Google Analytics Top 10 Plugins & Hacks

We decided to come up with the ‘Google Analytics Top 10 Plugins & Hacks’ once we had got to grips with Google Analytics new Enterprise Class features. Since then we have been on the lookout for the best plugins & hacks so you can get the very best out of Google Analytics.

It’s worth mentioning now, for these hacks & plugins to work you will need to install the following onto your machine:

• The Web Browser FireFox
• The amazing GreaseMonkey FireFox extension

Right, in no particular order here are the Google Analytics Top 10 Plugins & Hacks:

1. The Google Analytics Report Enhancer - The handy script enables enhanced segmentation, by transaction, adgroup, and referral path any time a segmenting opportunity comes up. It will allow you to see exactly which transactions are attributed to each source, medium, source/medium, keyword, campaign, new or returning visitors, and more. You also have the ability to see the raw number of conversions for each goal you have as well as goal revenue.
2. Google Analytics Desktop Reporting Suite - This brings Google Analytics to the desktop, with a host of features that help you understand how your website is performing and where you can improve. From tracking your visitors, referrals and campaigns to viewing your AdWords ROI metrics.
3. Adding Business Data to Google Analytics Data - This script lets you add business data to a profile. Notes appear in a concealable table at the top of every report, this is great for businesses who need to keep track of progress and highlight aspects of their findings.
4. Analytics KPI gadget for iGoogle - This is a great widget for iGoogle users that allows you to see important KPI information from Google Analytics directly in iGoogle.
5. Keyword Trends in Google Analytics - This plugin makes it as easy as clicking a button to get reports on ‘what’s changed’ for the following; a) which referrers have sent most traffic in last few days and b) which have sent most traffic where they never did before.
6. Get Detailed PPC Keyword Data from Google Analytics - This hack is great if you want to fine-tune your PPC campaigns by getting greater detail from your GA reports. It shows you how to use a set up a filter that shows exactly the Search Term (i.e. keywords that are searched on) rather than just the Bid Term (i.e. the keywords that triggered a PPC advert).
7. Hack for obtaining full referring URL - This Hack provides two ways to get full referring urls into your Google Analytics.
8. Google Website Optimizer multivariate data to appear in Google Analytics - While Google Website Optimizer by itself can give you a quick look at which combination is best at improving conversion, it tells you nothing about transactions, revenue, micro-conversions, navigation, segmentation by source, and bounce rate. If you integrate Google Analytics into your Google Website Optimizer experiments, you will get much richer data, and be able to get a true idea of how your test is doing.
9. Updated UK & International Search Engine - This hack is an update to the GA list of Search Engines, this new list will distinguish between UK and international search engines, as well as to enable GA to recognise some country-specific search engines, e.g. the BBC’s search engine.
10. Better Google Analytics Firefox extension - This Enhances Google Analytics with a compilation of Plugins & Hacks made by various authors in one easy to install script. It will allow you to do the following:

a) Cleaner Profile Switching - Remebers settings you set when you switch between profiles, and allows you to open another

b) Export To Google Docs from Google Analytics - Allows you to export any report available as CSV to Google Spreadsheets.

c) Google Analytics Absolute Conversion - Converts percent values to absolute values in tables.

d) Google Analytics Advanced Date Selection - Allows you to easily compare the current date range against the same range last year.

e) Google Analytics Table Sorting - Sorts the visible table rows.

f) Social Media Metrics - Adds Digg, Sphinn, Mixx, Reddit, StumbleUpon, Del.icio.us, and Yahoo InLink Metrics to your content detail reports.

Do you know of any other hacks or plugins that should be in this list? If So Please Add a Comment!

If you would like to discover how to maximise your website’s potential through conversion optimisation and analytics, EMAIL US or CALL on 0800 6226 975 for a FREE impartial chat about how you can increase sales online.

Tags: analytics, Conversion Optimisation, Desktop Reporting Suite, Enterprise Class, FireFox, Google Analytics, Google Website Optimizer, GreaseMonkey, Hacks, iGoogle, increase online sales, Plugins, Report Enhancer

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 12th, 2008 at 2:28 pm and is filed under Conversion Optimisation, Technology, Web Tips, Web Tools, digital marketing, eCommerce. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.