Google Analytics Integrations

DANIEL WAISBERG is an Analytics Advocate at Google, where he fosters Analytics by educating and inspiring professionals when it comes to making data-driven decisions; he spends a considerable amount of his time analyzing and visualizing data to come up with interesting and actionable stories. Daniel is also the Founder & Editor of online-behavior.com, a respected Analytics portal.

Introduction xxi

1 Implementation Best Practices 1

Planning Your Implementation 2

1 Define Business Goals 3

2 Build Key Performance Indicators 3

3 Collect Data 4

4 Analyze Data 4

5 Test Alternatives 5

6 Implement Insights 5

Implementing and Customizing Your Code 6

Cross Domain Tracking 7

Enhanced Ecommerce 7

Custom Dimensions 7

Download Clicks 8

Advanced Content Tracking 8

Troubleshooting Code Implementation 9

Setting Up the Google Analytics Interface 9

Setting Up Goals 9

Focusing on Potential Customers 10

Removing Parameters That Do Not Point to Unique Content 11

Eliminating Duplicate Pages 11

Setting Up Site Search 12

Enabling Display Advertising and Demographics Reports 13

Excluding Referrals 13

Tagging Your Inbound Traffi c 14

Tagging Custom Campaigns 14

Tagging FeedBurner Traffi c 15

Managing Your Implementations Effectively 17

Creating Raw Data and Staging Views 17

Creating an Analytics Staging Property 18

Keeping Track of Implementation and Confi guration Changes 18

Keeping Track of External and Overall Changes with Annotations 19

Summary 20

I Offi cial Integrations 21

2 AdWords Integration 23

Integrating AdWords and Google Analytics 23

Linking AdWords and Analytics 23

Deleting and Editing the Google Analytics and AdWords Link 29

Top 10 Causes of Google Analytics and AdWords Data Discrepancies 30

Integration Data, Structure, and Standard Reports 31

AdWords Dimensions and Metrics in Google Analytics 31

AdWords Account Structure Overview 34

AdWords Standard Reports Overview 36

Optimizing AdWords Performance Using Google Analytics 48

Identifying Winners and Losers—The ABC Framework 48

Finding Negative Keywords with Custom Reports 50

Creating Remarketing Lists Using Google Analytics Data 51

Optimizing Shopping Campaigns 54

Summary 55

3 AdSense Integration 57

Integrating AdSense and Google Analytics 57

Linking Analytics to AdSense 57

Linking Multiple AdSense Accounts and/or Google Analytics Properties 60

Unlinking and Managing Access to Data 61

Data Discrepancies Between Google Analytics and AdSense 61

Analyzing AdSense Effectiveness Using Google Analytics 62

AdSense Overview 63

AdSense Pages 64

AdSense Referrers 68

Google Analytics Dashboard to Monitor AdSense Performance 69

Summary 72

4 Mobile Apps Integrations 73

Viewing Google Play and iTunes Data on Google Analytics 73

Android SDK v4: Setting Up Install Tracking and Campaign Measurement 74

iOS SDK v3: Setting Up Install Tracking and Campaign Measurement 78

Analyzing Mobile Apps—The Full Customer Journey 81

Sources Reports 82

Google Play Referral Flow Report 85

Summary 86

5 Webmaster Tools Integration 87

Linking Webmaster Tools to Google Analytics 87

Analyzing Webmaster Tools Data on Google Analytics 89

Queries Report 90

Landing Pages 91

Geographical Summary 94

Summary 96

6 YouTube Integration 97

Integrating YouTube Into Google Analytics 97

YouTube Video Tracking in Google Analytics Using Google Tag Manager 99

Implementation Details 100

Custom Report to Monitor Video Performance 103

Summary 103

II Custom Integrations 105

7 Custom Data Integration 107

Methods to Import Data into Google Analytics 107

The Measurement Protocol 108

Data Import 108

Real-World Examples 111

Importing Content Data 111

Importing Product Profi t Margin Data 116

Importing Refund Data 117

Limitations and Best Practices 117

Summary 119

8 User Data Integration 121

The Siloed Dataset 121

The User ID 122

Creating a User ID View 124

Setting the User ID 127

Storing the User ID 129

Importing Additional Data 130

Summary 133

9 Marketing Campaign Data Integration 135

Google Analytics Acquisition Channels 135

Tagging Custom Marketing Campaigns 137

Measuring Online Campaigns 139

Measuring Offline Campaigns 140

Cost Data Import 141

The Cost Data Import Process 142

Analyzing Marketing Campaigns 147

Summary 148

10 A/B Testing Data Integration 149

Integrating Optimizely Data into Google Analytics 149

Sending Test Variations as Events for Advanced Segmentation 151

Analyzing Test Results 155

Ending Your Tests 155

Dealing with "No Signifi cant Difference" 156

Summary 157

11 Email Data Integration 159

Tracking Email Opens 159

Step 1: Create a Custom Metric 160

Step 2: Create an Email Campaign 161

Step 3: Add the Google Analytics Code to Your Email 161

Step 4: Send Your Email and Analyze the Results 163

Tracking User Behavior Across Devices 165

Step 1: Set Up a User ID View in Google Analytics 166

Step 2: Add the MailChimp ID to the Links in Your Emails 166

Step 3: Send the User ID to Google Analytics 167

Bonus Step: Add a Custom Dimension with a User ID Value 168

Summary 171

12 Offline Data Integration 173

The Full Customer Journey 173

Implementation Details and Script 174

Step 1: Defi ne Your Data Collection Needs 174

Step 2: Create the Google Form 175

Step 3: Add and Edit the Script to Match Your Needs 176

Step 4: Add a Trigger 176

Step 5: Make Sure the Form Is Being Filled 176

And Finally...The Script! 177

Summary 178

Index 181