Google Analytics Adds Real Time Data, Error Code Tracking and More

Google has been busy making some improvements to Google Analytics this month, possibly to help heal the scar of switching over to secure search.

Merging Data
First, Google has taken another step to combine Webmaster Tools and Google Analytics by allowing you to join accounts and use select Webmaster Tools data within GA in new ways.

The new reports you'll be able to find in the Traffic Sources section of Analytics.

• Queries: impressions, clicks, position, and CTR info for the top 1,000 daily queries
• Landing Pages: impressions, clicks, position, and CTR info for the top 1,000 daily landing pages
• Geographical Summary: impressions, clicks, and CTR by country

In order to enable these new features you have to be sure you link the two accounts together properly. To do this you, sign into Webmaster Tools and go to the Manage Site menu and click the Google Analytics property link. Then you just need to match up the site with its Analytic counterpart and you're done. If you've done it properly you'll be able to use the above reports, if not Google will show you a page saying so.

Real Time Data
The next addition is Real Time reporting. These reports allow you to view and analyze results on your site as they are happening, allowing you to track the effectiveness of your campaigns in real time.

One example given is the use of a tweet to inform people of their latest episode of Web Analytics TV. Once a tweet was sent out, they could see the immediate impact of that tweet by tracking who was visiting their blog from the tweeted link. When that tweet stopped giving results, they knew at that exact moment.

As always, before launching a campaign be sure your tracking is correctly implemented. Also keep in mind that in order to use the Real Time reporting feature, first you need to update to the newest version of Google Analytics.

Error Code Tracking
Google has also added the ability to track yo...