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The definition of a bounce does not change. Any user that enters your site and leaves without interacting with the site again is a bounce.
The key phrase there is "interacting with the site". An interaction might be another pageview or an event.
The code listed above fires an event after 3 minutes, so those users are no longer classified as bouncers. They interacted again.
Completely inaccurate.
The Google search ranking algorithm is completely separate from that of Google Analytics. The search algorithm's definition of a bounce is based on when a user comes back to the SERPs after visiting your page. That metric wouldn't change no matter what you do to your Google Analytics (unless you somehow muck up the GA snippet so much that it causes page load delays and actually affects user behavior).
Yes, the UA #'s will have to be the same if you're going to be doing cross domain. The option you listed first should get it done. You'll just want to create filters within the segmented profiles to keep data from leaking into the others.
So:
Original UA:
Profile 1: Historical and future Shoe ONLY data
Profile 2: Clothes moving forward (not historical)
Profile 3: Unfiltered (not historical)
Hey Pieter,
I just saw this post on the Google Analytics blog and I was reminded of your question. Looks like some sort of solution is going live tomorrow.
http://analytics.blogspot.com/2012/09/ecommerce-filtering-and-custom-variables.html
When you say data is showing up - what kind of data? Referring data? Or actual pageviews?
Without adjusting something on either site it wouldn't be possible, but it IS totally doable if you can edit the sites.
The way I'd approach it is by adding a query string or identifier to the referring URL.
So on site A, instead of just linking to siteb.com/landing-page, link to siteb.com/landing-page?ref=newsletter.
That page should appear in your content reports. Then you can set it as a goal.
Would that work?
Pieter, The fact that the hostname filter doesn't apply to the eComm transactions is news to me. That's very odd on Google's part. I suppose they process the _addTrans calls differently? I'm out of ideas, save for having to manually segment once you're looking in that report by hostname. Sorry! Do update this thread if you uncover any other way to take care of it. Mike
Pieter,
Your logic sounds good, and I love the data clarity you're after with those profiles.
Are all the purchases taking place on the same domain? When you navigate to the content report for the receipt page, if you select the hostname as a secondary dimension, what does it say?
Your hostname filter should've bucketed all traffic properly, eComm transaction or otherwise.
I must admit, this one has me stumped. It sounds like there's some sort of tracking issue going on, but who knows.
Did you ever get this figured out?
Yes. Use individual profiles. Not web properties.
I would suggest using just one profile #. As you said you want to have a raw data, the main site, and the mobile profile. It's easy enough to use the same UA number for all three, then filter into 3 separate profiles.
No. In fact, you're actually not making any changes on Google's end by making that switch in the admin. That's really just a tool that generates a different code for you. It's all front-end. As long as you implement properly, you shouldn't lose any data to your main profile. Any new profiles that you create will, of course, start from scratch.
Yes and no. I'll explain below.
This isn't ideal, but isn't overly concerning. First of all, there is ZERO benefit to splitting the code. The async code does not block other code from loading, meaning it will have no effect on page load speed. By moving the whole code up into the head, you're just ensuring that the best, most honest data is being captured. Still, splitting the code is a common practice that yields fine results.
So, as I mentioned in answer three, I think you first have to understand that it's not a 'switch' in GA's admin that makes the change from single to multiple-domain. The only thing that actually changes in the admin is the way the snippet is written. And I'll tell you that the only thing that will change is that the _setDomain line will be added. So if you properly add this new line into your GA code, you'll be set up to capture all data into your raw profile. From there you can create your two separate profiles using the same UA code, with a custom filter based on the hostname.
Mike
The search queries reports come from Google Webmaster Tools data, not the GA snippet. Were you previously properly linked up, but for some reason are no longer?
If your GA snippet is still properly installed on the site, all of your keywords (save for (not provided)) should be in the keywords report.
Hmm. Well, it appears that they are indexed, but GWT is not reporting it properly. I'd probably check to make sure the Sitemap is set up properly, as it probably shouldn't have taken this long to reflect in GWT.
At least the videos ARE indexed? But perhaps not indexed fully enough to allow for thumbnails in the SERPs and any other markup.
Gonne be closing this question soon! Has the situation improved?
S,
That seems very odd. Are you filtering internal traffic by IP? And this done using a GA filter from the admin section?
