using data from google analytics
DESCRIPTION
https://learn.extension.org/conferences/nexc2012/events/700 Using data from Google Analytics, we looked into factors that are associated with article and Ask an Expert (AaE) page views. Specifically, we utilized Google Analytics data from April 2009 – April 2012 and available Page Analytics (http://pageanalytics.extension.org/) in the personal finance or Financial Security for All (FSA) Community of Practice (CoP) areas. We shared result implications and limitations based on the results of this study #nEXC2012TRANSCRIPT
Using Data from Google Analytics
2012 eXtension Annual ConferenceOctober 3, 2012
Fahzy Abdul-Rahman (NMSU)… with major assistance from
Andrew Zumwalt
Goal
1. To share our Community of Practice’s (CoP’s) experience on how we have been using Google Analytics (GA)– As non-expert users– Not intended to go over Google Analytics for CoPs• eXtension webinar by Amy Hays (July 2011) - slideshare
2. To share preliminary findings on items that tend to get more hits– Write eXtension publication with these factors in
mind without sacrificing quality
Motivation
• What are getting the hits? Factors?• What GA information tend to be highly useful?– Extension.org is non-profit organization– Many of the GA information pertain to
information measurable in $ (e.g. sales, donation)• Conversion rate (more later)• AdWords
• Application to Personal Finance CoP– Different than Child Care example?
First Steps• Introduction to Google Analytics• Installing the Google Analytics
Tracking Code• Working with Report Data
Interpreting Reports• Pageviews, Visits, and Visitors• Time Metrics• Traffic Sources• Content Reports
• Fundamentals• Account Administration• Campaign Tracking and AdWords
Integration• Analysis Focus - AdWords• Goals in Google Analytics• Filters in Google Analytics• Regex and Google Analytics• Cookies and Google Analytics• E-commerce Tracking• Domains and Subdomains
• In-Depth Analysis• Advanced Segmentation• Analytics Intelligence• Internal Site Search• Event Tracking and Virtual Pageviews• Additional Customizations
Google Analytics IQ (GAIQ) Lessons
Get the most out of your reportsGetting Started• Install tracking code: Install your tracking code and
view reports within 24 hours.• Set up goals: Identify what key actions you want to
track, conversion rates for ads, marketing initiatives, ecommerce or more. Set up goals to measure your effectiveness.
• Working with Report Data: Explore your data and learn how to read basic reports.
Interpreting Reports: Pageviews, Visits, and Visitors; Time Metrics; Traffic Sources; Content Reports
Maximizing Online Advertising & Ecommerce• Link to AdWords: Monitor your AdWords revenue,
conversions, and ROI. Watch this short video to learn how.
• Link AdSense Got an AdSense account to monetize your site? Link your AdSense and Google Analytics accounts to gain more insight into your AdSense performance. Find out which pages and referrers generate the most revenue, and optimize your site's performance using AdSense Reports.
• Optimize keywords: Watch videos to learn how to get the most value from your advertising spend.
• Tag campaigns: Track conversions on banner ads, email marketing, and other marketing initiatives.
• Track Ecommerce: Link ecommerce performance to keywords and marketing campaigns for details on ROI and more.
Exploring Advanced Features• Advanced Segmentation: Create and use
custom segments to isolate and analyze specific parts of your traffic.
• Custom Reporting: Use the drag-and-drop interface to create reports with the metrics and dimensions you want.
• Flash Tracking: Simplified tracking for Adobe Flash, Flex and AS3 content.
• Create customized email reports: Send regularly scheduled reports to stakeholders within your company.
How have we used GA results?
FSA CoP
• Financial Security for All (FSA) Community of Practice (CoP)
• Led by 10-15 Extension professionals • Develop resources; provide peer-reviewed Frequently
Asked Questions and Featured Resources; answer Ask the Expert questions; and created online learning lessons– Lessons: Bankruptcy Education and Investing for Farm Families
• Consumers a source of reliable and up-to-date financial and consumer information through a knowledge base of commonly asked questions that have science-based, peer reviewed answers.
