Nov 15, 2011 at 8:25am ET by Daniel Waisberg

At some point last week Google Analytics quietly released an apparently small change to its Landing Pages report (Content tab => Site Content => Landing Pages). This report was almost useless before this change and now it joins the list of the most useful reports on the tool. In a few words the change was simple: we can now link landing pages to goals, i.e. we can see the value of each landing page out of the box. Up till now, the landing pages report was very limited, having only three metrics available on the report: Entrances: the absolute number of visits landing on this page Bounc [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Analytics | Google: Analytics | Top News

Euclid Offers “Google Analytics For The Real World”

Nov 4, 2011 at 10:48am ET by Greg Sterling

Yesterday Euclid Elements, a relatively new firm founded by some of the people behind the product that became Google Analytics, announced a $5.8 million first round of funding. The company is seeking to enable retailers and business owners with physical locations to measure things like foot traffic by time of day, average customer time in store, loyalty and lift of online promotions, as well as the effectiveness of window displays and other metrics. Conceptually none of this is entirely new. There are a range of "analog" companies and methods that measure retail foot traffic. However Euclid [...]

Social Tracking Integrations For Google Analytics

Nov 4, 2011 at 10:00am ET by Daniel Waisberg

Back in June, Google Analytics unveiled a new set of Social Engagement Reports, which can be used to get content interaction metrics from social sharing icons such as Google+, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or any other. Google+ is tracked by default (no codes needed), but other networks must implement the _trackSocial method in order to collect the interactions. Last week, the Analytics team announced an official integration with social sharing services ShareThis and AddThis. According to their blog post: To enable the integration for all of your AddThis buttons, you are now just one lin [...]

Keyword “Not Provided” By Google Spikes, Now 7-14% In Cases

Nov 2, 2011 at 3:12pm ET by Daniel Waisberg

Google's new encrypted search for logged in users now appears to be blocking a much higher percentage of search terms than when it initially rolled out two weeks ago. In some cases, it might even be higher than the 10% or less figure that the company initially predicted might be impacted. Blocking Search Queries Two weeks ago Google announced that it would start encrypting search sessions of anyone signed in to Google.com. In practice, this means that Google stopped passing the organic keywords that referred traffic to websites whenever users are logged in Google and conducting searches. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Analytics | Google: Analytics | Top News

3 Metrics Google Analytics Beginners Should Watch

Oct 28, 2011 at 10:56am ET by Carrie Hill

The first login to a Google Analytics account can be daunting. There are so many things to see, and so many different ways to tweak data, that deciding which are the most important metrics to watch can be an insurmountable decision. Ultimately, in my opinion, you are the only one who can decide what metrics and reports are important to your business. Some websites don't collect money but do send traffic to other sites, or collect subscriptions or email sign-ups as a form of conversion. Some do collect money, but it's just a small portion of their business; the phone call may really be co [...]

Google Analytics Random Site Bug Has No Privacy Concerns

Oct 27, 2011 at 7:07pm ET by Barry Schwartz

This morning Alex Moss reported a weird bug with Google Analytics where going to the "landing page" or "exit page" reports and clicking on the URL would pop open a random site, instead of the URL of that page. Here is a screen shot shared by @SEOsherlock. Alex Moss claimed this was a privacy issue within Google Analytics. I didn't see how this can necessarily be translated into such an issue, so I asked Google for a statement. A Google spokesperson confirmed this is a bug but is in no way a privacy issue, the page that opens for some users (I cannot replicate it myself) is complete [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Analytics | Google: Analytics

Google Analytics Gains “Napoleon’s March” Flow Visualization Charts

Oct 19, 2011 at 1:33pm ET by Daniel Waisberg

Google Analytics announced a new set of reports that should help marketers and website owners to understand how users behave on their websites. The feature was presented this morning during Web 2.0 Summit, on a keynote delivered by Susan Wojcicki (SVP of Google, Advertising) & Phil Mui (Group Product Manager, Google Analytics). This feature is an interesting solution to an old problem: analyzing paths throughout a website in a scalable way. Path analysis has historically been a feature that provided little insights on user behavior, mainly because visitors behave in such non linear ways [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Analytics | Google: Analytics | Top News

