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GAJS Setup Guide

This document serves as a starter guide for setting up Google Analytics, outlining key steps such as creating an account, analyzing the website, and configuring profiles, filters, and goals. It emphasizes the importance of proper installation to ensure accurate data for business decisions and offers best practices for implementation. Additionally, it provides resources for further assistance and training in online marketing and analytics.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
4 views33 pages

GAJS Setup Guide

This document serves as a starter guide for setting up Google Analytics, outlining key steps such as creating an account, analyzing the website, and configuring profiles, filters, and goals. It emphasizes the importance of proper installation to ensure accurate data for business decisions and offers best practices for implementation. Additionally, it provides resources for further assistance and training in online marketing and analytics.

Uploaded by

zainrahema5
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Step 1: Create A Google Analytics Account

Step 2: Analyze Your Website


Step 3: Create A Profile, Filter, and Goal
Step 4: Add Tracking Code To Your Website
Step 5: Link Google Analytics and Google AdWords
Step 6: Configure E-Commerce Tracking
Step 7: Tag Your Advertising Links
Best Practices
Resources

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Welcome to the world of Web Analytics.

You may not know it, but you've just taken the first steps to increasing the
success of your online channel. Our goal is to help you set up Google Analytics
correctly so you can make sound business decisions.

As a Google Analytics Authorized Consultant, we've worked with a large group of


diverse clients. We've learned the biggest challenge facing Google Analytics
users is getting the installation configured correctly. If the setup is incorrect, then
the resulting data will be useless or potentially harmful to your decision making
process. That's why we've created this starter guide - to help you configure
Google Analytics for your particular business.

Based on our experience, we feel there are three factors to a successful


implementation of Google Analytics:

First, start with a macro understanding of your website. Answering simple


questions like, "Why do I have a website?" or "What do I want my visitors to do?"
will help in the implementation and configuration. Why? Because the specific
actions that you want your visitors to take are derived from these bigger goals. If
you can't answer the big questions then it will be difficult to grasp the details.

Second, take your time. While it is true that a basic implementation of Google
Analytics can happen in minutes, your specific implementation may be different.
Read through this guide thoroughly and get acquainted with the concepts. Then
go back and see how these concepts apply to your site. Come up with an
implementation plan and at the very least, spend a week working on your Google
Analytics installation.

Finally, ask questions. If there is something you don't understand, or that needs
clarification, contact us. Remember, you're going to use the data in Google
Analytics to make important business decisions. If the configuration is incorrect,
then the data could be wrong. Use SiteScan to verify your installation once you
are finished.

Good luck!

The Team

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Step One:
Create A Google Analytics Account

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StepOne
Create A Google Analytics Account

Signing up for a Google Analytics account is easy and free!


Before you begin, choose one of the options below and follow the instructions provided:

Existing Google AdWords Customers: New Google Analytics Customers:

Existing Google AdWords customers can It’s easy for new customers to sign up for a
sign up for Google Analytics via their Google Analytics account in a few simple
AdWords account. Once in your account, steps.
click on the “Analytics” tab and follow the
instructions. Sign up now at [Link]/analytics.

Click on the Sign Up Now button and follow


We strongly recommend that you sign up for the instructions:
Google Analytics via Google AdWords. This
makes linking your Google AdWords and ‣ Enter your website’s URL (select
Google Analytics accounts much easier. http:// or [Link] Enter a name for
this account in the Account Name
field. Click “Continue”.

‣ Enter your contact information. Click


“Continue”.

‣ Read the Google Analytics Terms of


Service. If you agree to these terms,
select the “Yes” checkbox. Click
“Create New Account” to continue.

‣ The Tracking Instructions page that


appears contains the “[Link]” tracking
code that you will need to add to
every page of your site (The addition
of the tracking code will be explained
in greater detail in Step 4 of this
guide). Click “Continue”.