How have we used GA results?
• Shared with NIFA• Monthly CoP Meeting– Unusual activities– Top hits– Accessed Webinar recording– CoP annual report
Content filtered by “personal_finance”
Month PageviewsJan 1, 2007 - Jan 31, 2007 0Feb 1, 2007 - Feb 28, 2007 0Mar 1, 2007 - Mar 31, 2007 8Apr 1, 2007 - Apr 30, 2007 365May 1, 2007 - May 31, 2007 1,509Jun 1, 2007 - Jun 30, 2007 948Jul 1, 2007 - Jul 31, 2007 1,387Aug 1, 2007 - Aug 31, 2007 1,331Sep 1, 2007 - Sep 30, 2007 993Oct 1, 2007 - Oct 31, 2007 1,286Nov 1, 2007 - Nov 30, 2007 1,406Dec 1, 2007 - Dec 31, 2007 916Jan 1, 2008 - Jan 31, 2008 1,030Feb 1, 2008 - Feb 29, 2008 788Mar 1, 2008 - Mar 31, 2008 741Apr 1, 2008 - Apr 30, 2008 616
…Jan 1, 2009 - Jan 31, 2009 734Feb 1, 2009 - Feb 28, 2009 767Mar 1, 2009 - Mar 31, 2009 785Apr 1, 2009 - Apr 30, 2009 30,348May 1, 2009 - May 31, 2009 32,451Jun 1, 2009 - Jun 30, 2009 32,060Jul 1, 2009 - Jul 31, 2009 32,618Aug 1, 2009 - Aug 31, 2009 30,837
E.g. #1
Pre-April 2009
• From Ben MacNeill (eXtension engineering group)
That spike is directly related to when we started collecting GA data by category. Around April 11 we appended categories to the URL that Google records so that we could then filter by category within GA.
There's no way to get that information prior to April 2009.
Glossary Spike
• 5,000 page views for January 31, 2012
E.g. #2
Glossary Spike
• For that day, 1,353 Pageviews from "cloquet.k12.mn.us" (Unique's: 167)
AaE Question Escalation
• (August, 2012) “Received a deluge of AaE question escalation reports this past month. Not sure why. Unfortunately, some questions were about resources in a certain county in the U.S., some wanted financial assistance from us, some were very poorly worded, and some were just plain venting about the economy or the government. I answered them the best that I could and closed out some that we couldn't work with.”
E.g. #3
AaE Question Escalation
• Not everything can be answered by GA
Where are the hits coming from?
Historically
eXtension - ALL
FSA
• National
eXtension stats: Applicable to FSA?
Data from: Quantcast
FSA Visitor’s Tendency • Visitors Flow, September 2012
New
FSA Visitor’s Tendency • Browser & OS, September 2012
Keywords 04/2009-04/20091. (not provided) 1,357 18.93%2. smart goals 85 1.19%3. what is fica tax 42 0.59%4. rmd rules 39 0.54%5. investing for farm families 38 0.53%6. what is fica on my pay-
check 34 0.47%7. what's fica on my pay-
check 30 0.42%8. lost birth certificate 27 0.38%9. fica exemption 25 0.35%
10. important household documents 25 0.35%
09/20121.
lost birth certificate 7,931 1.76%2.
what is fica on my paycheck 7,931 1.76%3.
