Universal Analytics - is it awarding traffic incorrectly ?
-
A few days ago deployed a new site. A funny thing happened within one day. Google Analytics commenced reporting Organic traffic as lifting by 25%. At the same time Google Analytics commenced reporting that direct traffic dropped by 25%. All other traffic sources remained at the same level. This is all being reported through GA Universal. Has anyone experienced this before? Any advice is appreciated.
Also noted that with Google Webmaster is reporting, since the day of the new site deployment, a 40% drop in impressions and click. Reported referrals on this deployment day also went through the roof.
All of the Google tools I am depending on are not supporting my discovery of a solution to this. If anyone has been through this on universal analytics or traditional analytics please help! Offering lots of good karma points in return.
Cheers.
-
Hi, has this issue been resolved? We'd love an update, thanks!
Christy
-
Well pretty sure that's your problem as HTTPS sites to HTTP will drop the referrer and will make sure it's direct traffic.
-
Hi Martijn, Yes - we did a migration to full HTTPS on the same day from HTTP. I believe this would have caused the shift in reassigning organic & direct traffic.
-
Are you on a HTTPS server?
-
Thanks for the response Andy.
I have just messaged you the site link. So look forward to discussing and picking your brain on this.
Cheers
-
While I do use GA, I am a skeptic and believe that the software does favour Organic and Paid traffic, to make you think you are more reliant on Google than you probably are.
But on the other hand, Groupon did a test and found 60% of its direct traffic was actually organic (http://searchengineland.com/60-direct-traffic-actually-seo-195415), but the problem is its all upto the browser passing the information back to which ever solution you are using to track traffic.
If you want to share your web url (either on here or in a private message) I will take a look for you and make sure when you switched you didn't make a minor error which is causing traffic to drop.
Which day did you see the movement, as earlier this week there was a lot of movement in the SERPs, Google hasn't confirmed an update, but its believed there was on (so it could just be related to this, rather than your implementation of UA).
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
-
Spam Direct Traffic
Hello, Lately, I have been receiving a big amount of unexpected direct traffic from Boston. After analyzing with Analytivs, this is what I get (please, check attachment). Normally I would be blocking this traffic source straight away from my Google Analytics account, and also blocking this traffic from accesing my servers, but check out the analytic metrics: this traffic represents 12% of my total traffic right now!!! av. session duration is 4:53 !! bounce rate is 72% !!!! pages/session 1.44 !! Service provider is "Microsoft Corporation" who looks like one of the typical spammy service providers. My question is, is this a bot?? what do you think ? Thanks, Luis zUlVHIi
Reporting & Analytics | | Yeeply.com1 -
How to Configure Custom Alerts for Real Time Traffic etc from Google Analytic API?
Hi All, I know how to set alert from google analytic but i want alerts for real time visitors so i think it is possible via Google Analytic API, so can anyone share with me the process or relevant blog post? Regards, Mit
Reporting & Analytics | | mit0 -
Transferring of analytic data
Hey SEOMoz community, Question, we just purchased a business and while we didn't keep their website content we acquired their URLs and will be rebuilding the site. We've asked for and been denied any historical analytic data e.g. they wont transfer admin rights over to us. Is there anyway to access historical data without being made an admin? or do we start from ground zero. One of the reasons we're being given for not being allowed access is that "Google analytics and the associated keywords are the vendor's intellectual property" - given that we brought the brand doesn't that IP transfer over to us anyways? Thanks, PC
Reporting & Analytics | | PC-QSG
(Long time forum stalker, first time poster)0 -
Funnel Visualization in Google Analytics
Hello. I have a question about funnel visualization in Google Analytics where there is an eCommerce goal (i.e. add to cart, shipping, purchase) with the first step being mandatory. Issue:
Reporting & Analytics | | Unity
The amount of completed purchases reported in GA doesn't match the actual transaction figure via the eCommerce platform. Question:
I was wondering if anyone knows why this occurs? I have a few ideas on why however I haven't been able to locate any supporting evidence. So I was hoping to generate a few ideas from the SEOMoz community to help me investigate further. Any ideas welcome! Much thanks,
Davinia0 -
Advanced Segment on Google Analytics
Hello there, hope everyone is allright and rockin' the SEO world 🙂 Was wondering if anyone could give a tip on how to configure an 'Advanced Segment' on Google Analytics. Basically I need to isolate traffic for 4 specific subfolders. E.g. www.mywebsite.com/solutions/A www.mywebsite.com/solutions/B www.mywebsite.com/solutions/C www.mywebsite.com/solutions/D/part1 Please note that the website has more pages under the specific section. E.g www.mywebsite.com/solutions/Z www.mywebsite.com/solutions/D/part2 but I only need to isolate the 4 directories (and their own sub-folders) mentioned above. Any idea how I could do this? Thanks a lot Joe
Reporting & Analytics | | Joseph.Volcy0 -
Wordpress + Google Analytics = Pulling My Hair Out
Hey Mozzers, Quick question for you- I have analytics set-up for a personal site I run and I know, verifiably it's receiving traffic, however, whenever I access my Google Analytics dashboard, it says I've had zero visits. Interestingly, today I had a colleague check the site from a foreign country and I could see the page views (within 15 minutes), however, I could not get any information about the site viewer. I have verified that the Analytics profile is 'receiving data' (which it is) and my Google Webmaster Tools is not reporting any issues? Finally, I went ahead and updated my profile so that it is pulling from 'www.mydomain.com' instead of 'mydomain.com', I don't know if that'll make any difference, but likewise, I didn't want to go and create the 'little kid in the elevator' analogy, where I'm just pressing a bunch of buttons just because they're there. So the only changes I've made thus far were deactivating Yoast's SEO plug-in and manually placing the GA code in the header and updating the 'Website's URL' in the profile settings tab of GA from 'mydomain.com' to 'www.mydomain.com'. With that, I am stumped and praying another one of the esteemed Mozzers out there may be able to help me resolve this. Any thoughts?
Reporting & Analytics | | NiallSmith0 -
How do I track comparison shopping engine traffic with keywords?
I want to track comparison shopping engine traffic with keywords in Google Analytics. So, How can I get it done? I am using Google Analytics URL Builder to track traffic which are associated to comparison shopping engine. My product page URL load with following format when some one click on comparison shopping engine. Please, see format of product page URL Now, I have problem with tracking as follow. Please, see this Google Analytics traffic sources screen shot to know more. Comparison shopping engine traffic is going to track with other section and not indicate keyword. I want to track keyword which help me to understand more about my product feed performance. It will help me for better understanding regarding keywords which was searched by my customers to land on my website.
Reporting & Analytics | | CommercePundit0 -
Google Analytics Alternatives
I am getting really fed up with how unreliable Google Analytics data is. Also, because I have several large sites I can't use the goal tracking or conversion funnel reports. What are the best alternatives to Google Analytics?
Reporting & Analytics | | mascotmike0