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Step Two:
Analyze Your Website

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StepTwo
Analyze Your Website

Websites are built using many different technologies. Some of these technologies complicate
the Google Analytics Installation. Our guide is meant to walk you through a basic Google
Analytics setup, but if you find your site has any of the elements listed below, you might need
more help than what is contained in this guide. If you find you need further help, please contact
us to get information on our support plans at [Link] or visit the
Google Analytics Help Center at [Link]

Seek More Help If Your Website:

Uses Flash Event Tracking

In order to track flash events accurately you With the emergence of new web technologies
will need to edit the .fla files to call the it is now possible for visitors to interact with a
_trackPageview() or the _trackEvent() webpage instead of just view the webpage. It
method. For more information concerning is possible to track this interaction through
tracking flash events, visit the resources Event Tracking by using the _trackEvent()
section at the end of this guide. method. For more information concerning
Event Tracking, visit the resources section at
the end of this guide.

Crosses Multiple Domains Uses Frames

If your site crosses multiple domains you will The Google Analytics tracking code will
need to add the _link() or the _linkByPost() need to be placed in the <head> section of
method on all links and forms that take a user the parent HTML file and also any child
from one domain to another. For more HTML pages. Without careful
information concerning cross domain implementation you could see inflated visitor
tracking, visit the resources section at the numbers and lose referring source
end of this guide. information. For more information on
tracking websites with frames, visit the
resources section at the end of this guide.

Has Non-HTML Pages

If your site has .pdf, .wmv, or other non-html


based files that you would like to track, you’ll
need to tag these items with _trackPageview
() or the _trackEvent() method. For more
information on tracking non-html pages and
files, visit the resources section at the end of
this starter guide.

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Step Three:
Creating A Profile, Filter, and Goal

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StepThree
Create A Profile

What Defines A Profile?

‣ A profile is a logical grouping of data and rules.


‣ Various rules (filters) can be applied to a profile to affect data in the reports.
‣ Usually each website is configured as a profile.
‣ Each profiles has a name so it can be identified in a list. Name your profiles something
simple yet descriptive:
- “[Link]”
- “[Link] - no internal traffic”
‣ You can create up to 50 profiles.

How Do I Create A Profile?

1. Log into your Google Analytics account.

2. Click on the Add Website Profile link.

3. This will bring you to the Create New Website Profile page.

4. Choose between the two options that best fits your situation (continued on next page).

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How Do I Create A Profile, Continued:

Add Profile For A New Domain: Add Profile For An Existing Domain:

1. Select whether the domain you would like to Use this option if you have already set up a
track uses http:// or https:// protocol. profile and would like to create another profile
If you have secure pages on your site, (your that pulls from the same data as the original.
URL starts with [Link] you will need to Adding a profile to an existing domain allows
include the secure version of the Google you to test changes you would like to make to
Analytics tracking code. *An example of your original profile without affecting the original
the secure tracking code can be found in
data, create GA reports with custom
Step 5 of this guide.
segmentation, or track additional goals.
The secure tracking code is used to prevent
a warning from popping up in a visitors 1. Select the Domain you would like to apply
browser asking if they wish to display non- the profile to from the drop down menu.
secure items on the secure page. You can
include the secure version of the Google 2. Name the profile. It’s a good idea to use
Analytics tracking code on non-secure descriptive names so that you don’t get
pages without any warnings. confused when viewing a list of profiles.
2. Add the domain URL of the domain you
wish to track (excluding the http:// or https://
protocol).

Create A Filter

What Are Filters?


Filters are a way of segmenting or manipulating the data coming into your profile. Filters can be
set up to perform a number of tasks, such as excluding an IP or only showing data for a
particular sub-domain.

Exclude Internal Traffic!


EpikOne HIGHLY recommends that you at least set up a filter that excludes your own internal
traffic. The idea here is that you don’t want to see traffic from internal sources navigating your
site as this will produce inaccurate data.

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How Do I Add Filters?

