This book is intended for use by customers using Google Classic Analytics and does not cover the newer Google Universal Analytics or related Google Tag Manager. Google Analytics is the free tool used by millions of web site owners to assess the effectiveness of their efforts. Its revised interface and new features will offer even more ways to increase the value of your web site, and this book will teach you how to use each one to best advantage. Featuring new content based on reader and client requests, the book helps you implement new methods and concepts, track social and mobile visitors, use the new multichannel funnel reporting features, understand which filters to use, and much more. Gets you up and running with all the new tools in the revamped Google Analytics, and includes content requested by readers and users especially for new GA users Covers social media analytics features, advanced segmentation displays, multi-dashboard configurations, and using Top 20 reports Provides a detailed best-practices implementation guide covering advanced topics, such as how to set up GA to track dynamic web pages, banners, outgoing links, and contact forms Includes case studies and demonstrates how to optimize pay-per-click accounts, integrate AdSense, work with new reports and reporting tools, use ad version testing, and more Make your web site a more effective business tool with the detailed information and advice about Google Analytics in Advanced Web Metrics with Google Analytics, 3nd Edition.
Foreword xix Introduction xxi Part I Measuring Success 1 Chapter 1 Why Understanding Your Web Traffic is Important to Your Business 3 Website Measurement-Why Do This? 4 Information Web Analytics Can Provide 7 Where to Start 9 Decisions Web Analytics Can Help You Make 12 The ROI of Web Analytics 13 How Much Should I Invest in This? 13 How Web Analytics Helps You Understand Your Web Traffic 16 Where Web Analytics Fits In 16 How is Google Analytics Different? 18 Targeting Digital Marketers Rather Than IT Departments 19 Where to Get Help 19 Resources Provided by Google (Free) 19 Non-Google Resources (Free) 20 Official Google Analytics Certified Partners (Paid) 20 Summary 20 Chapter 2 Available Methodologies and Their Accuracy 23 Page Tags and Logfiles 24 Cookies in Web Analytics 26 Understanding Web Analytics Data Accuracy 27 Issues Affecting Visitor Data Accuracy for Logfiles 28 Issues Affecting Visitor Data from Page Tags 29 Issues Affecting Visitor Data When Using Cookies 33 Comparing Data from Different Vendors 35 Why PPC Vendor Numbers Do Not Match Web Analytics Reports 41 Data Misinterpretation: Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics 44 Improving the Accuracy of Web Analytics Data 45 Privacy Considerations for the Web Analytics Industry 47 Types of Private Information 48 The EU Privacy Law 49 Summary 52 Chapter 3 Google Analytics Features, Benefits, and Limitations 53 Key Features and Capabilities of Google Analytics 54 Standard Features 54 Advanced Features 59 How Google Analytics Works 63 The Google Analytics Tracking Code 63 What is Not Tracked by Default 65 The Default Attribution Model 67 Google Analytics Limits 68 What Google Analytics Does Not Do 70 Service-Level Agreement 70 Indefinite Data Retention 70 Provide Professional Services 71 Data Reprocessing 71 Bid Management 72 Import Third-Party Data 72 Per-Visitor Tracking (against Google Policies) 72 What is Google Analytics Premium? 73 Comparing Google Analytics Premium versus Free 75 Google Analytics and Privacy 77 Common Privacy Questions 79 What is Urchin? 