Google recently made the switch to secure search, which has resulted in a larger return of “not provided” keyword data in Analytics reports.
For marketers who used the information to guide their marketing and content, the loss of keyword data has been quite a blow.
Fortunately, Google also updated Analytics with more than 14 new features that are incredibly useful to business owners who make decisions based on how their audience interacts with their website and social profiles.
In this article, I’ll share what’s new in Google Analytics and how you can make the most of these changes to benefit your business.
6 NEW Google Analytics Features for Marketers
#1: New Google Analytics Reports
When you log into your updated Google Analytics account, you’ll notice that Traffic Sources and Content have been replaced by Acquisition and Behavior.
The new Acquisition section offers you two new views: Overview and Channels.
The Overview report displays Analytics ABC data for your top channels (e.g., Social, Organic, Direct), sources (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) or media (e.g., Organic, Referral, Email).
Essentially, the Overview report helps you see which channels bring in the most visitors, which channels bring in engaged visitors and which channels bring in visitors who convert into email subscribers or customers.
See information about visitor acquisition, behavior and conversions at a glance.
While the Overview report displays a summary of data, the Channels report displays a more detailed view of your visitor acquisition on a per-channel basis.
The most interesting part of this new Acquisition report is that you can define the channel groupings, which allows you to track different sources or media in a customized, consolidated group.
If you’re not happy with the default channel groupings, you can change them and add your main media or sources of traffic in different groups.
Edit the default channel groupings and create your own groups.
For example, you can group different traffic sources such as Facebook, Twitter and Google+ under the same group and call it “Social.”
Additionally, the Social section has a new Trackbacks report that displays all the back links with the landing pages they link to on your website.
#2: New Analytics ABC Reporting
A significant change in Google Analytics is the introduction of Analytics ABC, which is a new format for some of the Google Analytics reports that group data based on acquisition, user behavior and conversions.
This new report helps you see information about the acquisition of new visitors, how they behave on your website and how they convert into loyal readers, engaged visitors, email subscribers or customers.
You’ll be able to see Analytics ABC in action primarily in the Overview report under Acquisition (more on this new section below), but also in other reports such as Location, Demographics, New vs. Returning and Landing Pages.
The biggest outcome of this change is that now you see a variety of conversion data in the summary view of the report.
Make informed decisions based on the conversion data available in the majority of new Google Analytics reports.And if you track conversions for multiple goals, you can change the conversion goal in the Conversion group. Now you can see the same report conversion data for different goals without a lot of effort. How cool is that?
#3: Better, Faster and Smarter Segmentation
The segments in Google Analytics are now easier for new users to navigate, and at the same time are more powerful for advanced marketers and analysis experts.
Along with a new user interface, you can segment your visitors, do cohort analysis and create segment templates.
Once you click the Segments arrow, you will see the built-in segments, your custom segments and the ones you have starred.
You can create your own new segment or import a predefined segment from the Google Analytics Gallery, where you can find popular segments created by the Google Analytics team.
#4: New Demographic Data
Until recently, a demographic dataset was missing from Google Analytics.
Now, data collected from DoubleClick third-party cookies is available in the new Demographic report. You’ll see valuable information about your audience’s gender, age and interests with just a couple of clicks.
Check your audience demographics from the Audience reports > Demographics.
No more guessing about who your ideal customer is. You can do things like:
- Figure out the demographics of your top 15% customers.
- Improve your remarketing campaigns in Google AdWords by targeting specific segments of your audience with different ads.
- Use Demographics and Interests to analyze A/B tests.
- Use Content Experiments from within Google Analytics to conduct A/B tests and then use Age segments to interpret the results and see which version of your test works for different segments.
To start seeing these reports, you’ll need to activate Demographics data by following these steps:
- Change your tracking code to support display advertising.
- Update your privacy policy to meet the policy requirements for display advertising.
- Enable demographic data in the Audience reports.
It takes about 2 minutes to complete the steps above and start seeing demographics data in Google Analytics.And don’t make this mistake when you change the Google Analytics tracking code.
Once you’ve finished the setup, you should see demographics data in your account in about 24-48 hours.
