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Google Analytics Cheatsheet
Setting up
Put this between the <head> and </head> tags:
<script type="text/javascript">
var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");
document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/
script%3E"));
</script> No, this isn't the standard setup described in Google
Analytics' help. It works better. K?
Put this right before the </body> tag:
<script type="text/javascript"> Replace red x's with your account number. To find this
try{ code, and the account number:
var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-xxxxxx-x");
pageTracker._trackPageview(); 1. Log into Google Analytics.
} catch(err) {} 2. Click 'edit' next to the site you're setting up.
</script> 3. Click 'Check Status'.
Read the Google help topic
If your site spans multiple subdomains: This lets you track multiple subdomains, like
<script type="text/javascript"> ian.portent.com and www.portent.com, in a single
try{ report.
var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-xxxxxx-x");
pageTracker._setDomainName(".example.com"); If instead you're tracking across multiple domains, like
pageTracker._trackPageview(); www.portent.com and www.mysite.com, use this:
} catch(err) {} pageTracker._setDomainName("none");
</script> pageTracker._setAllowLinker(true);
Read the Google help topic
Link Tagging: Tracking code variables and examples
The variables:
mysite.com/index.php?utm_source=source&utm_medium=medium&utm_campaign=campaign&utm_term=term&utm_content=content
From a discount-focused banner ad on 'sitesite.com' that's part of the Spring 2010 campaign:
mysite.com/index.php?utm_source=sitesite_com&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=s2010&utm_content=discount
Same site, same campaign, but this banner's copy focuses on the great styles:
mysite.com/index.php?utm_source=sitesite_com&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=s2010&utm_content=styles
Same site, same campaign, Bing ppc ad about the discount, keyphrase 'wedding dresses':
...?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=s2010&utm_content=discount&utm_term=wedding%20dresses
Same site, ppc ad from Google: If the target page already has a '?' in the URL:
It's a trick! In Google Adwords, autotagging will automatically provide Google Then, instead of a '?' at the beginning of the tracking
Analytics the data you need. Autotagging is enabled by default. To disable it, string, use an ampersand: '&'
log into Adwords, go to My Account >> Account Preferences >> Tracking.
Click Edit, then uncheck 'Destination URL Auto-Tagging'. Try the URL Builder!
Read the Google help topic
Filters: Why and how
Filters let you include or exclude traffic and visitor data from your Google Find filters under Analytics Settings. Locate the
Analytics reports. profile for which you want to edit a filter, click Edit and
scroll down to 'Filters applied to profile'. Or, click
Advanced filters also let you capture data that Google Analytics normally Analytics Settings, then scroll down and click Filter
does not, and then report on it using user-defined variables. Manager.
At a minimum, every profile should have filters that
Creating an IP address filter: exclude visits from your office IP address(es), as well
as visits from vendors and other users who are not
your audience.
Google has a nifty tool to generate this IP address
range gibberish for you. Click here to see it.
When using advanced filters, always set up a
^66\.135\.149\.(1(9[2-9])|2([0-1][0-9]|2[0-3]))$ separate profile to test the filter.
Read the Google help topic
Google Analytics Cheat Sheet by Ian Lurie, Conversation Marketing, 2010. Licensed under the Creative Commons
Goals and goal tracking
A goal, aka a conversion, conversion goal or desired outcome, is any action
you want your visitors to take: A purchase, download, registration, 'contact us'
form completion, or even a minimum number of pages viewed all qualify as
goals.
Find goals under Analytics Settings. Locate the profile for which you want
to add or edit a goal, click Edit and scroll down to Goals.
Here's a typical goal: A purchase of a $100 e-book. The final page in the
checkout process is 'thankyou-purchase.html':
If you have many products with different values, be sure to enable and set up
e-commerce tracking, too. Click here to read how.
Read the Google help topic
Track 404 errors
On your 404 error page, add this to your page tracking code:
pageTracker._trackPageview("/404.html?page=" + document.location.pathname +
document.location.search + "&from=" + document.referrer);
So that it looks like this:
The 'page tracking code' is the 2nd chunk of javascript
<script type="text/javascript">
- the one you put right before the </body> tag.
try{
var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-xxxxxx-x");
Replace red x's with your account number. To find this
pageTracker._trackPageview("/404.html?page=" +
code, and the account number:
document.location.pathname + document.location.search + "&from=" +
document.referrer);} catch(err) {}
1. Log into Google Analytics.
</script>
2. Click 'edit' next to the site you're setting up.
3. Click 'Check Status'.
Read the Google help topic
Serious nerdy ninja tricks
Track clicks to your site from the 2nd page of search results http://bit.ly/2ndpageclicks
Will Crichtlow, Distilled
Record ranking of referring keywords when clicked http://bit.ly/serpclicks
Nikki Rae & Andre Scholten
Find pages with little or no organic search traffic http://bit.ly/seoclickless
Ian Lurie, Portent
Use a hash (#) instead of a ? in your tracking URLs http://bit.ly/gahash
LunaMetrics
Blogs to read, tools you need
Occam's Razor, Avinash Kaushik http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/
The Google Analytics Blog http://analytics.blogspot.com/
Google Analytics regular expression tester http://bit.ly/garegex
Google Analytics URL tag builder http://bit.ly/gatagger
IP filter regular expression builder http://bit.ly/gaipfilter
Bare minimum, no matter what, be sure you're using...
Site search tracking Goal tracking Intelligence Alerts Adwords integration
Google Analytics Cheat Sheet by Ian Lurie, Conversation Marketing, 2010. Licensed under the Creative Commons
Ian is the author of the blog, Conversation Marketing, and CEO of Portent Interactive. Twitter: portentint