Online Marketing Blog - Latest Comments in 5 Lesser Known Google Analytics Features

Re: 5 Lesser Known Google Analytics Features

Thomas McMahon — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 11:32:38 -0000

Hi Svetlana Google doesn't track which links are clicked on so they are not going to be counting anything twice. Google is more concerned with what pages people go to and how they navigate around the site.

Re: 5 Lesser Known Google Analytics Features

Svetlana — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 16:22:04 -0000

Question: if you use js to track specific link won't it appear twice in your report? That might be an issue, isn't?
And if that's the case, do you have a handy solution to avoid that?

Re: 5 Lesser Known Google Analytics Features

Thomas McMahon — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 14:00:32 -0000

Hi Naruto. Google Analytics tracks per page. What you could do is add custom JavaScript code to links to track where people are clicking. See: http://www.google.com/suppo...

Re: 5 Lesser Known Google Analytics Features

Naruto — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 09:51:51 -0000

Hey all ... I have a question and i really wish someone can answer me ... I'm working on a website that has only one page, but it has many DIV's in it ... can i add google analytic to each DIV separately ??
Thanks

Re: 5 Lesser Known Google Analytics Features

Scott Walker — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 11:23:13 -0000

I use Google analytics for all my client sites, but haven't been using a few of the advanced (javascript) features. Additional tools are always welcomed.

Scott

Re: 5 Lesser Known Google Analytics Features

Yolanda — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 17:33:45 -0000

I don’t use all the features in Google analytics, but never the less it’s good to read about them.

Re: 5 Lesser Known Google Analytics Features

Brent Crouch — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 23:21:22 -0000

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After a few weeks and a few hundred dollars, I’ve come up with a script that fully integrates Paypal with GA E-commerce. I’ve wrote a free ebook that includes the script you’ll need at no cost.

There is nothing for sell here. I just wanted to see this info more widely available.

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Re: 5 Lesser Known Google Analytics Features

Scott Walker — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 14:56:01 -0000

Some exellent points here. Filtering out your IP and others who might be coming in frequently, like site designers, other employees is an essential to eliminating
a lot of junk and skewing the stats.

And, the pricing is right, too.

Scott

Re: 5 Lesser Known Google Analytics Features

Jeffrey Michaels — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 21:13:57 -0000

Ok, I'm a bit of a laggard - But I got to having conversations on Blogging with Matt Bradley of SnapBomb and we were talking about Google Analytics - that conversation coupled with this article have fired up my mind on how to use Goog Analytics to measure skunkworks web site traffic and "how to tips" blogs to drive traffic to said skunkworks website to to build a database and analyze the traffic. Thanks Thomas for your civil service.

Re: 5 Lesser Known Google Analytics Features

Navin — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 07:19:52 -0000

nice article!

Re: 5 Lesser Known Google Analytics Features

Trace Johnson — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 08:25:52 -0000

The issue with filters no longer working, and having to use the "user defined" variable are being addressed by Google. Many advanced custom filters stopped working on January 15th, and Google will be reprocessing the data to fix these issues. Expect the reprocessing to take about two weeks after the fix is implemented.

Great post, I would recommend setting up a test profile to try some of these features out. Also, hold your breath for some of the new features that will be coming out in the next couple of months. They are stellar.

Re: 5 Lesser Known Google Analytics Features

Thomas McMahon — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 15:37:31 -0000

I don't think Google makes this obvious enough and I really wish they'd find a way to track each link individually. That'd be more valuable.

Doesn't ClickTracks do this? Or possibly CrazyEgg?

Re: 5 Lesser Known Google Analytics Features

Anthony — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 15:14:55 -0000

Hi Thomas,
I just tested your theory out by doing a test and you're absolutely correct.

Now I feel like an idiot.

Re: 5 Lesser Known Google Analytics Features

Thomas McMahon — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 13:57:45 -0000

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if I have two contact links on my site, on at the top and one at the bottom, Google's overlay functionally will not separate the two. Instead they will have the same number of click and data.

Is this still true?

Re: 5 Lesser Known Google Analytics Features

Anthony — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 13:41:43 -0000

Just in case there was some confusion, the site overlay feature is a little different then the "Track document downloads or specific links. Adding a small piece of JavaScript to any link will tell Google to track when someone clicks on that link" mentioned in Thomas's post.

With the overlay feature, Google analysitcs will take you right to your site and then hilite any link and tell you how many times any link withing the page has been clicked. You can see your site live, at that moment. You don't have to look at a report or add linking code to any links as long as you have the Google analytics code already added to your website pages.

Re: 5 Lesser Known Google Analytics Features

Henrik — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 06:20:08 -0000

Actually your second feature can be useful in finding duplicate content from other domains.

I have a separate profile where my main domain is filtered out. All domains showing up there are possible copyright infringement and duplicate content.

Re: 5 Lesser Known Google Analytics Features

Anthony — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 03:25:10 -0000

Has anyone tried Google's Site Overlay feature? I really love it. As an affiliate marketer, it's really useful to see what links on my site, a visitor is clicking on.

Re: 5 Lesser Known Google Analytics Features

Judd Exley — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 00:36:58 -0000

I too, had forgotten about the Internal Search feature, but I've also got my GA account set up to email me a CSV every week, so I can combine it with my own analytics reporting stuff.

Bloody brilliant, I tells ya, and I still can't believe it's all FREE. Crazy.

Re: 5 Lesser Known Google Analytics Features

amelia — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 22:46:54 -0000

me, am still trying to understand google analystics, am also reading and gathering sources of it so that someday I can relate , thanks for the source anyway :)

Re: 5 Lesser Known Google Analytics Features

Ross — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 20:11:00 -0000

Thanks for this info. I have been trying to figure out google analytics on my own. This sure will speed up my process. But I like how detailed their analysis is.

Re: 5 Lesser Known Google Analytics Features

jonathan — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 19:40:48 -0000

filter feature is the best. that way you know for sure that google analytics is not taking your visitation as a visitor.

Re: 5 Lesser Known Google Analytics Features

Anthony — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 18:30:32 -0000

Thomas,
Thanks for pointing out the site search function. I use the other tools that you mention and they're all really valuable tools for online marketers.

Re: 5 Lesser Known Google Analytics Features

Jeff — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 14:24:38 -0000

The query string hack still works, but you have to pass it into the user defined value.

ROI Revolution wrote about it a while back, it was brought up more recently on Semviroment.com's blog.

Check it out - Note you have to break down campaign data type by user defined variable.

http://www.semvironment.com...
http://www.roirevolution.co...

Jeff

Re: 5 Lesser Known Google Analytics Features

Rich Brooks — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 10:37:56 -0000

Along the lines of "Track Document Downloads" is tracking when people subscribe to an email newsletter hosted by a email service provider.

Since I've discovered that many ezine subscribers later convert to paying customers, I find this to be very helpful.

You can see more details of the exact code to use (in this case for Constant Contact) here:

Re: 5 Lesser Known Google Analytics Features

Thomas McMahon — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 09:53:01 -0000

OptimisedMedia - Nope. you can use it with any built in search like Wordpress' for example.