Google Analytics Cheatsheet
Setting up
Put this between the <head> and </head> tags:
<script type="text/javascript"> var gaJsHost = (("https:" == [Link]) ? "[Link] : "[Link] [Link](unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "[Link]/[Link]' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/ script%3E")); No, this isn't the standard setup described in Google </script> Analytics' help. It works better. K?
Put this right before the </body> tag:
<script type="text/javascript"> try{ var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-xxxxxx-x"); pageTracker._trackPageview(); } catch(err) {} </script> Replace red x's with your account number. To nd this code, and the account number: 1. Log into Google Analytics. 2. Click 'edit' next to the site you're setting up. 3. Click 'Check Status'.
Read the Google help topic
If your site spans multiple subdomains:
<script type="text/javascript"> try{ var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-xxxxxx-x"); pageTracker._setDomainName(".[Link]"); pageTracker._trackPageview(); } catch(err) {} </script>
This lets you track multiple subdomains, like [Link] and [Link], in a single report. If instead you're tracking across multiple domains, like [Link] and [Link], use this: pageTracker._setDomainName("none"); pageTracker._setAllowLinker(true);
Read the Google help topic
Link Tagging: Tracking code variables and examples
The variables:
[Link]/[Link]?utm_source=source&utm_medium=medium&utm_campaign=campaign&utm_term=term&utm_content=content
From a discount-focused banner ad on '[Link]' that's part of the Spring 2010 campaign:
[Link]/[Link]?utm_source=sitesite_com&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=s2010&utm_content=discount
Same site, same campaign, but this banner's copy focuses on the great styles:
[Link]/[Link]?utm_source=sitesite_com&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=s2010&utm_content=styles
Same site, same campaign, Bing ppc ad about the discount, keyphrase 'wedding dresses':
...?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=s2010&utm_content=discount&utm_term=wedding%20dresses
Same site, ppc ad from Google:
It's a trick! In Google Adwords, autotagging will automatically provide Google Analytics the data you need. Autotagging is enabled by default. To disable it, log into Adwords, go to My Account >> Account Preferences >> Tracking. Click Edit, then uncheck 'Destination URL Auto-Tagging'.
If the target page already has a '?' in the URL:
Then, instead of a '?' at the beginning of the tracking string, use an ampersand: '&'
Try the URL Builder! Read the Google help topic
Filters: Why and how
Filters let you include or exclude trafc and visitor data from your Google Analytics reports. Advanced lters also let you capture data that Google Analytics normally does not, and then report on it using user-dened variables. Find lters under Analytics Settings. Locate the prole for which you want to edit a lter, click Edit and scroll down to 'Filters applied to prole'. Or, click Analytics Settings, then scroll down and click Filter Manager. At a minimum, every prole should have lters that exclude visits from your ofce IP address(es), as well as visits from vendors and other users who are not your audience. Google has a nifty tool to generate this IP address range gibberish for you. Click here to see it.
Creating an IP address lter:
^66\.135\.149\.(1(9[2-9])|2([0-1][0-9]|2[0-3]))$
When using advanced lters, always set up a separate prole to test the lter.
Read the Google help topic
Google Analytics Cheat Sheet by Ian Lurie, Conversation Marketing, 2010. Licensed under the Creative Commons
Goals and goal tracking
A goal, aka a conversion, conversion goal or desired outcome, is any action you want your visitors to take: A purchase, download, registration, 'contact us' form completion, or even a minimum number of pages viewed all qualify as goals. Find goals under Analytics Settings. Locate the prole for which you want to add or edit a goal, click Edit and scroll down to Goals. Here's a typical goal: A purchase of a $100 e-book. The nal page in the checkout process is '[Link]': If you have many products with different values, be sure to enable and set up e-commerce tracking, too. Click here to read how.
Read the Google help topic
Track 404 errors
On your 404 error page, add this to your page tracking code:
pageTracker._trackPageview("/[Link]?page=" + [Link] + [Link] + "&from=" + [Link]);
So that it looks like this:
<script type="text/javascript"> try{ var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-xxxxxx-x"); pageTracker._trackPageview("/[Link]?page=" + [Link] + [Link] + "&from=" + [Link]);} catch(err) {} </script>
The 'page tracking code' is the 2nd chunk of javascript - the one you put right before the </body> tag. Replace red x's with your account number. To nd this code, and the account number: 1. Log into Google Analytics. 2. Click 'edit' next to the site you're setting up. 3. Click 'Check Status'.
Read the Google help topic
Serious nerdy ninja tricks
Track clicks to your site from the 2nd page of search results
Will Crichtlow, Distilled
[Link] [Link] [Link] [Link]
Record ranking of referring keywords when clicked
Nikki Rae & Andre Scholten
Find pages with little or no organic search trafc
Ian Lurie, Portent
Use a hash (#) instead of a ? in your tracking URLs
LunaMetrics
Blogs to read, tools you need
Occam's Razor, Avinash Kaushik The Google Analytics Blog Google Analytics regular expression tester Google Analytics URL tag builder IP lter regular expression builder [Link] [Link] [Link] [Link] [Link]
Bare minimum, no matter what, be sure you're using...
Site search tracking Goal tracking Intelligence Alerts Adwords integration
Google Analytics Cheat Sheet by Ian Lurie, Conversation Marketing, 2010. Licensed under the Creative Commons Ian is the author of the blog, Conversation Marketing, and CEO of Portent Interactive. Twitter: portentint
