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Track your Google Analytics Changes

Posted: August 31, 2006 4 Comments

Whenever I work with a client the first thing I do is create a change log for Google Analytics. I create a very basic spreadsheet (usually suing Google Spreadsheets so I can share it with the client) and use it to record every modification I make to their GA settings. The file is not overly complicated. I include the following columns:

  • Date
  • Profile Name
  • GA Account name or number
  • Your name and contact info
  • Description of change

Why is this important? Most organizations have more than one person with administrative access to the GA account and accidents do happen. I have seen people change a filter and ruin the data for a profile. You’ll save yourself lots of time and aggravation if you can lookup all the changes to your configuration rather than stumble through the interface and try to figure out what has changed and when.

Lately I’ve been adding some business information to my Google Analytics Changelog. I create a separate worksheet and record changes to the site or marketing activities. This helps me predict patterns that I see in the GA data. For example, I’ll record when we launch, or stop, an AdWords campaign for a client. This spreadsheet is an easy way to determine if a business decision changed site traffic. Sure, I still use GA and dig into the data, but this is just one more way to gain insight.

I know this isn’t the best solution. It would be nice if Google Analytics had a built in feature to track configuration and business changes. But that does not exist right now. Maybe they’ll read this post and add it to a future version of the product (are you listening GA Team?).

Filed Under: Tips Tagged With: google-analytics, Tips

Comments

  1. Manoj Jasra says

    August 31, 2006 at 6:15 pm

    Good implementation tip Justin. Until GA adds this functionality this a good way for implementation specialists to keep themselves safe if the client comes back pointing fingers.

    Reply
  2. Mike Samec says

    September 1, 2006 at 9:29 am

    Justin:

    I use Google Calendar to track changes made to the Website and to advertising but strangely enough, the search function is a little clunky (wouldn’t expect that from Google).

    Especially when trying to track updates that go back further than a few weeks. I wonder if I can tie in G. Calendars to G. spreadsheets.

    Reply
  3. Justin says

    September 1, 2006 at 9:48 am

    Hi Mike,

    That’s a great idea, using Google Calendar! I haven’t found a way to tie GCal and GSpreadsheets, but I like that idea.

    Thanks for contributing.

    Justin

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. this just in » Want to see Trending in your Google Analytics Reports? says:
    September 6, 2006 at 1:13 pm

    […] So, why is this cool? Well, image you’ve seen a huge increase in traffic to your website in the past month and you need to figure out why. Robbin Steif blogged how you can trouble shoot an issue with your data by narrowing your date range. This is a fantastic method for finding out when your traffic changed. And if you’re tracking your online changes (advertising/site design) or configuration changes with a changelog then you can easily determine what may have altered your traffic. […]

    Reply

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