Lecture Notes – Sept 13th

  • Quiz today
  • Homework questions
  • Javascript 3 download
  • Tracking & Analytics
    • Google Analytics (800 pound gorilla)
      • Freemium
        • Google Analytics 360 (Premium/Entreprise)
        • Mobile Apps SDK
      • Dashboard for easy viewing
      • Downloadable data sets for offline analysis
      • Available since around 2005
    • Other web analytics software
    • Web beacons, tracking pixel, 1×1 gif, clear gif
    • Cookies
    • Query string
    • Google Tag Manager
    • Applications
      • e-Commerce – sales, advertising, accounting
        • Attribution (who gets credit for sale)
        • Conversion (eg., a sale, sign up for news letter
      • Analytics for SaaS businesses
      • Site performance and analysis
      • User behavior
  • Google Analytics
    • How it works
      • Data collection
        • Stored on Google servers
        • Javascript snippet
          • Data from web site
          • Data from user-agent (browser)
        • Examples (dimensions)
          • Web page, time on page,  path through web site, bounce rate, page views, ISP
          • User language. location, user-agent, referrer, OS
          • Events
            • Download PDF
            • Play a video
      • Configuration
        • Filters, e.g., exclude local site, local machine
      • Data analysis
        • Up to 24 hour batch time
        • Real-time stats
        • Examples: sessions, users, pageviews, pages/session, ave. session duration, bounce rate, %new sessions, demographics, browsers, operating systems, etc.
      • Reports
        • Dashboard
        • API
    • VectorBase as demo
      • Header, line 75, “UA-6417661-1”
    • Google Analytics terminology
      • Conversion
        • Sale, a donation
        • Goal, e.g., visit 5 pages
        • Sign up for newsletter
      • Hit
        • Any event that sends data to Google
        • Tracking events
      • Metrics
        • Pageviews
        • Pages per session
      • Pageview
        • Web page load or reload
      • Segment, e.g.,
        • Geographic location
        • Operating system
      • Session
        • 30 min blocks of time
          • Leave and return within 30 min, one session
          • On site for 32 minutes … two sessions (confirm!)
      • Source/Medium
        • Organic search (Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc.)
        • Direct
        • Social
  • Resources