The internet is getting faster and faster. Not only the loading speed, but also the speed of the changes taking place!
Currently, Google Analytics offers a good capability to display websites' past performance. But today: the launch of Google Analytics Real-Time: a set of new reports that show what is happening on your website as it happens!
Google Analytics Real-Time: Measuring the impact of social media
When this blog article is published online, a tweet is sent out immediately. With real-time, we see the immediate impact of the traffic on the website.
Suppose you offer a product on your website. You share this product via Facebook, Twitter, and Hyves. You use three links for this. For each link, you can see how much traffic goes to your product while you are offering it! You can track exactly how long your link is active, and if your link no longer has an impact, you know when to place a new link to get visitors again!
Two highlights of Google Analytics Real-Time
1. Monitoring social media campaigns. If you spread a major announcement via social media, you can see exactly how this news spreads and through which media visitors arrive at your website.
2. Testing and tracking campaigns. Normally, you place your Google Analytics code on the website. You then had to wait one day for Google to verify whether the code had been placed correctly. From now on, Google provides immediate feedback on whether the code has been placed correctly, thanks to the real-time feature.
Other changes
Google will be adjusting the interface in the near future. The most significant change is the simplification of the navigation. There will be three tabs: Home, Standard Reporting, and Custom Reporting. Under Custom Reporting, you can specify exactly which information you want to see. Real-time will fall under the Home tab, where everything can be found to quickly view what is happening on your website.
The familiar reports can be found under Standard Reporting. Here, you will find a search function to retrieve specific statistics more easily and quickly.
Google Analytics is also launching a Premium version: a paid version of Analytics. Premium will, among other things, process data faster, make extra tools available, provide extensive support, etc. Initially, this version is only available in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom for a price of $150.000.
Access to Google Analytics Real-Time
You will only find the real-time reports in the new version of Google Analytics. If you are not using the new version, you can get started by clicking on "new version" on the dashboard; this link is located in the top-right corner of Google Analytics. Real-time reports are currently found in the Dashboard tab; with the new interface next week, they will be placed in the Home tab. You have access to the real-time reports if you are an administrator of an Analytics account, or if you have access to a profile without profile filters. Real-time does not (yet?) support profile filters.
We are curious to know if and how you will use Google Analytics Real-Time!