Google Rollouts Real Time Stats On Google Analytics

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According to a blog post on by Google, Google is upgrading its Google Analytics tool to give users real time information.

Google’s free analytics tool offers a comprehensive data on websites but until now, it has  a 24-hour lag on full data reporting.

The new Google Analytics Real-Time tool offers an instant look at a site’s active-visit count.

It began rolling out Thursday to some users and will be available to all users in the next few weeks.:

Today we’re very excited to bring real time data to Google Analytics with the launch of Google Analytics Real-Time: a set of new reports that show what’s happening on your site as it happens.

 



Measuring social media impact
One way that I like to use these reports is to measure the immediate impact of social media. Whenever we put out a new blog post, we also send out a tweet. With Real-Time, I can see the immediate impact to my site traffic.

For example, last week we posted about the latest episode of Web Analytics TV and also tweeted about the post. By campaign tagging the links we shared, we could see how much traffic each channel is driving to the blog as it happened. We could also see when we stopped receiving visits from the tweet, which helps know when to reengage.



Campaign measurement
Another way I’m using Real-Time is to make sure campaign tracking is correctly implemented before launching a campaign. When getting ready to launch a new campaign it’s critical to make sure your measurement plan is working before you start driving visitors to the page. With the Real-Time reports you can find out in seconds whether you’re getting the data you want in Google Analytics.

Accessing Real-Time
You’ll find the Real-Time reports only in the new version of Google Analytics. If you’re not already using the new version, you can start by clicking the “New Version” link in the top right of Google Analytics. Real-Time reports are in the Dashboards tab (though they will move to the Home tab in the updated interface next week) . You will have access to Real-Time reports if you are an Administrator on your Analytics account, or if you have access to a profile without profile filters. Real-Time does not support profile filters.

We just turned the reports on for a number of you, and over the coming weeks, everyone will have access to Real-Time. If you can’t wait, sign up for early access here: https://services.google.com/fb/forms/realtimeanalytics/. We’d love to hear about how you are using (or planning to use) Real-Time, so please share in the comments.

 

About Michael Berkens

Michael Berkens, Esq. is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of TheDomains.com. Michael is also the co-founder of Worldwide Media Inc. which sold around 70K domain to Godaddy.com in December 2015 and now owns around 8K domain names . Michael was also one of the 5 Judges selected for the the Verisign 30th Anniversary .Com contest.

Comments

  3. domain guy says

    first of all you have to understand google.nothing is free.the purpose of real time analytics has absolutely nothing to do with your website. the real time analytics is a tool that google can use in conjunction with google+ to compete with fb and twitter.and i should not have to state this.anothyer tool in the google arsenal to hurt america.
    also as another note google filed a patent in 2009 to use upcoming tlds to improve search..so yes these new tlds will hurt .coms.

  4. zing says

    zingggg!

    domain guy +1

    we need to coin a catchy name for this practice since it has become such a frequent routine with these companies. like every month. incredible.

    basically you “deploy” a new “feature” (users are suckers for new “features”). and you describe a purported intended purpose. you tell users and the press this is what it’s for and how to use it. they accept the explanation. great! a new feature!
    damn, that company is *innovative*.

    meanwhile, there are other purposes for which this “feature” can be used that are much more valuable to the company. namely, to collect data. these uses need not be disclosed as “no one would be interested in that”. and it’s true. because they have absolutely no idea of those other possibilities- how the data could be used. they do not grasp the value. so the companies are totally innocent in not disclosing. and they may not even use the data for any questionable purpose. they simply collect it. perfectly innocent.

    but the insidious aspect of this routine is that if that feature catches on, if it becomes popular, the data will start accumulating like mad. the company will retain it all. and in time, after users and the press have become even more desensitised to privacy concerns, this data store can be used for what once were questionable purposes.

    to summarise:
    1. add feature and announce to users
    2. start collecting data
    3. only use data for benign purposes
    4. wait; allow data to accumulate
    5. after data has accumulated to large quantity and public is less sensitive to privacy concerns, dig in and use the data however you wish
    6. profit handsomely

    data = $
    but only if you know what you’re doing