In Google Analytics Basics set up your Account | Property | Install tracking code | Filters. Google analytics allows site owners to track their site activity such as traffic, visitor behavior, session duration, pages per session, bounce rate, social media, etc, and much more. Use your Gmail account to sign in to Google Analytics. The Admin tab (gear icon) located at the left-hand side bottom of the dashboard is the Admin button. You have the option to select or create an account. To create a property click on the dropdown. Select the website to add your website name with URL. Next, choose your industry and timezone. Click on get tracking ID and install this ID on every page of your website that you would like to track. Google Analytics provides a lot of metrics for users to customize based on what they need.
All essential Google Analytics’ features can be accessed and configured on the left side of the dashboard. Goals are visitor activities on your site that need to be tracked. Google Analytics offers key insights as to how your site performs and what needs to be done to achieve the goals. The Customization tab helps create your metrics. Make knowledgable decisions about your website by integrating other data sources.
Google Analytics Basics: Grid Icon
Click on Google Analytics Login and add your website. You will need a Gmail account to sign in and the first page you will see is fig 1 Click on the ADMIN tab (grid icon) at the left-hand bottom. Read more by clicking on Web Analytics.
Create Account
Click on [Create Account] as shown in fig 2
Enter details for your website or app
The display page fig3 includes- Account Name | Website Name | Website URL | select Industry Category from the drop-down menu | select Reporting Time Zone from dropdown | check/uncheck data sharing settings checkboxes | click on [get tracking ID] button.
Check the 2 boxes in Google Analytics Terms of service.
In fig 4 scroll down and click on ‘I Accept’ tab to get success.
Page displays Tracking Code
In the view page fig 5, you will get a display of the tracking code. Alternatively, you can view the tracking code under create property dropdown, scroll down and click on .js tracking info for a display of the tracking code.
Copy & paste the tracking code script to all your website pages below the <head> tag. [Paste the tracking code in the <head> tag in each of your web pages if you have an HTML website & in the header.php page of your website if you have a PHP based website like WordPress.]
Tracking Code
In your WordPress website go to Dashboard fig 6 and on the left side under the Appearance tab drop-down, scroll below to Editor and click to get a view of WordPress files of your theme on the right side. Press the header.php and paste the tracking code in the <head> tag. Proceed to the ‘update button’ and save the settings. Alternatively, you can use an FTP Client to download the header.php file to your computer, paste the tracking code in the <head> tag, and upload header.php back to your WordPress files.
Property settings
Under create, property fig 7 go-to property settings. Toggle settings to ON for “enable users metric in reporting” by scrolling down to the page bottom.. Next click on the “save” button
Create View
Under create, view fig 8 go to view settings. Give a name to your view reporting. [In the fig. see the view name which is set to “All Web Site Data”] Next scroll down under users to “show user-id reports” and the toggle button to ON and click on “create view” button
The Google Analytics installation depends on the theme, plugins, and platforms you use.
Basic Filter Settings
Two ways to filter your own traffic from Google Analytics reports:-
Filters
Filter your own static IP address. [To get your IP address, simply type the query in browser “my IP address” and your IP address will be displayed on top of the search result page.] From the google analytics dashboard press the gear icon to land on this page. Go to View and click on filters and select a new filter to create a new filter. After going through the steps shown (in the fig9) click on save to add your filter to google analytic report. Your traffic will not be tracked for the IP address that was just added.
Google Analytics Basics: Cookies
filter your own traffic using cookies. Exclude internal traffic by cookie content.
Fig 10 shows how to set up, a filter that will exclude the traffic coming from your computer. Proceed to [Filters] in your Google Analytics account and, choose a [Custom filter].
Select [Exclude] to exclude traffic, [User Defined] as [Filter Field] setting the custom variable and add [filter_ctraffic] to [Filter Pattern]. Save the above settings
[filter_ctraffic] is a custom variable in the body tag of the HTML document.
Next, create an HTML page & name it as ‘Filter Traffic Var’ (or any thing else you would like it to be) with the following code and place it on the server. Enter your Google Analytics tracking code to replace the below-highlighted text.
<!DOCTYPE html>
<head>
<title>Excluding traffic by Cookie Content</title>
<meta name=”robots” content=”noindex” />
<!– Google Analytics –>
<script>
(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i[‘GoogleAnalyticsObject’]=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){
(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o), m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)
})(window,document,’script’,’//www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js’,’ga’);
ga(‘create’, ‘UA-XXXXX-Y‘, ‘auto’);
ga(‘send’, ‘pageview’);
</script>
<!– End Google Analytics —>
</head>
<bodyonLoad=”javascript:pageTracker._setVar(‘filter_ctraffic‘);”>
<h1>Excluding Traffic by Cookie Content</h1>
<p>Whenever you use this browser, Google Analytics will filter the traffic that comes from your computer since the page has a cookie set up in it.</p>
<p> Set up a filter in Google Analytics immediately, after the setup of this cookie page</p>
<p> One visit to this page would be sufficient </p>
<p> Reinstall the operating system or the browser, if by chance you happen to clear or delete your browser cookies. The page will have to be re-visited again, so that the cookie is set again</p>
</body>
</html>
This HTML page sets a cookie in your browser that directs google analytics to filter all the traffic that comes to your browser whenever this browser is used.
To set up a filter in Google Analytics you will be required to visit this page only once.
If the browser cookies are cleared restore the setting and re-install the browser or operating systems and re-visit this page so that the cookies are set again.
Add Filter
Fig12 shows the view of the two filters that have been set in Google Analytics.
Google Analytics Basics ~ Glossary
- Account — relates to the property on the dashboard. It is possible to set up multiple properties in one account or have multiple accounts for different properties
- Property — the website or mobile app you want to track
- Tracking ID — a unique code added to your site that allows Google Analytics to track it
- Channel/Traffic source — is the traffic which came from referrals or links from other websites, search engines, social media and emails
- Session duration — the time visitors spend on your site
- Landing page — the first page a visitor sees when visiting your website
- Dashboard – Collection of widgets for quick valuation of google analytics data.
- Reports – A set of reports in GA are Realtime, Audience, Acquisition, Behaviour, and Conversions located on the left side.
- Conversion — website visitors that are converted to customers
- Bounce rate — is the percentage of visitors that view a single page before leaving the website.
- Event — particular visitor behavior, such as when a visitor subscribes to your site.
- Landing page — the first page a visitor lands on your website
- Organic search — visitors who come to your site from a search results page link.
- Segment — filter data, as in case of visitor types.
- Features – GA essential features can show the number of visitors on your site, see how your visitors convert after setting goals, find the keyword or referral traffic of visitor flow to your site, and build a custom dashboard of those features.