Analytics Unpacked

NEW: “CBS Evening News” producer Alicia Hastey sends a bombshell farewell note:

Stories are “evaluated not just on their journalistic merit but on whether they conform to a shifting set of ideological expectations.”

Stunning location!

Signs you have problems with your Google Analytics account #6:

Great photo!

OpenAI ChatGPT Ads Now Live With User Controls OpenAI has officially launched ads in ChatGPT yesterday. The company announced, "Today, we’re beginning to test ads in ChatGPT in the U.S. The test will be for logged-in adult users on the Free and G...

ChatGPT ads are live with user ad control settings www.seroundtable.com/openai-chatg...

I’ve used this approach on six websites so far: www.analyticsunpacked.com/2025/02/can-...
It’s proven valuable when a viral moment occurs, and also when a platform has less significant peaks or troughs.

It's like voice-search all over again.

It's a lot.

What does event count mean in Google Analytics? Insight and grumbles about Google Analytics

In Google Analytics 'Event count' is misleading. Here's why: www.analyticsunpacked.com/2024/09/what...

It bothers me that Google Analytics says 'source / medium' when talking about traffic sources. Given that medium is broader, wouldn't 'medium / source' make more sense?

Peter Mandelbrot. It’s just infinite scandals the more you zoom in.

Love a stat:

Trump is mentioned more times in The Epstein Files than:

- Jesus is in The Bible

- Harry Potter is mentioned in *all* of the Harry Potter books.

All of the Harry Potter books? That's wild.

Began my week listening to @therestpolitics.bsky.social. One thing they do well is listening to their listeners, and it takes the episodes into valuable areas that receive less publicity.
Thursday's episode was a tough listen, other days it's been fascinating.

This is a great idea. Might begin negotiations with the family!

Well worth a read ⬇️

Great post. I knew some of this, but some was new.

Why is my website black? A compromise made in pursuit of a low-carbon approach. More here: www.analyticsunpacked.com/2024/06/carb...

A Google Ads campaign I'm running has disappointing conversion numbers. Time to examine the Google Analytics data and see how I might change course.

It's so strange they don't realise that. It's not like they're Starbucks and you might pop back next week.

Geez, that frequency turns into harassment.

20 ways to use Google Analytics: 5. Check the most popular devices amongst your users. Test your website using those (A service like LambdaTest can help with this) . Does all the functionality work? Does anything look broken?

One mile on a bike is a $.42 economic gain to society, one mile driving is a $.20 loss Copenhagen, the bicycle-friendliest place on the planet, publishes a biannual Bicycle Account, and buried in its pages is a rather astonishing fact.

“One mile on a bike is a $.42 economic gain to society, one mile driving is a $.20 loss.”

“Which means that Copenhagen, a city of 1.2 million people, saves $357 million a year on health costs because something like 80% of its population commutes by bike.” #CityMakingMath

Some costs aren’t costs.

I sometimes consider going for a radically candid LinkedIn bio. It would really stand out.

Has anyone noticed this weird new behaviour in Windows? When you switch on the laptop, Edge fires up with the tabs you last had open in Chrome.

20 ways to use Google Analytics: 4. Check the countries your users come from. Does the data make you reconsider your forms, or your payment options?

Tip: Make sure Google Analytics data retention is set to 14 months rather than two.
Go to: Admin -> Property settings -> Data collection and modification -> Data retention

In 2025, I spent a chunk of time getting to know Google Ads. There's a lot to learn, particularly if your budget is low and you can't rely on smart bidding.
It seems powerful though. I like the ability to target ads geographically.

You know, the Discover tab on @bsky.app is pretty good. I'd been put off it be my experiences on X and Threads. It's worth a try.