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Nov
4
Written by:
Whereoware Staff
Friday, November 04, 2011 12:40 PM
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You may have noticed that Google has rolled out changes across many of their platforms recently. One area that this affects is Google Analytics. While it’s very different from the old version, these changes are largely for the better.
To access the new interface, log in to your account and click “New Version” at the top right of your screen next to your email address.
The very first thing that you may notice is that the layout looks very different. The new Google Analytics operates on two separate planes – a vertical sidebar on the left and horizontal tabs across the top.
Across the top
These tabs are especially handy, because they present the three different views you’d be looking for in a location that is easily accessible no matter where you are in the reports.
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You can choose between a “Home” (functionally similar to the original Dashboard) screen, “Standard Reporting” (as generated by Google itself), and “Custom Reporting,” which allows you to view any reports you have created yourself. |
The ability to add widgets on the “Home” tab (to do so, click “Add Widget” in the top left of the Home Screen and then adjust the settings accordingly) means that metrics are customizable. Are you interested in seeing revenue laid out in a timeline? As a pie graph? Whatever the information you’re looking for, there’s bound to be some way to represent it.
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The horizontal nav bar also has a new welcome feature. Google’s now recognizable gear icon, found across many of their apps, can be seen on the very right hand side of the bar. Clicking on this icon enables you to edit your profile and set goals for your accounts without having to jump out of the reports to do so. This makes your analysis much more efficient and less time-consuming. From this screen, you can also access your various advanced segments, goals, and tracking code, as well as grant access to other users you’d like to be able to see your data, all without leaving the account. |
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Left-hand sidebar
Nervous about losing the old navigation system? No worries – the sidebar is still there, albeit in a slightly different form. Though most of the same reporting options remain, their locations have been largely reshuffled. You’re now presented with a more intuitive list of options (Visitors, Advertising, Traffic Sources, Content, Conversions…), each of which has an individual drop-down menu that will give you even more choices.
Rather than throwing random stats under the “Visitors,” category, for example, they are now separated into subcategories – ‘location’ and ‘language’ fall under Demographics, which ‘new vs. returning’ and ‘frequency & recency’ fall under Behavior. These explanatory subcategory titles make it easy to understand the information you’re looking at.
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For marketers working with PPC, one change is especially crucial: rather than being located under “Traffic Sources,” AdWords reporting now has an entire category to itself, under “Advertising”.
What’s new?
Some new features have been introduced – among our favorites is Multi-Channel Funnels, which we’ve written about previously (see: Google analytics tip: see the whole picture with multi-channel funnels). Another change is that you can now integrate Google Webmaster data into your Google Analytics reports. ‘Queries’ and ‘landing pages’ are listed under a Search Engine Optimization tab and will be pulled directly from your Google Webmaster account. The ability to keep all of this information in one place is bound to make your marketers happy. The new site speed report (under content) is another great addition. Site speed can impact both your AdWords landing page quality and your rankings in Google search, and being able to track and measure site speed may help you get a leg up on the competition. The new interface obviously has a lot of great features available already and Google is continually coming up with more.
But is it worthwhile?
Like it or not, you and your marketers will need to adjust to the new changes, since the old interface will be phasing out in January 2012. Luckily, you have a few months to get comfortable with the new setup. Hopefully the above explanations will help you get started, and maybe even get you excited doing so. Plus, if you’re longing for some of the older features, you’re in luck; even though you can’t choose to stay with the original interface long-term, Google announced this week that they’ll bring back both email scheduling and PDF export capabilities within the next few weeks.
Here at Whereoware, we’re certainly excited about the changes - there are some great new features buried in the platform. So get in there, start exploring, and let us know what you find!
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