At least 90% of the Google Analytics setups I have seen are broken. Learn how to greatly improve your Google Analytics configuration with my new Google Analytics audit tool.
First I want you to carefully read the sentence below.
“You lose customers because you can’t trust your Analytics data”.
Yes, it’s that simple. Collecting bad data results in bad business decisions.
There are too many people wasting time and resources on reporting and optimization before having fixed the measurement part.
Do you trust your data if you score 64 out of 100?
In the rest of this post I will explain about all the measurements behind this Google Analytics audit tool and how to interpret the results.
And, if you haven’t yet, very soon you will have access as well.
Table of Content
- Background of Google Analytics Audit Tool
- How to Get a Free Copy
- How to Interpret the Numbers
- What’s Missing
- What’s Next
Background of Analytics Audit Tool
We can’t automate everything, but there are certainly tasks in many areas that we can and should automate.
After performing dozens of audits in the last few years, I came up with the idea to build this automated Google Analytics audit tool. It’s primarily based on leveraging the strength of the Google Analytics API and Google Sheets.
On top of that I share my experience in the setup based on reviewing numbers of a wide range of companies.
It’s an incredibly flexible tool as you can – if you have a lot of experience with the API and Google Sheets – add or change (other) automated tasks as well.
However, the simple goal is to make you aware of the current state of your Google Analytics setup and data based on 25 criteria. The checks are all (might be one or two exceptions) relevant to the majority of websites.
For now, I have decided to make this a FREE tool as I want to further educate everyone – including you – on the importance of a solid Google Analytics setup.
Many companies start their data analysis and make important business decisions with the lack of a proper setup. You can imagine the hours wasted and negative impact on their businesses…
The Google Analytics audit tool and report is a great start, but keep in mind that no one can ever build an automated tool which fully replaces the human thinking and logic behind a Google Analytics audit, implementation and configuration. A fully customized, flawless setup requires a ton of knowledge and experience.
How to Get a Free Copy
Skip this paragraph if you already have access to the Analytics Audit Tool and know how to get it to work.
If not, simply hit the button below and you will soon know where to improve your Google Analytics setup!
Note: make sure to carefully follow the instructions that you will get via email to run your first Google Analytics setup check.
How to Interpret the Numbers
Perform your first Google Analytics setup check and you will notice 25 checks in the Google Analytics audit report, each with a “PASS” or “FAIL” and a total score.
In short:
- Score < 60 – there is a lot to improve in your Google Analytics setup.
- Score > 60, but < 80 – not bad, but there is definitely room for improvement.
- Score > 80 – well done, but make sure to pay attention to “FAILED” checks.
- Score = 100 – you are an Analytics Ninja right? Haven’t seen the perfect score yet!
You will collect four points for each check that you pass.
The “Scorecard” sheet provides quick feedback on each of the checks and rates your overall Google Analytics setup and data with a score ranging from 0 to 100.
The “Scorecard Explanation” sheet provides accurate numbers on the checks and more in-depth feedback about your score and where/how to improve it.
In the upcoming chapters you will learn more about the background of the 25 checks.
First thing to know is that each of the checks is performed on the last 30 days of data in the selected Google Analytics view.
Now you’ll learn about all different checks in the Google Analytics audit report.
# 1: Sessions on Primary Domain
Your Google Analytics account might receive SPAM traffic or your UA code might be hijacked and be executed on another domain.
These are just two examples that can result in the collection of undesired traffic/sessions in your Google Analytics account.
Check: is the percentage of sessions on your primary domain (hostname that receives most traffic) greater than 99%?
Result: answer is “Yes” -> PASS, answer is “No” -> FAIL.
Reading suggestion: Ultimate Guide to Using Google Analytics Filters.
Use common sense if you are interpreting the results. If your implementation is very advanced and spans across multiple (sub)domains, you have to interpret your numbers differently. I can’t decide for you which domains to include in this check. However, the majority of companies implements the Google Analytics tracking code on one website.
# 2: Sampling
Sampling occurs at 500k sessions at the property level for the date range you are using (Analytics standard account). You will quickly run into sampling issues if you have more sessions in a month.
