Google Analytics provides a super-easy method of tracking onsite search keywords: simply identify which query string (aka parameter) holds the onsite search term for your site, and enter that value at Admin > View > Site Search Settings. You can find your search query string by performing a search on your site and checking the … Read more
This post shows some useful Custom JavaScript Variables for Google Tag Manager. #2 and #3 require modification for your own site, while the others can be plugged in directly. Add Custom JavaScript Variables by navigating to Variables > New > Custom JavaScript. CONTENTS #1 Value of the Closest Parent ID#2 Text of the Closest Specific … Read more
Here we are again with another look at the top Google Sheets Add-Ons for spreadsheets. Other posts in this series: Top Google Sheets Add-Ons for Spreadsheets (+User Counts) [Oct 2018 Update] Top Google Sheets Add-Ons for Spreadsheets [July 2019 Update] Top Google Sheets Add-ons I scraped this data with a little script from the Google … Read more
A histogram is a type of chart that visually shows the distribution of data. It’s useful when looking at the average or median of a data set, to understand whether that data point is common or not. For example, an ecommerce dashboard will typically include an Average Order Value metric. Say this metric is $50. … Read more
The box plot chart (aka box and whiskers) is a chart to visually display the distribution of a dataset: the maximum, minimum, median, and the range on either side of the median. Google Data Studio currently doesn’t provide a Box Plot chart type, but you can create something similar using a Stacked Column chart type. … Read more
Google Data Studio lets you hook up a wide variety of data sources and create cool reports and visualizations out of them. Sometimes, though, the wires get crossed during the import process, and there’s a data type issue where your metrics (numbers) get read as dimensions (text fields), and vice versa. Luckily there’s an easy, … Read more
This post shows four examples of using the dataLayer.push method to pass in extra metadata to Google Tag Manager (GTM) via Variables. #1 Standard GTM Data Layer Push Syntax #2 GTM Data Layer Push with Array #3 GTM Data Layer Push with Nested Key-Value Pairs #4 GTM Data Layer Push with Nested Arrays #1 STANDARD GTM … Read more
Setting up Enhanced Ecommerce tracking via Google Tag Manager & Google Analytics generally involves creating a data layer that contains all the relevant values, as described here: https://developers.google.com/tag-manager/enhanced-ecommerce#purchases These same values are often required to set up other marketing and analytics tags. For example, the Facebook conversion pixel looks like this: <script> fbq(‘track’, ‘Purchase’, {currency: “USD”, … Read more
This is an updated, comprehensive list of all the Google Sheets add-ons (aka plugins or extensions) available in the Sheets add-on store, along with their user counts and comparisons to their rankings in July, 2018. Other posts in this series: Top Google Sheets Add-Ons for Spreadsheets (+User Counts) [Jan 2019 Update] Top Google Sheets Add-Ons … Read more
HOW TO NAME EVENTS IN GOOGLE ANALYTICS This post describes one proven naming strategy for Google Analytics event tracking. Event naming is critical for using Google Analytics event reporting hierarchy and drill-down structures. With a good naming system it will be easy for users to identify events they’re interested in and break them down by where … Read more