Google Analytics is one of the most powerful (and free!) tools at our disposal.
Yet, not many content creators or marketers realize (and use) the full potential of it.
How to use Google Analytics to truly benefit from your own data?
Let’s discuss!
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About Andrew ‘Optimisey’
Andrew runs Optimisey, a Cambridge SEO consultancy.
Andrew has been working on websites for nearly 20 years – creating compelling content, eye-catching headlines, link building, launching social media channels, building audiences and ‘getting a bit optimisey’.
Andrew is also running SEO meetups that aim at increasing your knowledge and confidence in the subject
Questions we discussed
Q1 How did you become a digital marketer? Please share your career story!
Like lots of people I got into digital marketing almost by accident. I started out in content, my degree is in Media and I studied journalism, starting out at the BBC here in the UK. A/B testing headlines to get more traffic got me hooked!
You’re right, the ‘almost by accident’ thing happens a lot. I think digital marketing seems kind of abstract, but people get interested when they see a use for it that applies to them. #vcbuzz
— Dana Lemaster Author (@LemasterAuthor) April 6, 2021
Q2 How can one benefit from Google Analytics goals? How to set them up?
Woo… how to answer this one succinctly enough for a Tweet? Goals are conversions (things you want people to do on your site). They can be purchases, subscriptions, bookings, form completions… *anything*. With ‘Goals’ set-up properly you can *measure* them.
The adage of “You can’t manage what you can’t measure.” was never truer. I see SO many businesses who know what their KPIs are but don’t have Goals set-up – so have no idea which channel or traffic source or campaign drives most sales/subscriptions/engagement etc.
#VCBuzz A1.2.
— Lyndon NA (Darth Autocrat) (@darth_na) April 6, 2021
There are 2 main issues with Goals though:
1) You have to manually define/create them
2) The default setup limits you to a small number being viewable.
So though they are more than useful, they are often neglected 🙁
I wrote a lil’ guide on how to set-up some basics Goals and things to consider (and how to avoid some of the awful, awful defaults Google Analytics tries to steer you towards!).
A2) Setting up goals on GA or any other analytics tool should always start with setting up what we need to achieve first, then how we need to measure it. Too many businesses start with the doing, not with the planning and it is a mistake
— Montse Cano (@MontseCano) April 6, 2021
#vcbuzz
Q3 What are Google Analytics views and filters and how to use them?
Using one of my (many) analogies I describe GA Views as windows over your courtyard garden. You can set a View to look at it however you want; or to look at a particular bit of it.
Filters can be used by Views to segment the data into various smaller groups. Specific subsets of traffic, exclude unwanted data etc. A view is a set of specifications for tracking traffic on a single domain. You can create your custom view based on datapoints. #vcbuzz
— Hiren vaghela (@hirendream) April 6, 2021
Filters are like directing your gardener to take out bits you don’t wanna see… – all the red flowers or – all the plants over a certain height or – all the plants from South America etc. Which can be great but also… once you ‘Filter’ them… they’re GONE.
#VCBuzz A3.
— Lyndon NA (Darth Autocrat) (@darth_na) April 6, 2021
GA Views are data-sets.
GA comes with one by default (the main/complete one)
You should create and work with a copy of that (not the original!)
GA Filters can be applied to views, and alter what they contain.
Again – do NOT apply a filter to the default View!
This is something I see all too often. Filters are FOREVER (’til you turn ’em off). Always set-up a separate ‘Sandbox’ View to test things in; and a ‘Raw Data’ view with NO filters on… just in case. Then your ‘Reporting’ view for when your sandbox ideas work.
A good ‘Filter’ lots of people could benefit from is to screen out yourself (or your staff/colleagues). Folks tend to browse their own company website a LOT… but rarely buy from it. Colleagues often mess up your data in all sorts of weird ways! Filter ’em.
A3) You can use views to see different aspects of your data. There always have to be a main view, then all of the others are filtered to take a look at specific segments. One of them should be used for testing #vcbuzz
— Montse Cano (@MontseCano) April 6, 2021
#vcbuzz
You can set-up Filters for pretty much anything. Countries; cities; devices; IP addresses; hostnames… if you can find it in Analytics, you can filter by it! And you can “Include only” OR “Exclude” ’em.
A3) Filters is something that I see not updated/ set up too often. You use them to get rid of the bits of traffic that are not going to help your business, eg, coming from your office or home.
— Montse Cano (@MontseCano) April 6, 2021
#vcbuzz
Views are super cool to set-up specific Views of your data. Your content team only interested in the performance of the /blog/ pages? Make ’em a View. Your Rio team only want to see traffic from Brazil? Make ’em a View.
Given how defaults are set up, it would appear that they only want it to benefit those who really understand how to use it.
