Putting aside all recent arguments and gossip as per privacy issues (yep, nothing is probably totally free and Google Analytics should be using its (your?) data in some way), I should confess, I love the tool and use it.
I’ve been compiling the list of advanced Google Analytics tips that open up plenty of possibilities to track and evaluate. Today I am sharing the list and expect you to share yours too!
Note: I haven’t tried all of these tricks with the new Google Analytics code yet, so if there are any problems with any of them, please report.
- Track 404 page (more info here): I’ve been reporting on the importance of handling your 404 page properly. To make sure you take care of your non-existent pages, simply include a piece of code to your 404 page:
- Classify your site visitors, e.g. track the browsing and buying behavior of your “customers” (those who subscribed, made a purchase or downloaded your product):
<script type=”text/javascript”>pageTracker._setVar(’Marketing/PR’);</script>
Google Analytics help page gives the following examples of the option usage:
- Track visitors that landed on a particular page;
- Track visitors that clicked a particular link;
- Track visitors according to their form selection.
- Track your (outgoing) links: add a code to each link you want to track:
<a href=”http://www.example.com” onClick=”javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview(’/outgoing/example.com’);”>
- Track your banner ads with the same code as the above one. For Flash banners you should use this code:
on(release) {
getURL(”javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview
(’/bannerads/advertisername/bannername’);”);
getURL(”http://www.advertisersite.com”);
}
- Track your downloads (PDF, AVI, or WMV) with this code:
<a href=”http://www.example.com/files/map.pdf” onClick=”javascript: pageTracker._trackPageview(’/downloads/map’); “>
- Track mailto: links with this code:
<a href=”mailto:[email address]”onClick=”javascript:urchinTracker(’/mailto/jerry’);”>[email address]</a>
- For Wordpress blogs: use “Ultimate Google Analytics” plugin that also allows for lots of other handy features (easy Google Analytics installation, simple configuration screen, all types of links tracking, etc.). Google Analytics for WordPress is also great for this and and for tracking AdSense clicks, image search keywords, etc. (More information on counting outbound clicks without the help of plugins.)
- Track full referring URLs - set up the advanced filter:
- Track e-commerce transactions by monitoring your receipt page. Find additional information on this in “Advanced Google Analytics“:
- Set up email alert on a regularly-scheduled basis - go: Analytics Settings => View Reports => Email=> Schedule:
- Exclude internal traffic: Analytics Settings => Edit => “+Add Filter”:
- Compare traffic / page views over different periods of times, e.g. compare how your two viral campaigns performed compared to each other:
or Buzz it at Yahoo :
Comments
21 responses so far ↓
Tekka on Aug 4, 2008 at 7:45 am
Wow, thanks for that great post. I was looking for a solution to track the count of downloads of a pdf (cheat sheet: seo for Wordpress). I will try it now with your given hints.
Sorry for my bad english… :-(
Mercy on Aug 4, 2008 at 8:26 am
After a weekend, you have come up with a excellent post Ann! I have an issue. For my multilingual site, my file names are too in French. So that comes up with some special characters, (contactez-succ%E9s.php) when i add my contact success page in goal tracking, even though a goal completed in a specified date, Google Analytics is not showing up! How shall i overcome this?
Andrew Miller on Aug 4, 2008 at 8:32 am
Great post, definitely going to re-visit frequently.
One of my favorite GA features is Funnel Visualization (within Goals). For some reason, clients love this report because it appeals to senior management types who aren’t used to looking at raw data.
The graphics work well to show the results of landing page or shopping cart conversion optimization. Side-by-side comparisons of two date ranges drives home the point that each step in the conversion funnel leads to higher site abandonment. If you can measure it, you can improve it.
g1smd on Aug 4, 2008 at 8:40 am
I use multiple profiles per site. I have a profile that tracks only stats on the domain itself using an “include domain” filter, and I use another one that checks only the stats on other domains using the “exclude domain” filter. Those other sites include the Google, Yahoo, and Live Search caches, as well as anyone else that has scraped the pages. Both of those also exclude all staff accesses, using a custom filter for that too.
All Staff are excluded from tracking using a Custom Filter that matches the Cookie that they receive by visiting a special password-protected “start” page. There is only one user name and password to access the page, and it drops a “do_not_track_me” cookie on to the users machine when visited. Most staff always go through that start page, as that is what they have been told to do, but actually the first visit per browser is enough to to make it work. Staff are told to always use that start page, so that they can be re-cookied when they change browser or get a new machine.
There is a third profile that has no filters and shows “everything”. I rarely look at it, but it is there if needed.
netmeg on Aug 4, 2008 at 12:29 pm
I have some nice ones that show true search queries for AdWords, and others that will append the keyword to a transaction, but I’m not altogether sure how to post them here.
Ann Smarty on Aug 4, 2008 at 1:35 pm
@netmeg: you can email me at seosmarty @ gmail.com
Gidseo on Aug 4, 2008 at 3:48 pm
You’re good - that’s a great huge collection.
monni on Aug 5, 2008 at 1:00 am
Thank you nice post
WebDesign Romania on Aug 5, 2008 at 3:35 am
thanks for this post, I started up working with Google Analytics a month ago and it’s just great.
Marion Nesmith on Aug 5, 2008 at 6:32 am
Again, Michael Martinez followed by your post. Each day I’m learning more and more. Oh yea, did I mention everybody else talking link, link, link…..and more link
DVBC on Aug 5, 2008 at 7:36 am
I though it was a huge number of tips… it’s just like recollect…
Alex on Aug 5, 2008 at 8:52 am
Nice list. I have been tracking Sphinn for a month or so - no good articles on this topic.
Deepti Makati on Aug 6, 2008 at 2:31 am
Really nice list!!
Thanks SEOSmarty!! :)
Internet Fan on Aug 6, 2008 at 5:49 am
Wow very good post. Thanks a million!
ZaggedEdge on Aug 16, 2008 at 11:10 pm
Hey SEO, thanks for the code!
Ad Manager on Aug 29, 2008 at 10:37 am
Great collection. One more: if your site has different areas (eg: visitors vs. subscribers) you can create multiple profiles and track them separately.
jyoseph on Aug 29, 2008 at 1:07 pm
NICE article. Putting this on my delicious and going to study it. Very helpful tips indeed.
Amit Agarwal on Aug 29, 2008 at 3:03 pm
Ann - Thanks for this list.
A big requirement for most of these tips to work is that your Analytics code must be placed before the function call is made.
That means your script has been in the head portion of the site and that may sometime increase the loading time because the script will download before any of your real content.
Tim on Sep 2, 2008 at 11:12 am
Ann, do you know if there is a delay in GA reporting search traffic from other engines? I can see traffic in firestats and pmetrics showing Live sending me traffic at about 50% the rate of Google, but GA doesn’t report this at all.
Can you point me in the right direction?
Thanks!
hamid jalali on Sep 13, 2008 at 9:45 pm
Please increase my ranking in google
epnu.iranblog.com
very thanks
Sleep on Sep 22, 2008 at 1:06 pm
The external links tracking tip is pretty nifty. How does it word with adsense? Or will Google Analytics ever consolidate that data under the Analytics platform?
Leave a Comment