Google Analytics – How to structure your accounts and profiles
Ok so we hit a little snag today, Dave has sooooo many Google Analytics accounts that he can no longer create any (bummer – max 25) – obviously he has the option to place profiles in the same account (up to 50) but really it is best practice to create a new account for each company you deal with.
For example, say you are working for a client and they have a .com domain name for English speakers and then a .fr domain name for the French market. It is best to put these two domains in the same account, each as a different profile.
Alternatively if a client uses the same domain name, but allows people to select multiple languages, it would be best to create one account with a primary profile for the whole domain, and then more profiles within the same account, with a filter for each language.
If you do run out of Google Analytics accounts – you can always get someone you work with to host the rest and simply add you in as an administrator, allowing you to have access to an unlimited amount of accounts.
Also don’t forget, profile filters filter data on the way in, so once you filter it out it is lost forever and won’t be coming back! For this reason it is always best to keep one profile within your account without any filters on – so you have a “backup”.
Christopher Ross 1490 days ago
http://www.thisismyurl.comIt took me years to work out how to setup Analytics properly, too bad that your article wasn’t posted months ago
James @ Dolphin Promotions 1490 days ago
http://www.dolphinpromotions.co.ukYeah I used to make the school boy error of adding all the profiles under one account, it just ends up being a mess.
Instead I now set up the account with the clients Google account and then provide my account with Admin access. I only have 22 accounts set up so not sure if it circumvents the issues with the 25 limit but at least it allows the client control of their own account if they decide to move one.
Even if a client has multiple domains I add them all in 1 client account, it just makes life simpler when you a doing reports etc
Arpit Kothari 1490 days ago
http://www.indiawebsitedeveloper.comhi,
I have create a.c in same, and for my all clients..
Regards
Webshoptimizer 1490 days ago
http://www.webshoptimizer.comYou don’t have to be limited to 25 profiles in one account. Just open a new account, add the website and add the master account as admin user. Now you have 26 profiles in the master account
I admit, a bit of an hassle but it works like a charm.
Jamr0ck 1490 days ago
I manage a very large number of Analytics accounts, and encountered this issue quite some time ago – I get around the issue by adding all new Analytics accounts to “clientname@mymaindomain.com”, with a catch all email inbox to let me verify the account. It is then possible to add the account as an administrator to your main Client Center account, and the account limit isn’t enforced.
Another tip – Don’t add www. to the beginning of your site name in the inital Analytics Settings, then once you’ve added it to your main Master account profile, you’ll be able to skim through the list with a keyboard letter press.
Webmaster tools, on the other hand doesn’t allow more than a set number of accounts under one main email address, without any real portability if a client leaves (or you’re taking one on from someone else). There was a mention of increasing functionality to allow linked accounts to control WMT accounts, so with any luck, Google will address things soon.
Andy Blackburn 1489 days ago
Or upgrade to a paid for analytics platform…
On this note, I have come across more and more companies who are nervy about putting the ga script on their sites, as they are, justified or not, wary of Google and their reputation. Anyone else come across this?
Joshua 1489 days ago
There’s nothing funnier than small agencies who know no better than to use one account for all of their different clients combined.
Then, one day, their clients will want to switch agencies. Oops! Goodbye, data
WebWrite 1489 days ago
http://www.write-research-office.comI echo Christopher Ross, and I’m still not sure that I can’t get more from it. These tools are good, but there never tell you how to get the most benefit, which is good I suppose. If everyone got the benefit, then no-one gets it.
Keep up the good work.
Johnn 1489 days ago
http://legaladvantage.net/Services/DocumentReview.aspxYes, we can register N number of sites with one google analytics account. It is even easy to understand the analytics of all the sites and flexible
David Whitehouse 1489 days ago
WebWrite – if you are wanting to get more out of your Analytics, I suggest you check out Google Analytics Conversion University – the videos for the Google Analytics IQ exam are very helpful. They also have some useful articles on there – somewhere!
Steve 1486 days ago
http://www.paydayonly.co.ukReally nice article! It is really helpful to understand google analytics. Thanks!!
Jorgen 845 days ago
http://www.teldust.co.ukGoogle analytics is great, but also very comprehensive and thus a bit complicated to grasp. Anyway it offers some very extensive possibilities for measuring how your web site is converting, which is a very important figure