Google News, Inside.

Google Analytics Annotations

This is awesome! I’ve been wanting something like this for a while. There was a greasemonkey hack there for this, but it wasn’t ever really consistent.
FINALLY!
As a holiday treat, in an email sent to Google Analytics users, the Analytics team has launched a holiday bonus feature of annotations. Here’s what it looks [...]

7 New Tools with Google Analytics

An email was recently sent out about some great new tools with Google Analytics.
Analytics Intelligence with Custom Alerts
Using an algorithmic driven Intelligence engine, Analytics Intelligence monitors data patterns over daily, weekly and monthly periods. Significant changes in data trends and insights you may not have noticed are surfaced directly in your account. You can also [...]

Tracking Your YouTube Channel with Google Analytics

YouTube recently launched a new blog called the YouTube Biz Blog. In short, a blog to help you make money on YouTube. There hasn’t been as big of a push from Google to generate money via YouTube, but there should be.
YouTube is a huge search engine, whether we want to believe it or [...]

Google Analytics & AdSense Integration

Late last week, the Google Analytics team announced that they would be pushing out the AdSense+Analytics integration to all publishers. This was previously a feature that was still in a private beta, which I was involved with.
I’m mostly happy with the integration, but I’m still not completely happy. It’s can be slightly flakey [...]

Google Analytics API

Long. Awaited. Anticipated.
Google has finally announced the Google Analytics API for public use. Vanessa Fox talked about her beta participation at Jane and Robot last week, which I’ll be posting about later this week.
More news to come soon!
I’ll be doing some follow-up articles about this since it’s such a huge release.
UPDATE: [...]

Upcoming Change to Search Referrals for Google.com

This is a huge announcement.
Google is changing the string it sends as a referral to sites. How does this affect you? Indirectly, it won’t, but it will affect your analytics.
This is what the string used to look like,
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=google+inside&btnG=Google+Search
This is what it will look like,
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=7&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.example.com%2Fmypage.htm&ei=0SjdSa-1N5O8M_qW8dQN&rct=j&q=google+inside&usg=AFQjCNHJXSUh7Vw7oubPaO3tZOzz-F-u_w&sig2=X8uCFh6IoPtnwmvGMULQfw
Question and Answer Time
Q: Is change going to be immediate [...]

Hanging out with Google Around Town

Google likes bring around everyone and meeting people face to face. You certainly will not see Larry Page or Sergey Brin hanging out at these conferences, but you will certainly see Google employees.
I was talking with one Googler here at SXSW who is a UX (user experience) designer out of Google New York, and [...]

Google Analytics: Tracking Flex/Flash Applications

Matthew McNeely wrote up a great article about how to track Flex or Flash applications using Google Analytics.
McNeely goes over the difference between pageviews and events, and how track each separately. It’s a very in-depth article and does a great job.

Google Analytics: See Who’s on the iPhone

Here is a short tutorial on how to view your iPhone visitors, using Google Analytics.
The Google Analytics blog recently made a public post about this new feature.

Urchin 6.5 Now Available

“After months of intensive development, we are excited to announce the release of Urchin 6.5, which contains a much asked-for new feature: AdWords integration.” Months? Try YEARS! It certainly feels a lot longer than just a few months of development for a new release of Urchin.
But that’s awesome! Great news for [...]

Tracking Events in Google Analytics

From “Double Call” to “Single Call”
After the initial launch of event tracking, we realized that the two-step process of implementing event tracking in Analytics could be simplified to a single call using the _trackEvent() method. In the initial version of event tracking, your implementation involved two steps:

Setting up the object to track and giving it [...]

Updated Google Analytics Code

PREFACE: You don’t have to upgrade if you don’t want to.
Google Analytics has updated the code you insert for tracking. But like the preface said, you don’t have to update your current code if you don’t want to.
Quickly, here is the new
[sourcecode lang="php"]
var gaJsHost = ((“https:” == document.location.protocol) ? “https://ssl.” : “http://www.”);
document.write(unescape(“%3Cscript src=’” [...]

Ironic, Lively is Dead.

I find it ironic that a project named Lively is, well, dead.
Google announced that they are shutting down the beta project called Lively.
Here’s a short excerpt from the post about why it’s being shut down.
That’s why, despite all the virtual high fives and creative rooms everyone has enjoyed in the last four and a half [...]

Tracking Flash with Google Analytics

Google announced the partnership with Adobe to start indexing flash sites better. Google is piggybacking on that partnership to also now offer better analytics for flash sites.
For those all-flash sites that used to be a nightmare to analyze, aside from unique visitors, now you can see where people are going around your flash site. [...]

Google Analytics Advanced Segmentation

Google Analytics has some new features that you will think are worth taking a look at. Advanced segmentation comparison.
Three simple words, but when combined together and applied to Google Analytics, they mean something very powerful.
In short, you will now be able to [easily] compare key segments of data side by side to create custom [...]

