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Google Analytics A Quick Guide to the Basics Copyright © 2008 by Michael Pastore Version 1.05 by Michael Pastore Epublishers Weekly www.EpublishersWeekly.com
Google Analytics
A Quick Guide to the Basics
Copyright © 2008 by Michael Pastore
Version 1.05
by Michael Pastore
Epublishers Weeklywww.EpublishersWeekly.com
What is Google Analytics?
What is Google Analytics?
A free service from Google that performs “Web Analytics”
What is Google Analytics?
A free service from Google that performs “Web Analytics”
Web Analytics is “the study of the behavior of website visitors.”
What is Google Analytics?
A free service from Google that performs “Web Analytics”
Web Analytics is “the study of the behavior of website visitors.”
Businesses use this data, collected from their websites, to design websites that maximize their profits.
by any other name ...
Note: In Europe,“Web Analytics” is called “Web Metrics.”
G.A. is not for businesses only ....
Individuals and non-profit organizations with websites can use this data to:
increase the amount of web visitors improve the quality of the visits
Before You Use Google Analytics ...
Before You Use Google Analytics ...
1 Create a Google Account (or: use your existing Gmail account)
Before You Use Google Analytics ...
1 ) Create a Google Account (or: use your existing Gmail account)
2) Configure (Set up) Google Analytics* *(not covered in this Quick Guide)
Before You Use Google Analytics ...
1 ) Create a Google Account (or: use your existing Gmail account)
2) Configure (Set up) Google Analytics* *(not covered in this Quick Guide)
3) Make your website “Standards compliant”
7 Benefits of a Standards-Compliant Website
1. Higher Rankings in Search Engines
2. More Users Can View Your Site
3. Faster Download Time and Reduced Bandwidth Usage
4. Compatible with the Newest Browsing Technologies
5. Persons with Disabilities Can Use Your Site
6. Your Site can be accessed with many devices, including handheld PDAs and cell phones
7. Website maintenance and upgrades are easier
How can I see my website’s stats?
How can I see my website’s stats?
1. Log in to Google Analytics: www.google.com/analytics
How can I see my website’s stats?
1. Log in to Google Analytics: www.google.com/analytics
2. After logging in, you reach your Home Page. 3. Now click “View Reports”.
e = mc 2
Welcome to your Dashboard !
Take a few minutes toget to know your Dashboard ...
The top section is called (by me) theTime-Graph ...
Here, you can change the settings to show the time range for your website statistics.
The graph above shows the number of visits from January 10 to February 9, 2008.
The Dashboard is made of 6 sections ...
Note to Skeptics:
Why don’t we see millions of page views here?
Because this is a new website,
unlaunched,still under development.
the Time-Graph ...
Changing the time range here effects the time range in all the other sections of your report.
Click here to change the time range ...
The Dashboard
the Time-Graph ...
By clicking the Export button, you can export this information as a PDF file, or an XML file. If you
choose PDF, then a PDF file will be created and then downloaded immediately to your desktop.
The Dashboard
The Dashboard
the Time-Graph ...
By clicking the Email button, you can export this information as an attached file, and then email it to
yourself or others. The data can be exported in any of 4 formats: PDF,
XML, CSV*, or TSV.*
*CSV (or TSV) = a text file containing data that is separated by commas (or tabs).
Before continuing, we need to learn some webmaster jargon: definitions of essential terms ...
HitsBack in the days before Google Analytics, webmasters used the term ‘hits’. But the term ‘hits’ has become outmoded, and deservedly so.
When a user would look at one web page that had 20 images on it, the old-fangled reporting systems would report this as “21 hits”. The term “hits” has been replaced by more accurate terms such as “page views” and “visits”.
Page View
A page view is an instance of a web page being loaded by a web browser. ...
If a user looks at 7 of your web pages, that is counted as 7 page views.
Essential Jargon
VisitA visit is recorded whenever someone comes
to your web page, and looks at one or more pages.
If a user looks at 100 of your web pages, without leaving the site,
that is still counted as 1 visit. The visit ends when this user leaves your site.
