Universal Analytics – Now Properly Namespaced

Universal Analytics – Now Properly Namespaced

May 21, 2013

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Google’s new Universal Analytics platform has a lot of great features. We wrote about quite a few of the features in our last post about Yellow Pages NZ moving to Universal Analytics. Also, there are many great posts by Justin Cutroni that do a fantastic job of explaining the benefits.

One feature has flown under the radar and hasn’t been talked about as much: the ability to properly namespace. This is partially because the audience that would need such a feature is probably smaller than the mass audience that can benefit from the more publicized Google Analytics Universal Analytics features.

This ability drastically changed from the classic version of Google Analytics. Read on to learn why exactly would someone want to do this and how it is useful.

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Yellow Pages Group New Zealand Upgrades to Universal Analytics

Yellow Pages Group New Zealand Upgrades to Universal Analytics

May 20, 2013

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The Google Analytics team recently announced the public beta of Universal Analytics. Universal Analytics includes a lot of great features today, with many more planned for the future. It is an exciting change and one that the team here at Blast is continually providing feedback to Google on to help shape it into a great platform.

Read on to learn about how we built an implementation in Universal Analytics that met the demanding business requirements of our client, Yellow Pages NZ.

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Using Multiple Trackers in Google Analytics

Using Multiple Trackers in Google Analytics

April 17, 2013

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We believe in simplicity and automation. Eliminating development time and lowering the potential for coding errors is what drove the development of our battle tested Google Analytics multi-tracker script. If you have the need to use multiple Google Analytics trackers, for tracking affiliates, creating an aggregated roll-up profile for all of your sites, or other various reasons; you’ll appreciate this post which will save you time and help you avoid unnecessary headaches. Plus, this solution can help ease your migration to Universal Analytics (even if you are only using one tracker)!

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How to Enable Real-time Reporting in Adobe SiteCatalyst

How to Enable Real-time Reporting in Adobe SiteCatalyst

April 3, 2013

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Did you know that Adobe Analytics, SiteCatalyst v15, has a feature that allows you to see near real-time data? If the answer is no, you are not alone. The majority of clients that we work with do not have it enabled. Adobe released this feature for version 15 back in October 2012, so it is a somewhat recent feature. Unfortunately, and we’re not sure exactly why, this feature is not enabled by default. Read on to learn more about what you get with this feature and how to enable it.

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Google Analytics Remarketing Boosts Conversion!

Google Analytics Remarketing Boosts Conversion!

April 1, 2013

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If you are interested in learning about Google Remarketing this is your comprehensive resource to learn what it is, why you should use it, how it works, drawbacks of the remarketing tag, steps to setup remarketing, types of remarketing lists you can create, and accessing your remarketing lists from Adwords.

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April 1, 2013

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Prevent Data Loss when using Google Analytics Remarketing Tag

Did you know that you could lose up to 70% of your analytics data by implementing the Google Analytics Remarketing Tag?

The reason is that Google Analytics replaces the standard GA tracking code with the DoubleClick tracking code. Because the DoubleClick tracking code (dc.js) uses a third-party cookie which can track user activity across websites, it is blocked by most ad blocking and privacy protection software. Read the entire post to see how we solved this data loss concern which you can implement on your own site to reap the benefits of remarketing without concern.

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March 22, 2013

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How to Track Downloads & Outbound Links in Google Analytics

It has been almost 2 years since we published our wildly popular post, “How to Track Downloads in Google Analytics.” Since Google Analytics does not track file downloads or other outbound link clicks automatically, we saw an opportunity to provide this code to the community. In our original post we provided some explanations and code examples for tracking file downloads in Google Analytics using event tracking.

We decided to revisit our original post and provide a valuable code update that improves performance, makes tracking downloads more manageable and easier to extend.

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March 18, 2013

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Google+ Local Is Now Friendlier to Healthcare

We caused a stir and Google responded with two positive changes to their Google+ Local Quality Guidelines that will help people get more accurate contact information for their healthcare providers.

