Basic Views in Google Analytics

Views in Google Analytics

What are Views in Google Analytics?

Think of views from a window. If you stand at one window, you might see and ocean view. At another window, you might see a view of the streets or neighbourhood. At yet another window, you might be looking at a view of mountains or greenery.

You have all these visuals outside your home, but from each window, you get to filter out some and focus on others.

In a similar way, via Views in Google Analytics, you can filter out some data and only look at other aspects of the collected data for a specific Property (normally, a website).

A very simple example might be you only want to see all the performance information that does not include visits from your own self or that of your employees.  So if we can filter out all visits to your site coming from a specific IP address (or range thereof), you will in essence be setting up a View that excludes just those visits.

Best Practice for Views in Google Analytics

Recall from our previous article on how to Create New Account in Google Analytics, that on completion, you automatically had a default view: All Web Site Data.

Admin screen: New account in GA

The default view: “All Web Site Data” contains all the raw, unfiltered data commencing from date of creation.  DO NOT FILTER OR MODIFY THIS VIEW.  It will remain as your backup and copy of all data collected.  Once a view is deleted, it will be gone forever.

According to Google Analytics Academy, ideally you should have a minimum of 3 views:

• unfiltered view
• test view
• master view

You can rename these so that it better reflects the Property (website) they are attached to.  And it will certainly make it easier for you to identify them if you have a number or Properties (websites) under your Account in GA.

unfiltered view: automatically created (with each new Property).  Contains all collected data for a particular Property. Do not apply settings, filters, conditions.  Keep untouched as backup.

test view:  this is where you test the effects of settings, configurations, or filters you might apply.  Once you know the impact of these changes, then you can apply to your master view.

master view: this View should have all the settings and filters needed to transform the collected data into useful information for your business.

Tip: GA is case sensitive.  So it would be best to be consistent in how you name your Accounts, Properties, Views.  If you use all lower case, then carry on doing so.  If you use all upper case, or capitalization, then carry on the same way.

Back to our Exercise

Recall that in Create New Account in Google Analytics,

• our Account was: Charlie Brown
• our website/Property was www.charliehome.com

Let’s have a look at that now in your GA Admin:

You will see:

Admin screen: New account in GA

Tip: If you don’t, then use the Account drop-down arrow to select the right account.

Now what we are going to do is:

• to rename the default View “All Web Site Data” to www.charliehome.com (unfiltered view) (so we are reminded never to modify or apply filters and conditions to this data).
• create a new View: www.charliehome.com (test view)
• create a new View: www.charliehome.com (master view)

Renaming a View

First, we are going to rename the default “All Web Site Data” View to www.charliehome.com (unfiltered view)

In your GA Admin screen, select the correct Account, Property, & View and click View Settings.

Scroll down the page to “View Name” and change “All Web Site Data” to www.charliehome.com (unfiltered view). Save.

Renaming a View in GA

Now when you return to your Admin page, you will see that the View name has been correctly changed.

View has been renamed

Creating New Views in Google Analytics

Note: Data for each view only begins from the date of creation for each view.  It does not contain historical data.  Hence the importance of keeping your original unfiltered view untouched.

We are now going to create 2 new Views:

• www.charliehome.com (test view)
• www.charliehome.com (master view)

In the Admin page, click:

Create new view in GA

In the next page, specify to track website data, fill in the name of the view, and click Create View

View Specifics in GA

When you return to you Admin screen, in the View drop-down menu, you will see that you now have 2 Views:

List of Views in drop-down menu

You can now create your 3rd View on your own: www.charliehome.com (master view)

You should end up with three views when you are done:

Three Views created in GA

Summary

Recommended best practice for Views in Google Analytics is to have at least 3 types of views (unfiltered, test, master).  Be consistent with your naming practice as GA is case sensitive.

Next ..

Now that you have the very core basics of Google Analytics under your belt, we can finally move on to how to read Google Analytics reports.  Once everything is setup, the reports are where you will be spending a lot of time – understanding who is visiting your site, their behaviour, demographics, and much more.  It is from these reports that we will be able to determine our site’s performance and what we can do to improve our stats.

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• analyticsacademy.withgoogle.com: Collecting actionable data with Google Analytics
• support.google.com: Understanding your account structure