What is “segmentation?” Essentially, it is the process of dividing something up into smaller pieces or groups based on like characteristics. In Google Analytics it is the key to analyzing data. We are segmenting by dividing our visitors up into groups to analyze their behavior on our sites and find insights. There are many segmentation options available in GA. Expand them further by segmenting the segments and analyzing combinations of segments.
In this traffic by search engine report you can click on any of the search engines listed to drill down on the data.
Now you can segment further by selecting any of the dimensions from the drop down box. Here we are only viewing traffic from Google and have narrowed it down to the Country/territory dimension. In this case, 79.36% of our total traffic comes from Google and 47.45% of that comes from the United States. US Google users are a big source of this site’s traffic. What does that say about who advertising might be best targeted to? Always be on the lookout for the insights.
Remember from our earlier post that Google has recently changed the “Segment” option to “Dimension.” This was a change in name only; all the segments remain the same. We can segment by a multitude of metrics including traffic source, visitor location, user experience and even custom ones.
Up Next: Sharing Google Analytics – Direct Access
Mike Small
Mike Small leads the SEM and paid search efforts at WebShare. You can find out more about Mike here.
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