- Incorrect tracking code embedding
A common cause of incorrect data collection is omitting a subpage when implementing the Google Analytics code. This results in selective information being sent. The tracking code should be placed within every subpage of the website.
Another reason for collecting incorrect data is the presence of the exact same Google Analytics code on a specific page, or worse, every page on a website. This results in duplicate metrics such as sessions, page views, conversions, and events.
- No exclusion of internal traffic
In your Google Analytics account, you should always remember to exclude internal traffic. This is crucial because website visits generated by company employees often distort the collected data and make it misleading. If traffic is only defined or not all company IP addresses are taken into account during the exclusion, some important results may be contaminated. At Verseo, by conducting an analytics audit, we ensure that internal traffic in your account has been properly defined and excluded.
- Important events are not tracked or are configured incorrectly
If you haven't configured tracking for events relevant to your business, it will be difficult to conduct meaningful analysis of the effectiveness of your marketing efforts. Over 62% of online stores don't measure actions such as adding a product to a cart or initiating a purchase.
It's worth emphasizing that the mere presence of events in the Google Analytics panel doesn't guarantee success. Audit results show that on average, 1 in 10 websites have them configured incorrectly. Events firing at the wrong time or triggering multiple events during a single action are the most common errors.
Another important issue is verifying the presence of interaction events, i.e., those that prevent a specific session from being counted as a bounce, even if the user doesn't proceed to the next subpage. We don't want all events to influence the bounce rate, as this would dramatically distort the data regarding user engagement on the site.
- Incorrect or missing goal setting
Failure to measure goals means inability to draw conclusions regarding the effectiveness of marketing channels. Without this knowledge, your company cannot correctly allocate its advertising budget or invest in further SEO development, as it lacks reliable information on whether it will yield tangible benefits.
- No connection to Google Ads/Google Search Console account
Connecting to both your Google Ads account and Google Search Console allows for more effective analysis of website traffic and user engagement metrics. Additionally, you can import goals configured in your Google Analytics account into the advertising dashboard, resulting in more effective advertising campaigns.
- Incorrect traffic source assignment
Besides incorrect event and conversion data collection, traffic source attribution errors are the second most common issue. This can occur for two reasons:
- no exclusions of unwanted referring sites (e.g. payment gateways),
- the occurrence of UTM parameters within the website.
This overwrites the actual traffic source that led the user to your site. The result? Your company relies on incorrect data when analyzing channel effectiveness.
Another problem with user acquisition analysis is incorrectly attributing traffic sources to specific channels. If you see that the "Other" section in your Default Channel Grouping is collecting more than 5% of your traffic, it's time to consider a custom setup.
Traffic originating from Facebook is also problematic for Google Analytics, as it is rarely assigned to the Social channel. This ultimately leads to inaccurate analysis of user acquisition sources at the channel level.
