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6 Minute Read | July 23, 2015

Google Analytics How-To

Setting Up Your Digital Marketing Dashboards

Google Analytics provides a wealth of data – so much that you can easily get lost looking at behavior flow graphs or time on site reports. Or even remembering where those reports are.

Google Analytics Dashboards can help. They provide key data at a glance, so you don’t get bogged down in statistics and tables.

What are dashboards?

Google Analytics Dashboards let you display, in one place, the site data you care about the most.  Like everything else in GA, the dashboards focus on either  metrics or dimensions.

A dimension describes user characteristics. For example, the city dimension will tell you that your site visitor is located in Chicago.

Metrics, on the other hand, are quantitative measurements. Sessions, for example, is the total number of sessions, or visits, to your website. The metric pages/session indicates the average number of pages viewed during each session. The table below shows how Analytics displays this data.

DIMENSION METRIC METRIC
City Sessions Pages/Session
Chicago 2,379 4.23
Milwaukee 4.539  2.37

 

A dashboard can display up to 12 “widgets,” or displays of data.  Every website in your Google Analytics account can have up to 20 dashboards. Although dashboards are completely customizable, each view of your website includes a default dashboard to get you started.

Google_Analytics_Dashboard
You can find your dashoards on the top of the Google Analytics menu on the left side.

 

Customizing Your Dashboard

If you’re running a targeted campaign, a customized dashboard can be a real time-saver. To create a custom dashboard, select the +New Dashboard option from the left menu.

From there, choose a blank canvas or starter dashboard. If you’re new to this, use the starter dashboard to get a feel for how the widgets work.


Select +New Dashboard from the left menu to add a new dashboard to your Google Analytics account. From there,
you can choose to add a blank dashboard or select a starter dashboard.

 

Next, select the 10 data pieces you review most often. We recommend:

  1. Visits
  2. Average Session Duration
  3. Visits by Traffic Type
  4. New Visits
  5. Bounce Rate
  6. Average Pages / Session
  7. Average Visit Duration
  8. Unique Visitors
  9. Goal Completions
  10. Pageviews by Landing Page

After determining what to measure, select +Add Widget from the top menu. All widgets link to specific reports. So, if you want more detailed information about your dashboard data, clicking a widget will take you directly to the underlying report in GA. That means you don’t have to try and remember where all the reports are found. You can simply click on the widget  to view it in greater detail.

To use your dashboard for another website, click Share in the top menu bar and select Share Template. Paste the URL into your browser, select the property or view you want to add the dashboard to, and click create.

Share_DA_Link
After you've created your dashboard, you can share it by selecting Share then Share Link Template from the the top menu. 

Importing Dashboards

You can import dashboards developed by other users directly into your Google Analytics account. Not only can this save you time, it can also help you become more familiar with the dashboards generally.

If you find a dashboard you want to use, click the link and select the property or view to which you would attach the dashboard . (You must be logged into your GA account for this to work.) Don’t worry -- using someone else’s dashboard template won’t give them access to your data, and you won’t be able to access theirs. You are just copying their dashboard, not getting their data.

Dashboards You Can Use

At Northwoods, we’ve created four dashboards that we use extensively.  An xplainations for each dashboard is below. If you want to use them on your site, click on the link and add it to your Google Analtics account.

Digital Marketing Overview

This dashboard provides a high-level look at digital marketing efforts. You can review traffic totals, landing pages, and traffic type and conversion rates.

Add the digital marketing overview dashboard on your site.

click image for larger view Digital-Marketing-Dashboard
Use the Digital Marketing dashboard to a high-level view of your digital efforts. 
(Click the photo to see it in greater detail.)

 

SEO

The SEO Dashboard provides an in-depth analysis of organic traffic.  It is important to look at total organic sessions, as well as the search engines visitors used to arrive on your site.   Although most search traffic comes from Google, consider also Bing and Yahoo.  Search algorithms differ, so optimize for all search engines, not just Google.

Besides organic traffic, the SEO dashboard includes referral traffic widgets.  Search engines use referral traffic to rank sites, so keep an eye on it.

