Transcript Open Source at the DNR

Google Analytics - What's it all about?
Jed Becher
Intersect
Web Coordinator
August 9, 2011
Minnesota
Department of
Natural Resources
What can you learn from GA?
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Number visits – Uniques not accurate
Number of pages viewed
Pages viewed per visit
Bounce rate – user looked at one page and left
Average time on site
Visitor types - mobile / new and return visits
Keywords used in search - can filter by anything
Referrers / search engine traffic
What can you learn from GA?
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Top landing pages
Top exit pages
Time comparison one year to the next
Campaign tracking – track external advertising
clicks to a page on your site
Track downloaded files - using extra URL code
Track site exits – using extra URL code
View an overlay of site traffic on entire site
Send weekly or monthly reports of anything
What can you learn from GA?
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Link to AdSense and AdWord accounts
View content viewed on or by ….
 New users
 Returning users
 Visitors coming via search
 A particular referrer
 A particular day
 A certain browser / mobile users
Page Tags
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GA is a SaaS page tag service. These usually
captures data with JavaScript code
Page Tags collect data via the visitor’s web
browser and sends information to remote datacollection servers – method employed by GA
Page tags are best to use in a CMS environment
where all content flows through templates
otherwise the tracking tags can get removed
If a page does not have a tag, it is not tracked
Page Tag Methodology
Advantages
Disadvantages
Breaks through proxy and caching
servers–provides more accurate
session tracking
Setup errors lead to data loss–if
mistakes are made with tags, data is
lost and cannot be reanalyzed
Tracks client-side events–
e.g. JavaScript, Flash, Web 2.0 (Ajax)
Firewalls can mangle or restrict tags.
JavaScript may be disabled by user. A
JavaScript error will skip the page
Captures client-side-e-commerce data
Cannot track bandwidth or completed
downloads–tags are set when the page
or file is requested, not when the
download is complete
Server–side access can be problematic
Collects and processes visitor data in
nearly real time
Cannot track search engine spiders–
robots ignore page tags
Allows the vendor to perform program
updates for you
Requires the use of cookies
(can be disabled or deleted)
Allows the vendor to perform data
storage and archiving for you
(Source: Advanced Web Metrics, second Edition by Brian Clifton)
Log Files
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Log files refer to data collected by your web
server independently of a visitor's browser: The
web server logs its activity to a text file that is
usually local. Server-side data collection
captures all requests made to your web server,
including pages, images, and PDF’s.
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Analog, Webalizer, and AWStats are open
source examples. WebTrends is a commercial
example
Log File Methodology
Advantages
Disadvantages
Historical data can be reprocessed
easily
Proxy and caching inaccuracies–if a
page is cached, no record is logged on
your web server
No firewall issues to worry about
No event tracking–e.g., no JavaScript,
Flash, Web 2.0 tracking (Ajax)
Can track bandwidth and completed
downloads–and can differentiate
between completed and partial
downloads
Requires your own team to perform
program updates
Tracks search engine spiders and
robots by default
Requires your own team to perform
data storage and archiving
Tracks legacy mobile visitors by
default
Robots multiply visit counts
Always available – not reliant on cloud
(Source: Advanced Web Metrics, second Edition by Brian Clifton)
Numeric Differences
Visits (DNR 2010)
Page Views (DNR 2010)
Log File (AWStats)
8,423,132
51,343,578
Page Tag (GA)
9,821,032
56,794,914
Difference
1,397,900
5,451,336
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Google Analytics recorded a significantly higher
number of visits and page views
Views/ visits do not include PDF downloads or
links to external sites
Differences attributed to proxy servers and
browsers caching pages
IP Address Issues
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A typical home PC averages 10.5 different IP
addresses per month
Those visits will be counted as 10 unique visitors
by a log file analyzer
Visits will be counted as 10 visits but 1 visitor by
GA as the PC used the same tracking cookie
AWStats by Directory
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Would need to add up all views to find total by
directory topic – no way to add up all things for
this division, parks, trails, ATV and more
AWStats for Itasca State Park
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Need to add all page views to find out how many
page views this park had, can’t tell by day
AWStats Year Summary
GA Year Summary
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Peaks on Monday, lows on Sunday. Mobile use
is the opposite, peaks on Saturday and Sunday
Page Tags use Cookies
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Moving the GA page tag from the bottom of the
page to the top increases the reported traffic by
20 percent but it can also make a page take
longer to load
PDF’s not tracked by default
Integration with AdWords and AdSense
Small, 4kb or less, stored locally
GA referrer cookies last six months
Page Tags use Cookies
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Persistent cookies and session cookies – used
to identify users for later use. Used to determine
how many first-time or repeat visitors a site has
received, how many times a visitor returns each
period, and how much time passes between
visits
First and third party cookies, first party can only
be viewed by the domain setting the cookie
GA uses first-party, anonymous cookies only
How to Implement
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Get a Gmail account
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Set up a Google Analytics account
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Add the tracking code to the header of all pages
Sign Up for an Account
Sign Up for an Account
View of DNR Profiles
Main DNR Profile tag
Code Needed for Each Page
<script type="text/javascript">
var _gaq = _gaq || [];
