Skip to main content

Google Analytics glitch in an ad-filled internet

Ad blockers are a constant of the internet, but what does that mean for us? After comparing two different sources for one KPI, I noticed a significant difference. This piece covers the observations made about the Google Analytics glitch.

A strange disparity

Whilst collecting our monthly KPIs I came across an interesting error.

One of our KPIs, demo requests, which we track in two ways – with Google Analytics events and through a custom Zapier integration that inserts the prospects’ details into a Google Sheet and our internal Attio account.

After comparing the two datasets, I noticed a significant difference in the month’s numbers. The number of requested demos on our Google Sheet was 22% higher than the number of recorded demo requests on Google Analytics.

Unfortunately, it’s not possible to tell which demo requests weren’t recorded due to the Google Analytics glitch but we can say for certain that a significant proportion of this month’s demo requesters were somehow subverting Google Analytics.

The Culprit

What can disrupt a websites’ tracking, is used by a considerable number of people, and is applied to websites indiscriminately?

Ad blockers.

Like almost the entire population of the internet, I hate ads. Especially the in-your-face, unskippable, make-me-hate-your-website ads. So I use an ad blocker. I’ll happily disable ads on websites that serve unobtrusive and relevant ads but as a general rule of thumb, I’ll be loading a site with ads blocked. My behavior pattern is certainly common. And consequential. Since the most common permissions for ad blockers is to opt-out, rather than in, then visitors to your website will be automatically blocking ads.

It’s not until delving into this problem that I realized that it’s not just ads that your average ad blocker is blocking. Almost anything that can track or identify you is being blocked. Google Analytics included.

Our customers vs the general public

I found a variety of studies that put the percentage of internet users using an ad blocker at 20-27%. Since it’s reasonable to assume that if you use an ad blocker you’re more technologically-savvy than the average internet user, and as a power-user centric, Web 3.0, SaaS application, you’d expect our prospects to exhibit a higher percentage of ad blocker usage.

However, the similarity in our 22% dataset disparity and ~24% of global internet users blocking ads suggests that the potential customers landing on our website are no more likely to be using an ad blocker than a random selection of internet users.

It would be an interesting extension to see if the ad blocker usage changed when browsing in a professional setting.

A cause for concern

From a data analysis standpoint, it might seem like the issue of ad blockers and blocked analytics tracking would be a problem, a misrepresentation of actual events is never good surely?

In actual fact, it’s not an issue at all.

Whilst it’s true that the demo request events aren’t tracked, neither are the page view, demo form open, or demo form close events. Holistically, our dataset in Google Analytics is exactly the same, on a relative basis, as if the blocked events were also tracked.

Now you could look into differences in user actions based on their usage of an ad blocker but the likelihood of finding any meaningful correlation is close to nil. If someone installs an ad blocker, are they more likely to request a demo for a SaaS product? Potentially, but I doubt it.

The only downside to ~24% of your visitors using ad blocking software is that it reduces the absolute value of our KPIs. When comparing year-on-year growth or conversion rates this doesn’t matter, but when presenting absolute values to potential investors it would certainly be nicer to have them 22% higher.

Alex Vale leads the growth efforts at Attio, the next generation of intelligent relationship workspace.

The post Google Analytics glitch in an ad-filled internet appeared first on Search Engine Watch.



from Search Engine Watch https://ift.tt/2SsgPGN
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Five great tools to improve PPC ads

Every digital marketer wants to reach the top position on the search engine results. However, if you’ve recently launched a new website or your niche is saturated, starting with paid search ads sounds like a good idea. Strategically created PPC campaigns can drive leads, sales or sign-ups to your websites. You know what? In fact, businesses earn an  average of $8 for every dollar  they spend on Google Ads. Optimizing PPC campaigns is not easy, but it’s very powerful if you do it properly. Just like SEO, it is essential to conduct extensive keyword research, optimize ad copy, and design high-converting landing pages. Fortunately, there are a lot of effective PPC tools that will help you analyze your competitors’ PPC strategies, figure out tricks in their campaigns, and improve your PPC campaigns. If you are ready to take an evolutionary leap in your PPC advertising, take a look at my list of five amazing tools to save you time, give you crucial insights, and raise money fo...
1 comment
Read more

Creating SEO-friendly how-to content

People are constantly craving useful information. Once you show them that you have a lot more to share through something like “how-to” content pages, you will be rewarded by sharing it with others and establish your company’s credibility. Creating SEO-friendly how-to content is a good way to catch your audience’s attention, fuel SEO, foster deeper levels of engagement, and take on the  customer journey  from brand awareness to sales. To understand how important how-to content is to your overall content creation game, let’s take a look at some interesting stats: According to  Think With Google , “how-to” videos get the most attention of any content type on YouTube, even more than video games and music clips. Google has reported that “how-to” searches have increased  by more than 140%  over the last 13 years.  The graphs from  LawRank   reveal more and more how-to searches on Google and YouTube. So, how-to blog posts and articles become some...
Post a Comment
Read more

Faceted navigation in ecommerce: How it helps customers and SEO

The ecommerce market is highly competitive, with thousands of small players striving to keep up with the giants like Amazon and eBay. Still, for both leaders and followers, the web store UX stays the factor that defines who wins customers’ hearts (and purses) and who is to leave the stage. UX stays a top priority in ecommerce as the majority of shoppers prefer convenience to a nifty look. According to Shopify, 80 percent of users admit that a poor search experience can make them leave a web store. So, a thought-out catalog navigation system is one of the crucial factors of a web store’s success. Why faceted navigation? Faceted search is probably the most convenient search system to date. It relies on sets of terms structured by relation (aka facets). Users mix and match options (price, color, fabric, brand, and more) to progressively narrow down the search results list until they get a short selection of relevant picks.  Apart from being convenient, the faceted search system...
Post a Comment
Read more