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      Google Analytics FAQs

      All things Google Analytics (GA).

      Q: Why are geos outside of my selected geo-targeting showing up in Google Analytics (GA)?

      A: Unfortunately, there is no way to absolutely guarantee that certain clicks, users, or sessions will not show up in GA as being out-of-area. We can send you a geo report directly from our platform to show impressions served and to what areas for the specific campaign in question. 

      Due to measures put in place to protect individual user data, location data in GA can be inaccurate at the city level. Google only acknowledges that their location data in GA isn’t entirely accurate in the far corners of their support pages, so it wouldn’t be surprising if most business owners and advertisers were unaware of these inaccuracies. It is important to note how user location is determined in GA vs. the DSP (see below).

      Q: How is user location determined in GA vs the DSP?

      A: One of the best ways to make the inaccuracies of user location data in GA evident is to compare it to the DSP data. They use different tools to determine user location because of Google’s policy on Personally Identifiable Information (PII). Precise location data, such as lat/long data from GPS, sometimes falls under PII, depending on the specific product being used. 

      In other words, the DSP can use precise location data because it publishes its location data in a way that cannot be connected to individual users within its platform. Conversely, precise location data would break the PII policy in Google Analytics because its location data can be connected to individual users' actions.

      The DSP uses various tools (listed below) to determine a user’s physical location. However, it will always use the most-accurate tool to decide if a user is within the location targeting when multiple tools can be used. 

      • IP Address

      • Device location: Device location can be determined in multiple ways:

      • GPS: GPS uses satellites to derive lat/longs of a device

      • Wi-Fi: Location is anywhere within the effective access range of the Wi-Fi router. The location of the router is only as accurate as the IP Address.

      • Bluetooth: Short-range beacons are placed in fixed locations that can be used to determine the location of nearby devices, though this is not a common location identifier.

      • Cell Tower: Without GPS and Wi-Fi, the DSP will use cell tower data to determine the location. The accuracy of cell towers varies. A cell phone can be connected to a tower within our geographical targeting, but the user and phone are located outside of it.

      GA only uses the connected IP address to estimate user location based on geolocation databases. Google Analytics’ IP data receives its information from a third-party IP database. IP addresses are routinely re-assigned, and DSPs update their IP data regularly to reflect these changes. GA's third-party data sources may update their IP data on a different schedule and may not reference the most current IP data. GA's third-party data source isn’t guaranteed to be 100% accurate either. Incorrectly-entered data and recently-moved Wi-Fi routers can also contribute to the inaccuracy of IP data within the third-party database that GA gets its data from.

      Q: What is the difference between Pageviews vs Unique Pageviews in Google Analytics?

      A: A pageview is defined as a view of a page on your site that is being tracked by the Analytics tracking code. If a user reloads a page after landing on the page, this is counted as an additional pageview. A second pageview is recorded if a user navigates to a different page and then returns to the original page.

      A unique pageview, as seen in the Content Overview report, aggregates pageviews that are generated by the same user during the same session. A unique pageview represents the number of sessions during which that page was viewed one or more times.

      Q: Why are my Sessions in Google Analytics different from my Clicks in UI.marketing?

      A: Sessions in GA and clicks in UI.marketing are two different metrics.  The clicks column in UI.markteing indicates how many times a user clicked your ads, while sessions in GA indicate the number of unique sessions initiated by your users. There are several reasons why these two numbers may not match:

      • A user may click your ad multiple times. When one person clicks on one ad multiple times in the same session, the DSP records multiple clicks, while GA recognizes the separate page views as one session. This is a common behavior among users engaging in comparison shopping.

      • A user may click on an ad and then later, during a different session, return directly to the site through a bookmark. The referral information from the original session is retained in this case, so the one click results in multiple sessions.

      • A user may click on your ad but prevent the page from fully loading by navigating to another page or by pressing the browser's Stop button. In this case, the GA tracking code cannot execute and send tracking data to the Google servers. However, the DSP still registers a click.

      • The DSP automatically filters invalid clicks from your reports to ensure more accurate billing. However, GA reports these clicks as sessions on your website to show the complete traffic data set.

      Q: Why are my Clicks different from my Users in Google Analytics? 

      A: Clicks and users are two different metrics in GA.  The clicks column in your GA reports indicates how often users clicked your ads, while users indicate the number of unique (deduplicated) users who clicked your ads. There are several reasons why these two numbers may not match:

      • A user may click your ad multiple times. When one person clicks on one ad multiple times in the same session, the DSP records multiple clicks, while GA recognizes the separate page views as one session. This is a common behavior among users engaging in comparison shopping.

      • A user may click on your ad but prevent the page from fully loading by navigating to another page or by pressing the browser's Stop button. In this case, the GA tracking code cannot execute and send tracking data to the Google servers. However, the DSP still registers a click.

      • The DSP automatically filters invalid clicks from your reports to ensure more accurate billing. However, GA reports these clicks as sessions on your website to show the complete traffic data set.

      Q: What is the difference between Sessions and Entrances in Google Analytics?

      A: Sessions and entrances are two different metrics in GA. Entrances are incremented on the first pageview hit of a session. In contrast, sessions are incremented on the first hit of a session, regardless of hit type. Thus, there may be a discrepancy between the two metrics.

