Why You May Want To Wait Before Upgrading To Google Analytics 4

You may have heard about the big Google Analytics 4 (G4) rollout a few weeks ago. No doubt about it, G4 ushers in a remarkable new world of tools that add AI-driven insights, even better cross device tracking, and deeper data controls. Having said all of that, there are a few strong reasons why you may want to wait before upgrading. G4 won’t connect to most open source publishing platforms, like WordPress, using one of the many common plugins that connect websites to your Google Analytics account. Even Google’s own Site Kit … Read more

Are You Getting Google Search Console’s Monthly Performance Reports?

We haven’t talking about Google Search Console in a while, but it is still one of the best secret weapons most arts orgs aren’t using but should. Search Console works in tandem with Analytics and provides enhanced tools to measure search traffic and performance, find and fix issues, and maximize your rank in search results. Toward the beginning of 2020, Search Console started sending out monthly performance reports that include a genuinely useful metrics dashboard. Here’s how Google describes the key numbers in the summary email: Monthly performance numbers: Web clicks:How many … Read more

What Is That Traffic From “l.facebook.com” In Google Analytics?

If you’ve been looking at your Google Analytics data (which I know you are), you’ve probably seen traffic coming from “l.facebook.com”. You might be asking yourself, “What the heck is that?” Well, it is traffic coming through something called a “link shim”. Link shims were created by Facebook to protect you from malicious links. When you click on a link in Facebook, it checks that link against a huge list of malicious URLs and, if there is any concern, it will ask you if you want to proceed to the URL you … Read more