What is Google Analytics and how does it work? - TechTarget

Google Analytics is used to track website performance and collect visitor insights. It can help organizations determine top sources of user traffic, ... Home Datascienceandanalytics CRM GoogleAnalytics Sharethisitemwithyournetwork: By WesleyChai TechTargetContributor WhatisGoogleAnalytics? GoogleAnalyticsisawebanalyticsservicethatprovidesstatisticsandbasicanalyticaltoolsforsearchengineoptimization(SEO)andmarketingpurposes.TheserviceispartoftheGoogleMarketingPlatformandisavailableforfreetoanyonewithaGoogleaccount. GoogleAnalyticsisusedtotrackwebsiteperformanceandcollectvisitorinsights.Itcanhelporganizationsdeterminetopsourcesofusertraffic,gaugethesuccessoftheirmarketingactivitiesandcampaigns,trackgoalcompletions(suchaspurchases,addingproductstocarts),discoverpatternsandtrendsinuserengagementandobtainothervisitorinformationsuchasdemographics.Smallandmedium-sizedretailwebsitesoftenuseGoogleAnalyticstoobtainandanalyzevariouscustomerbehavioranalytics,whichcanbeusedtoimprovemarketingcampaigns,drivewebsitetrafficandbetterretainvisitors. HowdoesGoogleAnalyticswork? GoogleAnalyticsacquiresuserdatafromeachwebsitevisitorthroughtheuseofpagetags.AJavaScriptpagetagisinsertedintothecodeofeachpage.Thistagrunsinthewebbrowserofeachvisitor,collectingdataandsendingittooneofGoogle'sdatacollectionservers.GoogleAnalyticscanthengeneratecustomizablereportstotrackandvisualizedatasuchasthenumberofusers,bouncerates,averagesessiondurations,sessionsbychannel,pageviews,goalcompletionsandmore. Thepagetagfunctionsasawebbugorwebbeacon,togathervisitorinformation.However,becauseitreliesoncookies,thesystemcan'tcollectdataforuserswhohavedisabledthem. GoogleAnalyticsincludesfeaturesthatcanhelpusersidentifytrendsandpatternsinhowvisitorsengagewiththeirwebsites.Featuresenabledatacollection,analysis,monitoring,visualization,reportingandintegrationwithotherapplications.Thesefeaturesinclude: datavisualizationandmonitoringtools,includingdashboards,scorecardsandmotionchartsthatdisplaychangesindataovertime; datafiltering,manipulationandfunnelanalysis; datacollectionapplicationprograminterfaces(APIs); predictiveanalytics,intelligenceandanomalydetection; segmentationforanalysisofsubsets,suchasconversions; customreportsforadvertising,acquisition,audiencebehaviorandconversion; email-basedsharingandcommunication;and integrationwithotherproducts,includingGoogleAds,GoogleDataStudio,SalesforceMarketingCloud,GoogleAdSense,GoogleOptimize360,GoogleSearchAds360,GoogleDisplay&Video360,GoogleAdManagerandGoogleSearchConsole. WithintheGoogleAnalyticsdashboard,userscansaveprofilesformultiplewebsitesandeitherseedetailsfordefaultcategoriesorselectcustommetricstodisplayforeachsite.Availablecategoriesfortrackingincludecontentoverview,keywords,referringsites,visitorsoverview,mapoverlayandtrafficsourcesoverview. ThedashboardcanbeviewedontheGoogleAnalyticssiteandisavailablethroughawidgetorapluginforembeddingintoothersites.CustomizedGoogleAnalyticsdashboardsarealsoavailablefromindependentvendors. Importantmetrics Ametricisastandardofquantitativemeasurement.GoogleAnalyticsenablesuserstotrackupto200differentmetricstomeasurehowtheirwebsitesareperforming.Whilesomemetricsmaybemorevaluabletocertainbusinessesthanothers,thesearesomeofthemostpopularmetrics: Users.Auserisauniqueornewvisitortothewebsite. Bouncerate.Thepercentageofvisitorswhoviewedonlyasinglepage.ThesevisitorsonlytriggeredasinglerequesttotheGoogleAnalyticsserver. Sessions.Thegroupofvisitorinteractionsthathappenina30-minutewindowofactivity. Averagesessionduration.Howlongonaverageeachvisitorstaysonthesite. Percentageofnewsessions.Thepercentageofwebsitevisitsthatarefirst-timevisits. Pagespersession.Theaveragenumberofpageviewspereachsession. Goalcompletions.Thenumberoftimesvisitorscompleteaspecified,desirableaction.Thisisalsoknownasaconversion. Pageviews.Totalnumberofpagesviewed. Metricsvs.dimensions