(not provided) 5,500 1.22%4.
what is fica 2,847 0.63%5.
fica tax 2,463 0.55%6.
what is debt 1,759 0.39%7.
fica exempt 1,695 0.38%8.
self proving affidavit 1,695 0.38%9.
self-proving affidavit 1,279 0.28%10.
replace lost birth certificate 1,216 0.27%
04/2009-04/2009 1. google.com 320 12.46%
2. genxfinance.com 69 2.69%
3. intranet 62 2.41%
4. fcs.tamu.edu 61 2.38%
5. njaes.rutgers.edu 58 2.26%
6. csrees.usda.gov 55 2.14%
7. early-retirement.org 55 2.14%
8. studentaid.rutgers.edu 55 2.14%
9. google.ca 53 2.06%
10. 4-h.org 52 2.02%
09/20121.
google.com 7,643 8.12%
2.genxfinance.com 5,692 6.05%
3.extension.iastate.edu 2,718 2.89%
4.njaes.rutgers.edu 2,111 2.24%
5.fcs.tamu.edu 2,015 2.14%
6.csrees.usda.gov 1,759 1.87%
7.facebook.com 1,407 1.49%
8.lifehacker.com 1,247 1.32%
9.about.extension.org 1,151 1.22%
10. extension.unh.edu 1,151 1.22%
Referral Traffic Source
The Hits
• Data from GA• Many readily available from FSA CoP efforts (e.g.
tagging)• Scraping – Google Spreadsheet Doc (=insertHTML, =insert…)
• Limitations: 50 per sheet, Excel VBA better but lack expertise
– To obtain number of words and tagging for FAQs– Sample 150 out of 1,815 from FAQ list.
• Excel and SAS for data cleaning and analyses
GA Metrics are Not Perfect
• Sample – E.g. This report is based on 499,411 visits (6.28%)
• Hits = Reading = Comprehension = behavior change?– Print one and make copies– Hit a page and stayed on that page while attending
other oncoming matters• Cookies block
Overall Hits for “personal_finance”, 04/2009 – 04/2012
• From top 25 “all time” pageviews:# Page Title Pageviews
Unique Pageviews
Avg. Time on Page Entrances
Personal Finance – eXtension 49,211 34,521 0:00:52 25,0981 Investing for Your Future - eXtension Learning Lessons 25,735 20,387 0:01:33 18,6692 How can I replace a lost birth certificate? – eXtension 17,936 16,759 0:04:51 16,727
3What is the FICA tax that is taken out of my paycheck? - eXtension 16,568 16,074 0:04:31 15,915
4 Organize Your Important Papers - eXtension 16,297 13,655 0:02:36 12,366
5Financial Security: Managing Money in Tough Times – eXtension 13,782 8,132 0:00:58 5,283
6 Investing Unit 1: Building Blocks - eXtension 11,809 8,785 0:01:55 3,0717 Financial Security: Glossary - eXtension 11,347 2,037 0:00:31 6208 Teaching Children Coping Skills - eXtension 9,899 9,262 0:02:20 8,8339 Financial Security: Glossary - eXtension 9,613 1,082 0:00:36 700
10Financial Security: Managing Money in Tough Times - eXtension 8,849 4,456 0:00:54 2,769
11 Investing for Your Future - eXtension 8,674 6,684 0:01:45 6,20712 Investing for Your Future - eXtension Learning Lessons 8,244 6,111 0:01:45 5,45913 SMART Financial Goal-Setting - eXtension 8,180 4,520 0:01:39 4,153
14Who is exempt from paying the FICA tax in the United States? - eXtension 7,703 6,541 0:03:24 6,525
Overall Hits for “personal_finance”
# Page Title PageviewsUnique Pageviews
Avg. Time on Page Entrances
15
What is the Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) rule for tax-deferred retirement plans such as IRAs and 401(k)s? – eXtension 7,177 6,780 0:03:46 6,525
16
How long should you keep monthly utility bills such as gas, electricity, water, etc. for your home? I have heard a year, and that is what I am starting to do in a notebook with dividers for each month. Is there any point in keeping these records any longer? - eXtension 6,939 6,780 0:02:51 6,700
