Google Analytics Dictionary For Beginners

New to Analytics world?

The world of Web Analytics comprehends a long list of words. Whenever you talk about digital marketing and Google Analytics, all you discuss is building a marketing strategy for your product and content. And, that is good.

But think! If you have knowledge about all the metrics and terms that you use, you’ll have a better understanding of what you’re doing and what you should do.

The terminology used in Google Analytics is broken down and described herein the simplest way possible for easy and direct reference “whenever you get stuck”.

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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

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A

Account

Account or Google account is your own space to manage your analysis. You can manage your site analysis with every possible detail you can think of once you are logged in. If you have multiple websites that aren’t interrelated, then you need to have separate accounts for all your websites.
(Learn- How to setup Google Analytics Account?)

Acquisition

Acquisition reports provide you details about the mediums and sources through which the visitors landed on your site. This report will provide you the data for the paid traffic from Google AdWords, visitors from social networks, campaigns and much more.

Active Users

The Real-Time report from Google Analytics tracks the number of active users on your site. This means that it monitors when someone visited your site, how long he stayed and when he left in real-time.

The Active-Users report under Audience Reports keeps a track of the unique user sessions within the specified period of time.

Analytics Intelligence

Google has incorporated machine learning into it’s Google Analytics platform. Analytics Intelligence is the machine learning application in Google Analytics that helps you identify the changes intelligently. It also answers your queries and questions with visual reports.

API

Application Programming Interface or APIs are an essential part of Google Analytics. It uses various APIs for different purposes. With the use of APIs, you can access the GA data externally. You can get the data and the reports in the Google sheets or to your custom templates. APIs also allow you to redirect the results to some other application or platform.

Audience

Your audience is the group of potential users for your services and products. Google Analytics provides the audience report with custom metrics to attain the granular insights about your audience, lifetime value, and many other variants, all you can think of!

Average Session Duration

Average Session Duration is the average time a user spends on your site for a single session. For Example: if you have 5 visitors spending 2,4,6,8,5 minutes respectively on your site. Then, your average duration will be 5 minutes.

B

Bounce

Bounce is the event when the user leaves your site after seeing the first page only. For any user session, a single page view or a single interaction is termed as a bounce.

Bounce Rate

Bounce Rate is the frequency of bounces. The percentage ratio between the session and the single page view is the bounce rate.

C

Calculated Metrics

Calculated metrics are the user-defined values which provide more relevant insights to existing computing metrics. It also enables greater actionability without leaving the product.

Campaign Name

The campaign name is used along with three other dimensions to analyze and monitor the marketing campaigns. These campaigns can be thought of as Google AdWord campaigns or other marketing campaigns that have campaign tagged URLs.

Campaign Tags

Campaign Tags are used to track inbound marketing campaigns. Campaign tags include four elements – Campaign Name, Source, Medium, and Term & Content.

Client ID

Client ID is a unique (random) identifier that is assigned by default in Google Analytics to every new user visiting your site. Client ID is much effective to track user’s behavior individually.

Cohort Analysis

Cohort Analysis report in analytics helps you to analyze a specific type of audience with some common characteristics.

Content Group

Content Groups are created in Google Analytics to segment the types of content available on every webpage. It helps in analyzing the original traffic on each type of content.

Conversion

Conversion is a specific action (in terms of your business) you want your visitors to take when they land on your website (pages). It can be a sign-up or download a file or a transaction, depending upon the nature of your business.

Cost Analysis

Cost Analysis is the type of Analytics Report generated by Google Analytics. This report compares the performance based on various metrics like cost-per-click, click-through-rate, etc.

CPC (Cost-Per-Click)

CPC (Cost-per-Click) is a metric used to track the traffic coming to your website through paid mediums. These paid mediums can be Google AdWords or Campaign URL marked as paid or CPC in the medium. CPC metric is visible in Acquisition Reports.

Custom Dimension & Metric

Custom Dimension & Metrics are similar in role to default dimensions and metrics available in GA. The difference is that the custom dimensions and metrics are customizable at the property level.

Custom Segment

Custom segments are customizable segments that you can use to track and monitor the segments the way you want to. You can configure the custom segment to track a particular segment or sub-segment of the data.

D

Data Import

Data Import is a feature through which you can upload external data into GA for combined Analysis. Marketers prefer using multiple platforms to get different possible results for their campaigns.

Demographics

Demographics are the user-personal details like age, gender, etc. GA allows you to track your user’s demographics by enabling them in settings. To enable user’s demographic, go to admin >> Tracking Info >> Data Collection >> Advertising Features.

