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Custom Report: URL Queries (non-404, non-search)

Data-driven content often has a lot of variation in the URLs because of the changing query parameters. As a result, the importance of this traffic can often be missed as the page hits are divided into many different URIs and therefore often appear farther down the list of all pages.

By showing only those page URIs which include query parameters, this report will help you get a sense of what data-driven applications are in use on your website, and which ones are often used.

Custom report link: URL Queries (non-404, non-search)

It can also be useful for seeing what query parameters are used on your website and identifying those that you might want to filter from your GA reports.

Mason Google Analytics Roll-Up Example

Account: Mason Google Analytics Roll-Up
Property: Mason Google Analytics Roll-Up
View: [PROD] Mason: Roll-Up 2.0 (2015-12-08)
Date Range: Jan. 1, 2017 – June 30, 2017
Report (custom): URL Queries (non-404, non-search)

  • In the roll-up, search and 404 filtering is not perfect, because the various websites use different URLs for search or 404 traffic. You can modify the report to fit your particular website.
  • Note the prevalent data-driven content: Around Mason, Admissions Events, University Catalog, Admissions Transfer Credit Search, Admissions Transfer Guide, Admissions “Meet Your Counselor”, etc.
  • alumni.gmu.edu is a special case, as all of their URIs use query parameters. However, note how the parameters “sid” and “gid” are always the same. These parameters might be good candidates for filtering.
  • Add filter for “^www2.gmu.edu/around-mason”. You can see that the Around Mason content receives a lot of traffic on Mondays, and you can easily compare performance week-to-week.