Web analytics
Web analytics are aggregated data reports about your website's traffic. Analytics can help you understand how users are finding your site and what they're doing when they get there.
Google analytics
Accessing Google Analytics reports
Most Cascade sites will have an associated account in Google Analytics (GA).
Contact the Senior Web Officer to get access to your site's GA reports. You will need to have a Google account associated with your UVic email address first (steps on how to set this up).
Universal analytics (UA) vs Google analytics 4 (GA4)
As of July 2023, properties in Google's older analytics tool (known as Universal Analytics) will no longer receive data.
We have migrated all active Cascade sites to a GA4 analytics property. If you need support getting access to your site's GA4 data contact the Senior Web Officer.
Understanding Google Analytics reports
- learn about some common terms used in Google Analytics reports
- Google provides free training on GA4
Event tracking (GA4)
An “event” is a specific interaction with your website/page. Understanding more about these "touchpoints" can help you measure how engaged your audience is with your website and which content they are most interested in.
UTM (Urchin Tracking Module) codes
You may have seen some extra information at the end of a URL, such as:
https://www.uvic.ca/event/distinguished-alumni-awards/index.php?utm_campaign=distinguished_alumni&utm_medium=print&utm_source=qr-code
This information (known as URL parameters) provides us with valuable data about our web traffic. We can view the data in our analytics reports to learn more about how people access web pages.
Anatomy of a UTM
In the above example, we have assigned the following parameters to this link:
- campaign: distinguished_alumni (this link was created for the Distinguished Alumni Awards campaign)
- medium: print (this link was used in a print document)
- source: QR Code (this link was contained in a QR code)
Using UTM parameters is essential to understanding where our web traffic is coming from. It tells us how successful our digital campaigns have been by:
- allowing us to understand which campaigns are generating the most traffic
- identifying which channels are driving the most traffic and conversions
We can use this data to optimize our campaigns, and adjust our spending on paid marketing tactics.
Build your own UTM parameters
UVic uses an online tool called UTM.io to generate links for our campaigns with UTM parameters attached.
Need help?
- To get help with accessing and understanding your site's Google analytics reports, contact the Senior Web Officer.
- For support with campaign tracking and analysis, contact the Senior Marketing Analytics & Strategy Officer.