Essential Jargon
Pages per visitDivide the number of pages that the user sees,
by the number of visits, and you get the “pages per visit.”
Thus, if 20 users visit your website, and the total number of pages they see is 300,
then the “pages per visit” is 300 divided by 20, or 15 “pages per visit”.
Essential Jargon
Other terms ...
Webmasters are also interested in other terms, such as ...
Essential Jargon
Other terms ...
• Average Time on Site ... (which means: the average time the user spends on your website)
Essential Jargon
and ...
Other terms ...
• Percentage of New Visits (simply, the % of new visits -- by new visitors -- to your website)
Essential Jargon
and ...
Bounce Rate A “bounce” happens when a user visits your website, stays to see one page only, and then
leaves.The Bounce Rate is the percentage of “single-
page web visits.”
For example: if 100 users visit your siteand 20 of those 100 usersstay to see one page only
then your Bounce Rate is 20%.
Essential Jargon
☛ Later in this presentation, we will have a bit more to say about this important idea ➠ “Bounce Rates”.
Tricks of the Time-Graph
Let’s go back to our Dashboard
Slide your mouse-cursor along the bottom line of the Time-Graph.
Dashboard
mouse-cursor
A pop-up box will appear, that shows you, for each day, the number of visits to your website.
Tricks of the Time-Graph
Dashboard
Try this: Click the down-arrow to the right of the word “Visits”:
Tricks of the Time-Graph
Dashboard
Surprise! ... the Beta* “Graph Mode” appears
☛ * Google hopes that it will be “Beta”than the previous version! ☺
Tricks of the Time-Graph
Dashboard
the Beta “Graph Mode”
6 Radio Buttons
You can click any one of the 6 radio buttons. Click, for example, “Pageviews”, for example. Now as you slide your cursor along the timeline, you see the number of Pageviews (instead of Visits) on any given day.
Tricks of the Time-Graph
Dashboard
the Beta “Graph Mode”Now click on the label: “Compare Two Metrics”and then select another radio button ...
Tricks of the Time-Graph
Dashboard
the Beta “Graph Mode”
This reveals two graph lines, one for Visits, and the other for Pages/Visit.
Tricks of the Time-Graph
Dashboard
the Beta “Graph Mode”You may not believe what happens when you click “Compare to Site” ...
Belgian UFO
Tricks of the Time-Graph
Dashboard
the Beta “Graph Mode”
“Compare to Site” ...Nothing Happens.
Nothing at all.
Google is saving this featurefor a future release.
Tricks of the Time-Graph
Dashboard
In sum:the Time-Graph at the top of your dashboard gives you a summary of the 6 key indicators:
☞ Visits
Tricks of the Time-Graph
Tricks of the Time-GraphIn sum:the Time-Graph at the top of your dashboard gives you a summary of the 6 key indicators:
☞ Visits
☞ Page views
Dashboard
Tricks of the Time-GraphDashboard
In sum:the Time-Graph at the top of your dashboard gives you a summary of the 6 key indicators:
☞ Visits
☞ Page views
☞ Pages per Visit
Tricks of the Time-GraphDashboard
In sum:the Time-Graph at the top of your dashboard gives you a summary of the 6 key indicators:
☞ Visits
☞ Page views
☞ Pages per Visit
☞ Bounce Rate
Tricks of the Time-GraphDashboard
In sum:the Time-Graph at the top of your dashboard gives you a summary of the 6 key indicators:
☞ Visits
☞ Page views
☞ Pages per Visit
☞ Bounce Rate
☞ Average time on site
Dashboard
Tricks of the Time-GraphIn sum:the Time-Graph at the top of your dashboard gives you a summary of the 6 key indicators:
☞ Visits
☞ Page views
☞ Pages per Visit
☞ Bounce Rate
☞ Average time on site
☞ Percentage of New Visitors
Site UsageDashboard
When you want the vast, unending, and revelatory details about these 6 key indicators, then you jump down from the Time-Graph to the next module: Site Usage.
Site UsageDashboard
Click on “Visits” to find out the total visits, and the average visits per day (or per hour).