Google Analytics Ramps up for SES San Jose

The Google Analytics team is just as excited for SES San Jose as we are here at Ginside.com!
And boy do we love it. The Search Engine Strategies conference is right up our alley. Google will be there in force, sponsoring the show, with a giant booth for AdWords and Google Analytics. Googlers will be headlining [...]

Google Analytics Now with Auto-Login

Google Analytics has for a long time required a re-login even if you were already logged into your Google Account using cookies. But recently, Google Analytics has changed the re-login to a single “Access Analytics” button. But, it’s still not a truly automatic login which it uses for other platforms such as AdWords.
It [...]

Google Analytics with its own Favicon

Every Google property has the little “g” logo as its favicon.ico, except Google Analytics.
Seems a bit odd that Google Analytics is the only web property that has a different favicon.

Props to DreamTimes on Twitter for this one

Google Trifecta Webinar

Google is going to be putting on a webinar/seminar that includes the Google Trifecta. Google Analytics, Google Website Optimizer, and Google Webmaster Tools.
The Google Webmaster team is putting on The Google Trifecta, including Webmaster Tools, Analytics, and Website Optimizer. Click here
TITLE: The Google Trifecta: Webmaster Tools, Analytics, Website Optimizer
DATE: Tuesday, July 8th, 2008
TIME: 9:00 [...]

Google Webmaster Tools API

Late last week, Google launched the Google Webmaster Tools API.

With this new API available, it starts us down the road of being able to create incredible applications. I brought up this API seven (7) months ago when I wrote about APIs which Google should create. The Webmaster Central API was the first API [...]

Google Analytics Outage

After logging into Google Analytics today, I saw this notice.

This is not the first outage we have seen for Google Analytics though. Previously there was at least one more last year in mid-July 2007.
Here is an example of the e-commerce data loss which was mentioned in the system message above.

So if you’re wondering why [...]

AdWords+Analytics Seminars You Should Attend

Vivian Leung, from the Inside AdWords crew, put out a memo recently about new dates being offered for AdWords and Analytics seminars.
I attended an AdWords seminar back in September, nearly two years ago.
I really took a few things away from the seminar. The first thing I took away was better knowledge about AdWords. [...]

Yahoo! Acquires IndexTools

The news hit the streets this morning. Yahoo! has acquired IndexTools. Why? Simple.
Competition.
Google acquired Urchin over three years ago and Yahoo! has had no direct competing product since that acquisition.

So what will Yahoo! offer through this analytics acquisition? Free* analytics.
This will help Yahoo! secure more of a position within the industry.
* [...]

Google Outdated?

Seems that Google would have held to their word on this one. Not that it’s a bad thing, but looks like the reports are still available…even after July 18th. Or maybe…well, maybe they meant July 2008?

Google Analytics Announces a New and Simplified Interface

This morning at the Emetrics Summit in San Francisco, both Brett Crosby and Jeff Veen announced the new and updated interface for Google Analytics. The simplified interface is based on the MeasureMap and was actually designed by the MeasureMap team. The new interface is not currently active on all accounts, but from what they released, the new interface will become active over the next couple of weeks. I’m really looking forward to the new interface as I have noticed, over time, that it is a little bit more than what I really needed. This is a great announcement for the world of Analytics.

Google Analytics Forum Now Available

The Google Analytics team launched a forum to help support people and provide a platform for people to submit questions and answers. http://groups.google.com/group/analytics-help

Checkout the Analytics Integration

Merchants are able to track their Checkout orders through Google Analytics now. This was released not too long ago, but here’s a small breakdown of it. Google Analytics enables a merchant to understand how visitors interact with the merchant’s website. Google Analytics also helps the merchant to identify navigational components that promote or inhibit conversions to sales, enabling the merchant to optimize ad campaigns and website content for

Google Analytics Explanation

Have you ever been confused about “First Time” visitors or “Returning” visitors? Gauri clears everything up over at the Google Analytics blog. A first post of the year — and a proud one — for the Analytics blog. So if you’ve ever been confused, it’s a good read. Here’s a great link too: glossary of terms

Google Analytics Trick

This is probably pretty old, but I think it’s a nice little trick. If you want to easily select a week, just hit the arrow on the right to view that week’s stats.

Google Analytics API

Yeah right, I wish it was out. But I was thinking about some SEO software and how it might hook in to Google Analytics. After thinking about it, I hopped on to the Google Groups to see if there was any talk of it. Yeah, there were a couple posts but there weren’t any official responses to it. What good would an API for Analytics do?

