Google includes a vast amount of features within the Analytics platform, but making sense of the data isn't always easy for a user with limited experience. This glossary is meant to help you become more familiar with the terminology when navigating your account and reviewing website performance in Google Analytics.
- General Terminology
- Navigating your Account
- Types of Reports
- Types of Data
- Viewing Data
- Acquisition Terminology
- Conversion Terminology
- Technical Terminology
- Coming Soon
General Terminology |
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Solutions Gallery |
Lets you share and import custom reporting tools and assets, like dashboards and segments, into your Analytics accounts. Related Resources |
Tracking ID and property number |
The tracking ID is a string like UA-000000-2. It must be included in your tracking code to tell Analytics which account and property to send data to. The tracking ID is automatically included in the JavaScript snippet for websites, but also needs to be included in other tracking technologies like the SDKs and the Measurement Protocol for Analytics to work. The first set of numbers (-000000, in the example above) refers to your account number, and the second set of numbers (-2) refers to the specific property number associated with the account. Related Resources |
Universal Analytics |
Universal Analytics is the most current data collection technology for web-based Analytics. It uses the analytics.js tracking code for websites, an SDK for mobile apps, and the Measurement Protocol for other digital devices. Related Resources |
Navigating your Account |
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Account |
An account is your access point for Analytics. One or more Analytics accounts can belong to an organization. You need at least one account so you can have access to Analytics, and so you can identify the properties you want to track. How you manage the relationship between accounts and properties is up to you. You can use a one-to-one relationship of one account/one property, or you can use a one-to-many relationship of one account/many properties. You can have multiple Analytics accounts. Related Resources |
Permission |
The right to perform administrative and configuration tasks, to create and share assets, and to read and interact with report data. In order to use certain features in Analytics, you must have the appropriate permission. There are 4 permissions: Manage Users Edit Collaborate Read & Analyze Each permission can be granted at one or more levels: account, property or view. Related Resources |
Property |
A sub-component of an Analytics account that determines which data is organized and stored together. Any resource tagged with the same Property ID is collected and stored together. A single property can be used to track one website or mobile app, or be a roll-up of the data from multiple sites or mobile apps. Related Resources |
View |
A view or reporting view is a subset of an Analytics account property that can have its own unique configuration settings. You can create multiple views for a single property and configure each view to show a different subset of data for the property. Related Resources |
User ID views |
A special type of reporting view that only includes data about the subset of traffic that has a user ID assigned. User ID views include a set of Cross Device reports, which aren’t available in other reporting views. The Cross Device reports give you the tools you need to analyze how users engage with your content on different devices over the course of multiple sessions. All other standard reports and tools are also available in User ID views. User ID views do not include all of your data. To analyze all of your data, use a different type of reporting view. User ID view are only available to Universal Analytics properties in which the User ID is enabled. You must also create User ID views. They do not exist by default in your account. Related Resources |
View filter |
A configuration setting that allows you to add, remove or modify your data during processing before it is displayed in your reports. View filters allow you to limit and modify the traffic data that is included in a view. For example, you can use filters to exclude traffic from particular IP addresses, focus on a specific subdomain or directory, or convert dynamic page URLs into readable text strings. Related Resources |
Types of Reports |
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Acquisition Reports |
The Acquisition reports provide a window on your users’ Acquisition-Behavior-Conversion (ABC) cycle: how you acquire users, their behavior on your site after acquisition, and their conversion patterns. Related Resources |
Audience Reports |
The articles in this section explain how to investigate the composition and behavior of your audience, and how to configure and implement additional audience-related features. Related Resources |
Behavior Reports |
See how your users traverse and interact with your site. Related Resources |
Conversion Reports |
In Analytics, a conversion is the completion of an activity that is important to the success of your business, such as a completed sign up for your email newsletter (a Goal conversion) or a purchase (a Transaction, sometimes called an Ecommerce conversion). Once you've set up Goals and/or Ecommerce tracking, you can use the Multi-Channel Funnels reports to see how all your channels worked together to create sales. Related Resources |
Real-Time Reports |
Real-Time allows you to monitor activity as it happens on your site or app. Related Resources |
Types of Data |
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Dimension |
