Trusting Your Data With Google Analytics Audit — Review

If you are reading this article then chances are you have using or are currently using Google Analytics to get data about your web property. An example of the typical web property or asset is your website for example. If that is true, then after some time using the tool, you have probably realized that GA is not a set-it-and-forget-it tool. Unfortunately for most, that realization comes after months of working with the tool and eventually they realize that there is just lots to be desired. This is especially true for beginners. However, Google Analytics is the most powerful tool out there when it comes to user behavior. The key with Google Analytics is making certain that it is customized to suit your business goals and needs. That is when the tool lights up in no time. But, for the purpose of this article, let’s pretend that you have used GA (Google Analytics), for a certain period now. Then the question is can you trust your data which is being collected by default by GA? Chances are the answer is …NO!. Why? Because you probably set it up some time back and trusted that it will know exactly what you need. Nope, and far from it. Here’s why, Google Analytics was not made for your business. Period! You need to make Google Analytics suit your business. So if you have not customized it from top to bottom, then you have probably missed out on the so many features of this powerful tool. Let’s get one thing straight though, there is just no tool out there like GA. Yes there are alternatives, but not many — if any — like it in terms of the many ways to customize it.

So, if you have never customized your GA data, then you have some cleaning up to do and because of that, you have to do a Google Analytics Audit, so that you can start trusting your data.

GOOGLE ANALYTICS BY DEFAULT

Here are a few things that you have likely not done from the get-go when you approached GA with a set-it-and-forget-it mindset.

1. Filters — exclude your own internal data. GA does not discriminate unless you instruct it to do so. What that means is that Google Analytics does not know whom to exclude or include as part of the people who frequent your website. This is key because when you measure users on your website, the last thing you need is all your employees flooding into the site. So filters are a neat feature to exclude “unwanted guests” in your reports and allows you to filter internal traffic since internal traffic distorts the truth.
2. Naming Conventions — how you want the data to show in GA. Imagine you have traffic from LinkedIn and your Source/Medium report in GA shows linkedin (lowercase) and LinkedIn (uppercase) in it. Which one do you go with? It is the same thing, but this is usually a UTM issue, and when your traffic sources are not corrected in terms of Uppercase or Lowercase, then you will have two traffic sources, meanwhile it’s the same thing. So how you want data to show is just as important in your report through correct naming convention preferences.
3. Event Tracking — what users do when they get to your website. How do you know if someone has clicked an important button on your website which moves people deeper into your funnel. The only way to see this is through event tracking. Without this, there is absolutely no way to determine whether users are interacting and taking the crucial actions that you need them to take.

Those are just a few issues that you will face when GA is no setup right. Here is a list of many other issues that you will have to deal with. This list not exhaustive.

Views, Filters, Managing Users, Default URL, Raw View, Main View, Test View, Annotations, Alerts, Bounce Rate, Referral Exclusion, PII (Personally Identifiable Information), Channel Grouping, Query Parameters, GOALS, EEC (if applicable) … and much much more.

Sooo … does your website take into consideration all of these? Or is this news to you right now? You have to take an audit of you Google Analytics so that you set all this up. Only then can you start to trust the data because you instructed Google Analytics to collect data in the order and fashion that you want and that will help you answer critical business questions for your business only.

But as mentioned, what is being discussed in this article is not exhaustive. The best way to learn more about the tools, resources that help you conduct a thorough audit is the CXL Institute, you can find more information by visiting this link here … CXL.

Within the Digital Analytics training at CXL, you will find a Google Analytics Audit course to help you get this right. But if anything, let this arouse your interest so that you start moving in the right direction. The GA platform was not made for your business, but it does put the power into your hands so that you can bring it to life with all the bells and whistles that you need to soar.

The tool is very powerful, but not in the hands of someone who just looks over the hood and is satisfied with elementary information. You have to go deep and it will amaze you with just how much customization it has to offer. CXL will help you with all that you need to audit your Google Analytics Account, Properties and Views, so that you can start trusting your data. There are many more other resources in there but you can entertain those at your leisure. Although this article focuses on Google Analytics Audit, it just makes sense to mention that if you really want to blow up your success, perhaps consider combining Google Tag Manager (GTM) + Google Analytics (GA) and Google Data Studio (GDS). That trio is a very powerful combination, and the good news, all of it is free. If you really want to be an expert, consider Google Analytics 4 (GA4) + Google Big Query.

While all of that is beyond this article. Just know that it is all there and the possibilities are just endless with those tools in your back pocket. You will be glad you took the time and put in the effort to streamline all these technologies.