Many companies are confronted with sampling challenges once start using custom data, e.g. via Google Analytics segments. If your needs grow, you might want to consider Google Analytics 360 or another robust solution to deal with sampling.
Check: is the percentage of sessions in your Google Analytics view less than 500.000?
Result: answer is “Yes” -> PASS, answer is “No” -> FAIL.
Reading suggestion: Eight Smart Ways to Deal with Google Analytics Sampling.
Be careful when analyzing segmented data if you FAIL this test. If you are a GA 360 customer (the majority of websites uses the standard/free version of GA), sampling occurs from 100M sessions at the view level for the date range you are using. This check serves as a “warning” signal if your traffic rises above a certain threshold.
# 3: PPC Sessions in Organic
The occurrence of specific parameters (e.g. s_kwcid|ppc|cpc|keyword|adgroup) in your organic landing page URLs indicates that PPC sessions are measured as Organic traffic.
This can greatly affect your data quality and cause bad business decisions to be made.
Check: are PPC indicative query parameters present in your organic landing page URLs ?
Result: answer is “No” -> PASS, answer is “Yes” -> FAIL.
Reading suggestion: Measuring Paid & Organic Search Results.
Make sure to tag all your paid search campaigns properly. For example, you don’t want your Bing paid search campaigns to show us as organic traffic in Google Analytics.
# 4: Query Parameters
I recommend to divide query parameters in two groups: technical and marketing query parameters.
- Technical query parameters are not useful to store in Google Analytics – they just cause duplicate page URLs to be measured in Google Analytics.
- Marketing query parameters should not be removed as they are important to keep for data analysis needs.
At least 90% of the Google Analytics accounts I have consulted on, store a bunch of technical query parameters in their Google Analytics views. This negatively affects your Google Analytics data analysis.
In addition, usually there are far more pages with technical query parameters compared to pages with marketing query parameters.
Check: is the percentage of pageviews that include query parameters smaller than 5%?
Result: answer is “Yes” -> PASS, answer is “No” -> FAIL.
Reading suggestion: #GAtips: Remove All Your Technical Query Parameters.
# 5: (not set)
(Not set) is a placeholder name that Analytics uses when it hasn’t received any information for the dimension you have selected. The reasons for (not set) appearing as a dimension value vary according to the report and dimension.
I have developed this check based on a benchmark of a wide range of Google Analytics accounts in different industries.
Thereby eight different dimensions are included in this test. “Network location” is the only exception in this check. Usually far more than 2% of sessions (my upper limit in this check) carry the value of (not set). And that’s OK as long as the performance of this group doesn’t deviate from the “regular” site visitor.
Check: is the percentage of (not set) sessions (check on eight dimensions) for zero or max. one dimension higher than 2%?
Result: answer is “Yes” -> PASS, answer is “No” -> FAIL.
Reading suggestion: What the Value (not set) Means.
# 6: Bounce Rate
The bounce rate is a great, but for many people confusing metric. We can’t simply say a bounce rate of 20%, 30% or 40% is good or bad. You always have to review this metric in context.
A bounce rate of 85% and conversion rate of 10% on one of your landing pages isn’t that bad at all in most cases!
However, extremely high or low bounce rates on pages with decent traffic might indicate a tracking/measurement issue and that is where this check is all about.
Note: the check is limited to landing pages with at least 100 entries. This to improve the accuracy of this check.
Check: are there pages measured with an average bounce rate of less than 5% or higher than 95%?
Result: answer is “No” -> PASS, answer is “Yes” -> FAIL.
Reading suggestion: Ultimate Guide to Reduce Bounce Rate and Increase Conversions.
These bounce rate percentages correlate with a high likelihood of a measurement problem. So I highly recommend to double check your Google Analytics implementation and configuration if you FAIL this test!
# 7: Personally Identifiable Information
Sending PII to Google Analytics is one of the worst things you can do. Looking for PII during the setup and testing phase of your Google Analytics implementation is recommended to avoid running into any PII collection issues later on.
This check searches for PII information in your page URLs; this by checking for the query parameter “email”.
It’s not a 100% complete check – but great start – as PII can also appear in other places in Google Analytics. However, I have found PII to appear most often as part of the page URLs.