1. To add an “Exclude Internal Traffic” filter, you will need to click on the Edit link under the
profile settings.

2. Scroll down the page until you see the Filters Applied To Profile section and click the
Add Filter link.

3. If you already have a filter that excludes internal traffic, then you can select it by
checking the Apply Existing Filter To Profile radio button and adding the filter to this
profile. If you don’t have an existing filter that excludes internal traffic check the Add
New Filter To Profile radio button and set up the filter as follows:
‣ Filter Name: Name the filter something descriptive so you can quickly find it if
you are adding more filters in the future.
‣ Filter Type: Select “Exclude all traffic from an IP address”
‣ IP Address: Enter your IP address here. Be sure to escape regular expressions
by putting “\” in front of the periods as shown in the example bellow. If you don’t
escape regular expressions you could end up excluding more traffic than you
initially intended. To learn more about regular expressions visit the resource
section of this starter guide.

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Create A Goal and Funnel

What Are Goals?


A goal is a page of your website that you have defined as having value and you would like to
track conversion metrics for. It’s important that you have clearly defined Goals for your website.
What is it that you want visitors to do when they visit your site? Some common goals are the
“Receipt” or “Confirmation” page a visitor sees after completing an order, signing up for a
newsletter, or downloading a product.

What Are Funnels?


Think of the funnel as a series of steps the visitor of your site may go through to get to your goal
conversion page. Using the funnel process you can analyze how visitors traverse your site on
their way to the final goal page. Using the “Funnel Visualization” report in the Google Analytics
reporting interface allows you to quickly identify the steps of your process that are causing
people to abandon your conversion funnel.

Goal and Funnel Setup


1. To set up Goals and Funnels you will need to click on the Edit link under the profile
settings.

2. Navigate to the Conversion Goals And Funnel section of the page and click Edit next
to the goal you wish to edit.

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Goal and Funnel Setup, Continued

3. Enter the URL of the page that will be the final step of your goal. In the example of a
checkout process this may be the “Receipt” or “Thank You“ page.
4. Enter the Name of the Goal. This should be something descriptive so you can easily
differentiate between goals when you have multiple goals setup.
5. The Define Funnel section is an optional section but can be used if you have a series of
steps the user typically goes through to reach the final goal page. By defining a funnel
you can use Google Analytics reporting to analyze the effectiveness of each step in the
goal process. For instance, using the Defined Funnel Navigation report you can
analyze which steps of the goal funnel are causing visitors to leave the funnel, and then
analyze those pages to look for what may be causing visitors to abandon the the goal.
6. Determine whether or not your goal URLs are Case Sensitive. If so, ensure you have
checked the “Case Sensitive” box. Typically this option is left unchecked as character
case in the URL isn’t a problem.
7. Change the Match Type based on the URLs you have put into the Goal/Funnel URL
fields:
‣ Exact Match: This means the URL in the visitors browser will have to match
exactly what you put in the URL fields in the form. In this example the URLs
would not match and the goal would not be tracked.
• Users URL: /checkout/[Link]?orderid=7348
• Goal URL: /checkout/[Link]
‣ Head Match: This means that if the beginning of the URL in the visitor’s browser
matches the URL in the Goal URL field then the visitor will be tracked. In this
example both URLs would match the Goal URL.
• Users URL: /checkout/[Link]
• Users URL: /checkout/[Link]?orderid=7348
• Goal URL: /checkout/[Link]
‣ Regular Expression Match*: This is an advanced option that allows for great
flexibility in the setup of your goals. There are numerous books and other media
sources explaining regular expressions. In short, you can use special characters
to help customize your goal URLs to be exactly what you want. In this example
we can tell Google Analytics that Step two of the funnel process will contain one
of two URLs. Either the URL “/checkout/[Link]” or the URL
“ /checkout/[Link]”.
• STEP 1: ^/checkout/step-one\.html$
• STEP 2: ^/checkout/(step-two-a|step-two-b)\.html$
• STEP 3: ^/checkout/[Link]$

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*For more information on regular expressions visit the resources section at the end of this
guide.

Goal and Funnel Setup, Continued

8. *OPTIONAL* Use the Goal Value field to enter in the monetary value of your goal. If
your goal uses dynamic values such as the value of a user’s cart, leave this field blank.

