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Blogging Guide > Specials > Site Statistics > A beginner's guide to Google Analytics, part 3 - Comparing statistics
Welcome back to my Google Analytics guide. If you haven't already read parts 1 and 2, I'd strongly recommend that you go back and look at them before reading part 3. I've included links above.
Before writing part 3, I had to wait for my statistics to update so I had a complete set of figures for March 2008. Looking at Google Analytics today, I see that the stats are up to April 1st, which should mean that March is now complete. This time, we'll be looking at how to compare different statistics. I've decided to focus on just the one topic this time so we can cover it in a bit more detail.
The first thing you need to do is check whether the dates are already as you want them. We're going to look at the stats for March and compare them to February. The date range needs to start on March 1st and end on March 31st. If this isn't what you see, click on the 1st of March - this will highlight just that date. Now click on the 31st. You'll see that the entire month is highlighted and the date range is updated to reflect this. Here's a screenshot to show you what I mean.
Next, we need to select the second set of dates so we can get a comparison. Just above the Apply button, you'll see "Comparison" with a link "Site" just beneath it.
Click on the double arrow just beside "Site". Now select "Date Range".
The calendar should now have a second date range, highlighted in green instead of blue. February is a shorter month than March, so the date range runs from January 30th to February 29th. This isn't exactly what we want, so click on the 1st of February - as before, you'll see that just the 1st is selected. Now select February 29th. Your calendar should now look like this:
Just before we continue, note the message beneath the Apply button: "Date ranges are different lengths". This is one problem with comparing months, because not all months have the same number of days. Also, it might not be a great comparison because the 1st of each month may fall on a different day - so you might compare Monday the 1st with Sunday the 1st. That's not particularly useful.
You may find it easier to look at a four week period, i.e. Monday to Sunday, as that way you can compare the same days in each period. For now though, let's stick to comparing February and March. Click the Apply button and watch what happens.
How good is that?!
Just above the graph you'll see a legend - this tells you which line is which. So, the green line is February and the blue line is March. As you can see, the green line ends two days early because February has fewer days than March.
Look beneath the graph and you've got some percentages - a green percentage indicates something you've improved. For instance, my visits are up 13.39% since February - but there are two more days in the March date range. Let's see what happens if we try a couple of four week date ranges.
Go back to the calendar and choose the following date ranges - if you can't remember how, just go back a bit in this post:
First date range: March 3rd, 2008 to March 30th, 2008
Second date range: February 4th, 2008 to March 2nd, 2008
Because the date ranges are both for four week periods, you'll notice that selecting the first date range automatically selects the second. Here's the resulting graph for my site:
That's better. Now we're comparing two date ranges of the same length.
I don't know about you, but I'm someone who thinks week to week and month to month. I now write five blog entries through the week, and one at the weekend. I organise my past, present and future blog entries in a spreadsheet split by month. This just seems logical to me.
But when you are comparing statistics, you have to think about what you're comparing. Otherwise, it's like comparing two weeks worth of comments when you wrote 3 posts one week and 7 posts the next. It's not a fair comparison. Level the playing field, and the comparison makes sense.
Are you seeing how much Google Analytics can do?
A beginner's guide to Google Analytics, part 3 - Comparing statistics
< A beginner's guide to Google Analytics, part 2 | Site Statistics | A beginner's guide to Google Analytics, part 4 - Traffic sources and Content >
This post is part of a series. You can find part 1 here and part 2 here.Welcome back to my Google Analytics guide. If you haven't already read parts 1 and 2, I'd strongly recommend that you go back and look at them before reading part 3. I've included links above.
Before writing part 3, I had to wait for my statistics to update so I had a complete set of figures for March 2008. Looking at Google Analytics today, I see that the stats are up to April 1st, which should mean that March is now complete. This time, we'll be looking at how to compare different statistics. I've decided to focus on just the one topic this time so we can cover it in a bit more detail.
Comparing statistics
This is an extremely handy feature, but it's a little more tricky to use as you have to do things in a very specific order. First, go to the Dashboard and find the date range in the top right corner. Click on the arrow to expand the date range.The first thing you need to do is check whether the dates are already as you want them. We're going to look at the stats for March and compare them to February. The date range needs to start on March 1st and end on March 31st. If this isn't what you see, click on the 1st of March - this will highlight just that date. Now click on the 31st. You'll see that the entire month is highlighted and the date range is updated to reflect this. Here's a screenshot to show you what I mean.
Next, we need to select the second set of dates so we can get a comparison. Just above the Apply button, you'll see "Comparison" with a link "Site" just beneath it.
Click on the double arrow just beside "Site". Now select "Date Range".
The calendar should now have a second date range, highlighted in green instead of blue. February is a shorter month than March, so the date range runs from January 30th to February 29th. This isn't exactly what we want, so click on the 1st of February - as before, you'll see that just the 1st is selected. Now select February 29th. Your calendar should now look like this:
Just before we continue, note the message beneath the Apply button: "Date ranges are different lengths". This is one problem with comparing months, because not all months have the same number of days. Also, it might not be a great comparison because the 1st of each month may fall on a different day - so you might compare Monday the 1st with Sunday the 1st. That's not particularly useful.
You may find it easier to look at a four week period, i.e. Monday to Sunday, as that way you can compare the same days in each period. For now though, let's stick to comparing February and March. Click the Apply button and watch what happens.
How good is that?!
Just above the graph you'll see a legend - this tells you which line is which. So, the green line is February and the blue line is March. As you can see, the green line ends two days early because February has fewer days than March.
Look beneath the graph and you've got some percentages - a green percentage indicates something you've improved. For instance, my visits are up 13.39% since February - but there are two more days in the March date range. Let's see what happens if we try a couple of four week date ranges.
Go back to the calendar and choose the following date ranges - if you can't remember how, just go back a bit in this post:
First date range: March 3rd, 2008 to March 30th, 2008
Second date range: February 4th, 2008 to March 2nd, 2008
Because the date ranges are both for four week periods, you'll notice that selecting the first date range automatically selects the second. Here's the resulting graph for my site:
That's better. Now we're comparing two date ranges of the same length.
I don't know about you, but I'm someone who thinks week to week and month to month. I now write five blog entries through the week, and one at the weekend. I organise my past, present and future blog entries in a spreadsheet split by month. This just seems logical to me.
But when you are comparing statistics, you have to think about what you're comparing. Otherwise, it's like comparing two weeks worth of comments when you wrote 3 posts one week and 7 posts the next. It's not a fair comparison. Level the playing field, and the comparison makes sense.
What do you think?
Do you now understand how to use date ranges?Are you seeing how much Google Analytics can do?
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Comments on A beginner's guide to Google Analytics, part 3 - Comparing statistics
Woohoo, Thanks for this! I won't ask about part 4 ;)
Vincent - glad to help!
Dennis - there will be a part 4, probably a part 5 too... all in good time. :)
Thanks for the comments. :)
Hey, I didn't even know I could compare week by week stats. Thanks! I usually just give the analytics stats a glance over. I should probably go play around the features a bit...