Google Analytics 404 Error Page
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Analytics Social Local Mobile Video Content Development Reports Fixing 404 Error Pages with Google Analytics Analytics 11 Feb 16 | Peter O'Neill Facebook0Linkedin311Google+201Twitter512 There have been multiple blog posts written over the years on how to use Google Analytics to identify and how to find 404 errors fix 404 Error Pages. I have even written one myself and it's a common slide how to find broken links with google analytics in many of my talks. But with the newest features that are available within Google Analytics, these blog posts are due an update. Custom google analytics view exceptions Variables vs Events The first question is whether to capture details of the 404 Error Page within page level customisations or as an event. My approach is to capture more information about the page using page level google 404 error page customisation. Since viewing a 404 Error Page is not an event, it should not be treated as one. Google Analytics tracking Step one in the GA tracking for Error Pages is to rename the page name to /error-page/404-error. This means all views of this page are grouped together, making them easier to identify and analysis becomes significantly easier. There are two key pieces of information to capture on each 404 Error Page. The first is
Google 404 Error That's All We Know
the URL of the page and the second is the referrer to the page. Both are available as default Variables within GTM (Google Tag Manager) and so no developer support is required to capture them. The L3 Analytics approach is to capture the Page URL as a Content Grouping and the Referrer as either a Content Grouping or a Hit scoped Custom Dimension. Previously I would have stopped at that tracking, but an Error Page view should now also be captured as a Custom Metric. It will provide an easy way to see the total number of Error Page views for the website or broken down by any session/user dimension. Share this article Facebook0Linkedin311Google+201Twitter512 Related articles The three Vs of contact data: verify and validate for value Top 10 essentials for SEO reporting Six ways you can watch your competitors watching you Five ways analysts can take their skills to the next level Google Analytics configuration Previously, we always recommended creating a Goal for View Error Page. It is useful to know if visitors are seeing 404 Error Pages and if this metric ever exceeds a certain value (e.g. 2%) for this to trigger an immediate action. This should be set up as a Custom Alert within Google Analytics to notify you when visitors are experiencing an excessive number of 404 Error Pages.
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Google 404 Error Game
Portfolio Digital Marketing Guides Blog About Our Name Our Philosophy & Process Our Team google broken link checker Careers Contact Google Analytics Tutorial: How to Find 404 Errors on Your Website Forthea Interactive Marketing > Analytics > Google Analytics google analytics error Tutorial: How to Find 404 Errors on Your Website Google Analytics Tutorial: How to Find 404 Errors on Your Website Posted by Ryan Chauvin on May 28, 2014 in Analytics 6 Comments Share this article: https://searchenginewatch.com/2016/02/11/fixing-404-error-pages-with-google-analytics/ 5 Every webmaster knows that 404 errors are simply a part of life on the web, and while they're easy to ignore, there's real value in learning how to find 404 errors on your website. Together, these isolated problem spots can paint a larger picture and help you identify areas in which you can improve your website. How to Find 404 Errors on Your Website with Google Analytics If you're looking http://www.forthea.com/google-analytics-tutorial-how-to-find-404-errors-on-your-website/ for a solution to this ubiquitous problem, you've come to the right place. We've devised an eloquent way to take the first step in identifying the 404 errors on your site. This incredibly handy error report works on any Googel Analytics (GA) account and can save you the hassle of digging to find active 404 errors. Before we start, make you're logged into the GA account in question and click here: https://www.google.com/analytics/web/template?uid=Vwha4sfrRxS2Qg7f6Mokqg Select the profile view you'd wish to run the report with (we'll wait). Now initially, the report will show no data, but don't panic. We're not done yet. Find the edit tab at the top left of the report: This will bring you to the edit custom report screen. You'll need to scroll to the bottom and find the Filters section. To make this report work for you, you'll first need to go to your website and navigate to a page that doesn't exist. We’re fond of http://www.yourwebsite.com/whatever, but feel free to run wild with creativity here. Once you've found a 404 screen, just identify the page title (highlighted below). At Forthea, we've kept things simple and gone with the classic "404 Error" title. We like to think we made up for it with the ever-adorable basket fu
