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1Google Analytics for Robust Website Analytics Deepika Verma, Depanwita Seal, Atul Pandey

2Table of ContentsI.INTRODUCTION .3II.Method for obtaining data for web analysis.3III.Types of metrics and values .4IV.Data Collection and Analysis .5V.Competitors.8VI.Advantages of google analytics.10VII. Recommendations .10Acknowledgment.10References .11

3Abstract— Google Analytics is an enterprise-class based web analytics tool which provides a transparent view of website traffic andmarketing effectiveness. Google Analytics has powerful and advance features that give rich insight into the websites and improvewebsite ROI (Return on Investment). This research paper consists of case study on Google Analytics, which demonstrates featuresGoogle Analytics provides and reports it generates. On the basis of the evaluation of web usage, web site owners or E-businessmarketers can enhance the efficiency of marketing, and web traffics. This paper will also present the limitations of the GoogleAnalytics and propose better approach to overcome the issues.I. INTRODUCTIONn today’s digital world, almost everyone is dependent on Internet. Internet enables E-commerce, E-learning, social networking,banking, discussions etc through online websites. To get more customers or visitors, E - business and website owners need tooffer better quality website. Web Analytics serve the purpose of understanding and optimizing web usage.Web Analytics collects, analyzes, and reports data about numbers and types of visitors, page views, and much more. GoogleAnalytics is the most widely used web analytics application that helps to understand the behavior pattern of website visitors.Google Analytics emerged from Urchin Software Corporation, which Google bought in 2005. Over the years, Google analyticshave managed to gain popularity because of its simplicity and numerous advanced features for site owners and professionalmarketers. The site owners and marketers can identify how visitors actually interact with the websites by using this tool. Autogenerated report by Google Analytics facilitates the site owners and the marketers to improve site designs, drive targeted traffic,and increase profits.III. METHOD FOR OBTAINING DATA FOR WEB ANALYSISThere are two methods for obtaining web data: Web Server Log data: Data obtained from user’s web server can be parsed by client-side software to make the datameaningful. Page Tag data: JavaScript code placed on each tracked page provides in-depth information about the page and theclient’s browser device.A. Web Server Log DataWeb Server Logs give more accurate and comprehensive output, hence better insight in to website. They record variousinformation from each request made to the server. Server logs also provide important information about time and type of request,domain request, referring URL, 404 requests, broken links, and various other informations. This way you can fix these problemsto better accommodate your users and the search crawlers. Logs are very detailed as they contain information such as Imagerequests, CSS files, JavaScript files, Search engine bot traffic.In Server logs it is difficult to track at user level, little information about how visitors use site, requests from search enginebots can distort figures and they don’t count views of pages which are cached. Typically server logs are read with some LogAnalysis Software such as AWStats (Advanced Web Statistics) and Webalizer.Pros Counts every request to server User own the dataCons Expensive initial investment Things / events cause counts to be inaccurate:o Search engine spiderso Proxieso Dynamic IP Addresseso Cache Data parsing required before analyzing Cumbersome management of Server Logs Storage intensiveB. Page Tag DataPage tag-based web analytic systems obtain similar data as server logs. Additionally, they obtain information about the client’s

4browser, operating system, custom IDs and tags, as well as conversion data, unattainable from server logs.Pros Cons Cheaper to set up / Pay as you goBelieved to be more accurate than server logsSpeed of data reportingFlexibility of data collectionDependant on JavaScript & CookiesImplemented required for every tracked pageSometimes complex tag implementationsWho owns the data?Privacy issuesSlight performance issuesIII. TYPES OF METRICS AND VALUESFig. 1. This figure shows how the value of the data obtained increases as the data becomes more uniqueThe core metrics obtained through web analytics are: HitsA hit represents a request to a web server. A web page may create several hits to a web server. One for the web page, otherrequests for each image on the page, any includes, etc. Therefore, a web page that contains 6 images would create 7 hits to a webserver. So except for the needs of server support staff, this metric provides no business value. Page ViewsThe Page View metric represents the number of times a web page, be it static, or dynamic, has been displayed. It is useful fordetermining the popularity of select content. VisitA Visit (or session as Web Trends refers to is) is represented by activity during a period of time (usually 30 minutes) that takesplace on a website. VisitorsVisitors are one of the most unique metrics used in web analytics. By default, a visitor is represented by an IP address or acookie. Uniquely identified visitors are cross referenced by another back-end system, usually an e-commerce or CRM system.

