Gathering and Analyzing Web Use
Statistics: A Practical Tutorial for
Archivists
Michael Szajewski, Ball State University,
Archivist for Digital Development &
University Records
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What is Google Analytics?
• A free widely-used Google-powered tool for web use
analysis that provides statistical reports regarding the use
of a particular web site.
• It provides statistics from basic to complex.
• No downloading of software is necessary, accessible
entirely via web browser.
• Only requirement is a Google account.
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Why should archivists and digital
librarians use Google Analytics?
• Access data to inform the creation of web content
• Evaluate the successes of digital outreach efforts
• Gain a better understanding of how digital patrons
access and navigate online material
• Support arguments for funding of digital initiatives
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What types of statistics can Google
Analytics provide?
• Information about our users, including
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How many are there, and when do they visit?
How long do they remain on the site?
Where are they located geographically?
How frequently or infrequently have they visited?
What web browsers do they use?
What operating systems do they use?
How do they navigate through the site?
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What types of statistics can Google
Analytics provide?
• Information about content, including
• How many pages are being viewed in total?
• How many times has a page (or subset of a page) been viewed?
• Via what pages do users arrive on site?
• How much internal searching is taking place, and what internal searches
are being performed?
• Information about how users arrived to our site
• What type of site did a user arrive from (web engine search? referral
site?)
• From what specific sites are users arriving at our site?
• What search engine search terms brought users to our site?
• Additionally, these factors can be analyzed in combination with each other
and over any time span
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How to install Google Analytics
• How to Install
• Sign up for a free Google Analytics account
• Receive Google Analytics tracking code
• Add tracking code to source code for each page
(requires access to source code)
• If your institution has the technical support needed to
maintain a web presence, it has the technical support
needed to install this code
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Critical links
• Installation Guide:
http://support.google.com/googleanalytics/bin/answer.py?hl=
en&answer=74932
• Getting Started Guide:
http://support.google.com/googleanalytics/bin/static.py?hl=e
n&page=guide.cs&guide=19779&from=19779&rd=1
• Installation Troubleshooting:
http://support.google.com/googleanalytics/bin/topic.py?hl=e
n&topic=10978
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Basics of using the Google
Analytics interface
Ball State University Libraries
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Example 1: Tracking the views
of a digital object over time
Ball State University Libraries
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Example 2: Tracking the
success of a blog in directing
traffic over time
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Example 3:What web searches
attract the most users to the
site?
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Example 3… Why is this
information important?
• It can inform how we title our resources and what information
or metadata to put on page or emphasize
• We can track how added metadata or information impacted
the discoverability of an object
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Final Thoughts
• Google Analytics offers great flexibility, allowing users to
analyze specific metric and variable combinations over specific
periods of time. This ability allows us to precisely understand
the reasons why our sites grow in popularity, providing us with
the information to make our digital resources more heavilyused and more user-friendly, measure successes, and justify
digital projects.
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• For more information, contact:
mgszajewski@bsu.edu
• Ball State University’s Digital Media Repository:
http://libx.bsu.edu/
• Cardinal Scholar Institutional Repository:
http://cardinalscholar.bsu.edu/
Ball State University Libraries
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