At no extra charge, you can see a bar graph that shows the number of visits on each day.
Site UsageDashboard
Click on “Page Views” to find out the total page views.
A bar graph shows the number of page views on each day.
Site UsageDashboard
Similar information is available for the other key indicators, whenever you click.
Caution: the options that are offered under % New Visits are fascinating.*
☛ * fascinating (noun). Beyond the scope of this tutorial. ☺
Dashboard
There are 4 more realms of data for you to explore: Visitors Overview; Map Overlay; Traffic Sources Overview; and Content Overview. To access each one, click on the “View Reports” link on the bottom left of each module.
Click Here
Dashboard
Among other things, the Visitors Overview section contains a “Technical Profile.”
Here you discover which web browsers are used to see your site, and the connection speeds of your users.
Visitors Overview
Map OverlayDashboard
Google designed the Map Overlay to be hours of fun for adults.
Just run your mouse-cursor over any of the world’s nations, to see how many visitors from that nation have visited your website.
Dashboard
The Traffic Sources Overview shows you where your traffic comes from.
Direct Traffic is traffic from the user’s bookmarks, or from users who type a URL directly into the URL barReferring Sites means users who come to your website from a link on another website
☞
☞Search Engines ... this is traffic that comes to your site when a user searches the web, and then finds your site, using a search engine, such as Google or Dogpile
☞
Traffic Sources Overview
Dashboard
Content Overview is like a popularity report for each of your most-often visited web pages.
You can (and should) go deeper here, by clicking on the link (on the bottom left) that says: “view full report.”
Content Overview
Dashboard
Content Overview
Content Performance is now revealed.This shows profiles of each web page.
Pay attention to your bounce rates.
How do you evaluate a page’s bounce rate ?
Bounce Rate
The bounce rate, as you elephantinely recall, is the percentage of single-page web visits.
When a user visits your website, then stays to see one page only — that evanescent transaction is deemed a “bounce.”
Dashboard
Bounce Rate
Bounce
If the bounce rate of a web page is
30% or less
then this web page is doing well.
No action is needed.
Bounce RateDashboard
Bounce
If the bounce rate of a web page is
around 50%
then you should do something to improve
the interest in this web page.
Bounce RateDashboard
Bounce
If the bounce rate of a web page is
70% or more
then this web page is crying out for
attention.
Do something to bring it back to life.
SummaryMark Twain
(Samuel Clemens) said:
“I am a great
believer in luck. And I find that
the harder I work, the more
luck I have.”
Summary“Anyone could
discover a theory of relativity. But to
improve the viability of a website takes true genius: hard
work combined with knowledge.”
SummaryTo attract more visitors
to your website:
SummaryTo attract more visitors
to your website:
Make your site compliant with W3C standards✓
SummaryTo attract more visitors
to your website:
Make your site compliant with W3C standards✓
✓ Use Google Analytics to find the site’s strengths and weaknesses, then improve both
SummaryTo attract more visitors
to your website:
Make your site compliant with W3C standards✓
✓ Use Google Analytics to find the site’s strengths and weaknesses, then improve bothLearn more: start with our Resources on the following page ...
✓
Resources
Thank you for viewingGoogle AnalyticsA Quick Guide to the Basics
Comments to: epubster @ gmail.com
Learn more about Google Analytics:
Google Analytics home page www.Google.com/analytics Google Analytics Help Center http://www.google.com/support/googleanalytics/ Analytics Help (Google Group) http://groups.google.com/group/analytics-help Google Analytics Blog http://analytics.blogspot.com/ Wikipedia Article on Web Analytics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_analytics Blog of Avinash Kaushik www.kaushik.net/avinash Google Webmaster Central www.google.com/webmasters/ Epublishers Weekly (blog): www.EpublishersWeekly.com
CreditsWritten, designed, and
produced by:
Michael Pastore✓
✓
For the latest ideas about technology and culture,
visit the new blog, Epublishers Weekly:
✓
www.EpublishersWeekly.com
Thanks for the use of these image:
● Rodin photo from: Flickr by innoxiuss● Elephant photo from: Flickr by nickandmel2006
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