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Google Analytics Videos On YouTube

Christian — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 22:37:00 +0000

We have put a tremendous amount of effort into making Google Analytics more intuitive and easy to use. The hard part is teaching people how to use their insights to drive action. We hope to change that with the introduction of our very own Google Analytics Playlist on YouTube. Here you can check out full-length presentations on advanced analytics implementation, best practices, how to create a data driven culture and more.

We have a solid lineup of videos to start with taken on August 1st when we held our first ever Google Conversion University event. It was attended by 100+ representatives from major companies across all major verticals. Attendees got the chance to share ideas, meet with our team, and listen to some great presentations on optimizing their web analytics experiences. You will find those presentations, filmed live in August, now on YouTube.

Those of you who want to pick up a few quick tips might be interested in 'Bounce Rate: The Simply Powerful Metric ', 'Non Ecommerce Sites: Beyond Averages...', and ' Context and Actionability in Web Analytics' by Avinash Kaushik, our resident Analytics Evangelist, blogger, and author of Web Analytics: An Hour a Day. We also have the complete sessions, including an introduction to Conversion University by Brett Crosby, Sr. Manager, which provides perspective on the evolution and direction of Google Analytics. Stephanie Hsu covers key reports for the optimal AdWords campaign. Alex Ortiz touches upon a number of advanced techniques such as segmentation through filters. And Tom Leung covered how to enhance your entire user experience using Website Optimizer.

In the future, you can expect more in-depth content about the Google Analytics product to be filmed and posted here in this Playlist. These videos are a great source of insight into how you can continually improve your web analytics practices, and even into our own team here at Google. We hope you enjoy them.

Posted by Christian Yee, Google Analytics Team

Reminder: Google Analytics to complete transition to new interface on July 18th

Christian — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 21:48:00 +0000

It's been about two months since we launched the new Google Analytics interface and the response has been overwhelmingly positive. And since then, we've updated the new Google Analytics with the most requested features. We'll continue updating the new Google Analytics going forward, of course, but here's your reminder that the earlier version of Google Analytics will be removed on Wednesday, July 18th. Most of you already know this from the message on your Analytics Settings page and from earlier posts here, but we wanted to give everyone another reminder.

If you haven't yet transitioned, you might check out these resources:

the animated tour of the new version,
the Report Finder tool, which maps where data from the previous interface is located within the new version, (also available within your reports in the left navigation menu)
the FAQs,
and the features page for the new version.

Posted by Christian Yee, Google Analytics Team

Previous Reporting Delays

Christian — Tue, 29 May 2007 20:38:00 +0000

Dear Google Analytics users,

Last week there were some temporary delays in data processing. Please note that all data was still collected and no data was lost. Your reports should now be fully updated.

We are sorry for the inconvenience and the late notification. Please continue to check this blog whenever you require the latest updates on Google Analytics.

Posted by Christian Yee, Google Analytics Team

Come to Vermont for an Online Marketing Boot Camp.

Christian — Mon, 21 May 2007 23:07:00 +0000

EpikOne, a Google Analytics Authorized Consultant, and Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont have teamed up to offer an Online Marketing Boot Camp. We'll be there too, and together we will conduct seminars and training sessions on how to use Google products to optimize online marketing strategies. Attendees will learn about social media and multivariate testing, as well as configuration, implementation, and reporting techniques in Google Analytics, Website Optimizer, Google AdWords and Blogger.

This four-day Boot Camp will be held from June 11-14. Instructors include Kristoffer Ewald, Managing Partner of online consultancy The Milk, (a Google Analytics Authorized Consultant), and EpikOne staff members. Daniel Schutzsmith, Editor and Publisher of Graphic Define Magazine will be leading the social media and online visibility sessions. You'll also meet Rachel Meyers from the NYC Google Analytics team.

There will also be a special Web Analytics Wednesday reception hosted by the Web Analytics Association. We hope you join us.

Posted by Alden DeSoto, Google Analytics Team

You now have access to the new Google Analytics!

Christian — Fri, 18 May 2007 00:05:00 +0000

If you've been waiting to get access to the new interface, you don't have to wait any longer. Now everyone has access to the new Google Analytics. You'll also be able to use the previous version of Google Analytics until July 18th. If there are specific reports in the previous version of Google Analytics that you'd like to find in the new interface, try using the Report Finder tool. If you haven't viewed the Tour, you may find it to be a helpful introduction to the new Google Analytics.

I love the new Google Analytics and I believe it goes a long way towards percolating data up to the surface where it can be seen by the right people. But rather than hear more about it from me, I thought I'd point out a few other posts on the new Google Analytics interface:

In "Welcome to the New Google Analytics", Justin from EpikOne provides an in-depth overview of how to use sticky URL’s, custom dashboards, and the date range selector.

Want to know how to get started off on the right foot with the new Google Analytics? Check out Avinash Kaushik's blog post.

