Gathering and Analyzing Web Use Statistics: A Practical Tutorial for

ArchivistsMichael Szajewski, Ball State University,

Archivist for Digital Development & University Records

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What is Google Analytics?

• A free widely-used Google-powered tool for web use analysis that provides statistical reports regarding the use of a particular web site.• It provides statistics from basic to complex.• No downloading of software is necessary, accessible

entirely via web browser.• Only requirement is a Google account.

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Why should archivists and digital librarians use Google Analytics?

• Access data to inform the creation of web content• Evaluate the successes of digital outreach efforts• Gain a better understanding of how digital patrons

access and navigate online material• Support arguments for funding of digital initiatives

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What types of statistics can Google Analytics provide?

• Information about our users, including• How many are there, and when do they visit?• How long do they remain on the site?• Where are they located geographically?• How frequently or infrequently have they visited?• What web browsers do they use?• What operating systems do they use?• How do they navigate through the site?

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What types of statistics can Google Analytics provide?

• Information about content, including• How many pages are being viewed in total?• How many times has a page (or subset of a page) been viewed?• Via what pages do users arrive on site?• How much internal searching is taking place, and what internal searches

are being performed?• Information about how users arrived to our site• What type of site did a user arrive from (web engine search? referral

site?)• From what specific sites are users arriving at our site?• What search engine search terms brought users to our site?

• Additionally, these factors can be analyzed in combination with each other and over any time span

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How to install Google Analytics

• How to Install• Sign up for a free Google Analytics account• Receive Google Analytics tracking code• Add tracking code to source code for each page

(requires access to source code)• If your institution has the technical support needed to

maintain a web presence, it has the technical support needed to install this code

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Critical links• Installation Guide:

http://support.google.com/googleanalytics/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=74932

• Getting Started Guide: http://support.google.com/googleanalytics/bin/static.py?hl=en&page=guide.cs&guide=19779&from=19779&rd=1

• Installation Troubleshooting: http://support.google.com/googleanalytics/bin/topic.py?hl=en&topic=10978

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Basics of using the Google Analytics interface

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Example 1: Tracking the views of a digital object over time

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Example 2: Tracking the success of a blog in directing

traffic over time

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Example 3:What web searches attract the most users to the

site?

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Example 3… Why is this information important?

• It can inform how we title our resources and what information or metadata to put on page or emphasize

• We can track how added metadata or information impacted the discoverability of an object

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Final Thoughts• Google Analytics offers great flexibility, allowing users to

analyze specific metric and variable combinations over specific periods of time. This ability allows us to precisely understand the reasons why our sites grow in popularity, providing us with the information to make our digital resources more heavily-used and more user-friendly, measure successes, and justify digital projects.

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• For more information, contact: mgszajewski@bsu.edu• Ball State University’s Digital Media Repository:

http://libx.bsu.edu/• Cardinal Scholar Institutional Repository:

http://cardinalscholar.bsu.edu/

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