That filter is really supposed to keep any traffic from getting through to the reports, so that sounds like it's either a bug or something is misconfigured.
Mike
Niladri,
That seems odd to me, as I'm not seeing that behavior in any of my clients' accounts. I made sure to look in small, large, and image-heavy sites, but not one instance of googlebot-image.
I'd probably dig deep and see if there's some rogue filter in place or the tracking code is incorrectly installed. If you find that it's not polluting your data otherwise, you might consider just filtering out the traffic.
Mike
Actually, Google will shorten the displayed URL to just the domain, regardless.
When the user hovers over the URL they can see the tracking parameters, and when they ultimately land on the page, the URL bar will include your tracking parameters.
While it may be possible to sniff the full referrer from Google referrals to find a unique portion of the URL that applies only to Google Places, it's not a future-proof plan. Google could change it at any moment. They've done it before with Google Images.
Your best bet is to alter the URL you've submitted to Google Places to include utm parameters.
You can use the Google URL builder to use whichever parameters you'd like, but I'd suggest changing your submitted url to:
http://www.example.com/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=google-local
Then you'll find all of your Google Local/Places traffic in the campaigns reports in GA.
Hey there,
You'll need the setDomainName line to reference the main domain:
_setDomainName, 'example.com'
Put that across all of your subdomains with the same UA account and it'll properly track. Without GA installed on the main domain, however, all visits to the www. will appear as an exit.
Fortunately, clicks from test1.example.com to test2.example.com should properly track and retain referring information.
Leslie,
Indeed KTaylor is on to something. There is no 301 redirect, but instead there is a JavaScript redirect in place. Using Firefox with JavaScript disabled the site does not redirect.
The GA snippet is likely firing in some cases before the redirect happens.
I think it may be important to state that the only real "ding" is within your Analytics. Google does not use Analytics data in its search algorithm. So if you are monitoring bounce rate for that purpose, worry not.*
More than likely we're looking at a tracking anomaly of some kind, that, at its very worst, is throwing off your Analytics data.
This metric is calculated internally by the search engines, and does not cull from Analytics data. Additionally, it is one of thousands of signals that influence ranking, and likely a relatively small one overall.
Just to add to my endorsement above:
This is the sort of data irregularity that happens when tracking isn't installed properly. Perhaps somehow the snippet is on some page twice? Difficult to say, and could be many things.
What Sean suggested is where I'd start too. Isolate that traffic that matches this pattern and view by page.
Hi there,
If you want both domains' traffic and data within one set of reports, you'll need to follow the instructions to 'track multiple top-level domains'. If you'd prefer to keep them separate, just install two unique codes for each.
If you choose to track both sites within one profile, you should follow these instructions to pass the full URL into your reports, rather than just the portion of the URL after the domain.
http://support.google.com/googleanalytics/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=55511
Optionally, after that you can 2 more profiles that only include traffic to one of the domains. This involves creating an advanced filter includes only traffic matching your chosen hostname (www.examples.co.uk for one, example.ie for the other).
Mike
Melia,
addOrganic is unnecessary. It is still falling under the 'organic' medium. With the filter I described above, we're ONLY letting in Google Images traffic. It will still have source = google, medium = organic, and term = {whatever keyword}.
For Google Maps and Places, you COULD just update the URL that you submit to Google Places with utm tracking parameters so that you don't even need filters. For instance, the URL that you've verified in Places would be:
http://www.example.com/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=google_places
René,
Here's the way I would approach it.
Install one GA snippet on the site that starts like this:
var _gaq = _gaq || [];
_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-XXXXXX-X']);
_gaq.push(['_setDomainName', 'somedomain.com']);
_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);
Your main profile will capture ALL traffic. (optionally, you may want to pass the full hostname into the content reports. Otherwise "/" could mean "dk.somedomain.com/", "somedomain.com/", or any other root page. See Robbin Steif's answer here for instructions: https://groups.google.com/a/googleproductforums.com/forum/#!topic/analytics/H3lVpHp8FnU)
Then you'll want to create additional profiles for each subdomain. The easiest way is to filter by hostname. I've attached an image of what this should look like. The forward slashes before the periods are important since this is a regular expression.
Yes, we're not doing anything to the referral URL which will still contain your keyword data (if it isn't (not provided)), and landing pages will still track just fine. We're simply creating a profile that only lets in traffic with /imgres in the referring URL.