5IV. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSISThe data on Google Analytics is accessed by registering site on Google. After performing some basic configuration details, asmall text file containing the security key needs to be download into the server. Then JavaScript snippet is added to each page ofthe site to activate the collection of data. Website http://knowindiatourism.blogspot.com is taken for doing data collection andanalysis using Google Analytics. Google Analytics helps not only E-businesses but also helps sites which are not for commercialpurposes such as personal Blogs. Google Analytics has developed numerous useful and valuable features that increase sales,profits, and visitor satisfaction. Google Analytics few key features are as following.A. Setting GoalsBy defining a goal in Google Analytics it tracks and generates reports to measure business objectives. It measures analyticsusers’ site engagement goals against threshold levels that they define.B. AdWords IntegrationIf site owners advertise through AdWords, Analytics will optimize AdWords performance of their sites with keywords, group,and campaign. For tracking ROI from AdWords, analytics users need identify which keywords, ads, and campaigns lead toconversions on their site. AdSense reports shows which site content generates most revenue.C. Complete campaign tracking capabilitiesGoogle Analytics tracks data from various sources such as email campaign, banner ads, offline ads, and more to provide ROIanalysis.D. Bounce RateThe bounce rate report presents how many people come to Google Analytics user’s site and leave without going anywhere.High bounce rate indicates that visitors find webpage irrelevant. Analytics allows users to view bounce rate over time, and itshows how it varies from page to page.E. Mobile trackingGoogle Analytics has introduced mobile analytics tracking. It tracks mobile websites, mobile applications, and web enabledmobile devices. For mobile tracking reports, Google Analytics users need to install server side script.F. Flash, video, and social network application trackingGoogle allows analytics users to track Flash, video, and social networking sites. It tracks usage of Flash, Ajax, socialnetworking, and web 2.0 applications.G. Comparing Date RangeAllows comparison between two different time intervals

6H. Deep Geographic DataIt allows viewing how a user’s site is performing in various city or country. It helps users to identify the most lucrativegeographic markets.I. Local Conversion DataAfter setting up conversion goals, Google Analytics shows user the site conversion in different locales. For E-commerce sites,marketers can adjust their offers based on how they are performing geographically.J. Funnel VisualizationA funnel represents the route that users expect visitors to take on their way to converting to the goal. Funnel visualization pageallows users to see how frequently visitors abandon goals. By knowing the information, site owners can fix the pages that resultin lost opportunities and where their customers go.Fig. 2. This figure shows an example of how a funnel is divided in to various segments and what visitor activity at each level is.K. Navigation SummaryIt Google Analytics can be used for Visitor navigation patterns. If visitors are not following the desired navigation, then siteowners need to redesign the webpage.L. Email ReportsGoogle Analytics has a feature to set up reports, and schedule to whom and when they will automatically be sent. GoogleAnalytics sends report to specified email addresses.

7M. Exclude internal trafficUsually a user of Google Analytics spends more time on his site than anyone else. If it is not excluded, data can be skewed.Google Analytics filters out traffic from IP address, which website owner specifies.N. Search engine trafficGoogle Analytic shows data pertaining to search engines. It shows names of various search engines and the traffic each one ofthem is sending. It informs the site owner about the comparison between search engines traffic with other traffic sources. It alsoidentifies which search engine sends the most traffic, so it helps site owners to improve their websites based on SEO efforts.O. Advanced segmentationSegments allow certain types of visitors such as new visitors, returning visitors, paid traffic, and more accumulate together. Itfacilitates compare and analyzes segment performance.P. Customize DashboardGoogle Analytics Dashboard plug-in for word press gives user holistic view about Google Analytics data. Customizabledashboard gives an opportunity to user for incorporating report through drag and drop functionality. User can run customdashboard as an interactive web application on intranets, websites or Blogs, etc.