A descriptive attribute or characteristic of data. Browser, Landing Page and Campaign are all examples of default dimensions in Analytics. A dimension is a descriptive attribute or characteristic of an object that can be given different values. For example, a geographic location could have dimensions called Latitude, Longitude, or City Name. Values for the City Name dimension could be San Francisco, Berlin, or Singapore. Browser, Exit Page, Screens, and Session Duration are all examples of dimensions that appear by default in Analytics. Dimensions appear in all of your reports, though you might see different ones depending on the specific report. Use them to help organize, segment, and analyze your data. Analytics also lets you create custom dimensions to hold additional types of data you send via the tracking code, or by using Data Import, or by using the Analytics API. Related Resources |
Metric |
A quantitative measurement of your data. Metrics in Analytics can be sums or ratios. Metrics are individual elements of a dimension that can be measured as a sum or a ratio. For example, the dimension City can be associated with a metric like Population, which would have a sum value of all the residents of the specific city. Screenviews, Pages per Session, and Average Session Duration are examples of metrics in Analytics. Related Resources |
Viewing Data |
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Custom Dimension |
A user-defined descriptive attribute or characteristic of data. Custom dimensions can be used to describe data not included in the default dimensions in Analytics. There are several ways to get custom data into Analytics, such as modifying your tracking code, uploading it using Data Import, or sending it via the Management API or Measurement Protocol. Related Resources |
Roll-Up Reporting |
A feature of Roll-Up Properties, which aggregate data from multiple source properties into a single property. Roll-Up Reporting is a special kind of reporting that lets you analyze the aggregated data that's in a Roll-Up Property. Roll-Up Reporting is only available for Analytics 360 Accounts, and only works on designated Roll-Up Properties. Related Resources |
Sampling |
The practice of selecting a subset of data from your traffic and reporting on the trends detected in that sample set. Sampling is widely used in statistical analysis because analyzing a subset of data gives similar results to an analysis of a complete data set, but can produce these results with a smaller a computational burden and a reduced processing time. Related Resources |
Segment |
A subset of sessions or users that share common attributes. Segments allow you to isolate and analyze groups of sessions or users for better analysis. Segmentation allows you to isolate and analyze subsets of your data. For example, you might segment your data by marketing channel so that you can see which channel is responsible for an increase in purchases. Drilling down to look at segments of your data helps you understand what caused a change to your aggregated data. Related Resources |
Acquisition Terminology |
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Channel Grouping |
A roll-up of traffic sources in the Acquisition reports that groups several marketing activities together. Channel groupings allow you to view and compare aggregated metrics by channel name, as well as individual traffic source, medium, or campaign name. In the Acquisition section's Overview and Channels reports, you can see your data organized according to the Default Channel Grouping, a rule-based grouping of the most common sources of traffic, like Paid Search and Direct. This allows you to quickly check the performance of each of your traffic channels. Related Resources |
Pageview |
A pageview (or pageview hit, page tracking hit) is an instance of a page being loaded (or reloaded) in a browser. Pageviews is a metric defined as the total number of pages viewed. Related Resources |
Session |
The period of time a user is active on your site or app. By default, if a user is inactive for 30 minutes or more, any future activity is attributed to a new session. Users that leave your site and return within 30 minutes are counted as part of the original session. Related Resources |
Source / Medium |
Source: the origin of your traffic, such as a search engine (for example, google) or a domain (example.com). Medium: the general category of the source, for example, organic search (organic), cost-per-click paid search (cpc), web referral (referral). Source/Medium is a dimension that combines the dimensions Source and Medium. Examples of Source/Medium include google/organic, example.com/referral, and newsletter9-2014/email. Related Resources |
Conversion Terminology |
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Attribution |
The process of assigning credit for sales and conversions to touchpoints in conversion paths. Attribution allows marketers to quantify each channel's contribution to sales and conversions. For example, many people may purchase on your site after searching for your brand on Google. However, they may have been introduced to your brand via a display ad or a blog. A marketer uses attribution to appropriately distribute monetary credit for purchases among the many marketing channels that may have contributed to each sale. Related Resources |
Attribution model |
A rule, or set of rules, that determines how credit for sales and conversions is assigned to touchpoints in conversion paths. An attribution model is the rule, or set of rules, that determines how credit for sales and conversions is assigned to touchpoints in conversion paths. For example, Last Interaction attribution assigns 100% credit to the final touchpoints (i.e., clicks) that immediately precede sales or conversions. First Interaction attribution assigns 100% credit to touchpoints that initiate conversion paths. These are two examples of attribution models. Related Resources |