Check: is the query parameter “email” found as part of one or more page URLs?
Result: answer is “No” -> PASS, answer is “Yes” -> FAIL.
Reading suggestion: How to Deal With PII in Google Analytics.
I recommend to not limit your PII search to only checking the content reports. Make sure to also check your data imports, event dimensions, custom dimensions, campaign parameters and site search dimensions.
# 8: Self-Referrals
Have you ever noticed your domain name showing up as one of the top referrals in Google Analytics. I have seen too many GA accounts with this self-referrals issue.
Your data becomes unreliable and it leads to bad marketing decisions. And the credits for a conversion are not attributed to the marketing channels that actually deserve it.
Check: is your primary domain showing up as a source within the medium referral in Google Analytics?
Result: answer is “No” -> PASS, answer is “Yes” -> FAIL.
Reading suggestion: How to Fix Self-Referrals Issue in Google Analytics.
Having a very small percentage of self-referrals (e.g. < 1%) is not an issue, but double check your setup if your own domain shows up as one of the top referrals.
# 9: Custom Campaign Tracking
On default Google Analytics measures direct traffic, referrals, organic traffic and AdWords traffic (if that applies to your situation).
Most probably you haven’t tagged all your compains correctly if these are the only mediums showing up in your Google Analytics view.
Check: are there any other mediums present in your Google Analytics account in addition to the four default mediums?
Result: answer is “Yes” -> PASS, answer is “No” -> FAIL.
Reading suggestion: Ultimate Guide to Google Analytics Campaign Tracking.
# 10: Mediums with Low Traffic
There is a huge chance you haven’t set up campaign tracking correctly if 30, 50 or even 100 mediums are showing up in your Google Analytics account. At least, that is what I have experienced in many Google Analytics audits.
One way to run an automated check is to calculate the percentage of mediums with a very low traffic share and that is what I exactly check here.
Check: is the percentage of mediums that receive less than 1% of total traffic less than 20%?
Result: answer is “Yes” -> PASS, answer is “No” -> FAIL.
Reading suggestion: Ultimate Guide to Google Analytics Campaign Tracking.
# 11: Social Referrals
On default Google Analytics measures your social traffic not as a separate medium.
This means that you will run into optimization issues if you use campaign medium data to judge the performance of your various traffic channels.
You could deal with this issue by adding a rewrite filter for your social referrals and/or optimizing based on your channel reporting data instead of campaign medium data.
Check: are the primary social channels found as a source in your referral reporting data?
Result: answer is “No” -> PASS, answer is “Yes” -> FAIL.
Reading suggestion: How to Solve Six Common Issues in The Google Analytics Referrals Report.
# 12: Email Referrals
High volumes of email referrals indicate inconsistencies in your email link tracking. Further, it will result in too higher numbers of direct traffic.
Check: are email referrals visible within your referral medium data?
Result: answer is “No” -> PASS, answer is “Yes” -> FAIL.
Reading suggestion: How to Solve Six Common Issues in The Google Analytics Referrals Report.
It might be impossible to get rid of all email referrals, but keep in mind that you have a serious issue if email referrals are a substantial proportion of your total traffic. Your email, genuine referrals and direct traffic data will be unreliable if that is the case! One more thing, using a rewrite filter in GA only masks the issue and is not a solution.
# 13: AdWords Integration
Not correctly measuring AdWords clicks in your Google Analytics account is one indication for an incorrect integration of AdWords and Analytics.
Check: are the total number of AdWords clicks measured greater than zero?
Result: answer is “Yes” -> PASS, answer is “No” -> FAIL.
Reading suggestion: Link Google Analytics and AdWords.
This check only applies to you if you are running AdWords campaigns.
# 14: AdWords Discrepancies
It’s very common that the number of AdWords clicks is not equal to Analytics sessions. Large differences indicate potential issues in your AdWords tracking and/or Google Analytics implementation.
In this check two things are examined within the top 10 campaigns:
- Ad clicks divided by sessions > 1,5
- Ad clicks divided by sessions < 1,0
Check: are large differences (as outlined above) found between Ad clicks and sessions for the main campaigns?
Result: answer is “No” -> PASS, answer is “Yes” -> FAIL.
