Joy Of Code - Web Design Training and Consulting
Joy Gems Newsletter

Google Analytics

By Bud Kraus
bud@joyofcode.com
Joy Of Code
Creator And Instructor

v3 i15
Originally Published: September 20, 2007

I know there are many JG Readers who understand the value of web site metrics. Collecting those mouse droppings (that's what it used to be called) yields insightful feedback about how your site is being used.

Web metric solutions range from simple to very sophisticated. Regardless of what is used, the reports generated range from being useless to being helpful in developing sites to meet your goals (but that's for another JG).

If you're looking for a free, interesting, and fairly useful web metrics tool, then turn to Google Analytics. When a client pointed it out, I replied, "But I'm already using Urchin to measure the comings and goings of my web visitors. What would I need this for?"

Google Analytics tracks and reports on what most people want to know about their web sites or the web sites they are responsible for. And it does so using a very interesting interface.

Now here's the best news. This really is a no muss, no fuss type deal. Can you take a few seconds to set up an account and then copy and paste the code Google gives you into all of your pages? What could be easier? It is especially easy if you paste the code into a server side include, thereby avoiding the need to paste the code into all of your web pages.

One of the coolest things about Google Analytics is the ability to customize sections of it. I'm not just talking about sorting the data, I'm talking about moving sections of a page around to suit your fancy.

The data Google Analytics reports on breaks down into these broad categories:

  • Visitors Overview
  • Traffic Source Overview
  • Map Overlay
  • Content Overview

When you log into your account, you'll see the Dashboard plus the easy access to the categories. What I love is how easy it is to drill down into a subject that interests you.

For example, displayed inside "Traffic Source Overview" is a percentage breakdown of where your users are coming from - Direct Traffic, Referred Sites or from Search Engines.

The reports I love the most tell you where the users are located and I'm not talking about which country or domain. You can drill down to find what city and how many users from that city are coming to your site. Some of this is done with clickable maps. (What would you expect? This is Google).

Come to think of it, Google Analytics serves up more useful data than I probably could ever

use or understand. But at least I know it's there for me to use in a meaningful way when I need it.