82 Differences between Google Analytics and Urchin 83 Urchin Advantages 84 Criteria for Choosing between Google Analytics and Urchin 85 Summary 86 Part II Using Google Analytics Reports 87 Chapter 4 Using the Google Analytics Interface 89 Discoverability and Initial Report Access 90 Navigating Your Way Around: Report Layout 92 Dimensions and Metrics 94 The Data Table 94 Date Range Selector 96 Aggregate Summary Metrics 97 Chart Options 98 Changing Table Views 101 Plotting Multiple Rows 105 Secondary Dimensions 105 Changing the Displayed Dimension 106 Table Sorting 106 Table Search 108 Table Filters (Advanced) 109 Chart Display and Annotation 110 Report Sections 112 Tabbed Views 112 Advanced Segments 112 Export 113 Email Reports 114 Add to Dashboard 115 Summary 116 Chapter 5 Reports Explained 117 The Home Overview 118 Real-Time Reporting 118 Intelligence Events 119 Flow Visualization 126 Dashboards 129 Top Standard Reports 132 Multi-Channel Funnels 132 Social Interactions 138 Visitors: Location 138 E-commerce: Overview Report 140 Motion Charts 141 Goal and Funnel Reports 144 Visitor: Mobile Report 146 Traffic Sources: Search Engine Optimization 147 AdWords: Campaigns 149 AdWords: Keyword Report 151 AdWords: Matched Queries Report 152 AdWords: Keyword Positions Report 153 Content: Navigation Summary 154 Content: Site Speed 156 Site Search: Usage Report 157 Content: In-Page Analytics 158 Understanding Report Sampling 160 Summary 162 Part III Implementing Google Analytics 163 Chapter 6 Getting Started: Initial Setup 165 Creating Your Google Analytics Account 166 General Account Information 168 Configuring Data-Sharing Settings 169 Accepting the Terms of Service 169 Tagging Your Pages 170 Understanding the Google Analytics Tracking Code 170 Deploying the GATC-Tagging Pages 173 Back Up: Keeping a Local Copy of Your Data 176 Using Accounts, Web Properties, and Profiles 179 Creating a New Profile 180 Creating a New Web Property 182 Creating a New Account 183 Roll-up Reporting 184 Choosing between Roll-up Reporting and Multiple Profiles or Multiple Web Properties 186 Agencies and Hosting Providers: Setting Up Client Accounts 186 Integrating with Your AdWords Data 188 Testing after Enabling Auto-Tagging 191 Integrating with Your AdSense Data 192 Integrating with Your Webmaster Tools Data 194 Integrating with Feedburner 195 Tracking Mobile Visitors 198 Server-Side Tracking for Mobile Sites 199 Common Pre-implementation Questions 200 Summary 205 Chapter 7 Advanced Implementation 207 _trackPageview: the Google Analytics Workhorse 208 Tracking Unreadable URLs with Virtual Pageviews 209 Tracking File Downloads with Virtual Pageviews 211 Tracking Partially Completed Forms with Virtual Pageviews 212 Virtual Pageviews versus Event Tracking 213 Tracking E-commerce Transactions 213 Capturing Secure E-commerce Transactions 214 Transactions via a Third-Party Payment Gateway 218 What to Do When a Third-Party Gateway Does Not Allow Tracking 220 Tracking Negative Transactions 222 Campaign Tracking 223 Adding Campaign Parameters to Your Landing Page URLs 225 Creating Custom Campaign Fields 234 Event Tracking 236 Setting Up Event Tracking 237 The _trackEvent Function 237 Defining Your Event Reporting Structure 239 Tracking Flash Video and Animation as Events 243 Tracking Banners and Other Outgoing Links as Events 248 Tracking Mailto: Clicks as Events 249 Tracking Embedded Video from YouTube 249 Customizing the GATC 251 Subdomain Tracking 252 Multiple Domain Tracking 255 Controlling Time-Outs 260 Setting Ignore Referrer Preferences 261 Site Speed Sample Rate 262 Anonymize IP Addresses 263 Sampling: Controlling Data Collection 264 Summary 265 Chapter 8 Best Practices Configuration Guide 267 Initial Configuration 268 Setting the Default Page 268 Excluding Unnecessary Parameters 269 Currency Setting 270 Enabling E-commerce Reporting 270 AdWords Cost Source Settings 271 Enabling Site Search 271 Goal Conversions and Funnels 273 The Importance of Defining Goals 274 What Funnel Shapes Can Tell You 276 The Goal Setup Process 277 The Funnel Setup Process 282 Tracking Funnels for Which Every Step Has the Same URL 285 Why Segmentation is Important 286 Choosing Advanced Segments versus Profile Filters 288 Profile Segments: Segmenting Visitors Using Filters 289 Creating a Profile Filter 290 Understanding Filter Logic 292 Custom Filters: Available Fields 293 Five Common Profile Filters 295 Assigning a Filter Order 303 Report Segments: Segmenting Visitors Using Advanced Segments 303 Default Advanced Segments 304 Custom Advanced Segments 306 Example Custom Segments 307 Creating Custom Intelligence Alerts 311 Summary 313 Chapter 9 Google Analytics Customizations 315 Why Customize an Existing Product? 