Comments on: Reading reports in Google Analytics: Recency

By: Robbin Steif

Robbin Steif — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 15:15:21 +0000

Correct, If you care about recency, create a returning visitors profile by using a filter to exclude new visitors .

But there is no error (outside of the fact that WA aren’t 100% perfect.) Error is about predicting the future based on the past (like GWO). On the other hand, the GA says, “This is what was, pretty much. Now you go interpret it any way you want. “

By: Dani Giandomenico

Dani Giandomenico — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 15:01:45 +0000

Hi Robbin,
Thank you for this post. Is it safe to say that subtracting the overall number of new visits from the 0-days-ago figure in the recency report would provide a more accurate view of the recency report? In this report, new visits should only appear in the 0-days-ago category. So if you subtract new visits from that category, the rest of the figures should appear pretty close to a recency report for that same time period in a return visitor profile. Is that an accurate assumption? Or would the percent error in this approach be greater than the inherent percent error GA accounts for across different profiles?

Thanks,
Dani

By: Marco

Marco — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 12:05:36 +0000

Congratulations!
Very good article and perfect clear explanation
Well done
Thank you so much,
Marco

By: Johan

Johan — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 19:49:04 +0000

Thank you Dan for a great explanation of the Google Analytics recency calculation. The typo can sometimes be misleading. Have you digged in to the calculations of conversion rate in Google Analytics? Im still trying to define the problems but I seem to get very different results compared with more or less similar conversion thunnels.

By: Dan

Dan — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 11:46:20 +0000

The new filter is working perfectly. I can now track my local traffic. Thanks again!

By: Dan

Dan — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 12:04:03 +0000

Thank you Robbin. I have set up the new profile. I appreciate your your help, as a thank you, I will add your link to my website.

By: Robbin

Robbin — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 18:49:08 +0000

Dan - you can either create a filter by city or by state. City is probably a little too small (because they might live just outside Hamilton County. And their computer might live a few cities over, which is what really matters.) State might be a little too big, but I would go for state if I were you and then look through all the cities within the state.

Here is how you do it: First, create a new profile so that you will only be filtering data in your new profile and not in the data that you already have. (I know, you want to do that, filter the old data, but you can’t — Google won’t let you go back in time like that - so you might as well have a new profile so that you can make mistakes safely.) Next, choose filter manager from the main three options on the bottom of page you get right after you created the new profile. Next, choose “Add Filter” which is hard to find, because it is in white type on a dark background. Give it a friendly name, like, Tennessee Only. For Filter type, choose custom filter. Suddenly, you will get lots of choices. Choose the “include” option. Choose “visitor region” from the filter field drop down box. In the final box, filter pattern, you have to type Tennessee. I am pretty sure GA uses the whole name and not abbreviations (not that I have ever seen), so you should be safe with that. Finally, on the left hand side of the screen, you can choose which profile you want to add this new filter to — choose your new profile ONLY. Save your work and if it isn’t working in a few days, post another comment. Robbin

By: Dan

Dan — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 10:57:35 +0000

It’s all a little confusing to me, but I’m starting to get it. Here’s my problem with GA. I have a local brick and mortar business. The goal of my website is to drive people into my B&M business. While it’s nice to see the traffic from around the world; I’m really only concerned with local traffic. Is there a way to make a filter that will show me only local traffic (IE: traffic from Hamilton County, TN). Any help will be greatly appreciated. PS: You can send me an email explaining how to set up a local filter. djbrownell[at]comcast[dot]net

By: Robbin

Robbin — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 01:19:23 +0000

Almost!

It should have said, “60 visits occurred from visitors who last visited less than 24 hours ago.” This probably seems like a very fine distinction, but you could have one visitor (like me, in the test) that was in the 0 days bucket, slipped into the 1 day bucket (let 24 hours go by) and then had a bunch of visits in the 0 days bucket. So the immediately prior visit didn’t have to be their *first* visit.

By: Silvano

Silvano — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 22:44:49 +0000

Thanks for the explanation. It explains the numbers I see…. still seeing something like “I received 60 visits 0 days ago” when I only had, say, only 4 visitors in the last 2 days, makes no sense whatsoever. What it should really say is “60 visits occurred less than 24 hours after the first visit…” Is this the correct understanding?