Device Category

Device Category shows the report of which type of device is used by your user or site visitors. The devices can be Desktops, Laptops, Tablets or Mobile phones.

Dimension

Dimension is the type of data collected by GA, to hold values like user details, traffic types, etc. Dimensions are viewed in rows in any standard Google Analytics Reports.

Direct

In terms of traffic, Direct traffic shows the data of the users who reached your site directly either by typing the URL in browser search or by hitting the navigation button in a mail or other applications that have no campaign tags.

E

E-commerce Conversion

E-commerce conversion is conversion through a successful transaction in a session. When your user completes the transaction or makes a purchase in a single session then it is termed as E-commerce Transaction.

Entrance

Entrance is the first page that your user views when he lands on your site. It basically shows the number of users who start their session from that particular page.

Event

An event is any type of interaction between the user and the site. For example, button clicks, video plays, CTAs, etc. These events are recorded by GA for different analytics purposes.

F

Filter

Filters are used in GA to include or exclude a set of fields from the data for the specific results generation. GA holds default, custom, and predefined filters.

First Interaction/Click

First interaction or first click is assessed through Model-Comparison Tool under Attribution reports. These reports are much essential to analyze the First click conversions from different channels and also to track the conversion cost, value, etc.

G

Goal

The goal is your target to achieve within specific time-period. For example, a goal can be a number of e-commerce conversions within a month or quarter, achieving target mail subscribers, etc.

Goal Abandonment

Goal abandonment is leaving the goal and exiting without conversion. This report provides the details targeting site visitors who initiate on goal conversion process but are unable to complete and leave mid-way from the conversion funnel.

Goal Completion

Goal completion means that your set target is achieved. For example, if your goal is to attain 30 completed transactions in a month and you achieved 34 complete transactions in the month-end report, the goal is completed. Goal Completion report shows you details about your goals and when and how they were achieved.

Goal Completion Location

It is a dimension of goal completion report that shows the location details from where a goal conversion is tracked.

Goal Value

Goal value is the monetary value(usually, in dollars) that you can assign to each of your goals in Google Analytics.

Google Ads

A platform by Google to display paid advertisements on Google search engine, third-party websites, mobile apps, etc.

Google Analytics

An analytical platform by Google to analyze and generate insights from the buyer’s behavior on your website or mobile app. (Read more about the need of Google Analytics)

Google Data Studio

A tool by Google to provide reporting and dashboarding platform. This tool helps you in reporting and visualizing the data coming from various data sources.

Google Optimize

A platform by Google that offers A/B testing, multivariate testing, and other personalization tools for your website.

Google Signals

Google signals enable cross-device capabilities. This Implies that once you have activated Google signals you will be able to track the traffic coming to your website.

Google Tag Manager

Google Tag Manager(GTM) is a platform by Google to manage javascript and HTML tags used on the website for tracking and analysis purposes.

H

Hit

Hit in terms of analytics is any point of interaction between the buyer and the website. Interaction through clicks, events, social media, etc. are the different types of hits. Hit triggers the tracking code and sends the data to analytics.

I

Intelligence

Intelligence in Google Analytics is the same as the Analytics Intelligence(described above in category A).

K

Keywords

People use keywords to land on your page. Google Analytics provides a report of various keywords segmented into types like organic and paid. Organic keywords report provides a list of keywords that are used by visitors on your site. Some keywords in the organic report are marked as not provided. This symbolizes that the search engine has hidden those particular words. Paid keywords segment provides the list of keywords from the sources of paid traffic like Google AdWords.

L

Landing Page

A landing page in terms of analytics is a gateway of your site from where all visitors start their sessions.

Last Interaction/Click

Last interaction or last click is assessed through Model-Comparison Tool under Attribution reports. These reports are much essential to analyze the last click after conversions are witnessed on-site via different channels.

Lifetime Value(LTV)

LTV is a metric used to trace the value per user and not per session.

Local Product Revenue

Local Product Revenue shows the product revenue in the local currency.

Lookback Window

Lookback Window allows you to monitor the historic data while adding it in the attribution report. By default, the lookback period is 30 days. But, you can set it manually between 1 – 90 days.

M

Measurement Protocol

Google Analytics provides a measurement protocol tool to help developers look for incoming traffic from any environment. The incoming traffic is tracked by redirecting HTTP to send the raw hit requests directly to the Google Analytics server. The measurement protocol is also considered viable to track traffic across devices.

