Google Analytics Page Metrics and Redirects
-
Hi All-
Context: A site has been redesigned. Pages were renamed in the process.
Problem: It's very hard to compare before and after metrics because the page URLs are not the same.
Question: Anyone know how to do this in Google Analytics?
I'm hoping there's some simple trick I just don't know about.
D
-
NOTE for anyone reading this Q&A.
I looked at the Google Analytics Solutions Gallery to see if someone had already created a template I could import and modify. No luck.
I could still be missing something, but it looks like a combination of the suggestions above (a customized report and content groupings) might work. That said, Google states "Content Grouping is not retroactive. The Content Groups that you create are valid only from the creation date forward." That means, you need to be proactive and prepare your content groups BEFORE you flip the switch to the new site structure and/or URLs. If you wait till after, the grouping will still work, but it will only include stats from the date you created your groupings moving forward.
I've marked this question as answered. If anyone knows of an easier to implement solution, please chime in.
-
Thanks Ray-pp! I'll look at this as an option as well. May not work. Google says "Content Grouping is not retroactive. The Content Groups that you create are valid only from the creation date forward."
-
You could also check out the Content Grouping feature. This would allow you to group all your old pages (old url structure) into a category and compare those metrics to the group of new pages.
Google link: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/2853423?hl=en
-
Beautiful! Thanks. I'll check it out. Didn't find anything when I did a search so you've possibly saved me a lot of time. I'll let you know.
-
Hi Donna
I had a similar issue couple of months back re a client that had migrated/changed urls and put pretty much the same question out on Moz Q&A
Samuel Scott very kindly offered me some great guidance, heres a link to the Q&A thread:
http://moz.com/community/q/comparing-user-behaviour-in-ga
Hope this helps ! sorry if not same scenario but sounds similarish so should help
All Best
Dan
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Google Analytics direct traffic dropped by 50% after switching to https
Hi, everyone, have a little dilemma and was hoping to get some advice here. I recently installed a new SSL (3 months ago) to force our URL to start with https://. The site was earlier accessible through https:// and http:// prefix however now I have made it so that all urls are redirected to the correct https:// version. The problem is that direct traffic has dropped by more than 50% after implementing these changes and I can for the life of me figure out why. Why would the direct traffic drop all of sudden after making these changes? I am starting to suspect that the earlier data was inflated and that Google analytics was counting users coming from a http:// version of the URL to a https:// version of the URL was counted as direct traffic. Could that be it? Any other possible causes? Would really appreciate any guidance on this problem. Thanks
Reporting & Analytics | | nsereke0 -
Pandora in Google Analytics
Hi Mozers, in Google Analytics our ads are registering a 10 second page duration and a 90% bounce rate, which is pretty atrocious. My questions are: Organic page duration is 3:15 minutes, and Social + Referral are similar. Yet Pandora is bringing the average time on site way down, to less than a minute. Will those paid ad metrics be factored to the User Behavior and therefore negative affect our overall rankings? In other words does Google now see our page duration as less than a minute? The Pandora rep says that Google Analytics and Pandora have "systemic issues" such that GA is very inaccurate with Pandora metrics. I find that difficult to believe. Any insights here? Thanks all! Jane
Reporting & Analytics | | CalamityJane770 -
How to trigger a pageview using Google Analytics API upon form submission
I need to set up a goal using the G A API to trigger a pageview when someone submits a lead on my site. There's no "thank you"page currently. How do I go about it? There's no "thank you"page currently. How do I go about it? I have never used the API but am very familiar with analytics. Thanks!
Reporting & Analytics | | Majsan0 -
Google Analytics for User Experience
Hi In terms of looking at the overall User Experience of a website is there any particular areas of Google analytics that you believe to be particularly useful to identify areas of worry or opportunity?
Reporting & Analytics | | TheZenAgency1 -
Why my WMT is showing more clicks than my Google Analytics Organic Search Traffic?
Hello Everybody, Can somebody help me figure out this puzzle: My WMT is showing 6000 clicks, while my Organic Traffic in Google Analytics is showing only 3500 daily ... how is that possible? Best Regards
Reporting & Analytics | | Muhammad_Jabali0 -
Re-classifying a Traffic Source in Google Analytics
Hey All, I think it's inside of the Admin section of Google Analytics, right now I have a traffic source from the domain of indeed.ca that is being classified as Organic traffic when it should be classified as referring traffic, how can I tell Google Analytics that all traffic from this source should be classified as referral traffic and not organic traffic? Furthermore, after I make this change, will Google Analytics re-classify my past data so I can do a proper analysis? I can't remember how to do this and any help would be appreciated! Thanks!
Reporting & Analytics | | EvansHunt1 -
Setting up goals - google analytics
Hi Im new user google analytics I would like to set up goal for website. I asked to basic questions: What are my bussiness objectives? Answer:make the visitor to click on a advertisment (affiliate links and affiliate banners) to be redirected to company website to finish purchase. How to set up goals? How can I track ads (affiliate banners and affiliate links) on my website?
Reporting & Analytics | | info_tipovanie-stavkovanie.com0 -
Different metrics in analytics and adwords
Hi. My adwords campaigns and analaytics reports shows me slightly different results. Even for paused or disapproved ads in adwords, the analytics shows me some clicks?! I have automatic tracking enabled. Is it some kind of fault in configuration or its normal? Thank you for answer/link with answer.
Reporting & Analytics | | asystematic0