An Example of Basic Goal Setup:

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Step Four:
Add Tracking Code To Your Website

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StepFour
Add Tracking Code To Your Website
The Google Analytics tracking code should be added to every page of your site.

To confirm you have installed the Google Analytics tracking code correctly, try
our our free SiteScan tool at [Link]

The Google Analytics tracking code can be added anywhere within the <head>...</head> or
<body>...</body> tags of your HTML. You can find this by clicking the “Check Status” link under
the “Status” column on the Analytics main page. However, there are several things to consider
before adding the tracking code:

‣ The [Link] file that is called in the Google Analytics tracking code will need to be
loaded from Google’s servers. If there is a delay in the transfer of this file then your
web-page will stop loading until the [Link] file has been fully loaded. To minimize this
affect you can place the code at the bottom of the page. In our experience, there has
been very few load problems with the Google Analytics tracking code.

‣ If you call any other Google Analytics methods on your page such as _trackPageview,
_link, _linkByPost, _addTrans, _addItem, etc., you will need to make sure these are
called after the Google Analytics tracking code.

Below is an example of how the Google Analytics ‘[Link]’ code could be implemented on a basic html page:

<html>
<head></head>
<body>
....
<!--End of Page HTML -->
<script type="text/javascript">
var gaJsHost = (("https:" == [Link]) ? "[Link] : "[Link]
[Link](unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "[Link]/[Link]' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));
</script>
<script type="text/javascript">
var pageTracker =
_gat._getTracker("UA-XXXXX-X"); “XXXXXX-X” Should be replaced with your Google Analytics account number
pageTracker._initData();
pageTracker._trackPageview();
</script>

</body>
</html>

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Step Four: Add Tracking Code To Your Website

Step Five:
Linking Google Analytics and
Google AdWords

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StepFive (Optional)
Link Google Analytics Account To Your Google AdWords Account
If your Google Analytics account was set up through your Google AdWords account, then
chances are the two accounts are already linked.

If you know the accounts are linked, or you don’t have/want a Google AdWords account you can
skip this step and move on to step six. Without linking your Google Analytics account to a
Google AdWords account you will be limited to 5 million pageviews per month.

Use the same Google account for both your Analytics and AdWords accounts. Make sure the
account is set up as an Administrator in Google Analytics and AdWords.

Linking Accounts:

1. Log in to your Google AdWords account.


2. Click on the Analytics tab.
3. Click Link It To Your AdWords Account (Bottom of the page).
4. From the Existing Google Analytics account drop-down list, select your Analytics account
name.
5. Check “Destination URL Auto-tagging” and “Apply Cost Data” if you would like to enable
these features. For more information regarding Auto-tagging and Cost Data, read below.
6. Click Link Account.

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Apply Cost Data
To see your Google AdWords cost data within Google Analytics you must check the “Apply Cost
Data” checkbox, which is located under the “Analytics” tab while in Google AdWords. This
checkbox will not be present if you are logging directly into Google Analytics. Applying cost data
populates the “Clicks” tab located the Google Analytics “AdWords Campaigns” report.

Auto Tagging
Enabling “Auto Tagging” allows you to automatically track your Google AdWords campaigns in
Google Analytics. While AdWords reporting allows you to see data specific to the performance
of your Google AdWords ad, Google Analytics allows you to monitor a visitor’s interaction with
your site after clicking on your Google AdWords ad.

Enabling “Auto Tagging” also allows the Google Analytics “Keywords Positions” report to be
populated with data.

To enable “Auto-Tagging” log into your Google AdWords account. Select the “My Account” tab,
then select “Account Preferences”. Under the “Account Preferences” column there is the option
to edit your Auto-Tagging status.

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Step Six:
Configure E-Commerce Tracking

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StepSix (Optional)
Configure E-Commerce Tracking

How Does Google Analytics Track Commerce Data?


Google Analytics uses _addTrans();, _addItem(); and _trackTrans(); methods to capture e-
commerce data. These methods should be added to the “Receipt” or “Confirmation” Page of
your conversion process. Your cart will need to pull the appropriate values from a visitors cart
and programatically dump these values into the proper method. When the page loads the data
is captured and sent off to the Google Analytics servers.