Analytics and AdSense Suggestions

As I’m re-reading over the forum discussion so far, there have been some great suggestions. Here’s a few to list them. One user/password for AdSense and Analytics All my site statistics in once place rather than being scattered over AdSense, Analytics and Google Sitemaps Most profitable referrers Report similar to the “tunnel tracking” but showing me the most common path from Referrer, to Landing page, to other pages visited, and eventually to the pages where the ad was clicked. Most profitable pages (total $, as well as, $ per visitor) Most profitable search engine keywords Most profitable in page keywords In page keywords that attract the most visitors What was the most profitable items I have written about These are some really great ideas. I have a few suggestions myself, but again, take a gander at it. It’s a good group discussion going on.

AdSense + Analytics Feedback

So I attended the eComXpo last week and I talked to a couple Google reps about Analytics and AdSense. As a publisher and a user of Analytics, I think it would be great for Analytics and AdSense to be integrated with each other. What is one of the biggest reasons I love Google? They listen. Google listens to what their users want and they deliver. Google is very user-focused which means users want to come back and use their products. I’ve put in my 2 cents time and time again for Gmail features and sure enough, they get implemented. Of course I know I’m not the only one with ideas and by no means are they implementing these features based on what I say, but it counts as a vote in their books and those votes add up. Read here for the topic of discussion about Analytics and AdSense integration. AdSense Blog

Google Desktop Analytics Gadget

Michael pointed this out (oh man, last month and I missed it!) and I wanted to make sure everyone caught it. Camden Daily and Chris McKeever released a Google Analytics gadget for Google Desktop so you can view general stats without having to view it in the browser. Check it out.

Tracking Offline Promotions

In short, here is an article written to help with tracking conversions and promotions that are not done online — but still through Analytics. http://www.dmnews.com/c…89.html

Google Analytics Now Allows 50 Profiles

As as I was talking with my business associate today, he was asking if he could add his site to our Google Analytics account. I responded with .. “well, we only 2 unused profiles available.” With his response, “As part of our effort to expand system capacity, your account now has the ability to utilize additional profiles. The total number of profiles enabled is: 50.” I went go to look and sure enough, 50 profiles available. Looks like Google really opened up shop to allow users to add as many as they want now. UPDATE @ 09/21/06: Jeff Gillis released an official article of increasing the amount of allowed profiles on the Analytics blog.

Analyzing Your ROI

I love how Google Analytics lets you easily determine your ROI when spending on AdWords. There are many great things I love about Google Analytics, but there is one major downside to it: failure to integrate AdSense. I really wish AdSense could integrate into Analytics so you could see which pages were performing the best, which ones needed more work, etc etc. To see which ones were getting the most clicks and impressions, etc. I really hope that Google begins to integrate the two sooner than later, it would make our lives so much better.

Analytics Tip Tracking

Alex points out a nice method to use for Google Analytics and tracking your 404 pages. Besides telling you from which sources your site traffic originates, Google Analytics also tracks just about any activity that occurs on your site, including popular navigation paths, plus track downloads, outbound links, and activities on cross-domain properties. Read the full article

AdSense and Analytics Just Became Friends

While there’s been a hack around that I use for tracking AdSense clicks through Analytics, there was no full-integration which really helps track everything properly. Knowing how well a specific marketing scheme is working is very key to how a website runs. I know that I personally depend heavily on seeing how my marketing is effective and how it doesn’t work. There is now some simple integration between AdSense and Analytics for publishers. I’m very curious to see how well my sites are actually performing

Google Analytics Open to the Public Now

The Google Analytics blog writes that…. I’m happy to tell you that we’ve just removed the wait to receive a Google Analytics account. Now anyone with a website can instantly create one for free by simply by visiting google.com/analytics or by clicking on the “Analytics” tab within AdWords. After you create an account, we suggest reading the Installation Guide to get it set up quickly and correctly. This is great for everyone. I really hope they lift the 10 profile limit now, since I have 10 profiles already active.

Importance of Web Analytics

According to Brett, “The most important thing about web analytics is something our product doesn’t do. And none of the other products do it either.” What is that crucial thing? It’s analyzing and then taking action on your web analytics data. Knowing how to do that makes all the difference. To properly monitor and analyze your data, Brett suggested doing one of three things (or some combination of them): analyze

Google Analytics Allows Up to 10 Profiles Now

Google Analytics, a product webmasters around the world have come to love and enjoy, would only allow up to 5 profiles to be added before. They have changed the maximum amount of profiles to 10 now, allow webmasters to add up to 10 sites to their account. The reason they had to limit it shortly after launching the product was because the servers became overloaded and flooded very fast with all the new user registrations. I was able to sign-up early and I have had it for quite some time now. I really love the service and it’s a great product. Analytics is a modified version of Urchin, which Google bought back in March 2005. It was a great acquisition and I’m really glad Google bought them. Google continues to wow me and the webmaster community with all the free products they offer.