Reading suggestion: How to Analyze AdWords Clicks vs Analytics Visits.
This check only applies to you if you are running AdWords campaigns.
# 15: (other) Channel Group
The higher the percentage of the “Other” Channel group, the more difficult it becomes to analyze and optimize your traffic channels. Your data will become inaccurate which causes interpretation issues.
Check: is the percentage of sessions in the “Other” Channel group smaller than 2%?
Result: answer is “Yes” -> PASS, answer is “No” -> FAIL.
Reading suggestions:
- Step-by-Step Guide on the Default Channel Grouping Dimension.
- How to Solve Six Common Issues in The Google Analytics Referrals Report.
Fixing the (other) channel group is not a one-time exercise. You always need to be alert when new campaign mediums are defined as it might impact the (other) channel group. Read this article about custom alerts to learn more about how to best monitor this.
# 16: Direct Traffic
Direct traffic comes from visitors that already know you or reside from incorrectly tagged campaigns. A very high percentage of direct traffic indicates a measurement issue.
I have seen direct traffic percentages ranging from 10 to over 30%. It’s hard to set an exact boundary as it might vary from site to site. I have found that “20%” is a good number to work with.
Check: is the percentage of direct traffic sessions lower than 20%?
Result: answer is “Yes” -> PASS, answer is “No” -> FAIL.
Reading suggestions:
- In-Depth Guide on Direct Traffic in Google Analytics.
- How to Solve Six Common Issues in The Google Analytics Referrals Report.
# 17: Branded Paid Search Traffic
Splitting up Paid Search in Branded and Generic Paid Search will enhance your insights and optimization potential. It’s a best practice to always set this up.
Check: is “Branded Paid Search” found as a channel within your default channel report?
Result: answer is “Yes” -> PASS, answer is “No” -> FAIL.
Reading suggestion: Brand and Generic Channels.
This check only applies to you if you are running Paid Search campaigns.
# 18: Site Search
Site Search is one of the crucial features to get right. The Google Analytics reports provide a ton of insights you can leverage to further optimize your website and traffic channels.
You miss a ton of insights if you have a Site Search functionality on your website, but you are not measuring it.
Check: is the percentage of Site Search sessions greater than zero?
Result: answer is “Yes” -> PASS, answer is “No” -> FAIL.
Reading suggestion: Five Terrific Insights via Google Analytics Site Search.
This check only applies to you if you have a Site Search functionality on your website.
# 19: Demographics Data
Demographics Data can greatly enrich your data so that you derive deeper insights from your audience and optimize accordingly.
Check: is Demographics Data stored in your Google Analytics view?
Result: answer is “Yes” -> PASS, answer is “No” -> FAIL.
Reading suggestion: Top 10 Tips to Derive Insights from Demographic Reports.
# 20: Content Grouping
Content optimization is crucial if you want to get the most out of your website. Setting up proper content groupings helps you to optimize your content efforts and navigation paths much better than before.
Check: is there at least one content grouping configured and collecting data?
Result: answer is “Yes” -> PASS, answer is “No” -> FAIL.
Reading suggestion: The Complete Guide to Google Analytics Content Groupings.
This check doesn’t investigate the quality of your content grouping setup and whether the setup reflects your business’ needs and insights properly. Unfortunately this can’t be fully automated!
# 21: Events
Event tracking is a feature you should always implement; this to measure and optimize on important interactions in addition to regular pageviews. You will lack a lot of insights if you only concentrate on pageview measurements.
Check: is event data present in this Google Analytics view?
Result: answer is “Yes” -> PASS, answer is “No” -> FAIL.
Reading suggestions: Event Tracking and 10 Fundamental Questions to Answer First.
This check doesn’t investigate the quality of your event tracking setup and whether the setup reflects your business’ needs and insights properly. Unfortunately this can’t be fully automated!
# 22: Custom Dimensions
Custom Dimensions can enrich your data enormously. This is a must-implement feature if you want to go beyond the basic dimensions of Google Analytics. You can use them as a secondary dimension, in a custom report of via the Google Analytics API.
Check: is there at least one Custom Dimension set up in this Google Analytics property?
