Using advance segments or primary dimensions?
-
Hi guys,
I haven't played around with advance segments enough to know the answer to this, so looking for some help.
What I want to track is a keyword through the whole analytics, so I created an advance segment for "KEYWORD". This segment is Include - Keyword - "KEYWORD".
Now when I remove the advance segment and do the following: Traffic Sources - Organic - Primary Dimension - Keyword - "KEYWORD"
The amounts of visits differ a lot. I'm guessing this has to do with sessions? Looking for a clarification on this.
-
John Barth has the right answer below. Not sure if I can add much more, except specific instructions:
When you apply advanced segments to reports in GA, the report is automatically sampled. In the top right corner of the interface, you'll either notice a message in a yellow container, or a square that looks like a QR code. The visit counts may never match up exactly, but if you adjust the precision of the report to it's highest level, you'll get much closer.
Explanation from Google documentation:
Apart from the standard reports, users may issue ad-hoc queries to Google Analytics. Common queries include applying advanced segments to standard reports, applying a secondary dimension, or running a custom report. When the front-end issues a query, GA inspects the set of pre-aggregated tables to determine whether the query can be wholly satisfied by existing aggregates. If not, GA goes back to the raw session data to process and compute aggregate data on-the-fly. If the resulting report is sampled, you will always see a yellow box at the top of the report which says: This report is based on N visits.
-
One thing it could be... in my GA account, almost all advanced segments cause my report data to use sampled data. If this happens, you'll see a yellow bar off to the right above the graph that says something like "This report is based on 119242 visits (1.16% of visits). Learn more". As it's taking a sample of a small amount of data and then extrapolating the rest, the numbers it displays in the report here can vary a lot from the true numbers.
The keyword data listed in the Traffic Sources - Organic report when not using an advanced segment won't be sampled, that's the actual true data.
-
Are you sure you are looking at visits vs unique visits? I have seen some issues with the custom reports messing up reporting a count of unique visitors. If you could include some screen shots of the two reports you are comparing that would help.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Using Site Maps Correctly
Hello I'm looking to submit a sitemap for a post driven site with over 5000 pages. The site hasn't got a sitemap but it is indexed by google - will submitting a sitemap make a difference at this stage? Also, most free sitemap tools only go up to 5000 pages, and I'm thinking I would try a sitemap using a free version of the tool before I buy one - If my site is 5500 pages but I only submit a sitemap for 5000 (I have no control of which pages get included in the sitemap) would this have a negative effect for the pages that didn't get included? Thanks
Reporting & Analytics | | wearehappymedia0 -
When analysing my inbound anchor text am I using by page or site?
When checking to see my anchor text profile to make sure it's not too dense with the same phrases, should I be measuring against my whole site or page specific? eg if i have 100 links across my site and 20 are for the same phrase this is 20%, but if the same 20 phrases are to one page and that page has 40 links this is 55% Many thanks Ash
Reporting & Analytics | | AshShep10 -
Using Regex for Goals in Google Analytics
I’ve got a website with 20 different forms; and I’d like to track all 20 form completions with one Goal in Google Analytics. The completion-page URLs follow the pattern below (the website uses Drupal CMS) Form One: www.acme.com/node/2990/done?sid=651 Form Two: www.acme.com /node/2991/done?sid=785 Form Three: www.acme.com /node/2992/done?sid=1021 Form Four: www.acme.com /node/2993/done?sid=459 I believe that there is a way I can use regex so Google Analytics will track if any of these completion URLs appears. Looking for guidance how to format the regex statement.
Reporting & Analytics | | TopFloor0 -
Page Speed - What tool to use?
I am looking for a good tool to measure page speed. Any tools out there that you recommend?
Reporting & Analytics | | rmontanez0 -
Using the SEOmoz API with SEOTools for Excel
Hi there, I'm trying to use the SEOmoz API in Excel, to get the Domain Authority and MozRank for a bunch of URLs. I've tried multiple techniques, but I can't get it to work. The code I currently got is from SEOGadgets post, and I'm using the SEOTools for Excel plugin. Here is what I got: =JsonPathOnUrl("http://lsapi.seomoz.com/linkscape/url-metrics/"&A3&"?Cols=68719476736";"$..pda";"<httpdownloader cache="false" pause="1" authenticateuser="REDACTED" authenticatepassword="REDACTED" requestmethod="GET"></httpdownloader>") The problem is, it always returns 1 for every URL. Can anyone explain what I'm doing wrong? Or show me an easier way to do this? I have double checked the API keys and tested on multiple URLs.
Reporting & Analytics | | Qon1 -
How to create an advanced segmentation for Google+?
Hey Mozzers, I have a question regarding Google Analytics. The problem: I have created advanced segments for Social Media: Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, etc. They all work fine... Now I am trying to create something similar for Google+ (since soon we are launching a campaign for it and I want to be able to check the evolution fast and effective). My advanced segments look like: Include -> Source -> Matching RegExp -> (Facebook|Youtube|Twitter) How should the Google+ be inserted into the group? I know this question might be easy for some advanced Analytics users but I am stuck at this point. Any help appreciated! Thanks in advance! Istvan
Reporting & Analytics | | Keszi0 -
Google analytics advanced segments
Ok, I need help with a simple (although, for some reason, I'm having trouble with it) advanced segment. Dilemma**:** All of our techs have a backend cookie that they use to log into our website. I want a way toexclude all visites where the landing page contained this in the url:/backend/cookie.php?username= Advanced Segment: We have a lot of techs and each one of them has a different "username=example". So how can I set up an advanced segment where it will exclude any visit where the visitor came in one a landing page containing /backend/cookie.php?username=
Reporting & Analytics | | NerdsOnCall0 -
What is the best Wordpress Analytics Plugin to use?
I am installing a new instance of WordPress and want to use Google Analytics. Which Plug-in is the best to use? I am finding several Plug-ins that all seem to do the same thing: Google Analyticator Google Analytics Dashboard Simple Google Analytics Ultimate Google Analytics Wordpress Google Analytics Maybe one of these are not the best? Any recommendations would be appreciated. Thanks!
Reporting & Analytics | | LBike0