how to destroy your google analytics implementation
DESCRIPTION
Presented at the Measurecamp conference, this presentation looks at 15 ways that you can destroy the valuable data going into Google AnalyticsTRANSCRIPT
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10 or more ways
to destroy yourGoogle
Analyticsimplementatio
n Charles MeadenDigital Nation
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30 seconds about me
• Founder of Digital Nation• Been using web analytics in one form or another for 18
years• Using Google Analytics since it was launced
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A lesson from my first boss.
•Shit in•Shit out
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We shouldn’t be having this talk
• If everyone associated with web analytics on a project did their job properly
• So who’s to blame
– Marketing folk who don’t ‘have the time’ to write a proper brief
– Developers who are too arrogant to follow instructions and do it in their own way
– Analysts who don’t carry out sufficient QA on work they have briefed in
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Why do mistakes happen
Lack of knowledge prevents sites from tagged correctly
Organisations don’t truly value the data from their tools and won’t commit sufficient budgets to getting them setup correctly
Agencies who claim ‘expert’ knowledge of analytics yet don’t even exclude the IP address of the client
Not enough attention being paid to analytics, so mistakes are not spotted for weeks or months
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You can help
• If there is anything I’ve missed let me know and I’ll add it to this deck
• Get hold of me via– [email protected]– @charlesmeaden
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Tags Missing From Pages
Consequence• Pages not being recorded at all• Self referrals from your own domain name• Incorrectly recorded landing pages
How to spot• Use custom filters in Screaming Frog to search the UA code
on the page
Fix• Maintain a list of all page types and monitor on a regular
basis– Intelligence Events will give you an early warning
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Too Many GA Tags
Consequence• Your bounce rate drops to zero• Multiple sets of data running around your organisation
How to spot• Use either HTTPFox or GA Debug to see which tags are
being fired• If using Wordpress or CMS check which plugins are being
used
Fix• Hunt through the source code till you’ve find them and
work out which one can go
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Set Domain Name Not Set Or Misconfigured
Consequence• Traffic from other sites can appear in your domain• Visits from blog.yourdomainname.com come in as separate
visits
How to spot• Pages start appearing that don’t belong to your site• Your subdomains appear as referrers
Fix• Add the setdomainname into the your GA code
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Forgetting to exclude yourself / client / employees
Consequence• Inflated visitor figures• Inflated conversion rates from all those tests you run
How to spot• Look and see in Audience > Technology > Networks for
large amounts of traffic from one network• Large visitor numbers from countries outside your target
market
Fix• Use a filter to exclude all known static IP addresses• If on a dynamic IP, set a cookie to fill the User Defined slot
and exclude against this
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Excluding Browser Bots
Consequence• Inflated visitor figures• Distorted metric
How to spot• High levels of direct traffic with 100% bounce rate• Look and see in Audience > Technology > Networks for
large amounts of traffic from one network• Visits coming from Mozilla User Agent
Fix• Use a filter to exclude IP address and networks
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Not QA’ing Code in the Browser
Consequence• Data either not recorded or wrong• If not spotted in time, long term data quality issues• People stop trusting the data
How to spot• Immediate drops in data • Look for code wrapped in comment tags or no code at all
Fix• Have a test GA account that simulates the standard
account
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Losing UTM & Gclid Codes Due To Redirects
Consequence• Marketing information not correctly recorded• Increase in direct traffic
How to spot• Direct traffic is far higher than you’d expect• Missing medium and sources• Use HTTPFox to analyse the redirects and see what gets
stripped out
Fix• Discuss with your developers the most efficient way of
developing the redirects that handle the codes
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Not Linking Adwords to Analytics
Consequence• All Adwords traffic is reported as organic• Lose your Matched Search Query report
How to spot• Nothing reported in the Adwords section
Fix• Link Adwords to Analytics
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Not Tagging Email Campaigns
Consequence• Visits appear as referrals from webmail accounts or direct• Lose the ability to provide detailed email reports
How to spot• Referrals reports contains traffic from domains such as
mail.yahoo, mail.live.com
Fix• Talk to your ESP about the most effective way to tag your
pages
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Events Being Fired on Page Load
Consequence• Drops the bounce rate to zero
How to spot• Use HTTPFox or GADebug to see what is being sent back to
Google and what is firing the eventFix• Set the event to be a non-interaction event
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Events Being Fired on Page Load
Consequence• Drops the bounce rate to zero
How to spot• Use HTTPFox or GADebug to see what is being sent back to
Google and what is firing the eventFix• Set the event to be a non-interaction event
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None or One Thank You Page for All Forms
Consequence• Incorrect Goal information
How to spot• Goals have almost identical conversion rates
Fix• Create separate thank you pages• Set the pageview element to record a distinct name for
each form
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Goals Not Defined Tightly Enough
Consequence• Incorrect conversion rates
How to spot• Funnels that don’t look right – i.e bulge in the middle
Fix• Use regex to tightly define goals• Test, Test and Test again
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Session Id’s Not Filtered Out
Consequence• Increase the number of unique page names and running
into Google limits
How to spot• 1000’s of combinations of the same name
Fix• Exclude specific variables in the admin section• Use a search and replace filter to exclude
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Site Search Not Implemented
Consequence• Searches just recorded as page views• Can’t use the Site Search tools to segment
How to spot• The Content > Site Section is empty
Fix• Look at URL’s to determine where the query string is
– http://www.example.com/search?controller=search&search_query=zoo
• Set up site search in the Google Analytics Admin section
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Zero Search Results Not Tracked
Consequence• You don’t know which search terms failed to produce zero
results
How to spot• You can’t as you’re not tracking them
Fix• Modify your search results URL to include a phrase such as
noresults– http://www.example.com/search?controller=search
&search_query=noresults:zoo• Change the trackpageview element in the code on the zero results page to
capture the search term
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Thank You
• Craig Sullivan• Hugh Gage• Philip Holloway• Paul Cook• Micheal Hayes• Diego Marquinez