Google Analytics

Google Analytics

Description

Google Analytics allows designated users to analyze a wide variety of site data to help you better understand who is visiting your site and if the site is meeting their needs and expectations. Google Analytics via Google’s Universal GA code is available for all KU websites within the ku.edu domain. 

Google Analytics provides statistics and tracking data for your KU CMS site, including:

  • Site traffic:
    • Users/New Users
    • Page views
    • Most/least visited pages
    • Bounce rate
  • User demographics
    • Location
    • Mobile vs. desktop
  • User behavior:
    • Top patterns of use

Access to Your Site’s Google Analytics

Note:  If you do not have a Google account and ID for KU work, you will need to create one to access Google Analytics.

You will need to be added as a user to your site’s Google Analytics account before you can access the data. If your site already has a Google Analytics UA code, the person who initially requested the account can give you access. If you do not know who that person is, please contact webservices@ku.edu.

Log in to Google Analytics

  1. Go to google.com/analytics
  2. Select Sign in and log on with your Google ID and password. Note: If you already are signed in to Google, you may need to select Access Analytics instead.

Google Analytics Training

Google Analytics is an extremely powerful tool that can be intimidating at first. If you’re just getting started with Google Analytics, we recommend watching Google Analytics Academy’s free online courses. The first course Google Analytics for Beginners is an excellent primer that will help you get up to speed quickly on the basic features and reports.

Reports

See KU Marketing and Communications’ article Google Analyze This for information and instructions to generate many of the most common Google Analytics reports.

Custom Reports

View Custom Reports

  1. Select Customization in the top left menu
  2. Select Custom Reports

Create Custom Reports 

  1. Select Customization in the top left menu
  2. Select Custom Reports
  3. Select +New Custom Report
  4. Enter a title
  5. Select metrics and dimensions
  6. Customize the report display with filters and views
  7. Save

Add KU Standard Overview Report

KU Marketing and Communications have created a standard report called “KU Standard Overview Report” that is pre-populated with dimensions and metrics classified into three different tabs.

To add the KU Standard Overview Report to your account:

  1. Log in to Google Analytics
  2. Follow this link
  3. Select the site account you would like to add the report to

The KU Standard Report includes the following three tabs:

  1. How is your page performing?
    Collects key page performance metrics broken down by page title that will help you identify which pages are performing the best and which need a little optimization. It’s especially useful for sites that produce a lot of content or add new pages frequently.
  1. Where are your users connecting?
    Breaks down user data by metro area and includes a map based on this data. This data can help you plan site content and coordinate external marketing campaigns across social channels or online advertising services.
  1. What browser is being used?
    Shows compatibility issues with your site’s code and how it renders on popular browsers.

Dashboards

Dashboards are a collection of widgets that give you an overview of the reports and metrics you care about most. Dashboards let you monitor many metrics at once, so you can quickly check the status and performance of your accounts, or see correlations between different reports. 

Add the KU Standard Overview Dashboard

KU Marketing and Communications have created a standard report called KU Standard Overview Report that is pre-populated with the following widgets showing your site’s traffic as measured via certain key metrics and dimensions: 

  • Active users currently online
  • A pie chart detailing how users found your site
  • A table of users by browser
  • Timelines for average time on page
  • Pageviews, visits, and other data

To add the KU Standard Overview Dashboard to your account:

  1. Log in to Google Analytics »
  2. Follow this link
  3. Select the site account you would like to add the dashboard to

The KU Standard Overview Dashboard may be sufficient for your needs. If not, you can customize it by adding or rearranging the widgets, adding reports, removing unwanted widgets, or filtering the data displayed. You can also create additional dashboards devoted to different aspects of your site traffic.

See Google’s Create and Customize Dashboards for more information about Google Analytics dashboards.

Google Analytics for Site Migration

Use Google Analytics to discover:

  • Who is visiting your site?
    • Demographics (e.g., age, gender, etc.)
    • Geographic location
    • New vs. returning users
    • Desktop vs. mobile users
  • Are they finding what they need?
    • Most visited pages
  • Are they finding what we want them to find?
    • Content drill down to see how a specific page is performing
  • Are they happy?
    • Average time on page
    • Bounce rate
    • Behavior flow
  • How are users getting to the site:
    • Organic vs. linked acquisition

Tag Manager and Campaigns

Google Analytics offers many advanced tools to refine and focus your data tracking efforts through custom campaigns and a feature called Tag Manager.

For assistance or to request a consultation, contact KU Marketing & Communications Google Analytics Help at ga-help@ku.edu

Help

Using Google Analytics

For assistance with reports, dashboards, tag manager and campaigns, contact KU Marketing & Communications Google Analytics Help at ga-help@ku.edu

New Accounts

For assistance creating a Google Analytics account and/or managing access to a Google Analytics account, contact KU Web Services at webservices@ku.edu.