Google Analytics update - browser size analysis

Google is going full steam ahead with the development of Google Analytics, its own free web analytics tool, at the moment.

Browser size analysis

I discovered this new function while reading a TechCrunch article, and thought it was worth spending a bit of time writing about it.

This new tool is available (or should be shortly) under the Content > In page analytics menu in the GA interface. To use it, just click on the new "Browser size" button on the right hand side of your screen, right next to the "Show bubbles" and "Show colours" buttons

 

So long Website Optimizer....

....and welcome Content Experiments!
I received an email from Google yesterday confirming that as of August 1st, 2012, Google Website Optimizer will disappear and be replaced by new functionality in Google Analytics - Content experiments.

If you're into Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO) and website testing (and if you're not you should be), then this is great news. Google's recent will to provide a better integration between all of its free tools now gives you the ability to manage your content tests/experiments directly from your GA interface.

As you can see from the screenshot below, the new service can already be found under the Content > Experiments menu in your standard GA interface:

So now you have no more excuses not to run tests to improve your website's performance, whether it is a simple A/B test or a more comprehensive Multi variate test (MVT). Read more on A/B testing >

How to set up basic goals in Google Analytics v5

Google Analytics (GA) is one of the most powerful web analytics tools out there, and best of all it is free. More and more businesses are using it everyday, and the recent upgrade to v5 didn't fail to deliver with improved usability, funnel reports, social metrics, real time data and more.
Now not everybody out there has the time (or will) to get into the features available, so today we're going to go through one of the key tools in GA: Goals.

Goals are basically essential metrics that you want to monitor for your website. The goals in GA are fully customisable and can give you great insights into users behaviour, but today we'll only cover the set up of basic goals to get you started.