Finally, do not forget about goals.  In the SEO Dashboard, goal completion widgets tie directly to organic traffic and shed light on organic conversions.

The dashboard does not show Search Queries - the specific phrases visitors entered into Google before arriving on your site.  Search Queries are found within the Google Search Console (formally Webmaster Tools).  Because Queries are part of Search Console, not Analytics, they can’t be added to a dashboard. So, remember to review Search Console for a truly comprehensive view of SEO traffic. (If you’re unfamiliar, Search Console provides even more data about your website and visitors than you can find in Google Analytics. Luckily, Google provides great tips on setting it.)

Add the SEO dashboard on your site.

click image for larger view seo-dashboard
The SEO Dashboard will shed light on the ways organic and referral visitors move through your site.
(Click the photo to see it in greater detail.)

 

Content Marketing

The Content Marketing Dashboard analyzes how visitors consume your content. Look at the total and unique pageviews widgets for your top pages. To understand how users engaged with content, review the Time on Page and Bounce Rate widgets.   

The Content Marketing Dashboard also includes email campaign traffic data and landing page visits by new users.  These slices of data provide insight into how visitors accessed content.

Finally, we have a landing page goal completion widget. This tells you which piece(s) of content drove conversions.  

Add the Content Marketing dashboard on your site. 

click image for larger view Content-Marketing-Dashboard

Use the content marketing dashboard to uncover how visitors are consuming your content. 
(Click the photo to see it in greater detail.)

 

Social Media

The Social Media Dashboard highlights social successes. It breaks down traffic by channel, analyzes data hub activities, and connects social traffic to specific goals.

The basic widgets on this dashboard include total social sessions, historical social data, a breakdown of traffic by network and new visitors from social sites. Together, these metrics provide insight into brand awareness built through social media.

Social Data Hubs shed light on where people are engaging, sharing and discussing your content on other sites.  Unfortunately data hubs only connect to a few social networks, including Reddit, Google+ and MeetUp. They do not integrate with LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter.

Finally, this dashboard is tied to specific goals so you can measure conversions coming from social traffic.

Add the Social Media dashboard on your site. 

click image for larger view Social-media-dashboard
The social media dashboard will let you see visitors arriving from social media use your site.
(Click the photo to see it in greater detail.)

 

 

 

