Google Analytics

  • What Analytics Can’t Tell You

    What Analytics Can’t Tell You

    There are lots of things that your website’s analytics can’t tell you, especially when it comes to human thoughts. The client who told me yesterday, “Here’s something that analytics can’t tell you” was referring to the buying behavior of people in his industry.  Analytics can tell us quite a bit, but there will always be…

  • Can You Compare Stats?

    Can You Compare Stats?

    When I first started using Google Analytics, I had been using another form of web stats for a while. Google showed about a tenth as many visits as my old stats counter, so I was of course mystified and frustrated. I was an in-house SEO in those days, and I didn’t like to report lower…

  • Why Do People Go to Your Site?

    Why Do People Go to Your Site?

    Most forums have cycles: new members post some particular question or rant, old members come in and answer it in a predictable way, and the subject dies down for a time, to rise again when enough new members join the forum. One of the interesting things about working on our lab site is having access…

  • Lab Report: Blogging for Search

    Lab Report: Blogging for Search

    SEO requires constant research, and most SEO professionals have sites they play around with for testing purposes. Our lab site launched on April 18th. We’ve been gradually testing things — various kinds of onsite optimization, social media, variations in our affiliate marketing approach — but basically so far we’ve just gone with excellent content refreshed…

  • When Your Analytics Deceive You

    I write reviews for Amazon. Me and thousands of other people. I get a certain amount of correspondence relative to my reviews there — people asking if they can send me a book to review, or asking a question, or asking if they can put one of my reviews on their packaging, stuff like that.…

  • Google Intelligence

    Google Intelligence

    Google Intelligence is one of the options on your Google Analytics Dashboard. As you can see in the screenshot here, the button for it is just below the “Dashboard” button.