This analytics vocabulary page serves as a resource for users to understand essential terms and concepts related to web and data analytics. It provides clear definitions and examples, making it easier for users to grasp how analytics tools general analytics terms and Looker Studio function in practice. This glossary is particularly useful for those engaged in marketing, communications, and data analysis, helping them interpret reports and metrics effectively.
These FAQs provides an overview of key features and answers to common questions in Looker Studio.
Looker Studio (formerly known as Google Data Studio) is a free data visualization tool that allows users to create interactive and customizable dashboards. It connects to multiple data sources, such as Google Analytics 4 (GA4), and presents data insights visually.
To view data outside Looker Studio, you can export the target table by selecting the three dots located on the above right of any data table and choosing to download the data as a CSV file. Your download will reflect the filters applied to the page.
Page Path Groupings are collections of page paths that share similar structures or URLs also called subsites or subfolders. These groupings help users analyze trends and performance across sections of a website. Pages that appear at least five times in a similar path structure are grouped together for easier analysis. If you don't see your "page path group" listed in your dashboard, please use the filter "Page Path" to select the multiple pages you need analyze.
Scorecards in Looker Studio display key metrics, such as total users or sessions, in a simplified format. They offer quick access to important data points and can be filtered by various dimensions, such as date range or specific pages.
The Date Range Filter allows you to narrow your dashboard results to a specific period like Month-over-month, month-to-date, year-to-date, last month, this quarter etc. Each report page in the dashboard will need to be updated when viewing the data set.
To drill down in a table in Looker Studio, users can click the down arrow above the table on the right (e.g., moving from Page Path to a more detailed view like Session Source/Medium in the Session Data Report). This allows deeper exploration of traffic sources and user behavior by viewing how specific pages perform in relation to their traffic origin. To return to a broader view, simply use the up arrow to navigate back to the higher-level dimension. To go back to the beginning, select the back arrow on the top left of the table above the table title.
Dashboards in Looker Studio may time out due to exceeding data quota limits, which occur when a report tries to load more data than Looker Studio can handle within a set time or resource limit. This often happens with complex queries or when multiple large datasets are being processed simultaneously. Looker Studio has certain thresholds for how much data can be processed in real time, and exceeding this can result in a time-out or performance lag. If you are seeing these errors in your dashboard, waiting 15-30 minutues generally resolves these issues. If they persist longer than a day, please reach out to grahamz@ohio.edu (Zoe Graham).
Filters don’t automatically carry over from one page to another in Looker Studio because each page is processed independently, and the data quota limits are updated separately for each page. Every time you load a new page, Looker Studio runs new queries and applies data limits specific to that page's visualizations. This means the filters you set on one page are not applied globally, which helps prevent exceeding data quota limits and ensures smoother performance across all dashboards. getting you the data you need faster.
Due to the complex nature of data collection and data interpretation in the new GA4 system, access to the raw GA4 data will not be accessible to general users. Ohio University’s University Communications and Marketing department has developed custom, preconfigured dashboards in Looker Studio that users will be provisioned to view and use. These dashboards contain pre-filtered data that is easily consumable and interpreted at a glance providing more accurate data than what was previously configured. To view our Google Analytics User policy please review, https://www.ohio.edu/ucm/web/google-analytics-user-policy.
Please review the training video and documentation for an overview of the main navigation of the Looker Studio Dashboard.
Understanding these terms is essential for interpreting data and making informed decisions based on your websites analytics reports.
In GA4, a session represents a period of user interaction with your website or app. This period includes multiple events (page views, button clicks, etc.) and ends after 55 minutes of inactivity or at midnight. A new session starts when:
A user opens a new app or page.
A group of user interactions occurs within a specified timeframe.
In Google Analytics, source and medium describe how users arrive at your website:
Source: The origin of your traffic (e.g., Google, Pinterest, a referring website).
Medium: The method through which users arrive at your site (e.g., organic, referral, CPC, display).
Engagement rate refers to the percentage of sessions that last longer than 10 seconds, include at least one conversion event, or involve two or more page views. It's an essential metric for understanding user interaction quality.
The average time spent on page is the total time users spend on a specific page, divided by the number of page views. This helps assess user engagement and content effectiveness.
Intersite linking refers to the practice of linking from one page within a website to another page on the same website. It improves site navigation, user experience, and Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
Internal search queries track what users type into the search bar on your site. This data is useful for understanding user intent and optimizing on-site content. You can filter these queries on the Internal Search Data Report page. For instructions on how to navigate this report please visit https://www.ohio.edu/ucm/training/analytics/dashboard/internal-search-d….
A page path refers to the URL structure of a particular page. It helps track which pages or sections of a site users navigate through. In Looker Studio, page paths can be filtered for specific insights. This is dimension is available on every report page in the dashboard as a page filter.
This percent changed indicator is on each scorecard in the dashboard and as a column in most tables next to the correlating metric. Trend analysis over time helps users identify growth patterns, seasonal fluctuations, and anomalies, allowing them to make data-driven decisions. By comparing historical data, users can anticipate future performance and optimize strategies accordingly.
The number of "users" in GA4 can be inflated because cookies or cache get reset or cleared. When a user deletes their cookies or accesses the website from a different device or browser, GA4 may count them as a new user, even though they have visited before. This means "users" isn't always the most reliable metric for tracking true unique visitors, as it's based on device-specific identifiers that can be wiped or changed.
Anytime a user leaves ohio.edu domain, it is viewed as an Exit Click. View the links and frequency of those clicks found on the Exit Click Report.
Contact Clicks are from contact-related elements (Contact Types) such as email links, phone numbers, contact forms, social media links or icon, or the building directory. View the Contact Click Report.
Button clicks refer to interactions with specific web elements in Drupal, such as:
Buttons
Icons (e.g., social icons)
Icon tiles
Card links
Link clicks track interactions with hyperlinks embedded in text or elements on a webpage. These include any clickable links that aren't categorized as buttons. Link clicks can exist in the body, navigation, or within a specific web element like a card link. To view all "Links" in the Drupal web elements catalog, go to https://ohio.edu/ucm/web/help/web-catalog.
Navigation clicks refer to user interactions with a website's navigational elements, such as:
Left navigation (sidebar menus)
Main-menu (top bar navigation)
Footer
Top-green bar
Previous Page Origin: On the User Pathways Report, a filter labeled "previous page – ohio.edu or somewhere else?" lets you analyze whether users arrived from internal (ohio.edu) or external sources before arriving on your target "Current Page".
Web Element Types are configured from the Drupal Web Element Catalog:
A subsite is a smaller section of a larger website that operates within the main site's domain structure. For instance, in a university setting, a department or program may have its own subsite under the university's main URL. An example would be ohio.edu/cas, where "/cas" is the subsite of ohio.edu, or ohio.edu/cas/undergraduate, where "undergraduate" is a subsite within the "/cas" subsite. Similarly, ohio.edu/cas/undergraduate/pre-law identifies "pre-law" as a subsite within the "undergraduate" section of "/cas". Often in Looker Studio Dashboards, the "Page Path Grouping" page filter is based on a subsite/subfolder.
The Department Site Selector is a filter that allows users to choose specific department pages within a the internal search function with our vendor, Funnelback. If a user goes to the "magnifying glass" icon on the top right on any page, and the radio button has been selected for the specific department page, we can view the filtered searches to users only looking to search for content in the department pages vs. the entire ohio.edu site. Not every department or unit has site selector options. If this is the case, the full site internal search will be the default. If you are unsure if your college or unit should have a site selector, please let grahamz@ohio.edu (Zoe Graham) know by submitting a UCM project request.
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