Of course we start with the big kahuna that is what everyone uses the most. It is best to start with what is going on under the hood: https://developers.google.com/analytics/resources/concepts/gaConceptsTrackingOverview

Short Version:

1 – Reads information contained in your browser about your browser type, referrer, language, & system information.

2 – The tracking code Javascript on each page generates a GIF request that is logged as a hit

3 – A first party cookie (Only readable by Google) is set on the visitors system to track repeat visits.

Google Analytics Cookie Information:

http://www.optimizesmart.com/google-analytics-cookies-ultimate-guide/

The weakness in this system is that items that cannot have the Javascript active such as linked documents and images are not natively tracked. There are two ways this can be handled.

1 – Add Event Tracking codes to the site. This adds the ability to makes links to normally not trackable elements as designated “events” that are then tracked by Analytics. This costs $800 to add to a site.

(https://support.google.com/tagmanager/answer/3420054)

2 – You can make a link to a document first hit an intermediary redirect page that Google will track hits to. This has been tested and the page does register the hits in the Analytics reports. Free, but an intermediary page needs to be created for each document you would like to track.

For those wanting to start learning more about Google Analytcis: https://analyticsacademy.withgoogle.com/explorer

Analytics & Vision

In CMS6 there is a system variable for the Google Analytics key and all that need to be done is the key entered and the CMS6 and Google will go to work.

There is no such thing as a default key. If a unique key is not created and used you are polluting someone else’s analytics information.

The CMS now supports the use of multiple keys so you can assign a different one to each subsite if desired.

If the client already has a Google Analytics Account they need to add visioninternetsearch3@gmail.com to the account (Edit rights at the Property level) and send us the key for the devs to activate the system variable and verify the key is working. By adding us to the account we can make sure the key is the correct number and we will be able to help with creating useful reports.  

Setting Up Google Analytics

Step 1 - If client does not have an existing Analytics account, you simply go into our current account (visioninternetsearch3@gmail.com) click “Admin”. Use the dropdown on “Account” and select ‘Create New Account”

Step 2 – Add the email for our main client contact and check the box to notify them by email. Admin>>Account>>User Management>>Add Permissions.

Step 3 – Under Admin>>Property Settings –

1. Grab the Tracking ID# to be used in the CMS
2. Select the default view of “all web site data”
3. Select appropriate Industry Category
4. Turn In-Page Analytics to ON and choose “Full View Mode” as the default.
5. The bottom item is Webmaster Tools Settings. Click the edit, and at the bottom of the page is “add a site to Search Console”

Step 4 – Under Admin>>View Settings –

1. Set “Default page” to “home”
2. Check the box to exclude bots & spiders
3. Activate Site Search Tracking and enter “q” as the Query parameter
4. Add default dashboard - https://analytics.google.com/analytics/web/template?uid=AaiMocDzTQa9tk4jMTZoYg

• Paste the link into a new tab
• Choose the correct view
• The dashboard will now be a private one. Click the Share to make it public.

--Bonus Items—

Full URL Tracking

By default, Google Analytics does not track the domain as it is assumed each property is tracking one site. If this is not the case, you can alter the Analytics account to track and display the full url including the domain in the reporting. Useful for clients that have subsites but only have one Analytics account. The CMS can hold multiple Analytics keys and have them assigned to the subsites though.

https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1012243?hl=en