A presentation on getting the most out of Google Analytics including setup best practices, finding opportunity, using custom reports and much more.

1. / COVARIO
GETTING THE MOST OUT OF
THE NEW GOOGLE ANALYTICS
November 29th – AMA Phoenix SIG
@nickroshon

2. WHO AM I?
NICK ROSHON
Account Director, Covario
• Looks like Amir from College Humor
• Formerly Sr. SEO Strategist, iCrossing
• Editor of “Search and Social: The Definitive
Guide to Real-Time Content Marketing” by Rob
Garner (Wiley/Sybex)
• Blogger at NickRoshon.com
• Also Blogs at NicksCarBlog.com
• Ohio Native / Scottsdale Transplant
• Dog Lover
• Race Car Driver
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3. FIRST, A JOKE…
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4. AGENDA
• Why and WHAT to track?
• Setup Best Practices
• What’s new in GA 5?
• Finding Opportunity
• Additional Resources
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5. WHY AND WHAT TO TRACK?
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6. “If you cannot measure it,
you cannot improve it.”
– Lord Kelvin
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7. WHY ELSE?
Why not?
• FREE!
• Easy to setup
• Easy-to-use
• Understanding what works, what doesn’t
• Tracking success of marketing campaigns
• A/B testing and Tracking ROI
• Understanding your visitors – demographics, interests, keywords, etc.
• Seeing trends – mobile, local, social, etc.
• Finding opportunities for growth and optimization…
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8. NOT WHY, BUT WHAT?
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs):
• As a marketer, KPIs define what success is to our
clients/bosses
• Measure outcomes, not behaviors
• Marketing Analytics vs. Web Analytics
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9. WHAT ARE YOUR KPIS?
Basic KPIs: Better KPIs:
• Page Views • Increase Conversion Rate by 10%
• Improve Average Order Value
• Unique Visitors
• Increase Visitor Loyalty (Return
• Form Completions Visitors) by 20%
• Increase Time Spent on Site by 5%
• Increase Pages Viewed per Visit by
100%
Pro tip: try to focus on only a few.
• Reduce Abandonment Rate by 15%
“Collecting more information, just • New RSS Subscribers
because you can, inevitably leads to
more confusion, not clarity. “ – Brian
Clifton
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10. REMEMBER: SALES AREN’T THE ONLY KPI…
Macro Conversions Micro Conversions
• Sales • Download white paper
• Return visit
• Orders
• View product detail page
• Coupon Redemptions
• Customer Service Contact
• FAQ page view
• Store lookup
• Tweet/Like/+1
• Email sign-up
• RSS Subscriptions
• Comment/Review Added
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11. FACTORING IN SALES LIFECYCLES
“On average it takes 14 days to convert for travel - visitor loyalty is key
here.” – Avinash Kaushik
Metrics to consider for long sales cycles:
• Visitor loyalty & repeat visits
• Multi-channel funnel analysis
• Pages viewed per visit
• Time spent on site
• Repeat visitors vs new visitors
A photo of me, sitting in front of a computer,
holding an iPad, taken from my iPhone. 3
devices = 1 user = 3 “unique visitors”
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12. SETTING KPIS
“Why does my website exist?”
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13. SETUP BEST PRACTICES
@nickroshon

14. INITIAL CODE SETUP Log in and go to Admin – Tracking
Info to find code
Copy & paste in the header OR
CENSORED footer of each web page you want
tracked
Asynchronous code = loads
independent of the rest of the
page, doesn’t matter if it’s in the
header, footer or elsewhere
Audit your tag presence
CENSORED
quarterly…
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15. ACCOUNTS, PROPERTIES & PROFILES
• Setup one master profile, which
contains no filters and tracks all
visitors and all sections of your site –
consider this your “raw data”
• Setup additional profiles to filter, or
segment by section of your site, etc.