The following is an example of how the commerce data should be formated on the final page of
the conversion process:

<script type="text/javascript">
var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-XXXXXX-X");
pageTracker._initData();
pageTracker._trackPageview();
pageTracker._addTrans(

"Order ID",

"Affiliation",

"Order Total",

"Order Tax",

"Order Shipping",

"City",

"State/Region",

"Country"
);
pageTracker._addItem(

"Order ID",

"Item SKU/Product Code",

"Item Name",

"Item Category or Variation",

"Item Unit Price",

"Item Quantity"
);
pageTracker._trackTrans();
</script>

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What Should An E-Commerce Installation Include?

‣ Tag receipt page with Google Analytics code.


‣ Call the _addTrans(); method populated with appropriate order information
‣ Call the _addItem(); method populated with item specific information (One for each
item).
‣ Call the _trackTrans(); method after the _addTrans(); and _addItem(); methods.
‣ Enable E-commerce tracking in your Google Analytics profile.

E-Commerce Values Explained

Required - Your internal order id number (Must be the same


Order ID
as item ‘Order ID’).
Affiliation Partner or Store Affiliation.
Order Total Required - Total dollar amount of the transaction.
Order Tax Tax amount of the transaction.
Order Shipping The shipping amount of the transaction.
City City to correlate the transaction with.
State/Region State or province.
Country Country.

Required - Your internal order id number (Must be the same as


Order ID
transaction ‘Order ID’).
Item SKU/Product Code Product SKU code.

Item Name Product name or description.

Item Category Category of the product or variation.

Item Unit Price Required - Unit-price of the product.

Item Quantity Required - Quantity ordered.

*IMPORTANT* The fields, “Order Total”, “Order Shipping”, “Order Tax” and “Item Unit Price”,
must only contain integer values. NO dollar signs or commas.

Example: $1,000.56 would be 1000.56.

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E-Commerce Code Example:
Below is an example of a transaction which had multiple items. The “T-Shirt” was purchased
twice and the “Sweater” was purchased once.

<script type="text/javascript">
var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-XXXXXX-X");
pageTracker._initData();
pageTracker._trackPageview();
pageTracker._addTrans(

"123abc",

"My Affiliate",

"35.00”,

"7.00",

"10.00",

"AnyTown",

"AnyState",

"USA"
);
pageTracker._addItem(

"123abc",

"def456",

"Awesome T-Shirt",

"Mens Shirts",

"10.00",

"2"
);
pageTracker._addItem(

"123abc",

"ghi789",

"Sweet Sweater",

"Women Sweaters",

"15.00",

"1"
);
pageTracker._trackTrans();
</script>

Important: Please note that a _addItem call must exist for each unique item that the visitor
purchases. If the visitor purchases 3 unique items, all with different SKUs, then an _addItem
must be called three different times.

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E-Commerce Code Example Two:
Every variable or a place for the variable must be present in both the _addTrans() and _addItem
() methods. If your item does not have certain fields such as a sku/code the quotes must still be
there. In the example below there is no “Affiliate” data or “Tax” for the transaction:

<script type="text/javascript">
var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-XXXXXX-X");
pageTracker._initData();
pageTracker._trackPageview();
pageTracker._addTrans(

"123abc",

"",

"35.00”,

"",

"10.00",

"AnyTown",

"AnyState",

"USA"
);
pageTracker._addItem(

"123abc",

"def456",

"Awesome T-Shirt",

"Mens Shirts",

"10.00",

"2"
);
pageTracker._addItem(

"123abc",

"ghi789",

"Sweet Sweater",

"Women Sweaters",

"15.00",

"1"
);
pageTracker._trackTrans();
</script>

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Common Problems When Setting Up E-Commerce

‣ Shopping cart domain is different than the website domain:


