filter is a very powerful feature in Google Analytics. Google Analytics filters are divided into 3 categories, predefined filters, custom filters and advanced filters. Through the filter, we can divide the website traffic, control the scope of the report data, and comb the report content. This article introduces the simplest "predefined filter". Please skip it directly. The advanced application of filters is described in detail in "Tian An network marketing blog" and "David-SEM search engine marketing".
filters and configuration files
filters are usually used together with configuration files. The effect of the filter is reflected in the report content of the configuration file. When the filter is applied to the specified configuration file, we can display the required report content in this configuration file according to our needs. For example, we can create multiple configuration files on a web site, and through filter control let one of the configuration files display only access reports from Google search, and another configuration file only displays the amount of access reports on a channel in the site. Several features of the
filter,
1 filter, function in the configuration file
filter at the front end of the configuration file, and only after being applied to the configuration file, the filter will work on the data. A filter can be applied to multiple configuration files at the same time and filter the data.
2 filtered data is irreversible.
Google is unable to recover filtered data. This will be an irreversible process. So, in order to avoid data loss and error filtering. You need to create a separate configuration file for each filter. And always keep an original configuration file that does not use any filters. In this way, even if there are problems, the raw data will not be affected. The
3 filter only acts on the new data
filter only filters the newly generated data after the application, and does not filter the old data before the application. Therefore, when tracking and creating the configuration files, we need to think clearly about the filtering and segmentation strategy. Then create the corresponding filter and configuration file in advance. The execution order of the
4 filter is
when multiple filters are applied to a configuration file simultaneously, Google will filter the data in order in order of the filter. Sometimes there may be conflicts between these filters. For example, a search file containing Google and Baidu in a configuration file. If the filters are created separately from these two sources, the latter filter may not work. The right thing to do is to create only a filter. The filtering rule is google|baidu. The
or can also adjust the order of the data to be filtered when the configuration file is entered by specifying the order of the different filters. (default filters will be sorted in the order of our creation) how
[b] creates a filter [/b]
modify configuration file that needs to apply filters, and the application filter options can be seen in the configuration file settings panel. Select the add filter. Enter the name of the filter and the filtering rules in turn. Then choose to save. A new filter is created. The newly created filter is displayed in the application filter section of the configuration settings panel. And filters can be modified and adjusted at any time.
[b] how to manage the filter [/b]
when we create a lot of filters, the filter manager can be managed by the filter manager. (the website configuration file interface) contains filters for all the configuration files under the account. Here you can add, delete, filter and modify filters. All operations will be applied to the corresponding configuration file immediately. The
there are two filters in the filter manager in addition to the filter that has been applied to the configuration file. The filter that
[b]1 has been deleted in the configuration file. [/b]
there are some filters that we may have deleted from the filter part of the configuration file, but the filter will still be stored in the filter manager, where you can revise or apply this filter at any time.
[b]2 does not have filters applied to any configuration file. [/b]
filters can be created separately in the filter manager without having to be applied to any configuration file. When you are testing the difference between filters, you can first filter a filter here temporarily and apply it to the configuration file at any time when necessary. Another advantage of
[b] filter reuse [/b]
filter manager is that it can reuse existing filters between different configuration files. For example, you created a filter that filters internal IP. It needs to be applied to 8 configuration files. Find the internal IP filter in the filter manager, choose to modify, and directly add the name of the configuration file that needs to be applied to this filter. You don't have to create 8 of the same filters separately. The
[b] to create a predefined filter [/b]
so much earlier, as though it has not yet entered the topic of today: predefined filters. The predefined filter is the simplest filter in Google Analytics. It's simple because the filter is easy to create. You can do it without too many complex settings.
1, to exclude internal clicks from the report
by entering the internal IP address, you can exclude the amount of access from the company or the web site in the report. Only a fixed IP address is allowed in the predefined filter. Filtering of IP address segments or dynamic IP requires a custom filter. This section can refer to my previous article: "
excludes the internal access in the Google Analytics report"
2 tracks the traffic of a specific directory of the site
in my blog's URL, different directories represent different pages or contents. For example:
>! -- m -->http://bluewhale.cc/documents > represents the resource document page
! - > represents the site analysis library page
>! -- m -->http://bluewhale.cc/bbs content
"access subdirectory traffic" using predefined filters can be used to divide content access in different subdirectories . For example, the flow of website analysis and discussion group (/bbs/) and the flow of website analysis blog are displayed in different configuration files.
3 excludes traffic from the corresponding domain
Google Analytics uses the reverse IP query function to get the user's domain. Using this filter can exclude clicks from specific domains. Domains typically represent visitors' ISP (Internet service provider); large companies may choose their own domain names when mapping IP addresses, instead of using the domain name of ISP (such as google.com/intl/zh-CN/). For example, if you want to exclude the number of clicks from bluewhale.cc visitors, you can enter: bluewhale.cc$
PS: checks some help information, showing that the domain here refers to a ISP or a corporate network. It is recommended to use the referral link field in the custom filter when filtering traffic through the source.