Growth Engineering 101: Google Analytics EssentialsSmashing Boxes | September 2014

Google Analytics (GA)As a business owner, you have probably questioned how to use the data that you collect from your web analytics tools togrow your business.

Gaining insights about your website users can be as simple as changing the setup of your analytics account or implementing a few additional tools.

The majority of people and businesses use Google Analytics as their primary web analytics tool. It is a robust, free tool that has quite a lot to offer.

Here are some guidelines to set your GA account up for successful data collection.

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Data is compiled into different reports:

● Audience Reports- Reports that specify who is looking at your site and where they are viewing

from

○ Geography

○ Device Type

○ Browser Type

○ New or Returning

● Behavior Reports - Reports that indicate the frequency of views, how long the viewer stays on

the page and what they look for

○ Behavior Flows

○ Site Content

○ Site Speed

GA Reports (1)

● Acquisitions Reports - Reports that tell the product owner where site visitors are coming from

and what actions they take while on the site

○ Channels

○ All Traffic

○ All Referrals

● Real Time Reports - Reports that allow you to monitor activity as it happens.

○ Overview

○ Locations

○ Traffic Sources

○ Content

○ Events

○ Conversions

GA Reports (2)

What you need:● Admin access to a Google Analytics account● Check your account access level in User Management

in the Admin panel

GA Tips: Account Setup

Check that the tracking code is in the head tag of your website:

● Simple check - visit the Real Time report tab in Google Analytics Reporting while you are on the site to see if it shows that you are an active user

GA Tips: #1 Tracking Code Installation

Our recommended Google Analytics account structure for Views is to have an 1) All Website Data view, 2) a Filtered view, and 3) a Test view. ● To create a view, navigate to Admin and “Create new view” under View:

GA Tips: #2 Account Structure (1)

Name these views clearly:

● For example: “[Company Name] Filtered View”

● Your newly-created views will now be visible in the View dropdown

GA Tips: #2 Account Structure (2)

When you make a new view, you won’t see any data that was collected prior to when you created the view.

Don’t be alarmed.

Unfortunately, that is how it works if you didn’t create the views when you first installed GA.

Important Note

Make sure you DO NOT add a filter to your All Website Data view.

This filter should be added to your Filtered view or Test view● To create a filter, navigate to

your Filtered view in the View drop down

GA Tips: #3 Filter Your IP Address (1)

Once you select your Filtered view, navigate to Filters and click the “+ New Filter” button:

GA Tips: #3 Filter Your IP Address (2)

This opens the “Add Filter” page where you can name your filter and select the filter parameters:

GA Tips: #3 Filter Your IP Address (3)

Filters do not apply to historical data, but from now on you won’t be tracked and luckily, you still have your

untouched All Website Data view.

A best practice is to first add the filter to your Test view first to check if it is filtering as expected. If so, then you

can add the filter to your Filtered view.

Important Note

If you have a search bar on your site, make sure you are tracking what people are searching for.

● This is NOT Keyword tracking

● Tracking users’ searches gives you insights into what your users are coming to your site for and what they expect to find

● The tracking can aid your content strategy to improve your site’s SEO

GA Tips: #4 Track User’s Searches (1)

To set up Site Search Tracking: ● Navigate to View Settings in your

Test view● Scroll down and switch “on” site

search tracking● In the Query Parameter field, you

must enter the word or character that defines the internal search term○ For example, smashingboxes.

com/?s=pass+google+analytics+exam, the query parameter is the “s”

GA Tips: #4 Track User’s Searches (2)

● Click save and remember that this only turns on site search tracking for the selected view.

● Once you check that it is working for the Test view, feel free to add it to your other views

GA Tips: #4 Track User’s Searches (3)

Check out the corresponding blog post here

Written by Alicia Midland and Ross Ozburn

Smashing Boxes

Contact us with questions!