Unlocking the Mystery of Web Analytics

Dave HodginsData Coordinator & Web Developer

Library Research Service, Colorado State Librarywww.lrs.org / www.libraryjobline.org

About Me

I am the Data Coordinator and Web Developer at Library Research Service (www.lrs.org).

I produce data and tools that empower libraries to improve the lives of all Coloradans.

Goals

Spark interest in beefing up your web analytics strategy, and take away one or two keywords/concepts that you will research further.

Talk is cheap,but so are

web analytics

Web analytics offer you valuable

insight into your users’ behaviors,

wants, needs, etc.

Web analytics are essential to

successful goal/data driven

decision making.

We use Google Analytics because

• It’s free• It’s well documented• It’s built & supported by one of the

largest advertising companies

We use awesome open source tools like Laravel and Bootstrap…

…because they make the process of producing cool and useful stuff…

…quick and (relatively) painless.

We roll our own analytics because

• We want granular control over our data

• We want to accurately track “tricky” stuff like direct file access

• We can

Server -> MySQL -> Laravel, fronted by Twitter Bootstrap

Custom pivot table in LibraryJobline

Tip: Measurable ~!= Useful

Just because you CAN track something doesn’t necessarily mean you SHOULD. Reduce

signal-to-noise ratio by designing PURPOSEFUL data collection

strategies.

A Brief History of Web Analytics

Server-side• Server logs traffic• Log analyzer (poorly) parses data• Analytics are…generous

A Brief History of Web Analytics

Client-side• JavaScript logs user interactions• Data are pre-processed and

parsed by Google• Analytics are more accurate

The Mighty Google Analytics Tracking Code

A Brief Tour of Google Analytics

Lets Make This Better

Filters

Filtered Views allow you to exclude or modify data before they are saved

to GA. Since the manipulation occurs before storage, you cannot

apply filters to historic data!

Filters

Filtered Views are handy when you want to limit a user’s access to a

subset of your data.

Filters views permanently alter your data, so always maintain a raw,

unfiltered view!

Tip: Filter Early and Often

While GA provides methods for segmenting existing data, filters are often more convenient; but

they cannot be applied to historic data. Anticipate future

needs!

Filters

Typical filters include:• Exclude data that doesn’t belong

to your site (apply to every view)• Exclude internal traffic• Segment by sub/domain• Segment by content/services

Filter Options

Tip: Suck it Up and Learn Regular Expressions

Regular expressions are like keyword searching using Booleans,

wildcards, and placeholders, except with the additional pain of a hot

poker to the brain.

Tip: Suck it Up and Learn Regular Expressions

Regular expressions let you do things like…• Find URLS that begin with 4

digits (e.g. WordPress permalinks): ^/\d{4}

Tip: Suck it Up and Learn Regular Expressions

…and do things like like…• Find URLS for content in the

“data and tools” section of the site: ^/data-tools

Segments

Segments allow you to group data without making permanent changes to

your GA profile.

Multiple segments can be viewed side by side, making comparisons easy.

You can create custom segments using the same criteria as filters.

Tip: Filter vs SegmentFilter Segment

Historic Data No Yes

Compare Data No Yes

Permanent Change Yes No

Restrict Access Yes No

Events

Events are user activities that do not generate pageviews. They might include: clicking

a link, changing a form value, toggling dynamic content, etc.

Events

Events are essential for tracking user interactions in

situations like…a single page website, and/or dynamic

(AJAX) content

Events vs Virtual Pageviews

A virtual pageview is a pageview that you manually

create and send to GA.

They get lumped in with all the rest of your “normal”

analytics data.

Events vs Virtual Pageviews

Use virtual pageviews to track clicks and/or links to static

files that cannot have the GA tracking code, such as…PDF,

DOC, XLS, JPG, etc.

Campaigns

A campaign is process for tracking EXTERNAL traffic.

In it’s simplest form it is a series of parameters that you

attach to URL’s and that are used by external sources.

Campaigns

This is your querystring:www.lrs.org/really-cool-article/?page=1

This is your querystring on GA campaigns:

www.lrs.org/really-cool-article?page=2&http://www.libraryjobline.org/job/4797/Parttime-25-hour-

Concierge?ref=email&utm_source=newjobemail&utm_medium

=email&utm_campaign=new%20job%20emails

Campaigns

• Track external and/or 3rd party content and links such as…– Email– Social media– Non-HTML content (PDF, Word, etc.)

Campaigns

Campaigns are especially useful for social links because:

• Links within mobile apps do not sent referrer data

• Your links will (hopefully) be shared via other sites/networks

Tip: Use Campaigns to AB/Split Test

Want to know which version of your newsletter/banner/etc. is most

engaging? Campaign those suckers.

Campaigns

NEVER use campaigns to

track internal links

Campaigns

Create campaigns using Google’s URL builder @

https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1033867

Done!