Google Analytics

More Google Analytics Updates

December 13, 2007 By Manoj Jasra Leave a Comment

Today Google Analytics announced several feature updates: the ability to view multiple metrics on a single graph over time, sophisticated new tracking called ga.js, and six additional languages for users. More information is available at the Google Analytics blog: http://analytics.blogspot.com/2007/12/announcing-new-graphing-tools-gajs.html.

All Google Analytics accounts worldwide now have access to a beta feature that graphs two different metrics against each other and see how they correlate. This new graphing ability enhances the insights available to Google Analytics users about visitor trends on their websites: for example, does a higher number of visitors correspond to a higher bounce rate? Do visitors who come to a website through AdWords spend more or less time on the site than visitors overall?

Google Analytics now supports ga.js, a new page tag that enables site owners to use the most up-to-date tracking functionality as it is added to Google Analytics. For instance, the ga.js page tag allows the site owner to streamline e-commerce tracking.

Google Analytics is also available in six additional languages, bringing the total number of supported languages to 25. The new languages are Thai, Filipino, Indonesian, Czech, Hungarian, and Portuguese (Portugal). Users all 25 languages can access the Google Analytics Help Center and receive online support in their supported language of choice.

Google Website Optimizer Webinar – Advanced Users

October 31, 2007 By Manoj Jasra Leave a Comment

I know it’s really short notice, but Tom Leung of Google Analytics will be holding a free online webinar titled: Website Optimizer: Creating & Launching Experiments.

The online seminar, Website Optimizer: Creating & Launching Experiments, builds on the first and is designed for those who have previous experience with Website Optimizer or other site testing tools. Tom will give a step-by-step demonstration of how to successfully launch multivariate and A/B experiments, and he’ll also answer your questions.

Website Optimizer: Creating & Launching Experiments (Intermediate and advanced users)
Thursday, November 1st, 2007 10:00 – 11:00am PDT

Register to attend.

Filed Under: Google Analytics, Web Analytics

More Google Analytics Updates!

October 16, 2007 By Manoj Jasra Leave a Comment

Today at Emetrics Washington DC, Google announced some more features to Google Analytics as well as a new update to Urchin 5 software. The new updates to Google Analytics include site search reporting and event tracking. What an interesting time to release these new features, the day after the live Microsoft Gatineau Demo at Emetrics.

Users can enable site search to identify keywords, categories, products, and trends across time and user segments, thereby helping them measure the effectiveness of their websites and their marketing dollars. Site search aggregates data about how searches affect site usage, e-commerce activity, and conversion rates, by tracking internal search patterns. This will soon be available worldwide, and it works with Google Custom Search™, GSA, Google Mini™ and many other non-Google site search products.

With Web 2.0 features also spreading on the Internet, measuring their success is increasingly valuable. Event tracking, which launches in a limited beta at the eMetrics Summit, enables Google Analytics users to measure visitor engagement with a site’s interactive elements, such as Ajax, Javascript, Flash movies, page gadgets, downloads and other multimedia Web 2.0 experiences. Google Analytics users who are attending the eMetrics Summit can sign up for event tracking at the Google Analytics booth, and users should note that when they add event tracking, they must update their page tags from “urchin.js” to “ga.js”.

For those who prefer a software version of web analytics, Google Analytics is introducing Urchin Software in limited beta worldwide. Urchin Software is an update to Urchin 5 software, and a free 90-day trial of the beta version of Urchin Software can be requested from an authorized reseller: http://www.google.com/analytics/support_partner_provided.html. Urchin Software will be available for a discounted price to users of Urchin 5, and will include many improvements including tools to assist in migrating configurations and data from previous versions of Urchin. Once the new software is out of beta, it can be purchased through an authorized reseller, who often offer comprehensive support and consultation services as well.

Filed Under: Google Analytics

Microsoft Gatineau at Emetrics

October 16, 2007 By Manoj Jasra 2 Comments

One of the most anticipated sessions at the Emetrics Optimization Summit in Washington was the demonstration of Microsoft’s very own analytics, Gatineau. Ian Thomas, who was giving the presentation, announced that beta accounts will be released very shortly, however the original beta release was supposed to be released at the end of . Microsoft will be integrating into AdCenter similar to what Google Analytics does with Adwords.