for analysis
• The master profile is useful for
historical needs, while your other
profiles may be more useful for day-
to-day analysis
• Different users may prefer different
Image credit: profiles & customizations, so this
https://developers.google.com/analytics/resources/conce
pts/gaConceptsAccounts#profiles provides great flexibility at the
enterprise level…
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16. CROSS-DOMAIN TRACKING
• By default, GA will treat each subdomain separate
• Tracking code can be customized to have all subdomains as well as new
domains (blogspot, wordpress, microsites, etc) under one property
• View
https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/gajs/gaTrackingS
ite for setup best practices & code examples for cross-domain tracking
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17. FILTERS
• Filter out by IP (company IP addresses)
• Filter out by ISP (an entire ISP you don’t want included)
• Filter out by subdirectory (good for restricted content)
• Filter out by hostname (filter out server calls/applications)
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18. GOALS
• 20 goals included in the free
version
• Goal Types:
– URL Destination – visit a URL
(exact URL or wildcard)
– Visit Duration – visit for X
amount of time (or more)
– Page/Visit – visit X number of
pages (or more)
– Event – used with event
tracking code (click a button,
send a form, etc.)
• Setup funnels to track
abandonment
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19. E-COMMERCE TRACKING
Requires investment in coding &
development, but free to track in
Google Analytics…
• Enable e-commerce tracking in
Google Analytics
– http://support.google.com/anal
ytics/bin/answer.py?hl=en&ans
wer=1009612
• Modify website code to include GA
e-commerce tracking parameters
– https://developers.google.com/
analytics/devguides/collection/g
ajs/gaTrackingEcommerce
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20. CAMPAIGN TRACKING
• By default, Google tracks Organic
Search, Direct, AdWords and
Referral sources as mediums
• By customizing URLs, you can also
have separate reports for
email, social media, PPC (non
Google), etc.
• As simple as adding parameters
to the end of a URL
• URLs are case sensitive, so be
deliberate…
• Use Google Analytics URL Builder:
http://support.google.com/analyt
ics/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer
=1033867
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21. CUSTOM SEGMENTS
• Segments data by type
• Good uses: geography, referral source, campaigns, etc.
• Quickly drill down to the data you are most interested in
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22. EVENT TRACKING
Common uses for event tracking:
• Any Flash-driven element
• Embedded AJAX page elements
• Video plays & File downloads
• Gadgets/widgets/on-page experiences
• A/B test different calls to action
(different buttons, same URL for
conversion)
• Affiliate links
Check out this event tracking code
generator: http://gaconfig.com/google-
analytics-event-tracking/
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23. ENABLE SITE SEARCH & PROFILE SETTINGS
Go to: Admin - Profile
Settings
Enable Site Search, set
default URL, ensure all
settings are correct…
Useful for learning user
behavior, improving UX,
understanding when people
search
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24. CUSTOM REPORTS
• Allow you to setup specific reports/metrics to be accessed later
– Set a dimension first, then metrics to plot within that dimension
• Dimension: category of metric you want to see
• Metrics: actual number that would be plotted
• Get started here: http://nickroshon.com/internet-
advertising/awesome-custom-reports-for-google-analytics
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25. OTHER FEATURES TO CHECK OUT…
• Custom Variables - classify visits on page-level (category), session
level (logged in, logged out), or visitor level (premium visitor, free
visitor)
• Sync with Google Webmaster Tools – good for SEO & site health
metrics in one place
• Sync with AdWords or AdSense
• Account Administration – add users to help analyze data, set roles
• Mobile App tracking – track the usage of your apps, too!
• Cross-domain tracking – especially useful for ecommerce sites
• Check out the full setup checklist from Google:
http://www.google.com/analytics/learn/setupchecklist.html
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26. WHAT’S NEW IN G.A. 5?
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27. WHAT’S NEW IN GA 5?
• GA 5 launched in 2011, now
standard for everyone
– Old version finally killed off in July,
4.0 2012
• Useful additions:
– Multi-channel funnels
– Customizable dashboards
– Event Goals
– Ability to plot additional rows
(metrics) in charts
– Site speed report
– Intelligence alerts
5.0 – Improvements to custom reports,
map overlay, mobile reports
– Easier goal & filter creation
workflows
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28. CREATING DASHBOARDS…
A pain the butt to setup – but only needs done
once.
• Good for high-level metrics to keep a finger on
the pulse of your site…
• Use “Add to Dashboard” shortcut in reports to
build quickly…
Sharable & importable, like custom reports…
• Basic Blog Dashboard:
https://www.google.com/analytics/web/permali
nk?type=dashboard&uid=5QS16SB7QA2ymSu75
PBAZQ
• Site Performance Dashboard:
https://www.google.com/analytics/web/permali
nk?type=dashboard&uid=0pLYNL9eTO6EbusjAm1
2kQ
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29. MULTI-CHANNEL FUNNELS…
Good for understanding ROI of
channels that don’t frequently
convert directly (e.g. social media)
and determining channel mix and
budgeting priorities.