Reactions From SEOs Come Loud, Fast & Often Angry To Google’s Switch To Encrypted Search

Oct 18, 2011 at 8:33pm ET by Matt McGee

Google caused a major stir in the search marketing community today with the news that it will begin encrypting searches and outbound clicks by default in some situations. The move means that valuable keyword referral data will not be passed to analytics programs (including Google Analytics) when a logged-in Google user searches from Google.com. Although Google says the change will impact less than 10 percent of searchers, that's still a significant amount of keyword referral data that will now be hidden from website owners. Well, it won't be hidden if those searchers click on one of Goog [...]

Google To Begin Encrypting Searches & Outbound Clicks By Default With SSL Search

Oct 18, 2011 at 2:09pm ET by Danny Sullivan

Google will now begin encrypting searches that people do by default, if they are logged into Google.com already through a secure connection. The change to SSL search also means that sites people visit after clicking on results at Google will no longer receive "referrer" data that reveals what those people searched for, except in the case of ads. Google announced the news on its blog here, saying: As search becomes an increasingly customized experience, we recognize the growing importance of protecting the personalized search results we deliver. As a result, we’re enhancing our default se [...]

Google Analytics Webmaster Tools SEO Reports Now Available

Oct 4, 2011 at 4:44pm ET by Barry Schwartz

In June, Google released a limited beta of Webmaster Tools integration with Google Analytics, where you can view search query data from Webmaster Tools directly in Google Analytics. Google just announced this feature is now available to everyone! You can find the new reports under the "traffic sources" > "search engine optimization" section of the new Google Analytics. The new reports there include: Queries: impressions, clicks, position, and CTR info for the top 1,000 daily queries Landing Pages: impressions, clicks, position, and CTR info for the top 1,000 daily landing pages [...]

Event Tracking 101 For Google Analytics

Sep 30, 2011 at 4:13pm ET by Carrie Hill

Setting up Analytics accounts has evolved beyond installing "generated" scripts on pages and calling it a day. What started with the advent of software that told us how many "hits" we got a day has evolved into a sophisticated decision assistance engine, and keeping up on the new and cutting edge offers full time employment for many people across the world. As part of our website designs, many of us feature various graphic "buttons" or images on our site that either link to interior pages, booking paths, or even lead users off-site. We embed video, or have image links to our social media [...]

Google Analytics Premium: Better Support & Goodbye Data Sampling

Sep 29, 2011 at 2:25pm ET by Daniel Waisberg

Today Google launched a paid version of Google Analytics that processes higher volumes of page views and provides additional support. The general feature set and user experience remain the fundamentally the same as the standard product. This comes as an important addition to the enterprise set of tools that Google offers. The new version audience is mainly enterprises that receive a high amount of traffic and need a certain commitment from Google's part on data collection, up-time, and support. The new Google Analytics premium is not about features, as shown below there are few capabilities [...]

Google Analytics Real Time Reports: Web Traffic Right Now

Sep 29, 2011 at 2:08pm ET by Daniel Waisberg

Google Analytics just announced a new set of reports called "Real Time." They will be seen in the new interface of Google Analytics (available to all users), under the Dashboard tab; according to another recent announcement, this tab will soon be renamed the Home tab. This new feature does not require extra tagging. According to Google, full roll-out could take up to 1-2 weeks, but in order to get the new feature sooner than later you can signup for the beta by filling the form at https://services.google.com/fb/forms/realtimeanalytics/ Google Analytics Real Time will show the number of [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Analytics | Google: Analytics | Top News

Google Analytics Gets OK’d In German State

Sep 27, 2011 at 8:32am ET by Matt McGee

Google has reached agreement with privacy officials in the German state of Hamburg that will allow website owners to continue using Google Analytics. The accord comes months after Hamburg officials threatened to fine German businesses that used Google Analytics. As part of the agreement, Google has made its analytics opt-out browser plugin available to Safari and Opera users -- it was previously available for Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer. Google will also recognize an IP masking tool that prevents Analytics from storing the complete IP addresses of Internet users in Europe. Google [...]