      Here is an example: a user enters a website and navigates to two pages:

      Enter → PageA → PageB → Exit

      You will see the following data for each page:

        • PageA: 1 Entrance, 1 Session, 1 Pageview

        • PageB: 0 Entrances, 0 Sessions, 1 Pageview

      The user entered on PageA (also counted as a pageview). The user then moved to PageB before leaving the site and ending the session.

      If the first hit of the session is an event hit instead of a page hit, the session might look like this:

      Enter → Event 1 (associated with PageB via page parameter) → PageA → PageB → Exit

      You will see the following data associated with each page in your reports:

        • PageA: 1 Entrance, 0 Sessions, 1 Pageview

        • PageB: 0 Entrances, 1 Session, 1 Pageview

      In this example, the user entered the site and immediately triggered a GA event that was hosted on PageB (as defined by the site developer using the dl page parameter). Although the event was hosted on PageB, it’s still an event hit and not a page hit, so GA can’t attribute the entrance to PageB. The entrance still gets attributed to PageA, because the first page hit in the session is sent to Analytics when the user moves to PageA as the next step after triggering the event.

       Q: How do I increase time on-site in Google Analytics?

      A: The time people spend on your website clearly indicates how they feel about it. If users abandon your site without spending enough time to look at it, then something is wrong that should be fixed.  Abandoning visitors increase your bounce rate, which in turn effectively reduces your conversions.

      Bounce rate refers to the percentage of visitors that leave your website (or “bounce” back to the search results or referring website) after viewing only one page on your site. 

      A good average for the time-spent metric depends on what kind of content you are offering. If it is a long article, and your average time spent on that page is less than a few seconds, then it needs your attention.

      As a site owner, your goal is to make users stay long enough to see what you have to offer. Here are a few tips you can apply to keep visitors longer on your website.

      • Tidy Up Your Design: provide a clutter-free user experience. An average web user spends less than a few seconds on a site before they decide to stay or leave. You need to convince them to stay during this very short time window. Cleaning up your site's design is the best way to do that.

      Look at the above-the-fold area of your website in mobile and desktop view. Your most important content should be above the fold. Your users should instantly see the helpful part of a page when they land on your site. Keeping your site’s design simple and clutter-free makes it easier for users to look at it. If there are fewer things to look at, users are more likely to focus and stay longer.

      • Improve the Readability of Your Pages:  We all have seen websites that are difficult to read. All pages on your website should be easy to read on all devices.
      Make your font size large enough for easy reading but small enough to avoid unnecessary scrolling. Break large paragraphs into easy-to-read portions. Break your articles into multiple sections, heading, paragraphs, bulleted lists, and lots of white space.
      • Add High-Quality Images: Add high-quality photos and images to your pages.  Images are the most engaging form of content on the web. As human beings, we love to look at images more than reading text. This is why most popular websites use fullscreen background images on their landing pages.

      • Optimize and Beautify Your Images: Use tools like Canva to optimize your images.  Optimize your images before adding them to your website. Most high-quality images are also high-resolution images that are larger in pixels, pixel density, and file size. 

      Use image editing tools like Canva and PiktoChart to create your own graphics. By using these tools, you can create professional-looking graphics for your website.

      • Add Videos for a More Interactive Experience:  Users from all over the world watch hundreds of millions of hours of videos on YouTube every day. This single fact is enough to prove how much users love videos.

      Videos are one of the most effective, interactive, and engaging forms of content. Adding videos to your pages can boost user engagement and will increase the time users spend on your website.

      • Make Internal Linking a Habit: Ensure that each article or page on your website has plenty of internal links. People will not visit those pages unless you link to them. Make it a habit, and you will see your bounce rate decrease.

      Internal linking is also good for your site’s search engine optmization (SEO), and you don’t need to purchase any external plugin or tool to do that. Just make sure that you are linking relevant articles and pages to your own website in context.

      • Offer Content Upgrades: Offering users content upgrades is a popular technique top bloggers and online marketers use. Basically, you offer users a chance to get bonus content by performing an action.  This action could be anything. You can ask users to signup for your mailing list, register for a free account, or complete a survey.

      Content upgrades can effectively boost user engagement, bring back old users, and increase your conversion rates simultaneously.

      • Add Comment Worthy Content: Engage users in comments. Since the early days of blogging, comments have become a standard to judge user engagement. Comments are also the most easy to implement engagement tools on any website. Most website builders come with built-in comments.
      • Add Success Stories: Users love stories and success stories even more. Success stories, whether they are yours or someone who inspires you, have a much higher chance of going viral.

      The reason is simple, we all like to see how other people have succeeded in their goals. We find these stories inspiring, and motivational, and we feel compelled to share these.  

      • Show Credibility:  Users want to know why they should trust your website. Adding photos of real people on your web pages makes it appear more trustworthy. Add bios and testimonials on your pages.

      Linking to your social profiles can also help you establish credibility and build influence.

      Add trust marks such as secure site signs, BBB ratings, awards, and certifications to your website. It gives users confidence to share their information and/or do business on your website.

      • Target Abandoning Users: No matter what you do, users will eventually leave your website, but that should not be the end of it. You can still give the users one last chance to convert into subscribers or customers.

      Properly targeting abandoning visitors can increase returning users and decrease your site’s bounce rate significantly.