Mason Web Analytics

Analytics Update – July 2017

New Websites in Mason Google Analytics Roll-Up

Below are the new websites (hostnames) showing-up the in Mason Google Analytics Roll-Up since our last meeting:

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  • Thanks to University Life and CVPA!
  • What is itsra.gmu.edu?

Business Units Overview

  • As the participation of Mason websites in the Mason Google Analytics Roll-Up increases, we are getting a more accurate picture of our web presence.
  • Custom report: Business Units Overview
    Account: Mason Google Analytics Roll-Up
    Property: Mason Google Analytics Roll-Up
    View: [PROD] Mason: Roll-Up 2.0 (2015-12-08)
  • University Life sites were recently indexed to their business unit. Now we know that University Life is the biggest segment of our web presence behind the core website.
  • However, many areas are still under-represented in the Mason Google Analytics Roll-Up (e.g Volgenau).

New Goal Set-Up: Undergraduate Request Information Form Submissions

Undergraduate request information form completions are now being tracked as a goal in the Mason Google Analytics Roll-Up.

Mason GTM Template Container Changes

  • The Mason Google Tag Manager template container can be found at: https://masonanalytics.local/mason-gtm-templates/
  • Since our last meeting, I have mode slight modifications regarding the cross-domain tracking setup. Specifically, I removed the gmu.edu domain from the cross-domain tracking list to avoid GA adding unnecessary query parameters when linking between gmu.edu websites. (Surprisingly, GA will add cross-domain tracking parameters to links to other gmu.edu websites even if you are already on gmu.edu.)
  • If you have implemented the GTM template container, please update it.

Mason Shortlink Service?

  • I would suggest the possibility of setting up a centralized Mason-branded URL shortlink service.
  • This would be particularly helpful for setting-up redirect/vanity URLs for offline marketing (e.g. print ads, radio ads, etc.) and would give us the benefit of shortlinks while reinforcing the Mason brand.
  • Many units don’t have the ability to set-up redirects on their server(s).
  • I would love to get http://ma.sn or http://mas.on. Unfortunately neither of these will work. (‘SN’ TLD is the country code for Senegal, but the Senegal TLD requires domain names to have a minimum of three characters. There is no ‘ON’ TLD.
  • Something memorable and easy to remember/type would be good for radio ads (gomason.com is taken, but this is a good example of a memorable domain name).