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30. PLOT ADDITIONAL ROWS…
• Add extra rows of data to any standard report to get more granular
• Useful for understanding behaviors and demographics
• Better to create custom reports for frequently referenced rows/additions
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31. SOCIAL REPORTS – YAY!
Shows top referring social sites,
assisted conversions, and many
other useful metrics for
understanding social media
behavior, influence & value…
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32. INTELLIGENCE ALERTS
• Provides automated alerts & analysis of major changes shifts
• Access through Home – Intelligence Alerts
• Available on Daily, Weekly or Monthly basis
• Setup Custom Alerts for major changes to KPIs
• Alerts can be sent via email when they hit certain sensitivity thresholds
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33. FINDING OPPORTUNITY
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34. GOOD REPORTS TO VIEW DAILY…
• Dashboard • Conversions & Goals Overview
• Custom Reports • Referring Sites
• Keywords
• Visitors Overview
• Top Content
• Traffic Sources Overview
• Intelligence Events Overview
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35. GENERAL TIPS FOR EFFECTIVE ANALYSIS
• Check in regularly, daily if possible
• Compare time periods for trends
• Filter out words/URLs (e.g. Exclude
/products/) to diagnose SWOT
• Plot a second metric to compare
against (e.g. Unique Visitors vs Page
Views)
• Use Sort Type = Weighted to sort
results by most importance
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36. FILTER OUT BRANDED TERMS
• Create an Advanced Segment
– Include - Medium - Containing organic and/or paid
– Exclude – Keyword – branded term
• Can be done to filter out any terms from SEO or SEM traffic…
• Can also be setup as a profile to view entire GA account
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37. CUSTOM REPORT: KEYWORD GROUPS
Grouping keywords into categories
gives a better breakdown of how
each set of keywords is performing.
This will allow you to identify
possible low hanging fruit.
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38. CUSTOM REPORT: KEYWORD LENGTH
The keyword length report breaks
down keywords by the length of the
phrase to help ID low hanging fruit:
• 1 Word Phrase - ^s*[^s]+s*$
• 2 Word Phrase -
^s*[^s]+(s+[^s]+){1}s*$
• 3 Word Phrase-
^s*[^s]+(s+[^s]+){2}s*$
• 4-10 Word Phrases –
^s*[^s]+(s+[^s]+){x}s*$...Repla
ce the “x” up with digits up to 9.
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39. PAGES WITH HIGH BOUNCE RATES
• Find by going to Content – Site Content – Content Drill Down
– Sort by Bounce Rate and choose Sort Type = Weighted
– Consider applying custom segments (e.g. Search) when drilling down
• Fix or optimize content to reduce bounce rate, make your site more sticky
– For more CRO tips, check out this link: http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/tips-for-
improving-high-bounce-low-conversion-web-pages/
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40. FIND YOUR BEST PERFORMING CONTENT
• Use the “Content
Efficiency” custom
report to find top
performing content
• Export and sort by
author, or content type,
to understand your best
performing content
• Replicate & expand style
of content or authors
that are most successful
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41. PAGE LOADING SPEED
• A one second delay in
loading time can cause a 7%
drop in conversions –
Avinash Kaushik
• Find page speed by page
through: Content – Site
Speed – Page Timings
• Use Google PageSpeed
plugin for Chrome to help
find ways to improve
loading speed
• Typically very easy to find
improvements and get your
site to load faster…
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42. REFERRING SITES
• View standard report: Traffic Sources – Sources – Referrals
• Use Advanced Filter to remove Google, Bing, etc.
• Find sites sending traffic, and continue to partner/invest there (for instance,
forums that may send traffic, blogs you comment on or guest post for, etc.)
