Using Custom Dimensions & Metrics (on Measure Boards) with Universal Analytics

Note: Since this was posted in mid-2013, the domain measureboards.com has since expired. Womp womp. So there are these new nifty things in Universal Analytics that take the place of your typical Custom Variable. These are Custom Dimensions/Metrics. I’m not talking about the Custom Data Source. I’ll save that for when I’m actually able to … Read more

Latest Project: Measure Boards

There’s a reason it has been a while since I’ve posted here. That’s because I have been steadily working on building out the framework for my new website Measure Boards (http://www.measureboards.com). What is Measure Boards? Simply put, it’s intended to be a community for web analysts. Yes, I know we have a Yahoo group; but let’s … Read more

JavaScript Compatibility

The other day I was writing a function in JavaScript. Alright, before you say it – yes, it was broken in IE7/8. However, sometimes when you use common functions like trim and innerText you don’t really think about compatibility… especially if you’re an analyst. That’s what we call “knowing enough JavaScript to be dangerous.” Now normally … Read more

The Latest Google Analytics Changes

Sometimes I’m using Google Analytics and every time I reload the page… the interface changes. Google has now merged what was the “Home” dashboards (Real-Time, Intelligence Events, etc) into what was the “Standard Reports”… or is that vice versa? So everything is consolidated, which makes total sense now. Why should the Dashboards, Real-Time, and Intelligence … Read more

Guest Post: How Social Media Impacts Website Conversion Rates

Hey everyone – This post was written by Neil Shapiro. I worked with him on an Analysis Exchange project for Childspring International. He volunteered to write a guest post about social media that offers an interesting perspective on conversion measurement: First came Web Analytics – and the end of the day it is all about … Read more

Troubleshooting Inflated Visits & Bounce Rate in Google Analytics

Alright, I don’t intend on making this a regular column – but sometimes I run into an issue that takes a bit of troubleshooting. This is one of those issues. Seeing an unusual spike in traffic in Google Analytics? Bounce rate skyrocketing? It might not be a traffic quality issue! Check your implementation. Follow this … Read more

Tracking Between Subdomains

Tracking between subdomains doesn’t have to be complicated. You don’t need to check that box in the Google Analytics admin section for cross-domain or cross-subdomain tracking to work. All it does is edit the snippet in the copy/paste box: All that does is add a line of code in the “Tracking Code” section. It should … Read more