• Due to the rigidity of many third party carts it may not be possible to track
commerce information with Google Analytics. You will need to add the Google
Analytics tracking code to each page of the checkout process. On the final page
of the checkout process you will need to add Google Analytics e-Commerce
tracking code. You will need to check with your cart provider to see if they allow
for this customizability.
• The Google Analytics tracking code must be installed on both sites.
• Google Analytics cookies must be transferred between domains using _link or
the _linkByPost methods. These methods will need to be placed on any links or
forms crossing domains so cookies are transfered correctly and visitor
information isn’t lost.
‣ Transactions missing from reports:
• Google Analytics filters transactions to eliminate duplicates.
‣ Removing transactions:
• Create and process a transaction that has the same transaction number as the
transaction you would like to delete. Set the total value to the negative of the
original transaction value. Submit the transaction to Google Analytics using a
fake HTML form on your website.

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Step Seven:
Tag Your Advertising Links (Optional)

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StepSeven
Tag Your Advertising Links (Optional, but highly recommended)

If you want to track your online advertising efforts you can do so by using a method called “link
tagging”. Link tagging allows you to include valuable information about a visitor entering your
site, wether it’s from an email, a banner ad, comparison shopping network, or cost per click
campaign.

How It Works With Google Analytics

When you create a link that goes from an outside source to your site, you add on additional
query string variables. When the visitor arrives at your site these query string variables are
present in the URL. Google Analytics then looks for these variables in the URL, pulls them out,
and puts them into the appropriate reports.

Example: You have a banner ad on someone else's site that links back to your own home page.
The original link for the banner is:

[Link]

This will show up in the reports as a referral from whatever site the banner ad was on. We’ll add
some campaign tracking variables to get more accurate information on the visitor:

[Link]
ad&utm_campaign=2009-fall

Now in the Google Analytics reports you’ll be able to see that the visitor came from “site-my-ad-
is-on”. The visitor clicked on “banner-ad” and that this “banner-ad” was part of the “2009-fall”
campaign.

Important: Auto-tagging and link tagging append additional query string parameters on to the
end of URLs pointing to your site. In some cases these extra query string parameters will cause
the visitor to be transfered to an error page. Check with your server administrator to make sure
your site allows for these additional query string parameters.

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Five Aspects Of Campaign Tracking:

Below is a chart outlining how the five campaign tracking variables are intended for use.
Though it is possible to utilize five variables with every link, there are three required variables

Common Name Query String Variable Think Of It As: Example


Campaign utm_campaign A marketing campaign as a Fall Campaign
whole.
Medium utm_medium Medium the person is us- Email
ing to get to your site.
Source utm_source The vendor used. Email Marketing Provider

Content utm_content To differentiate between Text vs Images


similar ads, emails, etc.
Term utm_term The keyword or phrase be- The words of the link.
ing used in the ad.

that must be present in a tagged link. Without these variables Google Analytics will not track the
visitor properly.

Minimum variables are:


‣ utm_campaign
‣ utm_medium
‣ utm_source

The Google Analytics URL Builder:


Google’s URL builder tool can help you create a link quickly and accurately. This is a great tool
to get an understanding of how your links should look, however if you have hundreds of links,
tagging each one in this manor can be a bit laborious.

[Link]

EpikOne URL builder (You Must Have A Google Account To Use This):
This tool allows you to quickly generate multiple URLs that are properly tagged.

[Link]
tagging-tool/

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Campaign Tracking in the Reports:

The chart below maps the to campaign tracking variables to the variables primary report and the
cross segmentation value.

Common Name Query String Variable Primary Report Segmentation Value

Campaign utm_campaign “Campaigns” Report Campaign


Medium utm_medium “All Traffic Sources” -> Medium
Select “Medium” from the
“Show” drop down.
Source utm_source “All Traffic Sources” -> Source
Select “Source” from the
“Show” drop down.
Content utm_content “Ad Versions” Report Ad Content
Term utm_term “Keywords” Report Keyword

The values you use in when tagging you links are literally the values used in the reports under
their corresponding Segmentation Values and Reports.