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March 7, 2013

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Google Adwords Enhanced Campaigns Shake Things Up

Google recently announced Enhanced Campaigns, which is the biggest change to come to Adwords in a long time. Google Adwords Enhanced Campaigns is the latest attempt for Google to capitalize on the increasing shift toward mobile use. To help demystify the new updates, we have outlined the most important enhancements and provided guidance on the actions you need to take.

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February 21, 2013

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Can You Trust Your Google Analytics Data?

Your data in Google Analytics may not be as accurate as you think. If you have a large volume of traffic, your data could easily be off by 10-80%, or even more. Shocking right? One reason for inaccurate data is your implementation; we’ve focused on that topic in previous blog posts and we also offer consulting services to expertly address those issues.

Another reason, which is outside of your control in Google Analytics Standard, is the amount of data you have and your probability to receive sampled data in the GA reporting interface (or even via the API). We’ll be focusing on the latter, diving into the world of sampled GA data and helping you understand at what point you should trust the data (or not).

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February 13, 2013

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How to Setup Multi-Currency Ecommerce in Google Analytics

Multi-currency ecommerce tracking support in Google Analytics has finally arrived!

If your website supports multiple currencies during checkout and that data is going into a single Google Analytics profile, then you likely are aware of how important this feature is. Through a simple code change, which we explain how to implement, you can now indicate the currency code of what you are sending and Google Analytics will use the daily exchange rate from the prior day to convert the currency to the master currency you’ve defined in the profile settings.

Read the post to learn all the benefits and how to implement multiple currency shopping cart tracking.

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January 26, 2013

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What is Google Attribution Modeling? Do you need it?

Attribution Modeling is the science of determining the value of each customer touch point leading to a conversion. It helps you understand the customer journey and justify your marketing spend. Google is rolling this powerful tool, once reserved only for the largest companies, to all their analytics users. Now, that you know what it is, have learned that you are going to get it for free, and have a sense why to use it; aren’t you ready to learn more? Read on to find out how to determine if you need it, how to set it up, and how to customize it.

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December 13, 2012

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Handy Google Analytics Reference Guide (80+ Tips, Definitions & Rules)

Need help remembering why Adwords clicks and Analytics visits don’t match, or what the difference is between metrics and dimensions? Download our simple reference guide to help you pass the GAIQ test and help you remember key concepts of Google Analytics.

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October 25, 2012

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Google Adwords Demographic Bidding Returns

Back in 2008, Google announced their demographic bidding beta test feature in Adwords, only to be retired in March of this year. But just 6 months later, Google announced the return of demographics for Adwords. It is now found under the Display tab in the Adwords user interface (UI), if you have yet to take notice.

If you want to know what demographic bidding is all about, how to use it and more; check out this article.

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October 19, 2012

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Why Google+ Local is Not Friendly to Health Care

While Google has made big leaps in SoLoMo (Social Local Mobile) with the creation of Google+ Local, we have found their new policies have been detrimental to the Health Care Industry.

Google+ Local listing policies are preventing the ability to provide direct and accurate access to health care contact information. As a hospital Director at CPMC stated, “Wrong or inaccessible contact information does not just create a bad user experience, it has the potential of jeopardizing patient safety and compromising patient care.”

Rather than Google adjust their policy to accommodate real-life situations, apparently they would rather have brick and mortar facilities make expensive and irrational changes to the way they operate, in order to fit into the arbitrary standard they’ve created.

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October 1, 2012

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Google Tag Manager: What You Should Know

Google announced Google Tag Manager today at eMetrics in Boston. This is Google’s entry into the Tag Management Solution arena. What is this product? How can you leverage it? How does it compare to other solutions? Read on to learn the answers to these questions, plus get valuable tips and tricks.

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August 17, 2012

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SEO Power Tip: Turn Off Google Instant Predictions

Did you know that the default Google search settings filter the results so one domain doesn’t dominate?

The cool thing is this can be turned off and the unfiltered view becomes a powerful SEO research tool. The unfiltered view allows you to evaluate the relative strength of each listing, what tactics are being utilized and most importantly how much effort and what type of tactics will be needed to move your listing up in the rankings.

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