_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-6205560-1']); Tracking Code is Unique for each domain
_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);
(function() {
var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true;
ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.googleanalytics.com/ga.js';
var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s);
})();
</script>
Also Available for WordPress
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Download the plug-in
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Install the Plug-in
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Start viewing stats
WordPress Plug-ins
DNR Installed Plugins
Configuring Plug-in
Some of What GA Can Provide
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Where users are coming from
Mobile users
Keywords used
Referrals
Track PDF downloads
Track clicks to external domains
Map Where Users are Coming From
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Shows that Deer disease traffic was
concentrated around Rochester where the
outbreak was located (Pine Island)
Look Specifically at Mobile Traffic
Pages Mobile Users Viewed
Mobile Operating Systems
Keywords Used for Fall Colors
Sites Referring to Fall Colors
Tracking PDF and offsite Links
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To track links to a PDF or external domains,
extra code needs to be added to the URL
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<a
ref="https://jc.activeoutdoorsolutions.com/mn_customer/"
onclick="pageTracker._trackPageview('/ELS/horsepassfaq.html');">Buy a horse pass online</a>
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Page shows up as: ELS/horsepass-faq.html
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This will be recorded as a page view
Virtual Page Views – Buy a License
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Shows increase prior to state shutdown
Tracking Views for License Plates
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Surge from News Release and Trib story
Tracking Views for License Plates
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These were referrals from the Trib on a given
day related to a specific story they ran
Creating a Tracking URL
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Ever wonder what those long, strange urls’ are
behind banner images?
Here is an example of one the DNR used for a
spring State Park advertising campaign
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_parks/starter_k
it/index.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium
=cpc&utm_content=spring%2Fsummer&utm_ca
mpaign=AdventureMadeEasy
Google has a tool to create the URL
Creating a Tracking URL
Results From a Tracking URL
Filtering a Tracking URL
Results From a Tracking URL
Pages Views From a Tracking URL
Results From a Tracking URL
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Can track specifically how many came
from the tracking URL
Can track specifically how long those
visitors stayed on the site, if they were
new or returning visitors
And more importantly, what they looked at
and how far they went into your site and
how long they stayed
Page Overlay
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View page views on any page
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Shows page views and % of traffic
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Works on entire site
Compare Year to Year
Custom and Regular Reports
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Can send a report up to ten email addresses
One time reports
Weekly
Monthly
PDF, CSV, XML
Sent on Mondays
DNR Weekly Reports
Setting up Weekly Reports
One Time Reports
Segment Reports
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Report on a number of different sections of a site
in one report
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Search by directory or page or many of the other
parameters that GA supports such as mobile
and search combined
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Schedule the report
Segment Reports
Segment Reports
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Some of the segments that GA can track:
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All Traffic
Visitor Type (new or returning visitor)
City
Region
Country/Territory
Campaign
Keyword
Source
Medium
Referral path
Landing Page
Exit Page
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Shutdown Traffic
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June 30th, very busy day, big drop but there
were still visits to the “we are shut down page”
and then a major uptick on 7/21 and then normal
traffic again
44,500 page views on Thursday restart vs.
38,000 on a typical Monday (normally busiest day)
Resources
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Advanced Web Metrics with Google Analytics –
Second Edition by Brian Clifton
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Google Analytics Help
http://www.google.com/support/googleanalytics/
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Google Analytics Support Forum
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google+
Analytics?hl=en
Resources
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http://www.webanalyticsassociation.org/?page=res
ources_books
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http://blogs.webtrends.com/
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http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/
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http://webanalysis.blogspot.com/#axzz1UdLtjIxW
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http://online-behavior.com/
Limitations on Hits Per Month
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Free service, up to 5 million hits per
month, if there are more than 5 million,
your GA account needs to link to an active
AdWords account. More info at:
http://www.google.com/support/googleanalytics/bin/answ
er.py?answer=55476
Limitations on Number of Profiles
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Previously the limit on profiles for the free
version was 50 profiles, the paid version
was limited to 200 profiles. More info at:
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google+Analytic
s/thread?tid=6bbdedcd0c35d5d0&hl=en
https://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google+Analyti
cs/thread?tid=2dac0c5ffcbb2785&hl=en
Questions?
[email protected]
651-259-5450
mndnr.gov