Result: answer is “Yes” -> PASS, answer is “No” -> FAIL.
Reading suggestion: How to Leverage Custom Dimensions in Google Analytics.
This check doesn’t investigate the quality of your Custom Dimensions setup and whether the setup reflects your business’ needs and insights properly. Unfortunately this can’t be fully automated!
# 23: Custom Metrics
Custom Metrics belong to the advanced features in Google Analytics. You can use them to generate additional insights you won’t retrieve from your standard data set. I recommend to start with Custom Dimensions before you look into Custom Metrics.
Check: is there at least one Custom Metric set up in this Google Analytics property?
Result: answer is “Yes” -> PASS, answer is “No” -> FAIL.
Reading suggestion: Complete Guide to Leverage Custom Metrics in Google Analytics.
This check doesn’t investigate the quality of your Custom Metrics setup and whether the setup reflects your business’ needs and insights properly. Unfortunately this can’t be fully automated!
# 24: Goals
Setting up goals is one of the most important things you should do in Google Analytics. Make sure to set up goals for both micro and macro actions on your website.
Check: are there at least three active goals in your Google Analytics view?
Result: answer is “Yes” -> PASS, answer is “No” -> FAIL.
Reading suggestion: The Definitive Guide to Google Analytics Goals.
Google Analytics allows you to set up 20 goals per Google Analytics view. Make sure to set up at least three relevant goals per view. Selling a product or service is just one of the possible outcomes of a website visit that you want to closely monitor.
# 25: Goals and/or Ecommerce Value
Setting up goal or ecommerce value tracking is highly recommended. In most cases you should choose to set up goal OR ecommerce value tracking, but not both in the same view. This to prevent duplicate measurements in associated metrics.
Check: are goal and/or ecommerce values measured in this Google Analytics view?
Result: answer is “Yes” -> PASS, answer is “No” -> FAIL.
Reading suggestion: The Importance of Goal Values in Google Analytics.
Be mindful about your own goal and ecommerce value setup. The test returns PASS if you have set up both goal and ecommerce value tracking. This because in some cases it can be useful to do so.
Great to see you made it to the 25th check of my Google Analytics audit tool and report!
This will definitely help you to interpret and act on the results of the Analytics audit checklist.
Don’t forget to grab your free copy if you haven’t done yet!
What’s Missing
Tell me! I am happy to hear your comments.
Keep in mind that there are limitations on what a tool can do. As there are advantages with a Google Sheets integration, there are limitations as well.
For example, I can’t easily built a connection to check for particular Google Analytics filters in your account and views.
It usually requires you to log in via an API connection online without you owning the tool (like you (can) do now!)
But you know what, the type of filters and filter details that you need greatly depend on your business as well. It’s fun to run a check, but if you don’t know if it applies to you, what’s the use?
In short, I enjoyed the ride and I hope you too! :-)
What’s Next
Everyone working with Analytics data should be concerned about the quality of their data. In too many Google Analytics Audits I come across huge mistakes in the setup and flaws in the data.
Independent of your exact role, find out what’s going on “behind the scenes” and you will be surprised.
And now, what should you do?
- First option: use the Google Analytics audit tool as a guide to check and improve your GA setup. Keep in mind that no automated tool will ever cover everything you should do to get the maximum out of Google Analytics and 100% reliable data.
- Second option: hire me for a professional, in-depth Google Analytics audit and to learn a ton at the same time.
- Third option: I am actively working on, will keep you updated. :-)
I hope this post and tool are a great help in your Analytics journey!
Now it’s your turn! How can I further improve this Google Analytics audit tool and report for you?
One last thing... Make sure to get my automated Google Analytics 4 Audit Tool. It contains 30 key health checks on the GA4 Setup.
Cam says
Hey, How would I go about adding my own metrics to the table?
Paul Koks says
Hi Cam,
Could you elaborate a bit on what you are trying to accomplish so I can give proper feedback?
Thanks,
Paul
Tom says
Hi Paul,
What are the 8 dimensions where you check for (not set).
Useful tool, thanks!
Paul Koks says
Thank you Tom! The checks runs on landing page path, page title, country, hostname, network location, browser, medium and source.
