number of visits.
47
Conversions
Key Data

● Make a list of the metrics
you are interested in.
● Return to the Reporting
view and navigate to the
Dashboards area.
● You can either edit the
existing “My Dashboard”
found under Dashboards >
Private or create “+ New
Dashboard”
● Choose from either a blank
canvas or starter
dashboard.
48
Reporting Dashboards
Getting set up

● Choose blank canvas and
name your dashboard.
● Name the metric you would
like to track, choose how
you would like the info to be
displayed and select the
metric from the drop-down
list & click “save”.
● Widgets can also be added
directly from an individual
report’s view, via the
button in the top left of the
report.
49
Blank Canvas

● Contains a selection of
common metrics
● Add new widgets within the
dashboard view or by
visiting the report and using
the Add to dashboard
button.
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Starter dashboard

● Edit widgets by clicking the
pencil icon on the widget.
● Remove widgets by clicking
the “x” on the widget you
wish to delete.
● Export your dashboard as a
pdf by clicking on Export
● Maximum of 20 dashboards
and 12 widgets per
dashboard.
● Dashboards are only
available in the view you’ve
created them in.
51
Getting set up

● Share the dashboard by
clicking Share
○ Share with other users
who have access to this
view by selecting Share
Object
○ Share the template
configuration (minus
data) by selecting
Share template link
52
Getting set up

Download great pre-set
dashboards, reports and
advanced segments at:
https://econsultancy.com/blog/642
97-18-useful-google-analytics-cust
om-reports-segments-and-dashbo
ards-for-seo
● SEO Reporting Suite
● Keyword Analysis Report
● SEO Goal Breakdown Report
● Referring Sites Report
● Link Analysis Report
● SEO Dashboard
● Organic monitoring
dashboard
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Pre-set downloads

● Choose the Reporting view
within the relevant profile.
● Navigate to the report or
dashboard you would like in
your scheduled email.
● Select Email
● Add in:
○ the email address you
would like the report
sent to
○ the subject line
○ the file format (PDF, csv,
tsv, xlsx)
○ email frequency, day of
week, active period
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Reporting dashboards
Scheduled emails

● Navigate to a report within the
Reporting tab.
● Click on a date within the
graph.
● Click the arrow below the
graph, select +Create new
annotation
● Change the date (if
necessary) and add in a note
for the set date.
● Choose shared or private.
● Private can only be seen
when using your login
credentials.
● Shared are visible to anyone
with access to the view.
55
Adding Annotations

● Navigate to a report within
the Reporting tab.
● Select a date range.
● Check Compare to
● Select from the drop-down
one of:
○ Previous period
○ Previous year
○ Custom
● Click Apply
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Reporting on performance over time

● Choose the report you
would like to export.
● Select Export and choose
the relevant file type for
your exported data.
● Once clicked, the download
will begin immediately.
● You may need to navigate
to your computer’s
Downloads folder to locate
the file.
● If creating custom
reporting, exporting as csv
or xlsx is often preferable.
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Exporting reports

Receive email notifications when Analytics detects unusual user activity /
anomalies in data on your website. This can be set over a time period of a day,
week, or month.
Custom alerts can notify you of:
● significant drops or spikes in site traffic
● unusual traffic from a specific source
● bounce rates for traffic from specific sources or locations
● changes in traffic sent from a specific campaign
● and more!
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Custom alerts

To set up custom alerts on a
specific view
● Click on the Admin tab
within your account.
● Under View, select Custom
alerts
● Click
● Name your alert, choose the
profile view you want it
applied to, the time period
you are interested in, and set
the conditions for the alert.
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Custom alerts
Setting up custom alerts

By creating advanced segments, you can see data with one or a combination of
segments applied to reports across your account.
Benefits of advanced segmentation vs. views and filters
● you can look back on historical data and see it with the segments applied.
Views and filters only capture current and future data.
● you can view multiple advanced segments in the same report
● easier to use and setup than filters - many “built-in” advanced segments are
available by default.
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Advanced segments
Creating advanced segments

Applying built-in segments:
● Click on the Reporting tab
● Select a report from the
left-hand side and click + Add
Segment
● Choose the segment you
would like applied to the
report.
● Click
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Advanced segments
Built-in advanced segments

To set up advanced segments:
● Click on the Reporting tab
● Select a report from the
left-hand side and click + Add
Segment
● Click
● Use the new navigation on the
left to choose the category of
information you want to
segment.
● Name your segment and save.
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Advanced segments
Setting up advanced segments

● Seeing if advertising (banner ads, etc.) is paying off
○ Acquisition > Campaigns
○ View campaigns or search for specific campaigns.
○ Google URL Builder.
● Reporting on demand for a new product or service
○ Behaviour > Site Content > All Pages > Search name of product /
service in search bar.
● Tracking downloads of PDFs or video views by country
○ Behaviour > Events > Top Events, click Secondary dimension, select
Users, then choose Country / City / Region etc.
63
Real life scenarios

The Practical Guide to Google Analytics for Businesses
http://www.koozai.com/resources/whitepapers/the-practical-guide-to-google-analytics-for-businesses/
64
Free resources

Any questions? Get in touch with us
hello@indulgemedia.com 01481 740073

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