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Unlocking the Mystery of Web Analytics
Dave HodginsData Coordinator & Web Developer
Library Research Service, Colorado State Librarywww.lrs.org / www.libraryjobline.org
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About Me
I am the Data Coordinator and Web Developer at Library Research Service (www.lrs.org).
I produce data and tools that empower libraries to improve the lives of all Coloradans.
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Goals
Spark interest in beefing up your web analytics strategy, and take away one or two keywords/concepts that you will research further.
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Talk is cheap,but so are
web analytics
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Web analytics offer you valuable
insight into your users’ behaviors,
wants, needs, etc.
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Web analytics are essential to
successful goal/data driven
decision making.
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We use Google Analytics because
• It’s free• It’s well documented• It’s built & supported by one of the
largest advertising companies
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We use awesome open source tools like Laravel and Bootstrap…
…because they make the process of producing cool and useful stuff…
…quick and (relatively) painless.
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We roll our own analytics because
• We want granular control over our data
• We want to accurately track “tricky” stuff like direct file access
• We can
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Server -> MySQL -> Laravel, fronted by Twitter Bootstrap
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Custom pivot table in LibraryJobline
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Tip: Measurable ~!= Useful
Just because you CAN track something doesn’t necessarily mean you SHOULD. Reduce
signal-to-noise ratio by designing PURPOSEFUL data collection
strategies.
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A Brief History of Web Analytics
Server-side• Server logs traffic• Log analyzer (poorly) parses data• Analytics are…generous
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A Brief History of Web Analytics
Client-side• JavaScript logs user interactions• Data are pre-processed and
parsed by Google• Analytics are more accurate
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The Mighty Google Analytics Tracking Code
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A Brief Tour of Google Analytics
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Lets Make This Better
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Filters
Filtered Views allow you to exclude or modify data before they are saved
to GA. Since the manipulation occurs before storage, you cannot
apply filters to historic data!
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Filters
Filtered Views are handy when you want to limit a user’s access to a
subset of your data.
Filters views permanently alter your data, so always maintain a raw,
unfiltered view!
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Tip: Filter Early and Often
While GA provides methods for segmenting existing data, filters are often more convenient; but
they cannot be applied to historic data. Anticipate future
needs!
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Filters
Typical filters include:• Exclude data that doesn’t belong
to your site (apply to every view)• Exclude internal traffic• Segment by sub/domain• Segment by content/services
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Filter Options
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Tip: Suck it Up and Learn Regular Expressions
Regular expressions are like keyword searching using Booleans,
wildcards, and placeholders, except with the additional pain of a hot
poker to the brain.
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Tip: Suck it Up and Learn Regular Expressions
Regular expressions let you do things like…• Find URLS that begin with 4
digits (e.g. WordPress permalinks): ^/\d{4}
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Tip: Suck it Up and Learn Regular Expressions
…and do things like like…• Find URLS for content in the
“data and tools” section of the site: ^/data-tools
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Segments
Segments allow you to group data without making permanent changes to
your GA profile.
Multiple segments can be viewed side by side, making comparisons easy.
You can create custom segments using the same criteria as filters.
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Tip: Filter vs SegmentFilter Segment
Historic Data No Yes
Compare Data No Yes
Permanent Change Yes No
Restrict Access Yes No
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Events
Events are user activities that do not generate pageviews. They might include: clicking
a link, changing a form value, toggling dynamic content, etc.
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Events
Events are essential for tracking user interactions in
situations like…a single page website, and/or dynamic
(AJAX) content
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Events vs Virtual Pageviews
A virtual pageview is a pageview that you manually
create and send to GA.
They get lumped in with all the rest of your “normal”
analytics data.
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Events vs Virtual Pageviews
Use virtual pageviews to track clicks and/or links to static
files that cannot have the GA tracking code, such as…PDF,
DOC, XLS, JPG, etc.
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Campaigns
A campaign is process for tracking EXTERNAL traffic.
In it’s simplest form it is a series of parameters that you
attach to URL’s and that are used by external sources.
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Campaigns
This is your querystring:www.lrs.org/really-cool-article/?page=1
This is your querystring on GA campaigns:
www.lrs.org/really-cool-article?page=2&http://www.libraryjobline.org/job/4797/Parttime-25-hour-
Concierge?ref=email&utm_source=newjobemail&utm_medium
=email&utm_campaign=new%20job%20emails
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Campaigns
• Track external and/or 3rd party content and links such as…– Email– Social media– Non-HTML content (PDF, Word, etc.)
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Campaigns
Campaigns are especially useful for social links because:
• Links within mobile apps do not sent referrer data
• Your links will (hopefully) be shared via other sites/networks
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Tip: Use Campaigns to AB/Split Test
Want to know which version of your newsletter/banner/etc. is most
engaging? Campaign those suckers.
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Campaigns
NEVER use campaigns to
track internal links
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Campaigns
Create campaigns using Google’s URL builder @
https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1033867
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Done!