Website? Check. Google Analytics account? Check. Now what are the mechanics of Google Analytics? What data does it record?
Jeff Rajeck, Senior Trainer at ClickAcademy Asia, explains the data points that Google Analytics records and what it means to you.
Highlights:
1. Hit - Each time the tracking code is triggered by a user’s behaviour (for example, the user loads a page on a website or a screen in a mobile app), Analytics records that activity. Each interaction is packaged into a hit and sent to Google’s servers. There are 3 main types of hits you need to know:
2. Pageview - A pageview (or pageview hit, page tracking hit) is an instance of a page being loaded (or reloaded) in a browser. You can view pageviews in your All Pages report.
3. Event - This is a type of hit used to track user interactions with content. Examples of user interactions commonly tracked with Events include downloads, mobile ad clicks and video plays. Events normally have to be configured which can be complicated but for most, they are probably already set up. You can check if your website is already tracking events in Events section in under Behaviour.
4. Ecommerce hit - This is very important for you if you run an online shopping site. Google Analytics does not only record the pageviews that your customers have on your site but also information about the products that they view. Fortunately, most ecommerce sites provided by major providers like such as Magento or Shopify will already have ecommerce tracking functions and all you have to do is just sort of tick a box to enable tracking.
Get hands-on guided training on Google Analytics at ClickAcademy Asia's Google Analytics Certification. The 2-day course covers topics from basic setup and configuration to advanced tracking features. Find out more here.