Authored By

Northwoods Team

Your Trusted Digital Trail Guides

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361306/Blog/Google-Analytics-How-To-Setting-Up-Your-Digital-Marketing-DashboardsSetting Up Your Digital Marketing Dashboards6
<p>Google Analytics provides a wealth of data – so much that you can easily get lost looking at behavior flow graphs or time on site reports. Or even remembering where those reports are.</p> <p>Google Analytics Dashboards can help. They provide key data at a glance, so you don’t get bogged down in statistics and tables.</p> <h4><strong>What are dashboards?</strong></h4> <p>Google Analytics Dashboards let you display, in one place, the site data you care about the most.&nbsp; Like everything else in GA, the dashboards focus on either &nbsp;<em>metrics</em> or <em>dimensions</em>.</p> <p>A dimension describes user characteristics. For example, the <em>city</em> dimension will tell you that your site visitor is located in Chicago.</p> <p>Metrics, on the other hand, are quantitative measurements. <em>Sessions</em>, for example, is the total number of sessions, or visits, to your website. The metric <em>pages/session</em> indicates the average number of pages viewed during each session. The table below shows how Analytics displays this data.</p> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2" style="width:99%"> <tbody> <tr> <td style="width:300px"><strong>DIMENSION</strong></td> <td style="width:300px"><strong>METRIC</strong></td> <td style="width:300px"><strong>METRIC</strong></td> </tr> <tr> <td style="width:300px">City</td> <td style="width:300px">Sessions</td> <td style="width:300px">Pages/Session</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="width:300px">Chicago</td> <td style="width:300px">2,379</td> <td style="width:300px">4.23</td> </tr> <tr> <td style="width:300px">Milwaukee</td> <td style="width:300px">4.539</td> <td style="width:300px">&nbsp;2.37</td> </tr> </tbody> </table> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>A dashboard can display up to 12 “widgets,” or displays of data. &nbsp;Every website in your Google Analytics account can have up to 20 dashboards. Although dashboards are completely customizable, each view of your website includes a default dashboard to get you started.</p> <p style="text-align:center"><a href="/Blog-Images/cmdashboard.png" rel="shadowbox[Google_Analytics_Dashboard]" title="Google Analytics Dashboard"><img align="" alt="Google_Analytics_Dashboard" border="" hspace="" src="/Blog-Images/cmdashboard.png" title="Google_Analytics_Dashboard" vspace=""></a><br> <em>You can find your dashoards on the top of the Google Analytics menu on the left side. </em></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h4><strong>Customizing Your Dashboard</strong></h4> <p>If you’re running a targeted campaign, a customized dashboard can be a real time-saver. To create a custom dashboard, select the +New Dashboard option from the left menu.</p> <p>From there, choose a blank canvas or starter dashboard. If you’re new to this, use the starter dashboard to get a feel for how the widgets work.</p> <p style="text-align:center"><img align="" alt="" border="" hspace="" src="/Blog-Images/addanewdashboard.png" title="" vspace=""><br> <em>Select +New Dashboard from the left menu to add a new dashboard to your Google Analytics account. From there,<br> you can choose to add a blank dashboard or select a starter dashboard. </em><br> &nbsp;</p> <p>Next, select the 10 data pieces you review most often. We recommend:</p> <ol> <li>Visits</li> <li>Average Session Duration</li> <li>Visits by Traffic Type</li> <li>New Visits</li> <li>Bounce Rate</li> <li>Average Pages / Session</li> <li>Average Visit Duration</li> <li>Unique Visitors</li> <li>Goal Completions</li> <li>Pageviews by Landing Page</li> </ol> <p>After determining what to measure, select +Add Widget from the top menu. All widgets link to specific reports. So, if you want more detailed information about your dashboard data, clicking a widget will take you directly to the underlying report in GA. That means you don’t have to try and remember where all the reports are found. You can simply click on the widget &nbsp;to view it in greater detail.</p> <p>To use your dashboard for another website, click Share in the top menu bar and select Share Template. Paste the URL into your browser, select the property or view you want to add the dashboard to, and click create.</p> <p style="text-align:center"><img alt="Share_DA_Link" src="/Blog-Images/sharetemplatelink.png?Large"><br> <em>After you've created your dashboard, you can share it by selecting Share then Share Link Template from the the top menu.&nbsp;</em></p> <h4><strong>Importing Dashboards</strong></h4> <p>You can import dashboards developed by other users directly into your Google Analytics account. Not only can this save you time, it can also help you become more familiar with the dashboards generally.