Google Analytics Q&A - Ask me anything

You are obviously no Google Analytics expert. I am not misreading the report. I know exactly what it says.

 

Cool. Thanks for your opinion.

Why don't use another analytics tool instead of complaining about GA

 

Hi,
I am running a Content Experiment between the original (/First-aid-kit-sales/) and variation 1 (/first-aid-kit-sales-v1/). The two images attached represent the same time period. As image 2 shows, the original has registered conversions while the variation 1 has registered zero conversions after 128 sessions. Image 1 shows (reporting>conversions>goals>reverse goal path) that there has been some conversions due variation 1. I also personally know they have been conversions due to variation 1. Why are there no conversions indicated for variation 1 in the content experiment? Where am I going wrong?
Warm regards,

John Karanja

 

There is something wrong with your conversion setup. How are your goals setup (what/how/where are they collecting the data from?). I cant really give you a specific answer without more details.

 

Hi,

Thanks for your fast response.

Please note:

1. Goal Setup - Kindly see attachment Image 3 Goal Setup.
2. I have tested the Goal Conversions using Real-Time>Conversions and everything is works fine
3. As you saw earlier, in Image 1 - Conversions>Goals is working well
4. The working code is validated

I think these four points show we are collecting Goal Conversion data correctly.

Kindly point out where there could be something wrong with the conversion setup.

 

Hi,

Please look at Image 4 -- the experiment sessions to both the original and the variation 1 are clearly shown as 53 and 77 respectively. The other metrics such as pages/sessions avg. session duration bounce rate and % new sessions are also shown. But in Image 2 no Goal Conversions.



Thanks

 

Are you sure that when you submit a conversion both the OG & variation pages send to the same thank you page URL?

 

Hi,


Thanks, again, for your very fast response.


a) I type in www.alsco.com.au/first-aid-kit-sales/ (i.e. the original page) and enter details in the “Get a Quick Quote” and click “Contact Us Now”, I am redirected to www.alsco.com.au/first-aid-sales-thank-you/

b) I type in www.alsco.com.au/first-aid-kit-sales-v1/ (i.e. the variation page) and enter details in the “Get a Quick Quote” and click “Contact Us Now”, I am redirected to www.alsco.com.au/first-aid-sales-thank-you/


You may want to repeat that just to be double sure.


Warm regards,



John Karanja

 

That looks fine to me! Send me a screenshot of how your goal is setup!

 

Hi, Please find attached the Goal set up.

 

From what I see - you have both the goal and final conversion pages setup correctly.

I PM'd you with my details. Thanks

 

Hi, Thanks for your continued assistance & patience.
I am sorry I am new. PM'd means?

 

PM means "Personal message" - they'll show up as a counter on "inbox" in the upper-right corner of the website, next to "alerts".

 

Hi,

Thank you for offering us your help. I really appreciate this. I do have a question for you.

I am looking at the Previous Page Path for my webpages and you can find Previous Page Path in the following reports:
A) Behavior --> All Pages --> Navigation Summary
B) Behavior --> All Pages --> Explorer

For Report A, I set the Current Selection to let's say, Homepage.html. And for the Previous Page Path, in the Field Box, I put let's say Contact-us.html.
For Report B, I added a Secondary Dimension (Previous Page Path) and applied Advanced Filters i.e. Page = Homepage.html and Previous Page Path = Contact-us.html.

Now, the Numbers of Pageviews found in Report A and Report B are different. Why is this so? Which one can I trust?
I am trying to find how much traffic went into Homepage.html from Contact-us.html as the Previous Page.

Thank you so much and I'm looking forward to hearing back from you.

 

Thanks - I thought it meant private message ;-)

Hello - no problem

What I would do;
You should find your page in the explorer menu (Behavior --> All Pages --> Explorer). Type your page in the filter box (contact.html) -> click on it -> use navigation summary to find where people went!

You should look at unique page views!

 

Hi, sorry I think I didn't make it clear enough. What I was trying to do was to look at the flow of traffic coming into the Homepage.html from Contact-us.html. It's a very specific flow. So, from Contact-us.html, then Homepage.html. It's like looking at a small subset of the Behavior Flow Report, in a way. Yes, Report B I mentioned above (Behavior --> All Pages --> Explorer) allows me to view the Unique Pageviews as well. And I also added Previous Page Path as a Secondary Dimension because I was interested in looking at traffic coming into Homepage.html from Contact-us.html (the way I did this was by setting up an Advanced Filter and set Secondary Dimension - Previous Page Path as Contact-us.html). I was able to look at both Pageviews and Unique Pageviews, but comparing the numbers against the Pageviews from Report A I mentioned earlier (Behavior --> All Pages --> Navigation Summary), they are different. Same Metrics (Pageviews) but different Numbers.

 

private, personal - same meaning, just different wording - it can mean both

 

Got it! The numbers are going to be different due to multiple reasons.

#1
The two methods you used PRESENT the information differently. When you use the filter box and put in a URL, make sure you put in the exact URL you want the data for. Some URL change dynamically or users type them in directly. For example: When you filter results for contact.html, you will only get results for that specific page. However, people could be going to contact.html/ (with slash), which count different pageview.

#2
Sampling of the data can skew the percentages/numbers in the different views. Always look at percentages rather than solid numbers to get more insights on your data.

If you want to effectively measure this more accurately. I would suggest you create a goal and use the funnel option with a required entrance point (which would be the contact page url).

Incase you don't want to create a goal! For this type of research. You should trust the navigation summary rather than the B method you used.

 

I am trying to track hit numbers for downloading PDF files but I'm having no success.



I'm using Analytics.js with the following in the <head> of each page:

<script>

(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){

(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),

m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)

})(window,document,'script','//www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js','ga');



ga('create', 'UA-24077462-1', 'auto');

ga('send', 'pageview');



</script>



At each download link I have the following code:

<a href="pdf/CCC2015AdPricingWEBinteractive2.pdf" target="_blank" onClick="ga('send','event',{eventCategory:'PDF',eventAction:'Download',eventLabel:'Spring Special pdf});">here</a>



I then test by clicking on the live link 2-3 times. The next day I check to see if any events are recorded in Google Analytics and I see none. I am looking under Behavior=>Events=>Overview AND Top Events AND Pages and I see no events recorded.



What could I be doing wrong? I am hoping that another set of eyes will pick up on some error.

 

I am trying to track hit numbers for downloading PDF files but I'm having no success.



I'm using Analytics.js with the following in the <head> of each page:

<script>

(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){

(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),

m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)

})(window,document,'script','//www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js','ga');



ga('create', 'UA-24077462-1', 'auto');

ga('send', 'pageview');



</script>



At each download link I have the following code:

<a href="pdf/CCC2015AdPricingWEBinteractive2.pdf" target="_blank" onClick="ga('send','event',{eventCategory:'PDF',eventAction:'Download',eventLabel:'Spring Special pdf});">here</a>



I then test by clicking on the live link 2-3 times. The next day I check to see if any events are recorded in Google Analytics and I see none. I am looking under Behavior=>Events=>Overview AND Top Events AND Pages and I see no events recorded.



What could I be doing wrong? I'm hoping that another set of eyes can pick up on an error.