GoogleAnalyticsreportsconsistofdimensionsandmetrics.Understandingthedifferencebetweenthemiscriticalforproperinterpretationofreports. Dimensions.Thesearequalitativeattributesorlabelsusedtodescribeandorganizedata.Forexample,iftheaveragesessionlengthisbeingmeasuredacrossseveraldifferentregions,thedimensionswouldbe"Region.""Averagesessionlength,"whichisaquantitativemeasurement,isanexampleofametric. DimensionscanbecustomizedinGoogleAnalytics.Examplesofcommondimensionsinclude: language; browsertype; cityandcountry; modelsofdevices;and useragegroup. Metrics.Thesearequantitativemeasurementsofasingletypeofdata.Examplesofmetricsincludeaveragesessionlengths,pageviews,pagespersessionandaveragetimeonsite.Metricsareusedtocomparemeasurementsacrossdifferentdimensions. Benefitsandlimitations AnoverviewofthebenefitsassociatedwithGoogleAnalytics GoogleAnalyticshasdistinctbenefitsandlimitations.Prosgenerallyrelatetotheplatformbeingpowerful,freeanduser-friendly.GoogleAnalyticsalsoprovidesthefollowingbenefits: Theserviceisfree,easytouseandbeginnerfriendly. GoogleAnalyticsoffersavarietyofmetricsandcustomizabledimensions.Manydifferenttypesofusefulinsightscanbecapturedusingthisplatform. GoogleAnalyticsalsocontainsmanyothertools,suchasdatavisualization,monitoring,reporting,predictiveanalysis,etc. GoogleAnalyticshistoricallyhassomeshortcomingsthatmayaffectitsdataaccuracy,includingthefollowing: OveralldataaccuracycanbecompromisedbyuserswhoblockGoogleAnalyticscookies,certainbrowserextensions,adfilteringprogramsandprivacynetworks. Reportsaregeneratedbysampling500,000randomsessionstoreduceserverload.Inaddition,marginsoferrorareonlygivenforthenumberofvisitsinthesereports.Therefore,smallsegmentsofdatamaycontainverylargemarginsoferror. Useracquisitiondatavs.userbehaviordata GoogleAnalyticscanprovidebusinesseswithmultipletypesofdataformarketingpurposes. Useracquisitiondataprovidesinsightintohowcustomersarearrivingatthewebsite.Customersmaycomefromavarietyofchannels,suchaspaidsearchengineresults,unpaidsearchengineresults,socialmedialinksorsimplytypingintheURL.Understandinguseracquisitiondataiscriticalformaximizingwebsitetraffic. Userbehaviordatashowswhatcustomersaredoingonthewebsite,andhowtheyareengagingwiththesite.Thisincludeshowlongtheyspendoneachpage,howmanypagestheyvisit,andiftheyengagewithvideosandgraphics.Thisdatacanbeusedtocreateweblayoutsthatbetterconnectvisitorswiththecontenttheyarelookingfor,leadingtoamoreeffectiveuserexperience.Userexperiencesoptimizedaccordingtouserbehaviordataaremorelikelytocreatesalesandconversions. GoogleAnalytics4 GoogleAnalytics4,orGA4isthemostrecentiterationofthisserviceandwasreleasedinOctober2020.GA4issomewhatofanoverhaulofpreviousversionsofGoogleAnalytics.Itoffersacompletelynewuserinterfaceandshiftsfromrelianceonthird-partycookiestowardtheuseofmachinelearningforbetterdataaccuracy. FeaturesthatarenewinGoogleAnalytics4include: machinelearningandartificialintelligence(AI)tools; deeperintegrationwithGoogleAds; customer-centricreportingdesignedaroundlifecycledata; additionalcodelesstrackingfeaturesthatcanprovidedatawithlesslatency;and enhanceddatacontrolfeaturesforregulatorycomplianceanddatamanagement. FormoreinformationonGoogleAnalytics4,clickhere. ThiswaslastupdatedinApril2021 ContinueReadingAboutGoogleAnalytics HowtocollectcustomerdatatoimproveoverallretailCX Looker,Googleplanningplentyofanalyticscollaborations Customerdataplatformtoolspushpersonalization,privacy Consumerbehavioranalyticsmakestheunpredictablepredictable HowtouseGoogleAnalytics:Acompleteguide RelatedTerms extrapolationandinterpolation Extrapolationreferstoestimatinganunknownvaluebasedonextendingaknownsequenceofvaluesorfacts.Interpolationisthe... See complete definition Fibonaccisequence TheFibonaccisequenceisasetofintegers(theFibonaccinumbers)thatstartswithazero,followedbyaone,thenbyanother... 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