Medium

Medium is a dimension in Google Analytics. It represents the general category for the sources from where traffic is coming to your site.

Metric

Metric is a quantitative-measurable value in form of either sum or ratios. Google Analytics incorporated metrics to various segments as a dimension to get the most appropriate results.

N

New Users

New Users are the users that visit your site for the first time.

Note: It is important to know that Google Analytics works on cache memory and cookies. If any old user visits your site after clearing cache memory and cookies, he will be treated as a new user by Google Analytics.

Not Provided

(Not provided) indicates the list of keywords that are fetching you the traffic from Google Search. in order to protect the privacy of the searcher, Google hides all the data that is searched.

Note: This keyword data is very important for you and you can track it by integrating your Google Analytics account and Google Search Console data.

Not Set

(Not set) is the name that Analytics uses when it has not received any valid information for the dimension you have selected. Read in Detail.

O

Organic

Organic alludes to the free traffic to your site. The free traffic here means the traffic coming from search engines like Google, Bing, etc.

P

Page

Your website address URL holds the page name after the domain. For example, in the URL “www.makewebbetter.com/digital-marketing-services”, “/digital-marketing-services” is your page. When viewed, the page is reported under Behavior reports.

Page per Session

Page per session refers to the number of page views in a single session.

Page Value

Page value is the monetary value received from a particular page when any transaction or goal conversion is tracked.

Page View

Page view in Google Analytics is the metric that sums the number of pages viewed. Also, pageview refers to the single page load event in a browser.

Percentage of New Sessions

Percentage of new sessions metric measures the number of new users.

Product Revenue

Product revenue is the revenue received from the items included in the e-commerce transaction.

Q

Quantity

Quantity is the number of item(s) purchased in an e-commerce transaction.

R

Referral

Referral refers to the traffic directed from third-parties. Referral report shows detailed data about the third-party sources with their domain name. The report also shows the traffic received from these domains, i.e., when and from where you are getting traffic.

Revenue Per User

Revenue per user is the average of the total revenue earned divided by the number of users.

S

Sampling

Sampling is driving smaller data from the bulk of data for quicker analysis and reporting.

Search Query

A search query is the set of words that were used before landing on-site. These search queries provide you insights as to from which platform, what types of searches are made the maximum time.

Search Term

A search term is a keyword that is searched on your site. For example, Amazon, an e-commerce site, has an internal search option. Whichever word is searched on that search bar is the search term in Google Analytics.

Self-Referral

Self-referral is referring to your own site. Google Analytics tracks self-referral as a different user session similar to other referrals. Self-referral happens from the event on the page that doesn’t contain your Analytics tracking code.

Session

The session is the duration of a single visit and events performed in that particular visit. Google Analytics provides 30 minutes duration per session, by default.

Site Search

Site search helps you track the events and searches happening within your website’s search function.

Source

Source refers to the base from where traffic is generated like a search engine or domain name.

T

Transaction

A transaction occurs when any buying activity is tracked by Google Analytics on your site. A successful transaction is the type of goal conversion.

Tracking ID

A tracking ID is a unique ID associated with every single account in Google Analytics. It helps you to trace and send the data from your site to Google Analytics. A tracking ID is embedded in the tracking code. Then it is inserted on each page of the website to be tracked.

Transactions Per User

Transactions per user are the average of the total number of transactions divided by the number of users. This metric helps in the evaluation of the per-user transactions.

U

Unique Pageview

Unique pageview helps you to track multiple page views on your site, uniquely. For example, a visitor on your site visits multiple pages and some pages multiple times in a single session. Then, all those pages having multiple views in a single session will be tracked as one pageview only.

URL Builder

URL Builder is a tool provided by Google to manage the campaign tags in inbound URLs.

User

The user is a visitor on your site. A unique ID is allotted to each user, by default, in Google Analytics. GA counts every new explorer cookie as a new user. To uniquely identify the user, the user ID is preferred.

User Explorer

A User Explorer report in GA provides the information about the Cookie ID, created on each user’s browser. It also shows the way your user traverses on the site.

User Flow

The User Flow report represents the path followed by your user to navigate through the pages on your website.

User ID

The User ID is a unique identifier to manage every user’s identity even from cross-device monitoring.

V

View

A view is a sub-category under properties in the Google Analytics platform. View enables you to configure and use it any desired way. With the use of view, you can create multiple views for the same property to read the data differently.

A Request To Readers –

If you know any other words except in the wordlists or want us to explain any word, please do mention about the same in the comment section below. We’ll surely get back to you ASAP! 🙂