|
Table of Contents
• How it Works
• Capabilities
• How to Install and Configure the Service
• Metrics for Assessing Website Traffic in Google Analytics
• What You Can Learn from Google Analytics Reports
• Comparison of Google Analytics and Yandex.Metrica
• Google Analytics
• Yandex.Metrika
• Links
Google Analytics is a free web analytics service provided by the search engine Google. It provides detailed data on all visitors, displaying information about the region, operating system, provider, traffic source, and other important parameters.
How it Works
The owner installs a JavaScript code from Google on the website, which automatically tracks all visits. The system begins recording actions and movements as soon as a visitor enters any page of the resource. Both direct visits and visits from search engines, social networks, advertising services, and other sources are taken into account.
All data is sent to Google's servers, where it is processed and systematized into a unified database. After some time, the data is displayed in the control panel, where various filters and widgets can be used to view specific information.
Capabilities
Collecting statistics in Google provides huge opportunities for website owners. Here are the main ones:
• Analytical tools: Full traffic reports, user variables, traffic visualization, employee access sharing, API tools, etc.;
• Content analysis: Statistics for all pages of the website, speed analysis, event tracking. A large set of tools to get information about the most popular pages of the resource;
• Mobile data analysis: Evaluation of the effectiveness of mobile ads, analysis by applications, statistics of transitions from mobile devices;
• Social activity analysis: The impact of social networks and user transitions, detailed statistics of material reposts, commercial benefit;
• Conversion analysis: Detailed statistics for goals and conversions, sales optimization, tracking the effectiveness of advertising campaigns, visualization of site transitions;
• Advertising analysis: A tool for analyzing and comparing different advertising sources, improving marketing effectiveness, and integrating with the AdWords service.
How to Install and Configure the Service
• To work with the service, you need to create a Google account.
• Register as a new user or log in to your account at https://www.google.com/analytics/.
• Log in to your account in the service and click on the "Administrator" tab.
• In the opened menu, click on the "Account" tab and select the account for which you need to add a website.
• In the opened menu, click on the "Create Resource" tab.
• Specify if you are connecting analytics for a "Website" or a "Mobile Application".
• We are considering an example for a website. Specify the name of the resource (for yourself), the URL, the industry, and the time zone, then click the "Get Identifier" button.
• Agree to the terms and confirm the operation.
You will be shown a code fragment from Google Analytics that needs to be installed on the resource to record user actions and maintain statistics.
• Copy it and paste it into the footer (footer) of the site. You can also place it at the beginning of the page between the head tags.
For popular CMS, there are specialized plug-ins that allow you to install the code in just a few clicks using only the user identifier.
Metrics for Assessing Website Traffic in Google Analytics
The metrics for assessing website traffic in Google Analytics are built from a large amount of data collected by the system about users. We have conditionally divided them into 4 blocks.
Summary data on website traffic: Here, the number of viewed pages, unique and non-unique sessions, total audience, and new visitors are tracked.
Audience characteristics: User activity (number of pages visited by a unique user, average interest, geographic distribution based on IP).
User sources: Tracking the platforms from which the transition was made, direct visits, a full pool of keywords from search engines, traffic sources by group.
Popularity of sections and pages on the site: A complete analysis of the traffic to each page, section, category, a list of the most popular pages for each user.
This is just a part of the parameters by which Google evaluates the website traffic and provides data to webmasters. In combination, a complete analysis is conducted, and every visitor's action is recorded so that the owner can analyze how interesting the resource is to users, which region the main audience belongs to, and which pages generate the most interest.
What You Can Learn from Google Analytics Reports
The statistics collected using the Google analytical tool allows you to understand what mistakes were made in the layout, the placement of elements, and the text materials, etc. Thanks to the reports, you can find out:
• The speed of loading the site pages. One of the important factors that influence the ranking in search engines;
• Event tracking: Complete information about clicks on various buttons, transitions between pages, and filling out various forms;
• Platform distribution: It is important to focus not only on personal computers but also on mobile devices. Thanks to the tools for collecting site statistics in Google Analytics, you will determine what percentage of users visit the resource from mobile devices, tablets, and PCs;
• Analysis of sales and conversions: Detailed statistics and analysis of all user actions with banners, information panels, video materials. From the reports, you can understand what factors affect conversion and sales;
• Analysis of advertising spaces: Using contextual advertising? Can't figure out which ad is most effective? Google Analytics will provide detailed reports on all ad placements and suggest which blocks are most effective;
• Activity in social networks: The analytical tool automatically tracks user activity in social networks and on your site. You will receive complete statistics on material reposts.
Comparison of Google Analytics and Yandex.Metrica
Google Analytics has a competitor - the Yandex.Metrica service, focused on Russia and other CIS countries. When comparing the two services, you can identify many similar tools, but there are also fundamental differences. Let's list the features of each service to make it clear how they differ.
Google Analytics
• Huge functionality, including dozens of filters, almost 100 types of reports, a large number of settings.
• Limited free version. But it is enough even for large projects, and only a small percentage of webmasters use the paid version.
• Detailed statistics for each project. But for Russia, the error is 20-40%, when Metrica has deviations of no more than 5%.
• Support for a large number of language settings.
Yandex.Metrica
• Intuitive, convenient, and well-thought-out interface.
• Data is updated with minimal delay, about 5 minutes. In Google, processing takes up to 4 hours.
• Delivery of SMS reports by specified parameters and time.
• Detailed statistics on visitor behavior in the Yandex.Webvisor, Click Maps, and Scrolling Analytics tools.
• Monitoring and setting goals, integration with Yandex.Direct.
If we consider the services as a whole, Google Analytics is more focused on Western countries. For Russia and the CIS, the Yandex service remains the optimal option. Its possible to use both simultaneously and see which one is best for your website.
Links - https://analytics.google.com
|