</p> <p>If you find a dashboard you want to use, click the link and select the property or view to which you would attach the dashboard . (You must be logged into your GA account for this to work.) Don’t worry -- using someone else’s dashboard template won’t give them access to your data, and you won’t be able to access theirs. You are just copying their dashboard, not getting their data.</p> <h4><strong>Dashboards You Can Use</strong></h4> <p>At Northwoods, we’ve created four dashboards that we use extensively.&nbsp; An xplainations for each dashboard is below. If you want to use them on your site, click on the link and add it to your Google Analtics account.</p> <p><strong>Digital Marketing Overview</strong></p> <p>This dashboard provides a high-level look at digital marketing efforts. You can review traffic totals, landing pages, and traffic type and conversion rates.</p> <p><a href="https://www.google.com/analytics/web/template?uid=1LKfHAK-TCy55NfIDCIkCA" linktype="3" target="_blank">Add the digital marketing overview dashboard on your site.</a></p> <p style="text-align:center"><small style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102); float: right;">click image for larger view</small> <a href="/Blog-Images/digitalmarketingdashboard.png" linktype="4" rel="shadowbox[Dashboard]" target="_self" title="Digital Marketing Dashboard"><img align="" alt="Digital-Marketing-Dashboard" border="" hspace="" src="/Blog-Images/digitalmarketingdashboard.png?Large" title="Digital-Marketing-Dashboard" vspace=""></a><br> <em>Use the Digital Marketing dashboard to a high-level view of your digital efforts.</em>&nbsp;<br> <em>(Click the photo to see it in greater detail.)</em></p> <div>&nbsp;</div> <p><strong>SEO</strong></p> <p>The SEO Dashboard provides an in-depth analysis of organic traffic. &nbsp;It is important to look at total organic sessions, as well as the search engines visitors used to arrive on your site. &nbsp;&nbsp;Although most search traffic comes from Google, consider also Bing and Yahoo. &nbsp;Search algorithms differ, so optimize for all search engines, not just Google.</p> <p>Besides organic traffic, the SEO dashboard includes referral traffic widgets. &nbsp;Search engines use referral traffic to rank sites, so keep an eye on it.</p> <p>Finally, do not forget about goals. &nbsp;In the SEO Dashboard, goal completion widgets tie directly to organic traffic and shed light on organic conversions.</p> <p>The dashboard does not show Search Queries - the specific phrases visitors entered into Google before arriving on your site.&nbsp; Search Queries are found within the Google Search Console (formally Webmaster Tools). &nbsp;Because Queries are part of Search Console, not Analytics, they can’t be added to a dashboard. So, remember to review Search Console for a truly comprehensive view of SEO traffic. (If you’re unfamiliar, Search Console provides even more data about your website and visitors than you can find in Google Analytics. Luckily, <a href="https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/6001104?hl=en" linktype="3" target="_blank">Google provides great tips on setting it</a>.)</p> <p><a href="https://www.google.com/analytics/web/template?uid=G90AnW3XTAqCfl1tR3dWCA" linktype="3" target="_blank">Add the SEO dashboard on your site.</a></p> <p style="text-align:center"><small style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102); float: right;">click image for larger view</small> <a href="/Blog-Images/seodashboard.png" linktype="4" rel="shadowbox[Dashboard]" target="_self" title="SEO Dashboard"><img align="" alt="seo-dashboard" border="" hspace="" src="/Blog-Images/seodashboard.png?Large" title="seo-dashboard" vspace=""></a><br> <em>The SEO Dashboard will shed light on the ways organic and referral visitors move through your site.</em><br> <em>(Click the photo to see it in greater detail.)</em></p> <div>&nbsp;</div> <p><strong>Content Marketing</strong></p> <p>The Content Marketing Dashboard analyzes how visitors consume your content. Look at the total and unique pageviews widgets for your top pages. To understand how users engaged with content, review the Time on Page and Bounce Rate widgets. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>The Content Marketing Dashboard also includes email campaign traffic data and landing page visits by new users. &nbsp;These slices of data provide insight into how visitors accessed content.</p> <p>Finally, we have a landing page goal completion widget. This tells you which piece(s) of content drove conversions. &nbsp;</p> <p><a href="https://www.google.com/analytics/web/template?uid=la1hice0QVuzsKKxe-OjrQ" linktype="3" target="_blank">Add the Content Marketing dashboard on your site.