Google Analytics Basics

Finding Information

Search Bar

If you’re unsure which report contains the data element you need, use the Search Bar. For an example, if you wanted to view the top sources of traffic to your site, you could type in “source” into the search bar and jump straight to that report. In this example, the “source” query matches two metrics in two different reporting sections, Real-Time and Acquisition.

Navigate

If you know what you’re looking for, start clicking on menus to locate the report. There are six main reporting sections that you can navigate to directly to find more information.

Insights/Intelligence Feature

If you’re unsure of the data element or report you need, but understand what you want to discover, the Insights or Intelligence feature is a good option. The more reporting around events and goal conversions you have built into your site, the more relevant this feature is. This search bar will accept natural language questions such as “How many iPhone users did I have last week?” or commands such as “Popular Pages Today.” 

Data Structure in Google Analytics

Data in Google Analytics is built around a large number of metrics plus dimensions by which those metrics can be reported upon.

Metrics

Metrics are the numeric values or measures of things within your web or app experience. A set of standard metrics is included within Google Analytics. Advanced users can create custom metrics within Google Analytics and Google Data Studio. Common or standard metrics include:

• User: Defined as the owner (by Google Analytics ID) of sessions 
• Session: Group of user interactions with your website that take place within a given time frame. For example, a single session can contain multiple page views, events, social interactions and e-commerce transactions. 
• Pageview: A view of a page on your site that is being tracked by the Analytics tracking code. If a user clicks reload after reaching the page, this is counted as an additional pageview. If a user navigates to a different page and then returns to the original page, a second pageview is recorded as well.

Dimensions

Dimensions are descriptive qualifiers to understand more about your metrics. A set of standard dimensions is also included within Google Analytics. Advanced users can also create custom dimensions to utilize for further analysis of their data. Common dimensions include:

• Source: the origin of where your website traffic is coming from
• Geography: the IP address of your user – can be viewed by countries, regions/states, metro areas and cities
• Device Category: if the device used by the user was a desktop, tablet or mobile device – drill to find device types and browsers

Get definitions and a list of all available dimensions and metrics from Google.

While top-level metrics like users, sessions and pageviews are useful for quick check-ins, they aren’t as helpful in trying to understand paths toward desired actions. In order to gain a fuller understanding of these paths, goals and events must be implemented.

Events

Events are unique to an organization and measure activities within your pages on your content. Common events to track include scroll tracking on pages, video plays and clicks on outbound links. You can also use events to “create the path” to the ultimate goal and identify what activities are leading to a goal.

Goals

Goals are unique to an organization and measure how well your site or app fulfills your target objectives. A goal represents a completed activity, called a conversion that contributes to the success of your business objectives. 

The university has established a standard set of goals that represent common business objectives at the university. You can discover how your websites contribute to those goals by using the Roll Up Property if you’ve installed the Ohio State Global Container on your website. You can also establish your own goals and events to support your business in your Zone properties.

Using Reports

Included on the left side of the Google Analytics interface is a nested list of reporting views. Review the list of common questions below for guidance on which GA report to use to find answers.