One of the coolest features which I noticed was the ability to measure the performance of individual webpage sections giving a whole new level of granularity. Microsoft hopes to takeaway some of Google Analytics’ market share, however I don’t think this is the easiest of tasks. Looking at the initial screenshots of Gatineau you can see that they are also implementing an ajax based user interface, however it currently doesn’t have polish of Google Analytics’ interface.

If Microsoft expects to compete with Google Analytics and other products, they are going to have to come out with something unique and exciting. They will have to do something similar to what Google Analytics did when it initially replaced Urchin. Microsoft has had nearly 2 years to analyze the top features and issues that Google Analytics posseses in order to capitalize on them.

Filed Under: emetrics, Google Analytics, Microsoft

Google Analytics Shortcut by Justin Cutroni

October 8, 2007 By Manoj Jasra 1 Comment

According to Brett Crosby over at the Google Analytics Blog posted that Justin Cutroni, the Director of Analytics at EpikOne, Inc has jsut released a very thorough eBook on Google Analytics, titled “Google Analytics Shortcut.” The goal of Google Analytics ShortCut is to help users configure Google Analytics to meet their business needs. It’s only $10, so I suggest you BUY IT right away.

Here’s an overview of the eBook:

Getting Setup Correct
How Google Analytics Works
Profiles and Profile Settings
Filters
Goals & Funnels
Common Website Configurations

Dynamic Websites
Tracking Across Multiple Domains
Tracking Across Multiple Sub Domains
Tracking Across Multiple Domains with Multiple Sub Domains
Frames & IFrames

Marketing Campaign Tracking
E-Commerce Tracking
Custom Segmentation
CRM Integration
Tips & Tricks

Tracking Visitor Clicks, Outbound Links and Non-HTML Files
Recommended Profiles & Filters
Custom Segmentation Hacks
Excluding Yourself from Google Analytics Data
Creating an Implementation Plan
Keeping Track of Your Configuration Changes
Troubleshooting Data Accuracy

Reference

Google Analytics Functions
Tracking Code Variables
Regular Expressions
Tools for Debugging Google Analytics

Filed Under: Google Analytics, Web Analytics

Google Analytics Videos: Tips and Resources

September 28, 2007 By Manoj Jasra Leave a Comment

If you’re looking for help with Google Analytics then I suggest you check out the Google Analytics videos on YouTube. Last week the Google Analytics Blog posted a handfull of helpful videos regarding best practices, processes, and implementation.

Those of you who want to pick up a few quick tips might be interested in ‘Bounce Rate: The Simply Powerful Metric ‘, ‘Non Ecommerce Sites: Beyond Averages…‘, and ‘ Context and Actionability in Web Analytics‘ by Avinash Kaushik, our resident Analytics Evangelist, blogger, and author of Web Analytics: An Hour a Day. We also have the complete sessions, including an introduction to Conversion University by Brett Crosby, Sr. Manager, which provides perspective on the evolution and direction of Google Analytics. Stephanie Hsu covers key reports for the optimal AdWords campaign. Alex Ortiz touches upon a number of advanced techniques such as segmentation through filters. And Tom Leung covered how to enhance your entire user experience using Website Optimizer.

Filed Under: Google Analytics

Google Analytics Update – July 2007

July 20, 2007 By Manoj Jasra 1 Comment

The Google Analytics Blog has confirmed more enhancements and updates for its users. July’s updates include:

Many reports now have a “Go to:” box that lets you jump to a specific row within a report table.
The ‘Content by Title’ report now allows you to drilldown to see all URLs that share a page title.
Many users prefer the more readable Content by Title report over the URL-based Content Drilldown and Top Content reports. However, drilling down on a specific title in the Content by Title report hasn’t allowed you to find (and therefore analyze and fix) URLs sharing the title. Until today.
The default Map Overlay view is now by Country (instead of the Continent)