Erik Dafforn's gives a wrap-up in "New Google Analytics: Built for Search Marketers" on ClickZ.

Adam Ostrow takes a detailed look at setting goals, local conversion data, and more in "27 Features That Make Google Analytics Best of Breed."

Speaking for all of us on the Google Analytics team, enjoy!

Posted by Brett Crosby, Sr. Manager, Google Analytics

Analytics – Another tool for webmasters

Christian — Fri, 11 May 2007 17:47:00 +0000

Webmaster tools from Google are indispensable for people who optimize their site for indexing in Google. Eighteen months ago, Google launched another free tool for webmasters - Google Analytics - which tells you about your visitors and the traffic patterns to your site using a JavaScript code snippet to execute tracking and reporting. This past Tuesday, Google Analytics l aunched a new version, with an easier-to-use interface that has more intuitive navigation and greater visibility for important metrics. We also introduced some collaboration and customization features such as email reports and custom dashboards.

But we wanted to highlight some of the webmaster-specific metrics within Google Analytics for our regular readers, since it offers a lot of easily-accessible information that will enrich the work you're doing.

For instance, do you know how many visitors to your site are using IE versus Firefox? And even further, how many of those IE or Firefox users are converting on a goal you have set up? Google Analytics can tell you information like this so you can prepare and tailor your website for your audience. Then, when you are designing, you can prioritize your testing to make sure that the site works on the most popular browsers and operating systems first.

Are your visitors using Java-enabled browsers? What version of Flash are the majority of your visitors using? What connection speed do they have? If you find that lots of visitors are using a dial-up service, you're going to want to put in some more effort to streamline the load time of images on your site, for example.

Plus, Google Analytics will make your company's marketing division very happy. It reports on the most effective search keywords, the most popular referring sources and the geographic location of visitors, as well as the performance of banner ads, PPC keyword campaigns, and email newsletters. If you haven't tried Google Analytics, watch the Flash tour of the product or set up a free account now and see statistics on your visitors and the traffic to your site within three hours.

Posted by Jeff Gillis, Google Analytics Team

Temporary Downtime: Account Maintenance and Unavailability

Christian — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 03:16:00 +0000

Google Analytics will experience downtime today, Thursday, 12 April, 2007 at 12:00 AM PDT for a few hours for routine maintenance. Your account will be inaccessible during this time.

During this downtime, Google Analytics data will continue to be collected within your account. Your account will be accessible and fully updated within a few hours after 12:00 AM PDT. We apologize for any inconvenience this downtime has caused.

Thank you for using Google Analytics.

Posted by Jeff Gillis, Google Analytics Team

SES New York 2007 Discount Coupon

Christian — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 02:43:00 +0000

If you are thinking of joining us at SES NY from April 10-13 we have some good news. Our friends at IncisiveMedia are allowing us to offer a 20% discount on your choice of a full conference or 1-day pass. Take a look at the coupon (click for a larger view):

To get the discount you simply need to register and enter the priority code: 20GOOA (to be clear, that's "two zero golf oscar oscar alpha"). If you register by March 23rd, you also get $150 off for their early bird pricing. I have always been a fan of this event and I plan to be there, so I hope to see you there, too.

Posted by Brett Crosby, Sr. Manager Google Analytics Team

Tracking Google Checkout Sales, Part 2

Christian — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 23:33:00 +0000

Last post, we told you about a way to use Google Analytics to see your Google Checkout transaction data. Today, we'll show you the alternate method of posting Checkout API requests,

Method 2 for posting Checkout API requests into Google Analytics
In this method, the form that displays the Google Checkout button submits to another URL on the merchant’s website. That URL hosts an application that creates a Checkout API request, executes a server-to-server POST request, and lastly captures Google’s response to that request. The response contains the Google Checkout URL to which the customer should be redirected. To track shoppers while using this method, merchants will need to make the following changes:

1. Add the JavaScript call below to each page that displays a Google Checkout button; HOWEVER, before making this call your page should display all of the forms that display Google Checkout buttons. Your page should also include the standard Google Analytics tracking code before you make this call.

2. Add the following hidden input field to each form on your site that displays a Google Checkout button:

3. For each form that displays a Google Checkout button, add an onsubmit attribute to the

element. The onsubmit element should call the setUrchinInputCode JavaScript function as shown in the following example:

4. Modify the form handler on your site that executes when a user clicks a Google Checkout button. The form handler needs to extract the value of the analyticsdata field so that the value can be included in the Checkout API request.

5. Add the

element to your Checkout API requests. The element’s value should be the analyticsdata field captured by the previous step. The

element is a subtag of the

element.ut transactions.

The implementation details above will allow your Google Analytics account to track your Google Checkout transactions. If you would like an even more detailed explanation, along with screen shots and specific examples for each situation, we recommend checking out this excellent resource that the Google Checkout API team has put together for you.

Posted by Adam Wooley, Google Analytics Team