Content Grouping |
A roll-up of content in the Behavior reports that groups several pages or screens together to better reflect the structure of your site or app. Content groupings allow you to view and compare aggregated metrics by content group name, as well as individual URL, page title, or screen name. Content Grouping lets you group content into a logical structure that reflects how you think about your site or app, and then view and compare aggregated metrics by group name in addition to being able to drill down to the individual URL, page title, or screen name. For example, you can see the aggregated number of pageviews for all pages in a group like Men/Shirts, and then drill in to see each URL or page title. Related Resources |
Conversion |
A completed activity, online or offline, that is important to the success of your business. Examples include a completed sign-up for your email newsletter (a Goal conversion) and a purchase (a transaction, sometimes called an Ecommerce conversion). A conversion can be a macro conversion or a micro conversion. A macro conversion is typically a completed purchase transaction. In contrast, a micro conversion is a completed activity, such as an email signup, that indicates that the user is moving towards a macro conversion. Related Resources |
Event |
Event is a type of hit used to track user interactions with content. Examples of user interactions commonly tracked with Events include downloads, mobile ad clicks, gadgets, Flash elements, AJAX embedded elements, and video plays. Related Resources |
Goal |
A configuration setting that allows you to track the valuable actions, or conversions, that happen on your site or mobile app. Goals allow you to measure how well your site or app fulfills your target objectives. You can set up individual Goals to track discrete actions, like transactions with a minimum purchase amount or the amount of time spent on a screen. Each time a user completes a Goal, a conversion is logged in your Analytics account. Related Resources |
Hit |
An interaction that results in data being sent to Analytics. Common hit types include page tracking hits, event tracking hits, and ecommerce hits. Each time the tracking code is triggered by a user’s behavior (for example, user loads a page on a website or a screen in a mobile app), Analytics records that activity. Each interaction is packaged into a hit and sent to Google’s servers. Examples of hit types include:
Related Resources |
Technical Terminology |
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Analytics tag |
The Analytics tag is a snippet of JavaScript that collects and sends data to Analytics from a website. You can add the Analytics tag directly to the HTML of each page on your site, or indirectly using a tag management system such as Google Tag Manager. Related Resources |
Data Set |
A container that holds the data you upload to Analytics.
Related Resources |
IP address |
Short for Internet Protocol address. Used to identify computers on the Internet. When your computer or device sends a request, like a search on Google, it tags the request with your IP address. That way Google knows where to send the response. It works like a return address would on a piece of mail. You can find the public IP address you are currently using by searching "what is my ip address" on google.com. https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=what%20is%20my%20ip%20address Related Resources |
Reporting API |
A set of protocols and tools designed to extract data from your Analytics account into custom scripts or programs for more automated and efficient reporting and analysis. API is short for Application Programming Interface. Related Resources |
SDKs |
The tracking-code snippet is only for collecting data from websites. Use the Analytics SDKs to collect data from mobile apps, and use the Measurement Protocol to collect data from other digital devices like ticket kiosks and game consoles. The SDKs and the Measurement Protocol need to be set up by a developer. Related Resources |
Measurement Protocol |
A standard set of rules for collecting and sending hits from any internet-connected device to Analytics. The Measurement Protocol lets you send data to Analytics from any internet-connected device. It's particularly useful when you want to send data to Analytics from a kiosk, a point of sale system, or anything that is not a website or mobile app. Because, while the Analytics JavaScript and mobile SDKs automatically build hits to send data to Analytics from websites and mobile apps, you must manually build data collection hits for other kinds of devices. The Measurement Protocol defines how to construct the hits and how to send them to Analytics. Related Resources |
Tag |
A snippet of JavaScript that sends information to a third party, such as Google. The Analytics tracking code is an example of a tag. A tag is a snippet of JavaScript that sends information to a third party, such as Google. Tags collect data, target your ad campaigns, track ads, and perform other functions. The Analytics tracking code is an example of a tag. If you don't use a tag management solution such as Google Tag Manager, you need to add these snippets of JavaScript directly to the source code of your site. Related Resources |
Coming Soon
Despite the great length we've gone to define many of the features you will commonly encounter within Google Analytics, we've got more on the way.
We will periodically maintain this glossary with the addition of new definitions and refinement of categories, but we will also be enhancing each definition with more visual aspects like screenshots and animations.