Google Analytics is a valuable tool in the belt of a digital marketer. In order to achieve a deep comprehension of the software, one must build upon their understanding of the fundamental tenants into the more complex driving mechanisms of Google Analytics.
At its core, Google Analytics relies on four platform components to convert a search effort into a findings report: collection, configuration, processing, and reporting.
Collection refers to the gathering of data into a Google Analytics account. GA applies to any sort of device that is capable of accessing a webpage. When a search commences, Google Analytics uses a piece of code adde to the website by the author to guide data collection specifications.
The next two steps, configuration and processing, are intertwined actions that while distinct from each other, seek to achieve a common goal in the data analytics process. Configuration is the arranging of data in a manner that is optimal for processing. Users can place sorts on a search, so that the software returns data pertaining only to their request, thus filtering out irrelevant data. Processing represent the tail end of this portion, where the filtered data is an output of a collection under configurations. During this phase, users can also import data from previous searches to add to the resulting data from the current search. Processing combines all data sources, and finalizes output.
The reporting portion of the analytics process is pretty self-explanatory. A user employs Google Analytics to group data in descriptive and illuminating fashion. GA offers a range of customization to allow for optimal individual flexibility in presentation.
When Google Analytics collects data, it constructs a data model using three different classifications for data type: users, sessions, and interactions.
Users are simply unique visitors to a website. It an objective for digital marketers to profile their consumers based on their habits during their time with the website. These habits are best summarized over the recording of sessions. Sessions refer to the overall "sitting" of activity of a user on a webpage. Each session is a culmination of all interaction of any kind with the webpage.
Through this style of data structure, Google Analytics is able to utilize groups of smaller observations to make a conclusion or estimate about a consumer. This system highlights the advantage of GA and Web analytics in general, that every consumer interaction with the company can be recorded and documented.
How does Google Analytics obtain such specific information from webpage usage? The answer lies within the design of the website and webpage itself. When users plug in a tracking code to their webpage, they will be able to easily record the interactions a consumer has with the webpage. When data is "packaged" and sent to Google Analytics as a hit, the method producing the hit varies depending on the device the consumer is using. If the consumer is using a PC, then the webpage uses a Javascript tracking code. If the device is mobile, software development kits (SDK's) record browser and app internet activity.
Applying the Finishing Touch
After data is collected and configured according to user preferences, the final task for digital marketers is to have a greater understanding of the reporting segment of the analytics process. With the final set of data arriving after the processing phase, users can utilize API to search even more narrowly in final queries. When presenting findings, users tend to focus on key performance indicators (KPI's), justified by apt use of dimensions and/or metrics.
In my personal experience, my own presentations of findings to class rely on the duality of qualitative and quantitative support in making my points. Google Analytics seems to have the same philosophy in mind when suggesting methods to report findings. From an abstract perspective, even the process of users utilizing Google Analytics falls in line with this duality. With Google Analytics, a large percentage of users rely on the software to complete statistical work, although they still stick to the technical side somewhat, coding websites and setting up queries. However, there is also a creative side to Google Analytics, where users can strategize what type of findings might be fruitful amongst a sea of big data.
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