I'd start by experimenting with the GA's filters. Try creating a new profile, then including only referral traffic that has /imgres in the referring URL. If all goes well, you'll have a profile that includes only image search traffic. From there you can consider adding it to your main profile, though you'll certainly want to be careful as it will mess with your numbers a bit.
Jim,
There is a call within the Google Analytics eCommerce tracking snippet specifically for this.
See: http://code.google.com/apis/analytics/docs/tracking/gaTrackingEcommerce.html
Within the _addItem call you see this line:
'Green Medium', // category or variation
Most people leave this blank as it is not required, but it can be great for categorizing your transactions. Once you start passing data there, you'll see your "Product Category" reports start to fill up in eCommerce reports.
Mike
Ivan,
Very interesting question! Quick follow up question: At what point would you propose the text entered is "sent" to GA?
Either way you're going to have to code up a custom solution with JavaScript, but I'm thinking this is possible. The issue is that there will have to be an action that triggers the event. It does not have to be a click, but instead could be when the text box gets deselected.
Just know that you don't necessarily need a click event to send the event. You can fire the event using JavaScript that watches for SOMETHING.
You're going to want to remove them as an administrator in your account, then grant them "user" status for the profile of which you'd like to offer them access. The first step will remove access to all profiles. As Keri said, it's all or nothing. The "user" admin status grants access to one particular profile, though there are some limitations (can't edit goals and filters).
With profiles in GA, you can have the one catch-all, then have separate profiles for each subfolder, if you like. This might make digestion of metrics easier.
I have to apologize because I'm not completely familiar with how Ring Central works, but I understand the concept of the click-to-call element on the site.
Let me ask this: How can you see the number of clicks on the click-to-call code? Are you seeing this within Google Analytics? Or in the Ring Central admin?
If you're seeing that in Google Analytics, how? Is there a new page that the user is sent when they click?
I suspect you might want to look into tracking clicks on your click-to-call element with a Google Analytics event.
https://code.google.com/apis/analytics/docs/tracking/eventTrackerGuide.html
If you wrap the click in a JavaScript onClick, then you should have the entrance keyword associated with the occurrence of that event. You can then track the event as a goal, too, if you wish.
I'm a bit confused by what you're asking, because it sounds like you've answered your own question.
You're looking for shopping cart abandonment, which is the first step in your funnel. You have data that shows 100 people enter, and 80 proceed to the next step. Isn't that what you're looking for? 20% shopping cart abandonment?
Have you looked at the funnel visualizer yet? That might shed some light as well.
http://www.google.com/intl/en/analytics/privacyoverview.html
http://support.google.com/analytics/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1011397
According to the GA privacy statement (first link) and, more specifically, their data sharing policy (2nd link), Google would be in direct violation of their own policies if they used your data to improve their search product, provided you have the "Do Not Share my Google Analytics Data" option set.
Do not share my Google Analytics data: This option excludes data from being included in any automated processes that aren’t specifically related to operating and improving Google Analytics or protecting the security and integrity of the data.
Google employees have said before that their is absolutely no link between this data and their search algorithm, though "saying" that isn't as iron clad as the above sharing setting.
Of course, Google's recently found a few ways to violate privacy, so anything can happen. Their publicly available privacy policy is the best we can do!
Hey there, any update on this?
If not, I'll be resolving this question.
Sorry!
If you're still not seeing any traffic, it's really hard to say without looking at the code. There's likely something wrong in the formatting, perhaps caused by your mobile CMS. In other words, you might have entered the snippet correctly, but when rendered on-page, something goes awry.
Really difficult to say!
Can you access the page in a regular browser? If so, have you tried the Google Chrome Google Analytics debugger? You can see if the _trackPageview is firing, that way. If you'd like, copy the snippet as it appears on-page (via view source) into a reply and I'll take a look (you can remove your domain and UA-XXXX-X account so as not to reveal anything, if you'd like).
Mike
This is mostly right. The issue is that only the top 10 referring internal pages will be shown in this report.
If a fuller look is needed, one option is resorting to the API. GA definitely has the data, just doesn't have a report to show it.
It does not appear that custom reports can help with this either.
Currently (for my own curiosity), I'm testing if setting up a new profile and some filters would work. I can report back if it's of interest.
The most extreme solution I can think of would be to include an entirely new tracking snippet on every page in that section of your site. That would certainly work.