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43. FUNNEL ANALYSIS
• Conversions – Goals – Funnel
Visualizations
• Drill down by each goal and look
for goals with high abandonment
• Analyze pages to find room for
improvement:
– Removing steps from funnel
– Testing calls to action
– Adding incentives to complete action
– Reducing friction to complete
• Keep testing & optimizing…
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44. CONVERSION PATH ANALYSIS
• Found in Conversion – Multi-Channel Funnels – Top Conversion Paths
• Useful for understanding customer journey
• Good starting point for attribution modeling and budget mix decisions
• Use channel groupings to do the same for brand vs non-brand keywords
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45. DEMOGRAPHICS/AUDIENCE REPORTS
• The standard Audience reports have lots of useful data
• Find most popular demographics – target them more in Facebook, AdWords
• Learn timing of when people like to view your content – share via social/email
at that time
• Good for understanding your visitors better…
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46. MOBILE REPORTS
• Audience – Mobile – Devices (or Overview)
• Overview – understanding percent of mobile vs non-mobile visitors
• Devices - Most popular devices – consider an app, or at least ensure mobile
experience is flawless on those devices…
• Drill down by goals and custom segments to find most valuable mobile users
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47. SOCIAL REPORTS
• Traffic Sources – Social
• Conversions & assisted conversions help justify social media investment
• Find most valuable social media traffic sources by drilling down by
goal, efficiency from each hub
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48. ANNOTATIONS
• Useful for understanding correlation & impact of major events
• Annotation-worthy events may include: new content posted, redesign
of important content/templates, web development sprints, seasonal
promotions, offline marketing initiatives, etc.
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49. PANGUIN REPORT BY BARRACUDA
• Check it out at http://www.panguintool.com/
• Creates annotations for major Google Updates & changes
• Good for seeing if you were hit by an algorithm update
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50. EMAIL REPORTS
• Set important reports
to be emailed on a
regular basis
• Click “Email” button
near top of the report
you’d like sent and
configure options
• Great for sending to
managers or those
who do not normally
login but want to get a
regular update on
performance…
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51. KEY TAKEAWAYS
@nickroshon

52. KEY TAKEAWAYS
• Agree upon KPIs
• Setup Goals based on those KPIs
• Setup Dashboards & Custom Reports to track
progress & measure against those KPIs
• Use advanced segments & filters to drill down on
data that matters the most
• Check in regularly for best results…
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53. LEARN MORE…
• Google Analytics Training (and Certification!) by Google:
http://support.google.com/adwords/certification/bin/static.py?hl=en&page=examstudy.c
s&exam=reporting
• Google Analytics Video Training by Google:
http://www.google.com/intl/en/analytics/iq.html?&rd=1
• Market Motive Training: http://www.marketmotive.com/internet-marketing-training-and-
certification-signup?top=home&topic=WebAnalytics
• Google Analytics Blog: http://analytics.blogspot.com/
• Occam’s Razor by Avinash Kaushik: http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/
• SEOmoz: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/category/8?show=50
• Conversion Optimization: http://www.bryaneisenberg.com/
• Event Tracking Guide:
https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/gajs/eventTrackerGuide
• KissMetrics Google Analytics Top 50: http://blog.kissmetrics.com/google-analytics-
resources-2011/
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54. BOOKS TO CHECK OUT…
• Web Analytics 2.0 – Avinash Kaushik
• Web Analytics: An Hour a Day – Avinash Kaushik
• Advanced Web Metrics with Google Analytics – Brian Clifton
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55. THANK YOU!
NICK ROSHON
Account Director, Covario
@nickroshon
+Nick Roshon
NickRoshon.com
Covario.com
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56. Slides that didn’t make the cut…
APPENDIX
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57. HAVE A KPI/METRIC FRAMEWORK
Visits & Consideration
Conversions & Advocacy &
Awareness & Engagement
Sales Metrics Repeat Sales
Metrics Metrics
(Actions) (Loyalty)
(Acquisition) (Behavior)
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58. WHAT IS THE ROI OF MEASURING YOUR ROI?
Image credit: http://www.leadformix.com/blog/2011/02/damn-roi/
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59. TRACKING BEHAVIORS VS. OUTCOMES
Image credit: http://blog.trilibis.com/the-acquisition-behavior-outcome-method-of-mobile-
analytics-01211
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60. A GOOD ROI CALCULATION CONSIDERS…
• Calculated value of micro-conversions
• Actual value of sales
• Lifetime value of new customer
• Sales lifecycle
• Multi-channel attribution
• Branding value
• Actual costs of inputs
– Media spend
– Human effort
– Time for analysis
Image credit: http://next.inman.com/2012/09/can-an-agent-truly-
prove-the-roi-of-social-media/
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