Increasing Your Analytics Productivity With UI Improvements

We’re always working on making Analytics easier for you to use. Since launching the latest version of Google Analytics (v5), we’ve been collecting qualitative and quantitative feedback from our users in order to improve the experience. Below is a summary of the latest updates. Some you may already be using, but all will be available shortly if you’re not seeing them yet. 

Make your dashboards better with new widgets and layout options

Use maps, devices and bar chart widgets in order to create a perfectly tailored dashboard for your audience. Get creative with these and produce, share and export custom dashboards that look exactly how you want with the metrics that matter to you. We have also introduced improvements to customize the layout of your dashboards to better suit individual needs. In addition dashboards now support advanced segments!

Get to your most frequently used reports quicker

You’ll notice we’ve made the sidebar of Google Analytics even more user-friendly, including quick access to your all-important shortcuts:

If you’re not already creating Shortcuts, read more about them and get started today. We have also enabled shortcuts for real-time reports, which allows you to set up a specific region to see its traffic in real-time, for example.

Navigate to recently used reports and profiles quicker with Recent History

Ever browse around Analytics and want to go back to a previous report? Instead of digging for the report, we’ve made it even simpler when you use Recent History.

Improving search functionality

Better Search allows you to search across all reports, shortcuts and dashboards all at once to find what you need.

Keyboard shortcuts

In case you've never seen them, Google Analytics does have some keyboard shortcuts. Be sure you’re using them to move around faster. Here are a few useful ones:

Search: s , / (Access to the quick search list)

Account List: Shift + a (access to the quick account list)

Set date range: d + t (set the date range to today)

On screen guide: Shift + ? (view the complete list of shortcuts)

Easier YoY Date Comparison

The new quick selection option lets you select previous year to prefill date range improving your productivity to conduct year over year analysis.

Export to Excel & Google Docs 

Exporting keeps getting better, and now includes native Excel XSLX support and Google Docs:

We hope you find these improvements useful and always feel free to let us know how we can make Analytics even more usable for you to get the information you need to take action faster.

Guidelines for Breadcrumb Usability And SEO

 What is Breadcrumb?

Breadcrumbs or breadcrumb trail is a navigation aid used in user interfaces. It allows users to keep track of their locations within programs or documents. The term comes from the trail of breadcrumbs left by Hansel and Gretel in the popular fairytale.

Importance of Breadcrumbs For Usability

There are various pro-breadcrumb arguments by Nielsen and other usability experts such as the fact that breadcrumbs:

• Help users visualize their current location in relation to the rest of the web site.
• Enable one-click access to higher site levels and thus help users who enter a site through search or deep links
• Take up very little space on the page.
• Reduce the bounce rate. In fact, breadcrumbs can be an excellent way to entice first-time visitors to continue browsing through a web site after having viewed the landing page.
• Enable users to reach pages and complete tasks faster

Guidelines for Breadcrumb Usability And SEO

Whilst there exist several UI techniques that are used to render breadcrumbs, there are generally-agreed upon usability and SEO guidelines for breadcrumbs. Breadcrumbs should:

• Never replace primary navigation. They have been devised as a secondary navigation aid and should always be used as such.
• Not be used if all the pages are on the same level. Breadcrumbs are intended to show hierarchy.
• Show hierarchy and not history. To go back, users use the browser’s back button. Replicating this facility defies the purpose of having breadcrumbs.
• Be located in the top half of your web page. It can be placed above everything on the top of the page, just below the main navigation bar or just above the headline of the current page.
• Not be too large. The breadcrumb trail is a secondary navigation aid and hence its size and prominence should be less than that of the primary navigation.
• Progress from the highest level to the lowest, one step at a time.
• Start with the homepage and end with the current page.
• Have a simple link for each level (except for the current page). If the trail includes non clickable elements such as page titles then include them but clearly differentiate which parts are clickable.
• Have a simple, one-character separator between each level (usually “>”).
• Not be cluttered with unnecessary text such as “You are here” or “Navigation”.
• Include the full navigational path from the homepage to the current page. Not displaying certain levels will confuse users.
• Include the full page title in the breadcrumb trail. Also ensure consistency between the page address and the breadcrumb. If the page titles include keywords, then this will make your breadcrumbs both human and search engine friendly.

Document Search Engines to Search for SEO Documentation

A while ago I listed a few ways to find PDF tutorials, and later also shared my collection of SEO cheat sheets which showed that SEJ readers were definitely interested in SEO documentation. So today I am adding a few document search engines to add to your arsenal.

Brupt is a Google custom search engine that searches for .doc, .pdf, Excel and Power Point documents (.doc files by default). The search results interface looks like Google’s. You can choose a different file extension to search right from SERPs.

Voelspriet offers to search for .doc, .pdf, Excel and Power Point, RTF, txt, WRI, PS, BAT files. Results will open in anew tab as Google advanced filetype: search:

DocJax is a more fun tool. It has search while-you-type suggestions and is powered by Google and Yahoo. It also allows to search all four (.doc, .pdf, Excel and Power Point) file types simultaneously or separately and gives a preview link. The site also has a community and if you are willing to, you can join and save your favorite documents in your account area.