17Financial Security: Managing Money in Tough Times - eXtension 6,477 3,947 0:01:01 2,387
18Organize Your Important Household Papers: Print this Lesson - eXtension 6,095 4,854 0:03:32 4,106
19Even Frost-Free Outdoor Faucets Can Freeze, Break - eXtension News 6,032 5,729 0:03:14 5,729
20 Investing for Your Future - eXtension Learning Lessons 5,968 4,981 0:01:35 4,663
21Financial Security: Managing Money in Tough Times - eXtension 5,872 3,055 0:01:05 1,782
22 Financial Security: Retirement Planning - eXtension 5,729 3,644 0:01:37 668
23What's the best peer-to-peer music download software? - eXtension 5,618 5,490 0:02:07 5,490
24
How long should you keep Explanation of Benefit statements from insurance companies, including Medicare? - eXtension 5,268 5,029 0:03:19 4,965
25 What is a self-proving affidavit? - eXtension 5,061 4,774 0:02:50 4,726
Overall Flow
• From top 25 all time pageviews:– 17 are pages
• Pages could be curriculum, articles, monthly messages, glossary
• Average time = 1:41 min• Tend to be simple. E.g. introduction pages
– 8 are FAQs• Average time = 3:27 min• Higher complexity: Longer, comprehending questions and
answers
• “How can I replace a lost birth certificate?” Is #2
Results by Page Categories
• Articles• Glossary Terms• FAQs
FOR ARTICLESResult
Article Top Tags• 63: personal_finance_research_summaries,• 52: financial_security:_legal_topics,• 38: financial_security:_financial_planning_process_research,• 36: financial_security:_managing_money_in_tough_times,• 34: cop,• 32: financial_crisis,• 31: financial_security:_saving_and_investing_research,• 31: disasters,• 29: financial_security,• 26: financial_security:_consumer_credit,• 24: financial_security:_consumer_education_research,• 24: financial_crisis_and_individuals,
Title Date PublishedAverage Google Search Entrances
Average Page Views per Week
Investing for Your Future 8-Jan2010 47.2025 319.949Financial Security: Managing Money in Tough Times 29-Jun2010 17.4177 192.076Organize Your Important Papers 19-Feb2007 84.6329 169.215Investing Unit 1: Building Blocks 15-Oct2009 5.02532 94.0127Teaching Children Coping Skills 10-Sep2008 56.4051 93.2405Financial Security: Glossary 14-Feb2007 1.86076 91.7848SMART Financial Goal-Setting 19-Feb2007 33.6582 89.5443Deciding Which Bills to Pay First 24-Jun2010 25.2658 87.6962Organize Your Important Household Papers: Print this Lesson 28-Sep2007 15.2532 72.6582
Financial Security: Retirement Planning10-
Mar2010 2.17722 61.3418Coping With Stress 10-Sep2008 24.4177 54.0253Household Filing System 31-Jan2008 24.8987 49.4684Investing for Farm Families 14-Oct2009 6.59494 47.1266Investing Unit 1: Wealth Protection 28-Jul2008 0.417722 45.2785
Title Date PublishedAverage Google Search Entrances
Average Page Views per Week
Investing Unit 1: Wealth Protection 28-Jul2008 0.417722 45.2785Organize Your Important Household Papers: Introduction 5-Apr2009 5.46835 41.924Financial Security: Estate Planning 27-Jan2009 1.67089 41.6203Financial Security: Consumer Credit 2-Apr2011 2.17722 41.3671Sizing Up Your Financial Situation 24-Jun2010 2.5443 40.8861
Financial Security for All Learning Lessons10-