Ajit Kular says
Hi Paul,
This is the brilliant resource (all in one pack for complete Google Analytics Optimization). Have shared this on my social profiles.
I like to add about the integrations of organic traffic reported as a Referrals. For eg. duckduckgo etc. may report traffic as a referral. It is important to solve this too. Other than this, I found all points are really useful. Keep writing great stuff.
Thanks
Ajit
Paul Koks says
Hi Ajit,
Many thanks for your feedback and suggestion!
I thought about that one as well. It didn’t make it already to my list of 25 checks as I have found the impact of these sources in general to be low (low percentage of traffic).
Might include it in the future as well.
Thanks again,
Paul
Khrystyna says
Hi Paul,
very useful tool, thank you very much for your work !
Best regards,
Khrystyna Grynko
Paul Koks says
You’re welcome Khrystyna and I am glad the tool is useful for you! Best, Paul
Tom says
Thanks for sharing! I ran this report on one of my clients but received an error for the Query Parameter check. ‘Function DIVIDE Parameter 2 cannot be 0″. Any thoughts?
Paul Koks says
Hi Tom,
Thanks for your comment!
I am working on a solution as it seems this is related to the amount of cells in the Google Sheet.
For very large websites this check can cause issues due to > 2 million cells being in use in a sheet.
Make sure to be subscribed via this page as you will receive updates on the tool via email then.
Best,
Paul
Tom says
Got it, will do.
Paul Koks says
Hi Tom,
I have just published the new version!
Best,
Paul
Zoe says
Hi Paul!
I am experiencing this issue as well, even though we had just successfully used the template a few days ago! I see that this issue is an old one – The website that I’m checking isn’t a particularly large one. Any thoughts here?
Paul Koks says
Hi Zoe,
Sorry to hear about your troubles. There is not a lot I can do from my end, it’s most probably due to a temporary glitch in the connection.
Volume of traffic/website isn’t important here. Please wait for some time and try it again.
Best,
Paul
Cansu says
Hey Paul,
First things first, amazing tool and thanks for sharing this for free.
I have a question regarding 11th checkpoint, Social Referrals. Please see my social referrals, their medium, and default channel report here: https://imgur.com/a/91aIS
As you can see even though their medium is referral, default channel is social. Plus, there’s no overwrite filter in this view. In the scorecard this one gets a FAIL, but should I ignore it since default channel grouping is already correct?
Paul Koks says
Hi Cansu,
Many thanks for your feedback, I appreciate it!
You can ignore it, just keep in mind that your social data within the source/medium section is grouped as referral now. I would always prefer to create the right mediums as well; this in addition to the correct setup of Channel Groupings.
Cheers,
Paul
Cansu says
Good point and agreed. I’ve applied the rewrite medium to social filter to the view.
Paul Koks says
That’s great to hear, you will keep your data in good quality!
Cansu says
I have one more question regarding checkpoint #16. First, why would having more than 20% direct traffic be concerning? I know it may indicate wrong tagging as you wrote in the further explanation column. However, I’m not sure how referral issues would affect direct traffic.
The second question I have is, can the cause (of high % of direct traffic) be anything other than referrals?
Paul Koks says
Hi Cansu,
Great question. Based on my experience I flag any Google Analytics accounts where direct traffic is higher than 20%. In general I am very cautious when auditing a GA account on this dimension/metric. Often, certain issues are there.
Three examples of referral issues affecting direct traffic:
– User clicked through a shortened, untagged, URL
– Clicking on a link in an email program (that was untagged)
– Clicking on a link from a secure HTTPS page to a non-secure HTTP page
(Direct) (not set) means no attribution / no referral.
I can recommend one post that goes in great detail on this topic:
http://www.seerinteractive.com/blog/direct-traffic-is-dark-traffic-and-thats-ok/
Best,
Paul
Miroslav Pecka says
Paul, great work! I created similar audit tool, but I it contains half of checks you have.
When trying your tool I encountered a problem with “12. Email Referrals”:
The regex you use “mail.*.(.+)..{2,4}|mail-|inbox.|kpnmail|outlook” works in GA interface https://screenpresso.com/=RkdGc ,
but in Supermetrics it looks like that curly brackets regex quantifier does not work (so only “outlook.live.com / referral 1” matched).