— Gail Gardner (@GrowMap) April 6, 2021
Kind of like early #SEO tools that told people to use 100 keywords so they would never rank for anything. #vcbuzz https://t.co/UXXdvgE9S6
Good q RT @SophieBrannon: @Optimisey What’s your opinion of having 3 views for all accounts as standard: Raw Data, Reporting (relevant filters added etc.), Test? #vcbuzz
— Ann Smarty (@seosmarty) April 6, 2021
Yup. I do it almost as reflex now when setting up a new GA account. Worst case you have a back-up and a sandbox to test things in.
Haha … for sure … for sure … been thinking I need a reset myself, or a setup check, at least!!
— Sue-Ann Bubacz (@SueAnnBubacz) April 6, 2021
Q4 How often should one monitor Google Analytics data and how to best benefit from it?
There’s no ‘right’ answer to this… but I’d advise “As often as you can.” If you can’t keep an eye on it as often as you’d like, look into the ‘Alerts’ feature. It’s terrific.
You can set-up alerts to notify you if a metric (traffic/conversions/sales/bookings etc.) goes above or below a certain threshold OR up or down by x%. You can do this daily/weekly/monthly. It can be too late if there’s a major issue… but better late than never!
A4: I do check everyday because of ecommerce niche. I do check product performance, organic datapoints and average time etc. This will help you to identify the trends. I have also set the custom alerts which helps me to get notification when we achieve any milestone. #vcbuzz
— Hiren vaghela (@hirendream) April 6, 2021
Plus it’s super-cool when you can set it to notify your whole team when you set a new sales/traffic record.
#VCBuzz A4.2.
— Lyndon NA (Darth Autocrat) (@darth_na) April 6, 2021
Ideally, you should check on it regularly (just like GSC etc.).
But – the real key is to define Alerts.
This means that you can spend a few minutes looking over the data whilst you sip your tea/coffee… knowing that if something is “wrong”, you’ll get pinged.
You should monitor your GA and GSC data, daily, and look for trends week over week, month over month. It provides a lot of value and insight into your audiences and traffic.
— Rob May (@robinlmay) April 6, 2021
#VCBuzz A4.4.
— Lyndon NA (Darth Autocrat) (@darth_na) April 6, 2021
The same way your site should be notifying you of script/DB issues, GA should be warning you about drops of N% in traffic or conversions, or excessive visits, or horrible load times etc.
If there is an issue – you should know about it fast!
A4.1: I realize it’s tempting to try to micro-analyze everything, but at the end of the day, *you* need to manage your data, not let your data manage you.
— Sam (@DigitalSamIAm) April 6, 2021
Also, weirdness + luck dominate in the short-term, while fundamentals tend to dominate in the long-term. #vcbuzz
Q5 What are your favorite SEO tools?
I know it’s the topic but… Google Analytics, properly configured is one of ’em! It can tell you SO much about a site (what’s working/not working) where issues or holes in the funnel are etc. etc. Other than that: Google Search Console is a must have too.
A5: Semrush, Sistrix, Ahrefs and Sparktoro. #vcbuzz
— Hiren vaghela (@hirendream) April 6, 2021
#VCBuzz A5.
— Lyndon NA (Darth Autocrat) (@darth_na) April 6, 2021
Search Console
Analytics
Sheets
Custom scripts and DataBase
Crayons
😀
And #SEO tools like: @screamingfrog & @sitebulb are ace for finding and diagnosing problems. @semrush is a real Swiss army knife of a tool. Things like @AlsoAsked are great for brainstorming content ideas too.
How could I forget Google Data Studio!? A terrific way to make your data siiiiiiiiiing! ?
If it helps anyone, I've written a bunch of guides on how to get more out of some key Google tools:https://t.co/2nrwzHLg8h
— Andrew 'Optimisey' (@Optimisey) April 6, 2021
… from setting up Goals & Filters, to Views and Segments (we didn't even touch on Segments and they're SO cool!) and more.
Hope it helps! #vcbuzz
Our previous Google Analytics chats:
- How to Make Google Analytics Dashboards More Actionable with @AnnieCushing #vcbuzz
- How to Use Google Analytics to Understand & Improve Your Social Media Marketing with @DanaDiTomaso #VCBuzz
- How to Understand Your Customers: Content Needs with @PamDidner #VCBuzz
- Analytics to Improve Conversion: Twitter Chat with Amel Mehenaoui @amelm #VCBuzz
- Social Media Analytics Twitter Chat with Ruxandra Mindruta @RuxandraRux of @Brandwatch #VCBuzz
- How to Boost Your Landing Page Performance with Annaliese Henwood @MktgInnovator #VCBuzz
- How to Up Your Conversions with @ZacJohnson #VCBuzz