The “Universal Analytics” upgrade has been was announced way back in October 2012, and now that it has been launched; Google Analytics has become much more interesting and somewhat new to learn. Search Eccentric’s Analytics Corner kicks off in style with the first official blog post – Getting started with Google Universal Analytics.
So, how is it different??
Universal Analytics can be called a more advanced version that you have been using as regular Analytics. It gets more technical and opens up a few doors for added customization, which is something that experienced analytics professionals really pined for.
As per Crazyegg, the Universal Analytics comes replete with a snippet of code for monitoring different metrics that facilitates better customization. Normal users should be able to customize data funnels and other configuration features that only developers could use before. Hence, Universal Analytics reflects nothing but added functionality and features.
Let’s get started with the set up
In order to use the Google Universal Analytics, it needs to be setup with an administrator account. The setup is easy and can be done within a few minutes.
Google advises creating a new web property to run universal upgrade
This is easy and makes a lot of sense. Creating a new web property means you have a separate place to run your Google Analytics accounts without losing access to the existing data. You can still use both universal and normal analytics accounts, and compare the data. Quite neat, right?
#1 Go to the “Admin” tab and select “New Web Property”
#2 Setup your website
Enter your website URL, name, industry group and other information to get started with the Universal Analytics
#3 Generate Tracking Code
Select “Get Tracking ID” and once its processed, a green “Success” button would appear and you will get the unique tracking ID for your website.
#4 Copy the Tracking Code
Once you have the tracking id for your website, you must edit your site and get the code included. Migrating to Universal Analytics is precisely explained at Justin Cutroni’s blog.
Done, Universal Analytics upgrade has been done.
Why Universal Analytics?
Universal Analytics lets you collect analytics data from other platforms, including smartphones and other mobile devices. It is not just for websites, but can track intrinsic mobile web traffic data, irrespective of the device being used.
Customized dimensions and dimension widening are pretty useful gigs that come with Universal Analytics, which is what makes it much more intuitive and informative. When it comes to professional analytics and data mining, Google’s Universal Analytics is the future.
Image sources – Crazy Egg and Marketing Land