Once you complete the demographics activation, you should start seeing data in the Google Analytics reports.#5: New Tag Manager Auto-Event Tracking
The Google Tag Manager update makes measuring things like calls to action or clicks on ads with event tracking easier by introducing Auto-Event Tracking. Now there’s no HTML or JavaScript code to worry about during your setup.
Use tags to integrate auto-event tracking on your website.
Google Tag Manager is essentially a free tool that allows you to easily manage the tracking codes you install on your websites, such as the Google Analytics tracking code, remarketing tracking pixels, AdWords Conversion Tracking or even Facebook Conversion Tracking.
You can manage all of the tracking codes from one place and edit them without having to manually edit the HTML of your site every time you do it.
To learn more about Auto-Event Tracking in the Google Tag Manager and how to integrate it, watch this video created by Justin Cutroni.
Learn more about how you can set up Auto-Event Tracking in Google Tag Manager.
#6: Improved User Education
Along with the interface changes, Google Analytics has introduced new and improved educational resources.
They’ve added walkthrough videos within the tools and introduced the Analytics Academy and the Digital Analytics Fundamentals course, which provides a foundation for marketers and business owners who want to better understand the principles of analytics and improve their business outcomes.
Conclusion
Now that you’ve read about the latest Google Analytics changes, log in! Use this article to explore and help you learn more about your online audience, easily track conversion data and make better marketing decisions for your business.
What do you think? Are you excited about the changes in Google Analytics? Which new feature or enhancement will have the biggest impact on your business? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
With today’s business intelligence software, any qualified member of the organization can gain access to important company data such as business metrics, dashboards and other critical reports through mobile devices. As long as there is Internet access, important business data can be accessed and utilized by key people from the organization.
ReplyDeleteWith today’s business intelligence software, any qualified member of the organization can gain access to important company data such as business metrics, dashboards and other critical reports through mobile devices. As long as there is Internet access, important business data can be accessed and utilized by key people from the organization.
ReplyDeleteSince a companywide business intelligence system works as a single, unified whole, it can analyze transactions between subsidiaries and departments to identify areas of overlap or inefficiency.
ReplyDeleteMany business leaders think that customer service and sales are actually different departments and have no relationship - in reality the sales and service should never be seen as separate issues - customer service is about understanding the customer's needs, and sales is about selling products that meet those needs. When you link the two processes in a closer way, you will find the business benefits from happier customers and increased sales as the sales team can be selling products to suit the customers..
ReplyDeleteData mining involves the extraction of knowledge through the examination of huge amounts of data/information using refined modelling systems
ReplyDeleteA good bookkeeper will keep your books clean and make it easy for you to review and query the entries; a bad bookkeeper will leave your books in shambles and run away at the first sign of an independent audit. So it's no use hiring a bookkeeper you can't trust.
ReplyDeleteEasy access to the data. For years, businesses have gathered transnational data from numerous software systems and compiled it in an effort to improve their business processes.
ReplyDeleteProcess mining uses log data from IT systems, which allows an objective reconstruction of the process flows.
ReplyDeleteMake sure you understand what you are getting when you sign on with your consultant, and that they are qualified to provide the level of support your company needs.
DeleteKnow how to help a business turn a profit? If you have a good business sense, then you'll do well as a business consultant. After computer consulting, people in this field are the next most sought after.
DeleteThere are a few sites listing customer reviews which can be used as a reference. However, please bear in mind that these reviews can be tainted and since the quality of VoIP service is affected by other factors (e.g. quality of broadband connection), it is not uncommon to find both good and bad reviews for the same company. If in doubt, you can always call the VoIP companies to express your concern and ask for clarification.
DeleteWith today’s business intelligence software, any qualified member of the organization can gain access to important company data such as business metrics, dashboards and other critical reports through mobile devices. As long as there is Internet access, important business data can be accessed and utilized by key people from the organization.
ReplyDeleteA data science will communicate and demonstrate the value of the institution’s analytics product to facilitate an improved process of decision making across the various levels of an organization, through measuring, tracking, and recording all the performance metrics.
ReplyDeleteA data science can help your recruitment team make speedier and more accurate selections.
ReplyDeleteWhen choosing a data science provider, it is essential to pay close attention to the analytic tech stack of the data experts available within the company.
ReplyDelete