Google Analytics is a free service from Google that gives insights into how visitors find and use your site.
There are two different versions of Google Analytics: Classic Google Analytics and Google Analytics Universal Analytics. Both of them use a JavaScript application (Classic = ga.js, Universal = analytics.js). Both versions create and transmit a block of data that Google’s data servers collate into reports. The differences in the versions center around the customizations available for Universal Analytics. Some of the advanced customizations with Universal Analytics includes:
- Timeout Handling: in analytics.js, you can make Google Analytics session expirations match your site settings. Using this setting can help prevent the under-counting of visitors who time out on your site and then log back in to create a new session.
- Custom Search Engines: Google Analytics recognizes several search engines automatically. Now you can manage specific search engines that you want to count as organic traffic in the Google Analytics Universal Analytics console.
- Referral Exclusions: if you want to exclude specific traffic sources (internal traffic), you can set referral exclusions in the analytics.js tracking code.
This is not a complete list but illustrates the differences between the two.
Encompass can add Google Analytics to your site in two different ways. One option is for us to add it via the Site Map. This is an ideal option if you need different Google Analytics for different sub-sites and share a template. The second option is to add it in the template files, making it global across any sub-sites using the template. This may be a more appropriate option for advanced or customized Google Analytics installations.
Encompass Customer Support can add the source code to your site and verify that the source code is in place. If metrics or information are not populating in your Google Analytics dashboard, you will want to utilize the help resources listed below.
There are wonderful help resources available online if you have questions on Google Analytics. The following are a few of the resources:
Official Google Analytics Solutions Community
Google Analytics YouTube channel
Google Analytics Academy (Google+)
50 Resources for Getting the Most Out of Google Analytics (Kissmetrics Blog)
How to use Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics to log transactions in Encompass (courtesy of Luke Seemann)
Please contact Customer Support to find out more about adding Google Analytics to your site.