As you may already know, MoreVisibility is one of a select few to be designated a Google Analytics Certified Partner. Our company has held this status for over 3 years and it requires a number of qualifications be met each year to maintain it. It also provides us unique access to those working on the Analytics platforms at Google, in addition to exclusive updates and beta programs available to advertisers. It is a huge value-add for clients of MoreVisibility, in addition to a major differentiator of our organization and other agencies.
We are forever on a quest to educate advertisers about the power of analytics and in particular, how to best use Google Analytics (GA) to measure and track marketing efforts. Here are my Top 5 reminders for GA to ensure every click and corresponding revenue is properly accounted for with attribution.
1. Upgrade to the new Async analytics code, if you haven’t already. This came out about 6 months ago and once you have implemented onto your site, there’s no further action needed. It provides for more robust tracking and intelligence within the interface. The code will look like this:
2. Create more than just one goal, go beyond the obvious conversion point on your site. A goal can be set by defining a specific page visited, time spent on site, number of pages viewed or an event. You can use a variety of these to enhance your tracking of certain actions taken on your site. It is possible to create up to 20 unique goals, with unique goals grouped into a goal set. There are 4 goal sets (group of goals) in total.
3. Add tracking variables to every link where you are able to append the URL. This will provide the most accurate “Organic” traffic reporting from your SEO efforts, as well as ensure proper attribution to each visit/conversion for every marketing campaign your organization has underway.
An easy way to help append your tracking URL’s is by using the MoreVisibility URL Tagging Tool. It walks through each step of the process and provides a fully coded link at the bottom which will allow clear visibility into web traffic from areas like email, banners, text links, social media, partner pages, etc.
4. One of the more commonly overlooked areas of tracking comes from Social Media. This is likely due to the extensive use of URL Shorteners in many social media channels, especially Twitter where character space is limited to 140 and a long url would take up most of the message area. There are many URL Shorteners out there, but regardless of which you use it is important to follow Suggestion #3 above PRIOR to shortening the URL. Enter in the URL with all the tracking parameters on it first, then shorten. This way, the destination page link includes all of the necessary Google Analytics parameters within it.
5. Filter out your own organization’s website visits and traffic from the data you are making marketing decisions from. If the people within your company are visiting your website frequently, they could skew the data, either positively or negatively. You are able to filter out your company’s web traffic from the interface by indicating the IP address’s you do not want included. In many cases, this could make a huge impact on what is being analyzed. Don’t forget to make an annotation once you set up this filter in the interface, in case there is a drop in traffic, you will quickly have a reference as to why.
