Handy Google Analytics Advanced Segments for any website
Advanced Segments are an incredibly useful feature of Google Analytics. They allow you to analyse subsets of your users, and compare and contrast behaviour. Google Analytics comes with a number of standard segments built in. (For example, New Visitors, Search Traffic, Direct Traffic.)
However, the real power comes from leveraging your unique data to create custom segments. Better yet, if you create a handy segment, it is easily shared with other users.
Sharing segments
To share segments, go to Admin:
and choose the profile you wish to view your segments for.
Choose Advanced Segments:
(Note: You can also chose “Share Assets” at the bottom. That will allow you to share any asset, including segments, custom reports and more.)
Find the segment you are interested in sharing, and click Share:
This will give you a URL that will share the segment.
Send this URL to the user you wish to share the segment with. They simply paste into their browser:
It will ask them which segment they would like to add the segment to:
Sharing segments does not share any data or permissions, so it’s safe to share with anyone.
Once a user adds a shared segment to their profile/s, it becomes theirs. (This means: If you make subsequent changes to the segment, they will not update for another user. But it also means the user can customise to their liking, if needed.)
Something to keep in mind
Sharing segments of course requires those segments to be applicable to the profile a user is adding them to. (For example, if you create an Advanced Segment where Custom Variable 1 is “Customer” and the segment is applied to a profile where no Custom Variables are configured, it won’t work.)
The good news: Free stuff!
The good news is there are a few super-handy segments you can apply to your profiles today that should apply to any Google Analytics account. (Unless you’ve made some super wacky modifications of standard dimensions!)
Here are a few segments I have found helpful across many Google Analytics accounts. Simply click the link and follow the process above to add to your own Google Analytics account.
Organic Search (not provided) traffic: Download segment
I find this a pretty helpful segment to monitor the percentage of (not provided) traffic for different clients.
Definition:
- Include Medium contains “organic” and
- Include Keyword contains “(not provided)”
Mobile (excluding Tablet): Download segment
The default Google Analytics Mobile segment includes tablets. However, since ease of use of a non-optimised website is much better on tablet than smartphone, it can be really helpful to parse non-tablet mobile traffic out and see how users on a smaller screen are behaving.
Definition:
- Include Mobile (Including Tablet) containing “Yes” and
- Exclude Tablet containing “Yes”
Desktop Traffic: Download segment
Definition:
- Include Operating System matching Regular Expression “windows|macintosh|linux|chrome.os|unix” and
- Exclude Mobile (Including Tablet) containing “Yes”
- Note: Why didn’t I just create the segment to exclude Mobile = Yes? Depending on your site, you may get traffic from non-mobile, non-desktop sources like gaming devices. This segment adds a little extra specificity, to try to narrow down to just computer traffic.
Major Social Networks Traffic: Download segment
Definition:
- Include Source matching Regular Expression “facebook|twitter|t.co|tweet|hootsuite|youtube|linkedin|pinterest|insta.*gram|plus.*.google”
Social Traffic: Download segment
Definition:
- Include Source matching Regular Expression “facebook|twitter|t.co|tweet|hootsuite|youtube|linkedin|pinterest|insta.*gram|plus.*.google|
bit.*ly|buffer|groups.(yahoo|google)|paper.li|digg|disqus|flickr|foursquare|glassdoor|
meetup|myspace|quora|reddit|slideshare|stumbleupon|tiny.*url|tumblr|yammer|yelp|posterous|
get.*glue|ow.*ly” - Include Medium containing “social”
- Note: Medium containing “social” will capture any additional social networks that might be relevant to your business, assuming you use utm_ campaign tracking and set medium as “social”.
- Note: Is there a social network relevant to your business that’s missing? Once you’ve added the segment, it’s yours to modify!
Apple Users (Desktop & Mobile): Download segment
Definition:
- Include Operating System matching Regular Expression “Macintosh|iOS”
They’re all yours now
Remember, once you add a shared segment, it becomes your personal Google Analytics asset. Therefore, if there are tweaks you want to make to any of these segments (for example, adding another social network that applies to your business) you can edit and tailor to what you need.
Let’s hear your favourites!
Do you have any favourite Advanced Segments you use across different sites? Share yours in the comments!
