When I first heard that Google Analytics would be providing data in real-time, I was pretty psyched.
On a high traffic site, this can be really exciting.
As social media tightens it grip on Internet usage, real time impact has become more crucial than every before. You can see here how short of a life span link is. These things are measured by hours, not days. Naturally, it was the next step to take with an already robust analytics tool.
Here’s some more info on Google’s new Real-Time Analytics and how you can get early access!
Google Real-Time Analytics
After I saw a tweet go out about it, I went to my dashboard right away!
Much to my disappointment, it wasn’t there.
After a looking a little further, I found where to sign up to get early access.
More than a week past by, and last night, Google let me in!
Here’s what Google Real-Time Analytics looks like:
[tentblogger-youtube QtzQpQC_cJw]
Very Google Analytics-ish, isn’t it?
As you look through your real time data, the top pane will always display how many are on your site “right now” and break your pageviews down by minutes and seconds.
There are four ways to sort your real time data:
- Overview
This is your basic dashboard view, including top referrals, top keywords, top active pages and top locations. In the “right now” dashboard spot, you’ll have a graph displaying “new” and “returning” users. - Locations
Immediately you’ll see the “right now” dashboard graph will change from “new” and “returning” to a percentage, bar graph breakdown of countries. Below, you’ll find the country metrics and visual map that you’ve seen with standard Google Analytics, but with one hitch. They’ve added a Google Earth toggle. Very cool. - Traffic Sources
Your “right now” dash will switch to “organic,” “referral,” etc … and you can see your referrals in real time! - Content
Watch your bar graph balance between “organic” and “campaign” traffic and see where your current traffic is on your website, both in real time and the past 30 minutes.
All in all, I was really impressed. If this makes it as a standard, free of charge feature, this will only further Google’s grip on being the web analytics tool.
However, after trying it on lower traffic sites I have analytics on, I found it a bit of a downer, since they didn’t have any real time data to display!
Go ahead and sign up for Google Real-Time Analytics, it’s at least worth a try, especially Church websites that stream their Sunday morning services.
James Cooper says
Sign up. Hope i get it soon so I can see people on my christmas site in Dec! Fun.
Eric Dye says
So do I!
Ruben Nuñez says
Wow, so cool! I just signed up as well. Thanks for sharing.
Eric Dye says
😀