Most Useful Google Analytics Updates in 2013



    At the beginning of October at the next annual summit, Google Analytics representatives announced several updates at once , some of which we already see in their accounts today, some will appear in the system before the end of the year. According to the developers, the innovations will help website owners and web analysts get even more data about resource users, find connections between different types of people and their interaction with the site, and open up new ideas for business development. Let's try to figure out the latest news.

    User segmentation


    Consider what changes have occurred in user segmentation. Previously, advanced segments were based only on visitor data, now Google Analytics allows you to customize user segments according to certain criteria based on visitor data. For example, specific demographic data or behavior. This allows a deeper analysis at the level of site visitors.



    To configure a custom segment, go to the "Browse" audience and click on the "Create segment" tab.



    Seven Google Analytics templates offer ample opportunities for customizing user segments: by demographic data, by type of device or user's browser, by user behavior, duration or frequency of visits, by date of first visit, traffic source, etc. Various configurations of these templates allow you to create a lot of different segments depending on the required tasks.



    From the new - the template "Date of first visit" and "Consistency". The Sequence segment allows you to see how many users completed the conversion action by following a specific path through the site. Previously, for this it was necessary to set goals and wait for a while until the data was collected, but now it’s enough to create a segment.

    Traffic sources


    The most popular traffic source report has been updated. By grouping key indicators, the developers made it even more visual and intuitive.

    The new “General Information” report provides a summary of traffic sources: where did the visitor come from, how did he behave on the site and how does he make conversions. By default, such a report contains relative measures by channel.



    Now in one report you can see:
    • Which channels are the most traffic users;
    • What channels do visitors come from who most effectively interact with the site;
    • Which channels bring us the most conversion users.

    Thus, we immediately get a general idea of ​​the effectiveness of various traffic sources, as well as the behavior of visitors.

    The new Channels report provides detailed information for each channel. By default, channels such as Direct Logins, Referrals, Search Engines and Social Networks, etc. are installed, but you can always configure additional channels as you wish.



    Lecture hall


    For most marketers, the biggest problem is the lack of information about the people visiting the site. We do not know what gender or age they are, what their profession is, or what they are interested in. In the formation of marketing and advertising campaigns often have to act blindly, guessing this data. An updated audience report solves this problem. Now you can find out the gender, age and areas of interest of users of the site, how the behavior of the audience changes depending on which category it belongs to (for example, men or women). In the Russian version of Google Analytics, this feature will appear before the end of this year.

    And so, we present an overview of the new audience reports.

    "Demography"
    • “Overview” (overview of traffic by gender and age);
    • "Age" (traffic by age ranges);
    • "Sex" (traffic by gender).





    "Interests"
    • “Overview” (overview of “Affinity Categories” and “Other Categories”);
    • “Affinity categories” (classification of visitors according to their lifestyle, for example, technophiles, music lovers, gamers, etc.);
    • “Other categories” (categorization of visitors based on the content they consume).

    With advanced data about the site’s audience, you can create personalized resource pages and more effective advertising and marketing companies.

    Finally


    We’ve reviewed the major changes that will appear in Google Analytics later this year. For active users of the system, innovations may seem a little unusual, but they are really more convenient, and most importantly much more informative. Getting even more data about the audience of the resource, we can more correctly develop the site and the business as a whole.

    Attention (!): The article does not claim to be true and complete all the data.

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