Nov2006 0.531646 40.8354Investing Unit 2: Investing Basics 12-Feb2009 0.367089 40.6582Financial Security for All Debtor Education 19-Apr2010 2.73239 40.2817Financial Security: Children and Money 11-Jan2011 2.05063 39.8101Dealing With Collection Agencies 8-Dec2009 22.2763 37.4737Accepting Your Feelings 25-Jun2010 17.4937 36.2532
How Does a Credit Card Work?11-
Nov2009 27.9494 34.7722
Log(Average Page Views per Week)Log(Average Hits/Week) (1) (2) (3) (4)
Intercept 0.82517 1.585*** 1.358*** 1.523***
Log(Average Google Search Entrances)
0.634*** 0.609***
Age of Article (Days) -0.0006*** 0.0002* -0.0007*** 0.000193
Number of Tags 0.140*** -0.04098
Research Summary -0.685** -1.06331
Financial Planning Research -0.21013 -0.1752
Legal 0.35982 0.14268
Managing in Tough Times 1.790*** 0.82425
Adj R^2 0.0443 0.509 0.1173 0.5788
n(Read) 506 506 506 506
n(Used) 485 433 485 433
FOR GLOSSARY TERMSResults
Top 13Glossary Title Date Publishe
dAverage Google Search Entrances
Average Page Views per Week
Periodic Expenses 15-Nov2006 9.43038 11.6582Bankruptcy 5-Apr2009 2.59494 5.86076Diversification 19-Feb2007 0.025317 3.5443Debt Limit (Debt-to-Income Ratio) 15-Nov2006 2.5443 3.3038Bond 3-Aug2007 0.164557 2.94937Durable Power of Attorney 20-Nov2007 0.189873 2.94937Net (“Take-Home”) Income 15-Nov2006 2.39241 2.94937Portfolio 15-Nov2006 0.835443 2.78481Annual Report 14-Nov2006 0.012658 2.65823Bear Market 14-Nov2006 0 2.51899Corporate Bonds 22-Feb2007 0.164557 2.50633Self-Proving Affidavit 17-Apr2007 1.49367 2.49367Commodities 22-Feb2007 0.012658 2.44304
#14-25Glossary Title Date Publishe
dAverage Google Search Entrances
Average Page Views per Week
Bull Market 14-Nov2006 0 2.41772Blue-Chip Stock 14-Nov2006 0 2.40506401(k) Plan 14-Nov2006 0.037975 2.40506Unused Credit 15-Nov2006 2.05063 2.40506Broker 14-Nov2006 0 2.36709Commission 15-Nov2006 0 2.3038Account Maintenance Fees 14-Nov2006 1.86076 2.26582Debt Balance 15-Nov2006 1.63291 2.08861Stock 29-Jul2010 0.037975 2.07595Growth Funds 15-Nov2006 0 2.05063Index Fund 15-Nov2006 0 2.05063Mutual Fund 15-Nov2006 0.0126582 2.01266
Google search one item leads to related items
Glossary: Log(Average Hits/Week)Variable (1) (2)Intercept 1.33 2.526***Log(Average Google Search Entrances) 0.625***
Age of Article (Days) -0.002 -0.00126***
Number of Tags 0.047 0.03788
Adj R^2 0.0416 0.411n(Read) 505 505n(Used) 474 239
FOR FAQS: DATA INCOMPLETEResults
Implications• GA is very useful even for a non-profit organization like
eXtension• SMART Goals
– For conversion rate– Possible goals: Enrollment in the online courses
• Bankruptcy, Investment for Farm Families,
– Higher search rank (SEO)• Tagging
– Messy: Not everyone tags, insonsistencies• financial_security:_consumer_credit vs. consumer_credit vs.
consumercredit vs. credit
– Important for evaluation• Factors that matter: Subject matter, Google search entry,
number of tags (+)
Recommendations/Future Studies
• Adequate data: If data were merged properly• … with improved Excel VBA skills for data scrapping• … and cleaned data• … which include having well-defined tags– Encourage improved tagging in CoPs
• SMART goals for conversion rate. E.g. enrollment in courses
• Google Optimizer for optimum eXtension.org design
Using Data from Google Analytics
2012 eXtension Annual ConferenceOctober 3, 2012
Fahzy Abdul-Rahman (NMSU)[email protected]