Over the last few months we’ve seen the new Google Analytics platform (v5) build momentum with a string of new feature releases, and last week it was the turn of real-time reporting to be included as the latest addition to the family.
In my previous role with an analytics vendor, I would often have clients come to me with “Real-time data” on their list of requirements but in reality very few were in a position to be able make actionable decisions based on the data that quickly; to a greater extent that is still the case today. As analysts we struggle already to make the best use of the vast quantities of data we already have. Would increasing that with real-time reports across the system only exasperate that?
In certain situations real-time data can be a very powerful tool in the analyst’s kitbag. I’ve been testing the real-time reports for a few…
If you use Google Analytics, and your site gets any traffic from search engines, you will love the latest feature they've just added, which was announced on the Webmaster Tools Blog on 4th October.
Here are the stats you used to get when looking at a 'Search Engine Keywords' report:
keyword
number of visits
pages per visit
average time on site
% new visits
bounce rate
So, you could see that you had (say) 50,000 visits for the word 'laptops', but you were left asking questions like "so what?", "is that good, or bad?", and left looking at other tools to try and answer those questions.
So What's New?
Now, here is one of the new 'Search Engine Optimisation: Queries' reports:
I've highlighted the exciting bits there:
The red circles are new pieces of data they've added (from 'Webmaster Tools')
The pink arrows point to a single example of an instantly actionable piece of…
Our summary of the implications
Importance: [rating=5] (if you’re a large company who can afford the new system)
Recommended link: Google Announcement - 29/09/2011
What you need to know about Google Analytics Premium and implications for the free version
1. The new system is available now following a private beta in UK, US and Canada.
2. It will cost $150,000 per year according to this post although Google have said “contact us for pricing”.
3. The free version will continue to be available to all users with all the current features including the new Multichannel funnels and Real-time reporting, the latter also announced at the same time.
4. Google Analytics Premium provides these 3 large company features demanded by companies according to Brian Clifton’s introduction to the premium service on Econsultancy
Data ownership clarification
Long data retention time
A formal SLA agreement
It will also…
An introduction to Google's new multichannel funnels feature
Multi-channel Funnel Reports in Google Analytics bring us a whole new depth of understanding to how people come to web sites over the course of several visits.
And there’s a bonus: we can also start working with our SEO keywords and other sources of traffic with a level of control which was previously only available for paid advertising and other campaigns.
In real time. Retrospectively. With no pre-configuration effort (so not like campaigns, then).
The most stunning of these reports, in my opinion, is the Top Conversion Paths report. For the first time ever it shows the history of a series of visits.
What’s more, it groups them by channel so that you can see the most common sequence of routes to the site.…
8 questions to ask to help get your brand messages across in Google
Importance: [rating=3]
Recommended link: Official Google announcement on sitelinks
Folks have been discussing Google’s experiments with Google Sitelinks through August, e.g. http://www.hallam.biz/blog/2011/08/12-google-sitelinks-2011.html but yesterday we started seeing this more consistently on all Google searches and now Google has made the announcement above.
If you’re not familiar with Sitelinks, they are the listing of extra links below the brand main site description when you search on a brand name. We have a briefing on sitelinks which shows the previous simple format of just 8 links.
This example shows they now take up much more of the page with 8 to 12 alternatives and include more detailed descriptions:
Marketing implications of sitelink change
Well for almost all sites, the most important searches…
A case study and examples of reviewing content marketing effectiveness in Google Analytics
In our 2 previous posts on selecting the best KPIs for reviewing content marketing effectiveness we looked at the best types of measures to use. In this post, I get into the details of how to check some of these KPIs in Google Analytics and in particular to show your efforts in creating content impact leads or sales.
Remember that we need to isolate the effect of particular content you have invested in in creating incremental leads or sales. To help do this, it's best if your site structure is setup right to measure effectively - I use the engineering term DFA "Design for Analysis" to prompt site designers think about this. I'll take some examples from ClickThrough Marketing who I have helped provide content for - around a year ago we created a series of printed 101…
A reminder of the latest changes to Google Analytics for non-specialists
This update page is intended to help anyone who uses Google Analytics, but not day-in day-out! It's also a reminder for me when giving training courses to highlight what's new.
I subscribe to the Google Analytics Blog feed to keep up-to-date and other related ones like Webmaster Tools.
There are quite a few detailed posts that don't make so much difference to most users and are more for interest of GA specialists working on it all the time.
New Google Analytics version 5 - Now available to All Users - 20th April 2011
Importance: [rating=5]
Our commentary: You may have missed this announcement over the Easter break that all users of Google Analytics can now try the new version without signing up for the best programme.
To see the new interface just log-on and select "New Version":
…
My recommendations on the 10 most useful features
As you may have heard, the latest version of Google Analytics has just launched in Beta mode (you can sign up for the beta here) [Dave Chaffey has a separate post discussing whether it's worth switching or not in the Google updates 2011 summary]
This post takes a look at why Google Analytics is changing, then breaks down some of the bigger changes, with screengrabs, comparisons, and a quick guide to the biggest of the new features. I've broken the post down into 10 features, with the biggest & most complicated new feature last.
Why Change?
It's almost 4 years since the last big change to the overall interface of Google Analytics ('v2' in May 2007). In the interim, 2 things have happened that would cause Google to want to update the interface.
First Reason to Change - interest & user growth has been huge…
The top 10 best sites for Google Analytics tips and Help?
I was checking my feedreader and thought it might be useful to share the sites I use to find more advanced tips on how to best use Google Analytics to analyse and improve a site and campaigns. These are also useful for reference when troubleshooting problems in Google Analytics. So, here's my top 10!
Google Analytics blog - essential for anyone using Google Analytics for updates on new features to Google Analytics. Because it naturally has a lot of detailed updates we have a page on the most important Google Analytics updates for marketers.
Google Analytics Help Sites - This includes both the text-based help and the forum which is good for troubleshooting - just use the search function on this page. It's also worth mentioning the Google Conversion University - this is a course for the Google Analytics…
We recommend these slide decks whether you're a beginner or more advanced user of Google Analytics
Value: [rating=5]
Google Analytics Training 301
View more presentations from ivantage.
Our commentary: I was recently asking Matt Trimmer of iVantage who runs regular Google-sponsored Seminars for Success which are Google Analytics training courses a technical question about Google Analytics for a situation I hadn't seen before. In this answer he referred me to this slide deck he has shared from Seminars Success he runs for Google. Wow! I thought that could be helpful for all sorts of levels of folks using Google Analytics. So I asked him whether I could share it…
