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Google Analytics is over ten years old,1 and it has proved to be a major player in the digital analytics market. Although Google has not released the exact number of websites using Google Analytics, one marketing publication estimates that over 30 million websites use it worldwide.2 Google Analytics is just as prevalent in the library world. This issue of Library Technology Reports focuses on implementing Google Analytics on a series of library-specific online tools and platforms. The tools covered include
* journal search tools and link resolvers
* online catalogs or discovery services
* Springshare's LibGuides
* digital repositories
* social media
These tools are discussed in later chapters. Each chapter highlights Google Analytics features to produce the best data for these tools.
Before we talk about features, we must talk about common best practices for implementing and utilizing Google Analytics for any website. This first chapter discusses three Google Analytics customizations all libraries should use for any website or online tool. The second chapter will talk solely about the increasingly popular Google Tag Manager and how it greatly simplifies implementing some of these features. Overall, the goal is simple-making Google Analytics give you better data for your various library online tools for improved assessment and decision making.
Best Practices for Google Analytics Tracking
Out of the box, Google Analytics is a useful tool for tracking website usage, but any library can improve how Google Analytics collects and reports data by implementing three additional features: spam filters, event tracking, and conversions. These are essential features to optimize Google Analytics' data collection ability and are worth the time to implement. These features are disabled by default, and most require administrative-level permissions within the Google Analytics account to enable them. If you do not have administrative permissions for your library's Google Analytics accounts, talk to the people that do. They can enable these features or give you the permission to do so.
Dealing with Spam Traffic
All web analytics tools are susceptible to junk traffic created by spambots or spamming websites. Google Analytics is no exception. The problem is that spam traffic will visit your website, and Google Analytics will report that session data like any other website user. Data from spam traffic is not just annoying...