</a>&nbsp;</p> <p style="text-align:center"><small style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102); float: right;">click image for larger view</small> <a href="/Blog-Images/CMdahsboard.png" linktype="4" rel="shadowbox[Dashboard]" target="_self" title="Content Marketing Dashboard"><img align="" alt="Content-Marketing-Dashboard" border="" hspace="" src="/Blog-Images/CMdahsboard.png?Large" title="Content-Marketing-Dashboard" vspace=""></a></p> <p style="text-align:center"><em>Use the content marketing dashboard to uncover how visitors are consuming your content.&nbsp;</em><br> <em>(Click the photo to see it in greater detail.)</em></p> <div>&nbsp;</div> <p><strong>Social Media</strong></p> <p>The Social Media Dashboard highlights social successes. It breaks down traffic by channel, analyzes data hub activities, and connects social traffic to specific goals.</p> <p>The basic widgets on this dashboard include total social sessions, historical social data, a breakdown of traffic by network and new visitors from social sites. Together, these metrics provide insight into brand awareness built through social media.</p> <p>Social Data Hubs shed light on where people are engaging, sharing and discussing your content on other sites. &nbsp;Unfortunately data hubs only connect to a few social networks, including Reddit, Google+ and MeetUp. They do not integrate with LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter.</p> <p>Finally, this dashboard is tied to specific goals so you can measure conversions coming from social traffic.</p> <p><a href="https://www.google.com/analytics/web/template?uid=IQm3Ma1kSfqJ_M-cmrX1FQ" linktype="3" target="_blank">Add the Social Media dashboard on your site.</a>&nbsp;</p> <p style="text-align:center"><small style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102); float: right;">click image for larger view</small> <a href="/Blog-Images/socialmediadashboard.png" linktype="4" rel="shadowbox[Dashboard]" target="_self" title="Social Media Dashboard"><img align="" alt="Social-media-dashboard" border="" hspace="" src="/Blog-Images/socialmediadashboard.png?Large" title="Social-media-dashboard" vspace=""></a><br> <em>The social media dashboard will let you see visitors arriving from social media use your site.</em><br> <em>(Click the photo to see it in greater detail.)</em></p> <div>&nbsp;</div> <p style="text-align:center"><em>&nbsp;</em></p> <p>&nbsp;</p>
/Northwoods-2020/Hero-Images/Hiker-Looking-Out-Over-Mountains.pngHiker Looking Out Over MountainsNorthwoods Team/Northwoods-2020/People/NWS-Bug-Grey.pngNorthwoods logo bug<script charset="utf-8" type="text/javascript" src="//js.hsforms.net/forms/embed/v2.js"></script><script>hbspt.forms.create({ region: "na1", portalId: "23630176", formId: "40c5bbae-05a2-42ea-94dd-1662181fd56e" });</script>Google Analytics How-To2015-07-23T00:00:00/Blog-Images/Comp_90906870.jpg?MediumUsing Google Analytics dashboards will let you get the data you need at a single glance. Learn about setting up a custom dashboard for your site.3621620/People/Northwoods-TeamNorthwoodsTeamYour Trusted Digital Trail Guides<p>For more than 25 years, the digital experts at Northwoods have been helping clients improve their websites, software, and digital strategy and marketing. How can we help you meet your goals?&nbsp;</p> <p><a href="/Northwoods-2020/Services" linktype="2" target="_self">Learn more about our services</a>.</p>Northwoods Team/Northwoods-2020/People/NWS-Bug-Grey.pngAdd-In Type - NWS Data ModulesCategory - NWS Data ModulesCommittee - NWS Data ModulesDivision - NWS Data ModulesEvent Audience - NWS Data ModulesEvent Service - NWS Data ModulesEvent Type - NWS Data ModulesLocality - NWS Data ModulesModule - NWS Data ModulesNWS Data ModulesTopic - NWS Data ModulesPackage Type - NWS Data ModulesPersonID - NWS Data ModulesNorthwoods TeamProductVersion - NWS Data ModulesRecorded Webinar TopicsRegion - NWS Data ModulesSite Display - NWS Data ModulesSkillLevel - NWS Data ModulesTopic - NWS Data ModulesVideoAudience - NWS Data ModulesVideoClassification - NWS Data ModulesVideoStatus - NWS Data ModulesTeamAdd-In Type - NWS Data ModulesCategory - NWS Data ModulesCommittee - NWS Data ModulesDivision - NWS Data ModulesEvent Audience - NWS Data ModulesEvent Service - NWS Data ModulesEvent Type - NWS Data ModulesLocality - NWS Data ModulesModule - NWS Data ModulesNWS Data ModulesTopic - NWS Data ModulesData & AnalyticsPackage Type - NWS Data ModulesPersonID - NWS Data ModulesNorthwoods TeamProductVersion - NWS Data ModulesRecorded Webinar TopicsRegion - NWS Data ModulesSite Display - NWS Data ModulesNWS DigitalSkillLevel - NWS Data ModulesTopic - NWS Data ModulesVideoAudience - NWS Data ModulesVideoClassification - NWS Data ModulesVideoStatus - NWS Data Modules02024-02-29T08:36:59.51000