Understanding these terms is essential for interpreting data and making informed decisions based on your websites analytics reports.
In GA4, a session represents a period of user interaction with your website or app. This period includes multiple events (page views, button clicks, etc.) and ends after 55 minutes of inactivity or at midnight. A new session starts when:
A user opens a new app or page.
A group of user interactions occurs within a specified timeframe.
In Google Analytics, source and medium describe how users arrive at your website:
Source: The origin of your traffic (e.g., Google, Pinterest, a referring website).
Medium: The method through which users arrive at your site (e.g., organic, referral, CPC, display).
Engagement rate refers to the percentage of sessions that last longer than 10 seconds, include at least one conversion event, or involve two or more page views. It's an essential metric for understanding user interaction quality.
The average time spent on page is the total time users spend on a specific page, divided by the number of page views. This helps assess user engagement and content effectiveness.
Intersite linking refers to the practice of linking from one page within a website to another page on the same website. It improves site navigation, user experience, and Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
Internal search queries track what users type into the search bar on your site. This data is useful for understanding user intent and optimizing on-site content. You can filter these queries on the Internal Search Data Report page. For instructions on how to navigate this report please visit https://www.ohio.edu/ucm/training/analytics/dashboard/internal-search-d….
A page path refers to the URL structure of a particular page. It helps track which pages or sections of a site users navigate through. In Looker Studio, page paths can be filtered for specific insights. This is dimension is available on every report page in the dashboard as a page filter.
This percent changed indicator is on each scorecard in the dashboard and as a column in most tables next to the correlating metric. Trend analysis over time helps users identify growth patterns, seasonal fluctuations, and anomalies, allowing them to make data-driven decisions. By comparing historical data, users can anticipate future performance and optimize strategies accordingly.
The number of "users" in GA4 can be inflated because cookies or cache get reset or cleared. When a user deletes their cookies or accesses the website from a different device or browser, GA4 may count them as a new user, even though they have visited before. This means "users" isn't always the most reliable metric for tracking true unique visitors, as it's based on device-specific identifiers that can be wiped or changed.
Anytime a user leaves ohio.edu domain, it is viewed as an Exit Click. View the links and frequency of those clicks found on the Exit Click Report.
Contact Clicks are from contact-related elements (Contact Types) such as email links, phone numbers, contact forms, social media links or icon, or the building directory. View the Contact Click Report.
Button clicks refer to interactions with specific web elements in Drupal, such as:
Buttons
Icons (e.g., social icons)
Icon tiles
Card links
Link clicks track interactions with hyperlinks embedded in text or elements on a webpage. These include any clickable links that aren't categorized as buttons. Link clicks can exist in the body, navigation, or within a specific web element like a card link. To view all "Links" in the Drupal web elements catalog, go to https://ohio.edu/ucm/web/help/web-catalog.
Navigation clicks refer to user interactions with a website's navigational elements, such as:
Left navigation (sidebar menus)
Main-menu (top bar navigation)
Footer
Top-green bar