There are three Google Analytics features all webmasters should be using, according to expert Krista Seiden.
Becoming comfortable with event tracking, advanced segments and shortcuts is key to successfully using Google Analytics, said Seiden who is the product marketing manager at Google Enterprise.
Event Tracking
Site owners want to know about actions on their pages — that is where event tracking comes in, Seiden said. Event tracking, for instance, can tell the website owner if a visitor clicked on a particular button, completed a form or watched a video.
“Because event tracking in Google Analytics is a blank slate in terms of setup and use, there is no one right answer for how to set it up and use,” she said.
The first step is to investigate the event hierarchy: What are the categories, actions, and labels and how is data arranged into these three layers?
Although the best way to organize an event tagging hierarchy can vary from site to site, Seiden recommended using the following sequence:
• Category: location of event (Homepage, About Us page, Resources page, etc.)
• Action: action the user took (Video, Whitepaper download, Start Trial, etc.)
• Label: specifics about action (Video name, Whitepaper name, detail of linked clicked if there are multiple with same action (ex. Learn more— product A, learn more — product B, etc.)
Advanced Segments
“Advanced segments are a great way to filter data to be more specific to the question you are trying to ask,” Seiden said. “For example, you can create a segment for a region (North America = U.S. + Canada), or you can create a segment for a set of pages (meaning visit applies to homepage and/or about us page).”
Seiden has created a Google doc with step-by-step instructions and links to some pre-built regional segments that can be seen below. To see it in full, click here.
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