Are You Using Filters To Keep Your Analytics Data Honest?

Aug 26, 2011 at 9:24am ET by Carrie Hill

Data is a fickle friend. It is only as reliable as the setup you have and the effort you put into understanding the numbers. There are so many variables that can kill your data, and fixing the things that are broken is always a process of elimination. I can tell you that most skewed data is generally caused by two things 1) incorrectly installed scripts, or 2) the site owners themselves. You and your coworkers and employees are the one that visits your site most often. Your marketing team and webmaster are probably a close second and third. Do those visits really represent honest traffic [...]

Update Made To Definition Of A Google Analytics Session

Aug 12, 2011 at 3:17pm ET by Daniel Waisberg

Google Analytics announced a change on the way a sessions are calculated on the tool. While this change will not affect the majority of the accounts significantly (according to the official blog post "most users will see less than a 1% change"), it is an important change. Below, I will describe why it is important and how this can affect some Google Analytics accounts (mostly companies that misuse Google Analytics campaign parameters), and what you can do to make sure you are on the right track. What Is Changing & Why? According to the official post, here is a summary of how Google An [...]

Google Opens Up Call Metrics, Plans Bid-For-Calls Marketplace

Jul 19, 2011 at 11:31am ET by Greg Sterling

This morning Google is announcing that its Call Metrics call-tracking capability is going to be generally available to all US and Canadian AdWords advertisers. Call Metrics is not to be confused with mobile Click to Call ads, though Call Metrics is available to Click to Call mobile advertisers as well. Below is an example ad (ADT) using Call Metrics call tracking on the PC. Powered by Google Voice, AdWords advertisers simply check a box to assign either a toll-free or local tracking number to their campaigns. The inclusion of the phone number doesn't impinge on the AdWords character [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Analytics | Google: AdWords | Google: Analytics | Top News

Google +1 Reporting Now In Google Webmaster Tools

Jun 30, 2011 at 9:59am ET by Barry Schwartz

As expected Google has launched the +1 metrics within Google Webmaster Tools in addition to social tracking in Google Analytics. Google breaks down the +1 reporting within Webmaster Tools into three reports: (1) Search Impact Report shows you an idea of how +1‘s affect your organic search traffic. You can find out if your clickthrough rate changes when personalized recommendations help your content stand out. Do this by comparing clicks and impressions on search results with and without +1 annotations. Google will only show statistics on clickthrough rate changes when you have enough i [...]

Official: Google Analytics Gets Social Engagement Reporting

Jun 29, 2011 at 4:47pm ET by Daniel Waisberg

Google Analytics has just announced a new set of reports (and functionality) that will enable websites to track social interaction with their content. This comes as a welcomed addition to the new Google+1 button, as it now enables one to measure the impact of social interactions in and outside websites (either through a Facebook like, +1 or LinkedIn share inside the website or +1 on search results). The new reports can be found in the Visitor section (make sure you are using the new Google Analytics) and are seeing the following: The Social Engagement report shows site behavior changes [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Analytics | Google: Analytics | Top News

Google Does Love Ranking Data – They Just Aren’t Ready To Admit It

Jun 17, 2011 at 12:58pm ET by Carrie Hill

During the Matt Cutts You & A at SMX Advanced in Seattle last week, someone asked Matt if Google would ever "like" query systems that provided ranking reports to SEOs. Matt said, again, that the focus shouldn't be on rankings, and that website should be focused on "what makes the most money." I rebutted that stance on Twitter, stating that I thought that was a great viewpoint in theory, but as an agency SEO, if I don't care about my clients' organic rankings, I'm out of a job. I'd probably argue that most SEOs (in-house, agency, affiliate - whatever) also care about rankings more than G [...]

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