Digital Analytics Glossary
In our glossary on digital analytics we summarize the most important terms and keywords in the field of web analytics. It serves as a reference work and provides a common understanding.Digital Analytics collects data on user behavior and creates reports. The aim is to provide recommendations on how to optimize a website, a digital product or conversion (ROI). Digital analytics can be used to generate great added value for a company.
A as in A-/B-Test
A-/B-Test / Multivariate-Test
With A-/B- or multi-variant tests, thanks to web analysis, you can quickly and objectively decide which variant is the most successful within the shortest possible time. Whole web pages, advertising banners, pictures, texts, headlines, links, forms, navigation elements, newsletters etc. can be tested. There are two different types of tests:
The A-/B-Test compares two different versions.
In the multivariate test, many different variants are created and displayed randomly. Within a short period of time, the user activity indicates which variant is most successful.
B as in Behaviour Flow, Benchmarking and Bounce Rate
Behaviour Flow
The behaviour flow shows how a particular user navigates through the page. The entry page and exit page are displayed.
Benchmarking
A benchmark compares the company key figures between different companies operating in the same industry (e. g. IT, insurance, banks). This involves examining who performs how well and in which areas.
Bounce Rate
The bounce rate is the percentage of website visitors with only one page view. The user has not performed any interaction on the website. During these visits, the entry page is also the exit page.
C as in Campaign, Clickstream and Conversion
Campaign
A Campaign is a time-limited action to increase certain results. The success of the campaign can be measured. Examples:
Sending of newsletter with link to a landing page.
Activation of paid keywords in search engines.
Banner advertising or affiliate campaigns.
Clickstream
The clickstream shows the click sequence within a visit to a website.
Cohort Analysis
The cohort analysis examines the behavior of users over a certain period of time.
Cookie
Cookies are pieces of information that a web server can store on a browser. The stored data can then be read out again. The cookie is used to recognize visitors. Settings that have already been saved are played back the next time you visit the site, e. g. the language.
Conversion
A conversion is defined as soon as the user has reached a certain defined goal (e. g. newsletter registration, contacting, etc.).
D as in Dashboard, Digital Analytics and Direct Traffic
Dashboard, Cockpit
The success-relevant key figures are visualized on a dashboard (also known as cockpit). For example, the number of visits, the number of completed transactions (conversions), etc.
Digital Analytics
Digital Analytics is derived from the term "web analytics". Digital Analytics encompasses the measurement and analysis of all digital channels (website, social media, mobile apps and mobile sites, etc.). The goal of Digital Analytics is the continuous improvement of business activity based on valid data. Read more about our comprehensive offering in Digital Analytics here.
Dimensions
Dimensions are attributes of the user data. In Google Analytics, for example, there is the dimension "city", which lists the different cities of the users as data, e. g. Paris, New York, etc., as data.
Direct Traffic
Direct traffic is defined as traffic to the website without a referrer. This applies, for example, in the following cases:
The visitor typed the URL directly into the browser.
The visitor has used a bookmark or defined the page as the start page.
The visitor clicked on an e-mail, instant messaging message, SMS or other non-reference link.
The visitor switches from a secure (HTTPS) to an unsecured (HTTP) website.
A firewall, proxy or browser plugin has removed the referrer.
E as in Entry Page, Event and Exit Page
Entry Page
The entry page is the first page a visitor has verifiably seen during a visit.
Event
An event is a defined action that a visitor can perform during a visit, such as loading a page, submitting a form, or viewing a video clip.
Exit Page
The exit page is the last page a visitor has verifiably seen before leaving the site.
F as in Funnel Step and Funnel Visualisation
Funnel Step
The funnel step indicates at which step the user has bounced: for example, during the checkout process in the online shop.
Funnel Visualisation
Funnel visualization is used for Google Analytics targets. A target can thus be divided into different steps. A frequently used example is the checkout process. In this way, it is possible to analyse at which step most users jump off.
G as in Goals, Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager
GDPR
The EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) describes rules for the collection and processing of personal data. The enforcement date is the 25 May 2018.
Goals
Goals can be defined in Google Analytics. These should help the end customer to make the value of his business goals measurable. A goal can be a newsletter registration, for example.
Google Analytics
Google Analytics is a web analytics service provided by Google. In the basic version the service is free of charge. Read more about our Google Analytics offering.
Google Tag Manager
The Google Tag Manager is a tag management system from Google. The basic version is free of charge and anyone can use it. Read more about our offer for Google Tag Manager.
H as in Heatmap
Heatmap
The Heatmap visualizes user activity on a website using colors. It is a browser overlay, i. e. the functionality lies «over» the actual website. It shows frequently clicked places on a page in warm colors. The less often a position is clicked, the «cooler» it appears.
I as in Impression
Impression
The impression shows how often a page, a teaser or a banner was displayed.
