What is Google Analytics?

Google Analytics is a free, full-featured web analytics package. GA collects website traffic data and generates reports that show how people find a site, how they explored it, and how the site can be enhanced to improve visitor experience. GA itself produces over 80 reports, tracks visitors through a site, tracks performance of marketing campaigns, keyword performance, and conversion path abandonment.

How do stations integrate Google Analytics with their websites?

Public Media Metrics has created a Google Analytics account for aggregating data from all of the participating station websites. A small, invisible snippet of JavaScript code will be added to the bottom of the HTML of each web page that a station wishes to track. PMM will provide support for stations who need assistance understanding how or where to insert the GA JavaScript code.

How is data collected?

The Google Analytics system will do the heavy lifting of data collection.
 
The GA JavaScript code sends a request to the GA tracking servers and signals GA to make a record of the visit to that page, including information that describes the visitor’s general location, basic computer specifications and other anonymous visitor data.

The Public Media Metrics software will communicate with the GA account, extracting reports in XML format and storing the data for extended analysis by our web analytics professionals.

How are results provided/delivered?

The Public Media Metrics software will generate reports for human (professional) analysis. After professional analysis, custom reports are posted here in the PMM Documents and Downloads section of our website for download, usually in PDF format.

Participating stations are be notified of the availability of these reports and invited to visit the Public Media Metrics web site to download.