How does Google Analytics work? 6 questions
Along with Yandex.Metrica, Google Analytics (GA) is an indispensable web analytics tool for SEO optimizers. In our blog, we have already talk about how to install a GA counter on a website and how to prepare for certification for this service. Today, we will look a little deeper and analyze the principles that underlie GA. This will help you understand how exactly the indicators for reports are calculat and navigate the settings to get the data you ne.
How does GA collect data?
Google Analytics collects data using code that is add by the webmaster to all pages of the site and tracks user actions:
Page code
Without installing this middle east mobile number list code on the site, Google Analytics does not work at all.
The code extracts data about visitors using cookies: when a user opens the site, the code is execut and writes a cookie file with a unique identifier, Client ID, to the browser. This identifier will be stor in the browser for 2 years or until the user clears the cookie. All visits by this user to your site will be count as repeat visits, and they will not be count as new users.
Among the data that GA “sees”:
Page URL and UTM tags, if any.
Browser and computer data: operating system, language, input device.
The source from which the user came to the site.
How does GA count new users?
GA has a “Users” metric and a “New Users” metric, which you can see on the audience overview page:
Audience overview page
Users are all those visitors to the site for whom at least one session is register. A session includes all actions on Αναφέρετε την επιθ the site from the moment of visiting until closing the site (clicks, scrolling, downloads, watching videos, etc.).
New users are those site visitors ar numbers whose browser contains a cookie file that is not recogniz by GA. So new users are not necessarily people who have visit your site for the first time in their lives. They could be people who regularly visit your site, but now they do so from a different device or they have clear their browser cookies.
Google Analytics uses a cookie call _ga or a unique User ID to track this metric. In the latter case, the number of new users may decrease, since this technology can determine when one visitor enters the site from different devices