So I changed the regex to “mail\.|mail-|inbox.|kpnmail|outlook” and it works.
Paul Koks says
I appreciate your comment Miroslav. And you’re right about that, didn’t notice it during my tests.
The Audit Tool is updated with the new RegEx and I will inform Supermetrics about it. Thanks again, Paul
Kevin says
Paul,
Followed your directions twice and everything seemed to run fine with new tabs created (Scorecard Explanation (old) and scorecard but no data showing up any thoughts?
Kevin
Paul Koks says
Hi Kevin,
Not sure what’s happening there. Could you make these checks:
– Are you 100% sure you have selected the right profile/view (it contains data in the last 30 days)?
– Unhide (if it is hidden) the SupermetricsQueries sheet:
What text is shown in column I (under last status) per query?
What text is shown in column W (under Accounts/views)? Is it filled with the right account information?
What text is shown in column AU (under Refresh with user/account)? Does it contain the right user / email address information?
Dan Smullen says
Hey Paul, absolutely fantastic tool! Incredible. Really appreciate this. I had the same issue as Kevin (https://online-metrics.com/google-analytics-audit-tool/#comment-27813).
This happened to me, as I did not follow the instructions 100%.
Instead of opening up a new sheet, I made a copy of your template & then followed your steps. This is how I ran into Pauls issues above.
So when I followed your instructions i.e. opening up a “new” blank spreadsheet, this error disappeared.
Awesome tool, again, incredible work & thank you so much.
Dan.
Paul Koks says
Hi Dan,
You’re welcome!
Great to hear this tool is useful for you! Yeah, you need to “insert” the link/spreadsheet to get it to work.
Cheers,
Paul
Fredrik says
Hi and thanks for a great template, unfortunately, it’s not working anymore. The preloader says Loading template… but nothing happens, event after 15 minutes. I can load other templates but not this one.
Thanks in advance,
/Fredrik
Paul Koks says
Hi Fredrik, do you still encounter this issue? This is a temporary issue I hear very rarely which should be solved automatically. Unfortunately, I can’t provide direct help here. Best, Paul
Joey says
Quick question re: Branded vs. Generic Paid search.
The help docs refer to going to Admin > the relevant view > Channel Settings > Manage Brand Terms in analytics. I may be blind, but I’m not seeing that option.
Did they move/eliminate that with the last UI update? Laugh at me if I’m just missing things.
:)
Paul Koks says
Hey Joey,
Good you are asking! It’s still there – located in the admin section. However, it depends on your access rights, whether you see it or not. :-)
For example, if you have Read & Analyze access to the Google Demo Store, you won’t see Channel Settings appearing.
Best,
Paul
JP says
Hey Paul,
I am copying and pasting the link into the template area within Supermetrics but it isn’t loading, it just goes blank. Any ideas?
Paul Koks says
Hi JP, most probably this is a temporary glitch (with G-Sheets) which I can’t control. Could you try it again?
Kaila Hemler says
I am having the same issue today. Could you please send me an email confirming the proper template link?
Paul Koks says
Hi Kaila,
Sorry to hear about, I will send you an email soon.
Best,
Paul
Paul van Leeuwen says
Hello Paul,
I’m having the same issues with the google sheets link.
Could you please provide me with the proper link.
Kind regards,
Paul
Paul Koks says
Hi Paul,
Sorry to hear about the issue, I will send through the link by email.
Philipp says
Hey PAul, nice work!
I used it in the past and it was working fine.
But now its not loading in Supermetrics (same issue).
Tried a new download through online-metrics, but still not working…
Can you send me an new Link ?
Best Philipp
Paul Koks says
Hi Philipp,
The link works on my end. Probably it is a temporary glitch (with G-Sheets connection) out of my control. PLease try again later.
Best,
Paul
Alexandre says
Hello Paul, Thanks for this tool. It is really great. I used it a lot.
I tried it today with a different address but it doesn’t work with the address I want. When copy pasting the link, no error message appears but just “try again”. It works with my other address but that one has no access to the GA account I want to audit… Thank you
Paul Koks says
Hi Alexandre,
Not sure why this is happening as the error message probably relates to the Supermetrics integration and not to the sheet itself.
