June Google Analytics Updates: What They Mean To You

Each month Google Analytics tries to make some sort of announcement or change to help improve their brand and stay involved in the community. This June was a little bit more active than past months.

For those who use Google Analytics, you likely received an email explaining four new major changes aimed to help make things easier. If you missed it, don’t sweat it. Below is a list of the June updates and what they mean to small businesses.

Google Analytics Make Four Updates in June

Each one of the following new updates has its own webpage that explains the details of how to get started and where to find the new feature (the link to that webpage is connected with the name). Below explains what the feature is and why it matters to small businesses:

1. Goals. Measurement is easier with goals. The idea behind this new feature is that other things need to be measured aside from just sales (newsletter sign-ups, time spend on screen, social connections, etc.). Google Analytics Goals has already existed in the past, but June brings new updates to the feature including new templates, verification capabilities, and a new set-up flow.

Why It Matters: Google Analytics allows you to verify each goal before you save, and the new templates will make it easier to add different goals to your account quicker than in the past. You can analyze how different goals perform and how they work with each other, so it’s a wonderful way for companies to make decisions. In other words, by understanding users better (and faster), a company can make a decision with that in mind.

1. Real-Time Conversions. Google Analytics offers many different features on the dashboard, and they are now adding four real-time custom widgets to the mix. They can be added into any dashboard and then you’ll be able to see exactly what is happening on your site and exactly who is converting right there when you sign into your account.

Why It Matters: Because you can monitor how many of your visitors are converting and against what goals, companies will be able to get a better sense for how their site is working. The first new feature discussed focuses on measurement, while this new feature focuses on what is happening at the current moment.

1. Filter Fields. There is now an expanded field list to make social and mobile data filters more possible (along with a few other new filters). This is known as “Universal Analytics” in the Google World.

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Why It Matters: Creating filters has always been a useful tool in Analytics when it comes to modifying and limiting certain traffic data, so it only makes sense that Google Analytics would make this just as possible for mobile and social data. As social and mobile usage continue to grow, this will be one of the main ways that companies determine what their users really want.

1. Tag Manager and Google Play. There are two new mobile apps in June that will be integrated with Google Analytics: The Tag Manager and the Google Play Integration. The tag manager allows you to make an adjustment to your app even if it has already been downloaded, and the Google play integration will help “refine your app marketing mix in order to focus on those campaigns and programs that bring the highest quality traffic.”

Why It Matters: Mobile apps are a great way to grow your business, but creating an app isn’t always easy. Once the app is created, you want to be able to measure its success correctly, analyze your visitors, and make changes as you go.

This new integration will help make this possible. It’s also important to realize that most of these new features are still in the beta phase; however they will hopefully be rolling out over the next few weeks. Let us know your thoughts on the new features in the comments below!

Amanda DiSilvestro

About the Author:

Amanda DiSilvestro gives small business and entrepreneurs SEO advice ranging from keyword density to recovering from algorithm updates.