316 Custom Reports 317 Day-on-Day Custom Report 317 Unique Visitors by Page 320 Affiliate Performance 321 Better AdWords 323 Managing Custom Reports 323 Customizing the List of Recognized Search Engines 326 Making Search Engines Region-Specific 327 Adding New Search Engines for SEO 329 Labeling Visitors, Sessions, and Pages 330 Implementing Custom Variables 333 Tracking Error Pages and Broken Links 336 Differentiating Pay-Per-Click Network Partners 340 In-Page Analytics: Differentiating Identical Links 344 Matching Transactions to Specific Referral Data 345 Tracking Campaign Links to File Downloads 348 Changing the Referrer Credited for a Goal Conversion 351 Ignoring a Referrer for a Conversion 352 Roll-up Reporting 353 Tracking Roll-up Transactions 353 Implications of the Roll-up Technique 353 Improvement Tip: Simplify with Pageview Roll-up 354 Summary 355 Part IV Using Visitor Data to Drive Website Improvement 357 Chapter 10 Focusing on Key Performance Indicators 359 Setting Objectives and Key Results 360 Selecting and Preparing KPIs 363 What is a KPI? 363 Preparing KPIs 365 Presenting Your KPIs 367 Presenting Hierarchical KPIs via Segmentation 370 Benchmark Considerations 372 KPI Examples by Job Role 373 E-commerce Manager KPI Examples 374 Marketer and Communication KPI Examples 381 Social Media KPI Examples 389 Content Creator KPI Examples 391 Webmaster KPI Examples 402 Using KPIs for Web 2.0 412 Why the Fuss about Web 2.0? 413 Summary 415 Chapter 11 Real-World Tasks 417 Identify and Optimize Poor-Performing Pages 418 Using Landing Pages (Bounce Rates) 418 Funnel Optimization Case Study 424 Measuring the Impact of Site Search 431 The Revenue Impact of Site Search 432 Summary of Site Search Impact 436 Optimizing Your Search Engine Marketing 437 Keyword Discovery 437 Campaign Optimization (AdWords) 440 Attribution Optimization 445 Landing Page Optimization and SEO 449 AdWords Day Parting Optimization 455 AdWords Ad Content Optimization 457 Monetizing a Non-E-commerce Website 462 Approach 1: Assign Goal Values Method 463 Approach 2: Pseudo E-commerce Method 464 Tracking Offline Marketing 470 Using Vanity URLs to Track Offline Visitors 471 Using Coded URLs to Track Offline Visitors 475 Combining with Search to Track Offline Visitors 478 Combining with URL Shorteners 480 Combining with Quick Response Codes 480 Summary and Case Study 481 An Introduction to Google Website Optimizer 482 Common Misconceptions 483 AMAT: Where Does Testing Fit? 484 Choosing a Test Type 485 Getting Started: Implementing a Multivariate Experiment 488 Calyx Flowers: A Retail Multivariate Case Study 495 YouTube: A Content-Publishing Multivariate Case Study 499 Summary 502 Chapter 12 Integrating Google Analytics with Third-Party Applications 503 Extracting Google Analytics Information 504 Importing Data into Your CRM Using JavaScript 504 Importing Data into Your CRM Using PHP 506 Working with the Google Analytics Core Reporting API 509 How to Use the Core Reporting API-the Basics 511 Example Apps 518 Example App Case Studies 522 Excel and Spreadsheet Integration 522 Survey Tools: Voice of Customer Integration 526 Demographics within Google Analytics 527 Call Tracking with Google Analytics 529 Video on Demand Tracking with Google Analytics 531 Mobile App Tracking with Google Analytics 534 Integrating Website Optimizer with Google Analytics 538 The Integration Method 539 Summary 542 Appendix A Regular Expression Overview 543 Understanding the Fundamentals 544 Regex Examples 545 Appendix B Useful Tools 551 Tools to Help Audit Your GATC Deployment 552 Browser Add-ons 553 GATC Plug-ins 555 Desktop Helper Applications 555 Appendix C Recommended Further Reading 557 Books on Web Analytics and Related Areas 558 Web Resources 558 Blog Roll for Web Analytics 559 Index 561
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