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Best Practices:

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Best Practices For Google Analytics Setup

‣ Take the time to analyze your website prior to adding the Google Analytics script.
At first glance, setting up Google Analytics may seem simple. But sometimes there's
more to it then adding the tracking code to your pages. Be sure to analyze your website
and look for any potential 'red flags'. You can use Step Two of this starter guide to
identify some of the common website configurations that cause problems with a Google
Analytics installation.

‣ Plan your implementation carefully.


Once you have reviewed your site, and know what needs to be done to install GA, set up
a plan. Literally write down all the steps so you have a clearly defined process, then
start the implementation.

‣ Set up goals.
While measuring the basic traffic patterns of your website is important, it is absolutely
vital to measure the processes that you want visitors to engage in. The task could be as
simple as signing up for a newsletter, but you need to know if people are completing the
task. If you do not set up a goal to measure these tasks then you will not know if your
website is truly effective.

‣ Do not add the Google Analytics script until all of your profile has been created.
Once you add the [Link] tracking code Google Analytics will start to populate your reports
with data. If your configuration is incorrect, the reports will contain inaccurate data.
Take the time to make sure all the profile settings are correct before you add the tracking
code. This way, when you add the tracking code you know the data is accurate.

‣ When making changes to your Google Analytics account create a duplicate profile
and test the changes on that first. Make sure you have implemented the changes
correctly before changing your original profile.
Changing the settings on a profile can be nerve-wracking. If you add a filter incorrectly
you could loose all your data. We recommend that you create a ‘test’ profile. This
profile should be created using the same domain as your master profile. Use this 'test'
profile to try out new filters and goal settings. By using this ‘test’ method you can avoid
problems with bad data that may arise as a result of having an improperly setup goal or
filter. Once you have refined the settings, and are comfortable with the way they work,
you can apply them to your master profile.

‣ Define which metrics your business wishes to track.


Everyone's business is different. This means that the metrics you use to measure
success will be different. When your setting up Google Analytics, keep an eye out for
the metrics that will best measure your site’s performance.

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Want to learn more about Analytics + Online Marketing?
Join us for four days of Online Marketing + Analytics training led by
industry experts. To learn more, please visit:
[Link]

Resources:

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EpikOne Resources:
‣ Online Marketing Boot Camp: Join us for 4 days of Online Marketing + Google Software training
delivered by industry-leading experts - [Link]
‣ AnalyticsExperts: Professional support, tools, and knowledge base for Google products - http://
[Link]/
‣ Analytics Talk Blog: Analytics Guru Justin Cutroni discusses a wide variety of analytics-related
topics - [Link]
‣ Support Services: Get professional support for Google Analytics, AdWords, and Website
Optimizer - [Link]
‣ Ask an Expert: Ask a free support question to one of our experts - http://
[Link]/resources/ask-an-expert/

EpikOne Tools:
‣ Exclude Internal Traffic from GA: Create a filter to exclude internal traffic from Google Analytics
reports - [Link]
‣ Regular Expressions Tester: Validate your regular expressions before applying them to your
profile - [Link]
‣ Link Tagging Tool: Manage link tagging with auto-generated tagged destination URLs - http://
[Link]/blog/2006/11/10/google-analytics-campaign-tracking-pt-2-the-epikone-link-
tagging-tool/

SiteScan - Google Analytics Diagnostic tool


‣ Confirm that your Google Analytics setup is accurate with SiteScan. Developed by EpikOne,
SiteScan crawls through every page of your website to determine whether or not the tracking
code is installed properly: [Link] .

Google Analytics Resources: [Link]


‣ Adding Tracking Code:
[Link]
‣ Setting Up Goals:
[Link]
‣ Setting Up Filters:
[Link]
‣ Setting Up E-commerce:
[Link]
‣ Campaign Tracking:
[Link]

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‣ Tracking flash elements:
[Link]
Google Analytics Resources (continued):

‣ Tracking with framed sites:


[Link]
‣ Tracking individual non-html files:
[Link]
‣ Tracking JavaScript elements:
[Link]
‣ Tracking across multiple domains:
[Link]
‣ Regular Expressions:
[Link]
‣ Tracking e-Commerce Data in Yahoo Stores:
[Link]

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