Google Analytics Trainings Google AdWords Trainings Google Tag Manager Workshop Reviews From Attendees Convince Your Boss Meet Our Trainers Training FAQs Training Email Reminders About About About Us Clients Case Studies Careers LunaLabs Testimonials Contact Blog GTM Book 1.877.220.LUNA Access http://www.lunametrics.com/blog/2014/08/19/404-errors-google-analytics-google-tag-manager/ 404 Error Metrics Using Google Tag Manager By Samantha Barnes / August 19, 2014 http://www.labnol.org/internet/track-404-error-pages/13509/ Analytics Google Analytics Google Tag Manager Share on Facebook Share 54 Share on TwitterTweet 158 Share on Google Plus Share 21 Share on LinkedIn Share 53 As analysts and marketers, we always want to track positive performance metrics and conversions in Google Analytics. However, tracking errors is also important to monitor the health of your site and 404 error keep track of signals indicating a negative user experience. Accessing this data gives us a better idea of what's causing users to get lost and wander into the dark, unattached voids of your domain. Knowing where these problem spots are makes it easier to fix internal links or set redirects. I'll show you different ways to view where people are hitting these error pages and where they are coming from, either through your google 404 error existing setup or by using Google Tag Manager to fire events or virtual pageviews. 404 - User Not Impressed As a web user, there’s a good chance that you've been acquainted with the ominous "404 Page Not Found" error. They come in many flavors, sometimes with illustrations, sometimes with a site search to help find what you were looking for and sometimes it is just a white page with unfeeling black, bold letters. Some causes of 404 errors come from A manually mis-typed URL path Third-party sites linking to nonexistent or removed pages Old links from social media platforms (scroll down your Facebook page to 2006, some links you shared might not be valid anymore!) Errors with internal links No matter how cute or whimsical the page is, a ‘page not found' error disrupts the user experience. These 404 pages are not actual pages on a site - they are a result of a status code response on the server side and can be thought of as an alert rather than a fixed page. So how can you know if visitors to your site are experiencing these errors? Easy, Existing Options In Google Analytics, you may already see the page path that the user attempted to access. If it is an old artic
PagesSite Clinic: An SEO Checklist for your WebsiteTracking Clicks in Emails Using Google AnalyticsSee How Many People are on your Website Right NowAdSense Click Tracking Data in Google Analytics Is Coming Soon If you change the URL of an existing page on your website, or delete it completely, visitors will get a 404 or “File Not Found” error when they try to access that page. The other reason why you have end up having 404 pages on your site is not in your control. Say your page URL is abc.com/xyz and another site links to that page but with a wrong URL, visitors will get a 404 when they click that link.
It is important that you fix your 404 errors are they offer a bad visitor experience and your site may also lose Google juice. Google gives you points for every incoming link but the benefit is lost if that link is pointing to a non-existent 404 page. Track the Missing 404 Pages on your Site If you are using Google Analytics, which you most likely are, you can use the same service to easily keep a track of all the 404 missing pages on your website. Let me show you how: You take your standard Analytics tracking code, the one that is already on your web pages, and add a few extra lines inside the script tag that will enable tracking for 404s. The modified code will generate a virtual pageview in your Analytics reports (see the above screenshot) that will not only provide you with the URL of the missing page on your website but also the URL of the referring site. script (function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){ (i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o), m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m) })(window,document,'script','//www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js','ga'); /* Standard Analytics Code */ ga('create', 'UA-XXXXX-YY', 'domain.com'); ga('send', 'pageview'); /* Track 404 Errors */ var url = "/404/?url=" + window.location.pathname + window.location.search + "&from=" + document.referrer; ga('send', 'pageview', url); Please note that this code should only be added to your 404 template and not every page. To get a report of all the 404 pages on your site, go to your Google Analytics dashboard and choose Behaviour -> Site Content -> All Pages. Here select any date range and put /404 in the search box and you'll know what's missing from your site. A