Based on the book Advanced Web Metrics with Google Analytics - by Brian Clifton
Here I write about Google Analytics setup and usage; Online privacy - debunking the myths; Data accuracy - what is accurate, what is not and how to live with it; Website usability & conversion optimisation - the whole raison d'etre for measurement in the first place; Democratisation of data - spreading the love; Google in general - business practices, approach and strategy.
Let me explain the story…
A global white-goods brand, lets call them GlobalBrandlux.com, sent me a survey asking what I thought about my recent website experience. Here’s my response – I wanted to be honest and constructive:
Online privacy is a complex subject. Hence I use this slide to neatly sum up the issue by analogy. Essentially, to illustrate the different levels of privacy I use the scenario of an organisation wishing to understand the impact of traffic on their community.
When speaking at events I am sometimes accused (light heartedly) of drinking too much of the Google Koolade – meaning I endorse the good parts and skip/skim the pitfalls. However this post is a criticism of Google for what I consider to be a flawed thinking with their recently announced support of multiple currencies in Google Analytics.
SEO is getting harder! If you are active with search engine optimisation (SEO), then you will be aware of the issue of “not provided” showing in your Google Analytics reports for organic visits. This post updates the situation plotting the growing impact over time and the differentiation of tech-savvy versus tech-savvy web users.
A busy day…
- Tag Management Systems (panel)
- Privacy Q&A with the UK data privacy authority
- Fiduciary…
I have been to all of the London events (I think) since 2004 so its been interesting to see how things have changed over the years. Here’s my thoughts:
What’s Out
Talking about cookies i.e. deletion rates
Feature wars – tool X has 10,000 “must have” features Beauty Parades – vendors lined up to pitch their products
KPIs – How to select/choose your key performance indicators
Data accuracy questions
What’s In
Big data – we all now have it
Tag Management – the CMS of third-party script placement
Privacy – good/practise, how does Google fit in
Case studies – more examples of what works, what does’t, search marketing and content optimisation
A very quick poll to help me understand book sales. This is to help me understand how to approach future editions, the value of an ebook, and how updates can be managed.
Last week I attended my 8th GA Summit in Mountain View (the first one had just 10 people in the room! Four of that original group where there this year*). For a change, I summarise the highlights – and why I consider them important to you the GA user – as an infographic
Its good to know the limits of your Google Analytics implementation. All software has it limits and Google Analytics is no exception. From Google’s viewpoint, setting boundaries and limits prevents errors and system overload, and it ensures that other users of the service are not affected by the processing of someone else’s data. For example, a website with a relatively low amount of traffic data should not have its reports delayed due to the processing of another user’s data from a site that has more traffic.
The table below lists the limits set for the free version of Google Analytics.
Following a recent period of renewed media debate (I use that term loosely!) about the legality of tracking website visitors with Google Analytics, Sara Andersson, founder of Search Integration AB and the blog No Ketchup (hence the reference in my title), interviewed me about my opinions on this last week and what the debate should really be about. As always, I would be interested in your feedback…
The Questions:
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