J as in JavaScript
JavaScript
JavaScript is a programming language that can be interpreted by web browsers. Among other things, JavaScript can be used to control and modify user interactions.
K as in KPI
Key Performance Indicator (KPI)
The key performance indicators are the metrics for business objectives. A KPI shows how well an goal is fulfilled and serves as a decision-making guide for further measures.
KPI examples:
online shop conversion
number of generated leads
number of online applications submitted
number of advertisements etc.
L as in Landing Page and Log File
Landing Page
A landing page is a specific page on which a visitor lands. Landing pages are often set up for campaigns or paid search terms. They are designed to meet the expectations of the visitor. They can be used to improve the success of a campaign. (See also «Entry page»).
Log File
Each web server records the measured user activity in log files. These were the only data source for the first web analysis tools. They evaluated these log files and prepared them in reports. Today's tools rely almost exclusively on JavaScript tracking.
M as in Metrics and Multi-Channel Funnel
Metrics
Metrics are quantitative data. For example, you specify how many people in the dimension City (for example, in Paris) have visited a page (for example, 5000).
Multi-Channel Funnel
The multi-channel funnel is used to compare different marketing channels with each other. It shows the order in which the user came in touch with the marketing channels before the conversion took place.
O as in Organic Search
Organic Search
The organic search is the unpaid search in search engines like Google. In digital analytics, this usually refers to a marketing channel. The user can access the website via a link in the area of organic search results.
P as in Page, Page View and Proxy
Page
The term page is used to designate any page on the website (see also "page view" below).
Page Impression, Page View (PI, PV)
Each page viewed counts as one page view. Repeated visits to the same page are counted.
Proxy
A proxy is an intermediary who receives requests and then connects to another site via its own address.
R as in Referrer and Realtime Tracking
Referrer
A referrer contains the source from which a visitor reaches the measured web page, e. g. from a job portal to the job ad on the web page. There are the following types of referrer:
External referrer (page referrer): URL of the referring external page.
Internal referrer: URL of your own website
Search referrer: Referrer of an internal or external search engine
No referrer is given with a direct entry
Realtime Tracking
With real-time tracking, the access data is displayed in real time, i. e. without noticeable delay.
S as in Search Console, Segmentation and Social Media Analytics
Search Console
The Search Console is a Google service for monitoring the site. For example, clicks and critical errors can be analyzed. The Search Console also gives analysts insight into which keywords were searched for most frequently.
Segmentation
In the segmentation, a group of visitors is considered in isolation, for example private customers / business customers or new / returning visitors.
Social Media Analytics
Social Media Analytics is a division of Digital Analytics and deals with the recording of user activities on social media: blogs, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Linkedin, Slideshare etc.
T as in Tag, Tag Management System and Tracking
Tag
The tag is also called the tracking tag or tracking code. The tag is a code snippet that is built into web pages. It measures user activity, usually on third-party servers. This primarily involves tracking codes from analytics tools such as Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics or Webtrends.Tags are also used by marketing service providers such as advertising networks or e-mail platforms to track and measure users.
Tag Management System
A Tag Management System (TMS) is a CMS for tracking codes (tags). For example, a TMS makes it possible to publish and adapt tags without website release or IT resources. A TMS is used for the centralized and cross-platform administration and documentation of tags.Learn more about the topic and our expertise in Tag Management.We work with the products:
Tracking
Tracking means the logging of user activity. These measurement data are the basis for web analysis / digital analysis.
Tracking Code
The tracking code is usually a JavaScript snippet, which is integrated on the website in order to track users. (see also above "Tag")
Traffic
Traffic is usually measured by the number of page views or hits per time period.
U as in URL Parameter
URL Parameter
URL parameters are key value pairs that are attached to a URL. Such parameters provide additional information to a website (e.g. that this URL has been clicked on in a newsletter or belongs to the xy campaign). An example of a URL with parameter: www.unic.com/?WT.mc_id=Glossary
V as in Visit, Unique Visitor and Visit Duration
Visit, Session
A visit or a session involves a visitor's activity on a website over a certain period of time. After an individually defined period of inactivity (default: 30 minutes), a visit is closed (not to be confused with the session timeout on a website). A visitor can pay one or more visits to a website.
Visitor, Unique Visitor
A visitor is like a person who uses a website. A distinction is made between new and returning visitors. Since the majority of visitors are identified by a browser-specific cookie, a single person can represent several visitors due to different devices used. This leads to massive blurring. Therefore, this metric is often not used.
Visit Duration
The visiting time measures the duration of a visit. It is measured from the first page view to the last activity (leaving the website).
W as in Web analytics and Webtrends
Web analytics
Web analytics deals with the analysis of website data. (see also «Digital Analytics»)
Webtrends
Webtrends is a web analysis service that is mainly used in the corporate environment. Webtrends offers several solutions in the field of digital analytics.
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