How To Monitor Your Rankings Using Google Analytics Advanced Filter Segmentation

by Patrick Altoft on April 23, 2009 / 49 responses

This is a guest post by Mike Catalin from SiteMagnify LLC

Google ranking data is passed to logfiles via the referrer string, but this data can also be captured by Google Analytics using Advanced Filters to segment Google Search traffic.

This ranking data parameter (cd=number) is covered by Patrick Altoft in his post on Google Referrer Strings.

There are two very quick ways to go about collecting the referrer data in Google Analytics, one is to collect and report full referrer strings in GA using the User Defined variable which is reported under Visitors then filter for “cd=” with the “Find User Defined Value” search box at the bottom of the report.

The second is to segment all Google Organic Search Data and pass only the search term and cd=position data into the User Defined report.

To collect the Referrer String in the User Defined variable:

• create a New Profile
• select add profile for an existing domain
• select the domain from the drop down
• title the Profile “Full Referrer Strings”
• select Country & Time Zone
• once Profile is created, edit the Profile to add Filters
• select +Add Filter
• select Add New Filter for Profile
• name the filter “Full Referrer Strings”
• select Custom Filter from the Filter Type drop-down
• select the Advanced radio button
• for Field A -> Extract A, select Referral from the drop-down
• in the form field enter: (.*)
• leave Field B -> Extract B empty
• for Output To -> Constructor, select User Defined from the drop-down
• in the form field enter: $A1
• enter the following choices for the remaining radio buttons:
• Field A required is Yes
• Field B required is No
• Override Output Field is Yes
• Case Sensitive is No
• Save Changes

To collect the Keyword and cd= parameter value in the User Defined variable for all Google Search traffic:

• -create a New Profile
• -select add profile for an existing domain
• -select the domain from the drop down
• -title the Profile “Google Organic SERPs”
• -select Country & Time Zone
• -once Profile is created, edit the Profiles to add Filters
• -will have to create a total of 3 Filters for this segment

Filter to Select only SEO Organic Traffic

• -select +Add Filter
• -select Add New Filter for Profile
• -name the filter “Organic Search Traffic”
• -select Custom Filter from the Filter Type drop-down
• -select the Include radio button
• -for Filter Field, select Campaign Medium from the drop-down
• -in the Filter Pattern form field enter: organic
• -leave Case Sensitive as No
• -Save Changes

Filter to Select only Google Search Traffic

• -select +Add Filter
• -select Add New Filter for Profile
• -name the filter “Google Search”
• -select Custom Filter from the Filter Type drop-down
• -select the Include radio button
• -for Filter Field, select Referral from the drop-down
• -in the Filter Pattern form field enter: (google)\.[a-z]+
• -leave Case Sensitive as No
• -Save Changes

Filter to Extract Search Term and cd= Value

• -select +Add Filter
• -select Add New Filter for Profile
• -name the filter “Full Referrer Strings”
• -select Custom Filter from the Filter Type drop-down
• -select the Advanced radio button
• -for Field A -> Extract A, select Campaign Term from the drop-down
• -in the form field enter: (.*)
• -for Field B -> Extract B, select Referral from the drop-down
• -in the form field enter: (\?|&)(cd)=([^&]*)
• -for Output To -> Constructor, select User Defined from the drop-down
• -in the form field enter: $A1 | click detail: $B3
• -enter the following choices for the remaining radio buttons:
• -Field A required is Yes
• -Field B required is Yes
• -Override Output Field is Yes
• -Case Sensitive is No
• -Save Changes

Post category: Analytics Tweet

Patrick Altoft is Director of Search at Branded3, a Leeds SEO & Digital Agency specialising in SEO, Web Design, Development & Social Media.