google analytics: beyond the code

Google Analytics: Beyond the Code

Create a GA profile

Configure Site Search Settings

Keep searcharg, author, title, SEARCH

Exclude startLimit, SORT, endLimit, (and maybe searchscope)

Copy and paste tracking code to botlogo file. Also manually add to pages that don’t use botlogo (view source to check).

Restart server.

Verify code is visible in source and GA has started tracking.

So you added the GA code you’re your OPAC. Now what?

Top Content is the most commonly viewed report, so let’s use it to define the labels.

I have separate Profiles for different Virginia Tech library websites; this is the one for our OPAC. Limited configuration options results in several profiles.

You can Export any report and you can add them to your Dashboard. URLs are persistent.

Segments are a way of viewing a slice of your data, or multiple slices.

Switch from Explorer view to Navigation Summary to see common paths through the site.

You can change from the default view of the last month’s data, and you can compare two date ranges.

Here we’re viewing our fall semester’s usage. Note the typical wave pattern.

If you compare date ranges, be sure to pick the same start day of the week (so waves match up) and note other events (like first day of the semester).

Stats at a glance—but not very useful for a site like an OPAC with so many “pages.” Better to compare similar pages (static vs. dynamic)

Top viewed pages (by URL). Outside of standard pages like search screens, not much useful here. Note we’re also tracking outbound links.

My Millennium page (patron has logged in); one has kept the scope and one hasn’t (unscoped version probably from links outside the OPAC)

Link back to library home page. Other highly ranked out bound links include university home page, Summon, library hours, and ILL

Logged in patrons viewing their checked out items. This page shot up the list once we started including the URL in courtesy notices and text messages.

Lots of stats. These are much more meaningful in some context or when limited to useful subsets of data.

Pageviews: people who triggered the JavaScript on this page

Unique Pageviews: people who triggered the javascript on this page for the first time (cookie)

Avg Time of Page: Measured after leaving this page for another tracked on your site

Bounce Rate: Use hits a single page on your site and then leaves. “I came, I saw, I puked.”

Bounce Rate: Use hits a single page on your site and then leaves. “I came, I saw, I puked.”

% Exit: This was the last page before they left your site. (High exits are good on pages linking to external resources: ebooks, ejournals, databases.)

OPAC search screen: Time on page is accurate, surprisingly low bounce and exit rates (people don’t come by accident, not much there to fool search engines)

My Millennium screen: Surprisingly low time on page, expected low bounce and exit rates (because you have to login to get there)

Outgoing links: We use Link Tagger code: analyticsmarket.com/freetools/link-taggerParticularly tracking links to ebooks and ejournals

Here’s an example of click-throughs to Knovel ebooks. We can export this data to Excel and compare with usage data supplied by vendor.

I used a filter to see this slice of data. /outgoing/www.knovel

How often were title searches used?searchtype=t|/search/t\?

How often were author searches used?searchtype=a|/search~S.\?/a

How often were subject searches used?searchtype=d|/search/d|/search~S.\?/d

Other built-in reports: Mobile DevicesAirPac does include GA tracking code

Other built-in reports: Referring Sites

Other built-in reports: Keywords that direct people to your site

Other built-in reports: Site Search(search terms entered in the OPAC)

The real utility is in creating Custom Reports; you set Metrics (which stats are reported) and Dimensions (what data is displayed)

Landing pages are the first page a user sees on your site. Get this custom report: http://goo.gl/sI1TV

How are people reaching this version of the My Millennium screen? Click through the listed URL to see referring page.

Referring pages include Library website pages (as predicted earlier), Summon, and Serials Solutions pages (openURL).

Which library pages? Click through to see specifics: Homepage, ILL, Circ, etc.

What search engine keywords drives traffic to our catalog? Click through to see. Get this custom report: http://goo.gl/ic6Y6

Lots of people searching for link to catalog page (we also see many people searching for library homepage)

Keywords used to find catalog pages in general. Get this custom search: http://goo.gl/ePpBj

Advanced Segments lets us look at slices of data. Here I’ve created a segment that I’ll only use to view numbers of search terms:Catalog searches w/ 2, 3, 4, 5, 6-10, 11+ WordsGet this custom segment: http://goo.gl/e8kLd

I used Test Segment to see these figures (no need to view a report). Otherwise easier to view one by one.

No surprises up top: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6-10, 11+ search terms steadily decrease in number

View more rows to see: Bump in the 8-15 range (implies people are searching using sentences or article titles, but less now with Summon)

Implications for instruction/ prompts/ help pages

Blank slide for full screen images

We’ve created Filters (that permanently change the data collected) for My Millennium screens (My Library Account) to remove patron number.

This protects patron privacy and helps group types of MLA pages.

We strip out scope number (not needed by us) and patron number.

Which MLA pages are used?

How do patrons find catalog page Keywords Referrers

How do patrons search in the catalog? Types of searches (keyword, author, title) Scopes, limits Number of search terms

How do patrons use My Millennium features? How do patrons use the records they find?

Track outbound links to e-resources Track outbound links to library webpages

GA can show user behavior

What to include in help screens, prompt text on search pages, error pages

What is our default search (keyword vs title) What do we include in catalog (if very low click

throughs to an ebook package, do we rely on links from vendor site (database) or Web Scale Discovery Engine

Data driven decisions

How does our implementation of Summon affect catalog usage? Click throughs from Summon (referrers and

record # searches) Decline in number of searches?

Does new emphasis on quality searches in instruction classes change number of search terms? Decrease in single word searches and over 10

word searches?

What to look at in the future

Send me the email address you use to access Google Accounts like GArsebek@vt.edu

Consider adding me to your GA Profiles (view only) so we can compare data

Want to view our data?

Thank You!