Google Analytics Glossary | Web Analytics Terms & Definitions

Google Analytics Glossary

Web Analytics Terms & Definitions

What terms to know if you want to understand your web analytics data?

What is Analytics?

Analytics is the link between raw data and data-driven decision making. It is the process of aggregating, displaying and communicating data in a way that reveals meaningful patterns, with the intention of using those patterns to make stronger, knowledge-based decisions for your business.

What is acquisition?

The acquisition is The procurement of new visitors or users.

Web Analytics Acquisition is also known as the way or the manner in which you acquire new users to your site.

This is important for any marketer as it will help you understand where your conversions, traffic and growth is coming from.

What is an Audience?

Audience – Your audience is the actual human beings to whom you are marketing your products or services.

Audiences are becoming more and more important in the marketing world as we are now able to create, generate and grow specific audiences based on certain metrics and behaviour.

What is a channel in web analytics?

Channels are essentially a pathway. For the purposes of this book, a channel can be the pathway taken by customers to get to your website (clicking on an ad or search result can be a channel), or it can be the pathway through which you promote your products or services (newsletters, ads, social media, etc.).

What is a container in web analytics?

Container – From a software perspective, a container is much like a physical container in that it is meant to hold things. In this case, they are digital holders for code. Software code, and all of its dependencies, gets packaged up into a neat and tidy container, making it easier to move that code around and use it in different places, ensuring it runs reliably, since it has all its dependencies packaged up with it.

What is Property (in GA)?

Property (in GA) – A web-based property for which you (or your company) are the owner. This may be a website, a mobile app, a community forum, etc., but it must be solely owned by you (or your business). A social network profile like LinkedIn, for example, is technically owned by the social network, therefore, it would not be considered a property.

What is a view in Google Analytics?

View (in GA) – These are your reports. It is your “view” into specific queries into your data. See “Query” above.

What is a visitor in Web Analytics?

Visitors – The people visiting your site or web property.

What is Data when it comes to Google Analytics?

Data – In Google Analytics, data is the collected statistics and facts about your website or web properties, user behaviour and demographics, market trends, etc. It is the raw information. On its own, it is simply too much information for humans to identify meaningful patterns and trends. Analytics is the organization of that data into something meaningful and readable. See “Analytics” above.

What is a Data source in Google Analytics?

Data source – The source of your information. For example, if you have connected Google Analytics and Google AdWords, when you view data from AdWords within Analytics, AdWords is your data source.

What are Dimensions in Google Analytics?

Dimensions – In Google Analytics, dimensions are the data attributes. For example, if you are looking at the number of page views for a specific page, “page views” would be your dimension, the number of page views would be your metric. See “Metrics” below.

What is an Exit in Google Analytics?

Exit – When someone leaves your site or web property. They may close the app or web browser, or leave to go to another site.

What is Google Tag Manager?

Google Tag Manager – This tool allows you to create and manage tags (See “Tags” below). A tag could be the GA code embedded on your site, or the UTM tags (See “UTM tag” below) you use to track campaigns. You manage all of those tags from within GTM.

What is Metric in Web Analytics?

Metrics – A quantifiable measurement of a dimension. For example, if you are looking at total impressions, “impression” is your dimension and the total number is your metric. See “Dimensions” above.

What is Real Time in Web Analytics?

Real time – In this exact moment. For example, when you view the real time report in GA, you are seeing the activity taking place on your web property at this exact moment.

What is UTM tag in Web Analytics?

UTM tag – Urchin Tracking Module (See “Urchin” above). A UTM tag is a snippet of code added to the end of a URL for tracking purposes. This allows you to track specific campaigns (specific newsletters or ads, for example) or traffic sources (social networks or blog posts, for example).

What is Web Property in Web Analytics?

Web property – A web-based property for which you (or your company) are the owner. This may be a website, a mobile app, a community forum, etc., but it must be solely owned by you (or your business). A social network profile like LinkedIn, for example, is technically owned by the social network, therefore, it would not be considered a property.