Do you have “collaborate” access (at a minimum) with the other address and have you tried it again? (“Read and Analyze” access is not sufficient)
KP says
Hi Paul,
I know this is an old one, but I think I’ve an hunch on why this issue might be happening. Supermetrics has 7 days of free access, post which we would not be able to run any query. I’ve tested this theory with my current existing gmail ID with expired Supermetrics access and a new gmail ID. Result – There was no problem with the new gmail ID but with the expired Supermetrics ID had a similar problem as Alexandre.
To ensure the tool is accessible by all, a Google Spreadsheet extension can be created.
Hope this helps :)
Paul Koks says
Thanks for your feedback!
Jonti says
Hi Paul, Getting a new error on the “Custom Metric” check. The analysis will run, but when I view the SuperMetrics Query Results, there is a failed message”Error: 400 Unknown metric(s): ga:metric1″ I tried this on more than one account, and received the same error.
I hate asking for help with a free tool, but suspect you also want it working correctly as a lead gen tool. Any insight and is the error repeatable for you or anyone else?
Paul Koks says
Hi Jonti,
No problem, this is because there is no data for ga:metric1 in the accounts where this message appears.
You will find this message to disappear when the first custom metric is actually collecting data.
It means you need to set up Custom Metrics. ;-)
Best,
Paul
Chris says
Any further info re: the spreadsheet extension that helps with the ‘try again’ error?
Thanks
Paul Koks says
No updates here Chris, not something I came across / can replicate.
Erik says
Very nice tool. I went to use it again today and there seems to be issues with loading the template. I wonder if the URL changed or the security settings are different.
Paul Koks says
Hi Erik,
Please try again as most probably it is a temporary glitch which is out of my control.
Best,
Paul
Alicia says
I never receive the email to access the tool :(
Paul Koks says
Hi Alicia,
The system indicates you didn’t confirm your email address; please check your email as I set it up manually.
Thanks,
Paul
Kseniya says
Hi Paul, It s a great tool!
Will there be any improvements to apply on GA 4 or an audit is not needed in this case?
Paul Koks says
Hi Kseniya,
This tool is focused on Universal Analytics. For GA4, there will be a different API and approach in auditing the data – something I will work on at a later stage.
Auditing GA data will always be important.
Best,
Pau
Dennis says
I could not get the form to be submitted in chrome, but worked in firefox.
In regards to your comment about Universal Analytics vs. GA4, how does it differ. I thought it was the same but just different APIs?
Thank you for some good articles
Paul Koks says
Hi Dennis,
What I mean is that the data model and everything in GA4 is different from Universal Analytics, so this asks for a different audit approach (imo).
Different APIs, but also different ways in auditing the data. But again, this is something I haven’t explored in detail yet.
Best,
Paul
Tien Le says
Hi Paul,
If I use Google Analytics for website only should I stick with UA or move forward to GA4. What is the main advantage of GA4?
Thanks,
Paul Koks says
Hi Tien,
I recommend running GA4 in parallel (for now) and you should prepare to fully move to UA in the next year or so.
GA4 is THE future of Google Analytics and it offers a lot more flexibility in terms of data collection and analysis. However, you really need to dive into the product to get to understand it better and how you can benefit from it. I haven’t written a lot on it already, but plan to work on this in 2021.
Best,
Paul
Sherly says
Hi Paul I am having troubles downloading the GA audit too. It appears the link to download is broken. Are you able to look into this
Paul Koks says
Hi Sherly,
Sorry to hear about your troubles.
Let me look into it, will send you a separate message as well.
Best,
Paul
Dunnose says
Hi Paul,
Just to let you know that I received your free copy. Thanks a lot
Have a lovely day
Paul Koks says
Thanks for the heads up! Hope the tool is useful for you.
Nick says
Hi Paul,
this is a great tool to check the health check of GA. Do you have the updated version of this tool for GA4? It would be very helpful for the GA4 migration.
Thank you!
Paul Koks says
Hi Nick,
Thanks for the heads up. It’s on my roadmap to start working on in Q3, no estimated date of completion yet.
Best,
Paul