Real-Time Google Analytics Changes

Overview of Real-Time Google Analytics Changes

Do you use Real-Time Google Analytics or are you still using the older, static statistics view?

If you don’t know, then first you should know: Google has a free web traffic statistics tool called Google Analytics, or GA, which lets anyone with a website track a vast amount of data, from simple to highly detailed information. And you can view the analyzed data in static “archived” views, or even in real-time.

Well, after months of the real-time option being in beta, Google recently announced that it is moving entirely towards real-time statistics and analytics, down to the second, and they are moving away from static data reporting.

If you are one of the many website publishers who already use real-time analytics, then you are in a good position to remain competitive in the next wave of Internet development and online commerce

If on the other hand this poses a new challenge to you, then never fear. This post should help you prepare for the next new thing, which actually isn’t so next or new at all.

Here’s a quick review of the big features that GA is moving towards providing as the main ingredients of its Real-Time Analytics.

Enjoy your trip through Real-time 3D GA data

Real-Time Analytics lets you see all that is going on in your website as it happens. You see the effect of your online ad campaigns right away, including TV ads, or live event ads that engage users on your website.

Multi-Channel Funnels give you deep details on end to end conversion on a monthly view. You can see all the marketing channels where your website was found, and not just the most recent click. This lets you optimize your decision-making about your marketing expenditures and ROI.

Social Reports are helpful for measuring the effect of social marketing efforts and analyze the impact that social media on your traffic and conversion metrics, which is crucial to the majority of business online.

Mobile Reports let you see how visitors on mobile devices and through AdWords mobile advertising campaigning interact with your web site.  View the number of pages they visit, the length of time they are on your site, plus conversion and online commerce insights which help you properly develop and refine your mobile strategy.

Content Experiments let you display various versions of a page to separate visitors, and then it uses a new hi-tech statistics engine that calculates the results of the visits individually, to inform you which one is the most successful version. This is a form of what is known as “AB Testing”, and it lets you get the most out of each new page you create.

Of all of these, Content Experiments can be the single biggest driver of increasing your return of investment, if you would only take the time and make the effort to execute it properly. It is far better to produce half as many resulting pages with proven effectiveness rather than to produce twice as many pages full of ineffective effort and wasted resources.

Read more about the July 2012 Real-Time Google Analytics changes

Google’s announcement about moving to only Real-Time analytics

Google puts nail in the coffin for static analytics – real-time now the only option – Tech Crunch