The Ultimate Guide To Google Analytics Hits - Digishuffle

According to Google,. “A Hit is an interaction that results in data being sent to Analytics.” “Each time the tracking code is triggered by a ... TheUltimateGuideToGoogleAnalyticsHits:WhatAreHits&ItsLimitations? HomeBlogPostsTheUltimateGuideToGoogleAnalyticsHits:WhatAreHits&ItsLimitations? Dec 04 NoComment Dec04,2018 Web/GoogleAnalytics LastUpdatedonOctober8,2020byRitwikB Ifyou’reNEWtogoogleanalyticsorhavebeenusingitforalongtime,it’sessentialtoknowhowtheUSERDATAissenttothegoogleanalyticsservers&isreflectedonyourdashboard. Thebasicfoundationsofthedatacollectioningoogleanalyticsisdonevia“hits“. Inthisarticle,we’llfocusontheconceptof“GoogleAnalyticsHits“.Whatisit?Whatdatadoesitcollect?Whatareitslimitations&more… Solet’sgetstarted… Index GoogleAnalyticsHits 1.)Whatisa“Hit”inGoogleAnalytics? 2.)WhatarethedifferenttypesofHits? 3.)WhatInteractionDataissentviaDifferenttypesofhits? 4.)HowToViewTheHitData? 5.)WhataretheHitLimits? 6.)WhereCanISeeTheTotalHitsForMyProperty&View? 7.)ConfusionDebunked:Hits,Pageviews,Sessions 8.)FinalThoughts. WhatisaHitinGoogleAnalytics? Let’sfirstunderstandwhatisa“hit”… AccordingtoGoogle, “AHitisaninteractionthatresultsindatabeingsenttoAnalytics.” “Eachtimethetrackingcodeistriggeredbyauser’sbehavior(forexample,userloadsapageonawebsiteorascreeninamobileapp),Analyticsrecordsthatactivity.EachinteractionispackagedintoahitandsenttoGoogle’sservers.“ Insimplewords,afteraspecificuserinteraction,thedataispacked&senttogoogleanalyticsasahit.The“hit”containstheuserinteractiondata.Wecanalsosendcustomdatabutthat’llbealaterpost. So,Whatexactlyisuserinteraction?? Well,thebasiconeisthePAGELOAD.   Here’stheprocessthattakesplacewhentheuserlandsonyourwebsite&pageloads. Here’swhatgoingon… 1.)Theanalyticscodeonyourwebsitegetstriggeredonpageload. Themainsourcesfromwherethegoogleanalyticstrackingcodecollectsdataare TheHTTPrequestoftheuser Information Gathered:Hostname,referrer,browserlanguage,etc Browser/systeminformation Information Gathered:Java&Flashsupport,ScreenResolution,etc First-partycookies Information Gathered:Sessions,Source/Medium,etc DoubleClickcookies.(onlywhendisplayfeaturesareenabled) Information Gathered:Demographics,Interests,etc   2.)TheDatagatheredissenttoGoogleAnalyticsServersviaaHit. ThiscollectedinformationissenttotheGoogleAnalyticsserversintheformofalonglistofparametersattachedtoasingle-pixelGIFimagerequest. Here’swhatitlookslike: https://www.google-analytics.com/r/collect?v=1&_v=j72&a=834238095&t=pageview&_s=1&dl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.digishuffle.com%2Ftesting-page%2F&ul=en-gb&de=UTF-8&dt=Testing%20Page%20-%20Digishuffle&sd=24-bit&sr=1366×768&vp=1499×427&je=0&_u=SCCAAAADQ~&jid=1526552845&gjid=2113202529&cid=1885418923.1520692526&tid=UA-89611791-1&_gid=1918538701.1543666955&_r=1&gtm=2wgbc0K69QHW7&z=608482186 ThisdataissenttotheGoogleAnalyticsservers,whichisprocessed&lateravailableinyourreports. WhataretheDifferentTypesOfHits? Differenttypesofhitswillsenddifferenttypesofdata(someoverlapping),populatingdifferentreportsonGoogleAnalytics.ThesearethetypesofhitsavailableinGA: Pageviewhit ScreenviewHit EventHit SocialInteractionHit EcommerceHit UserTimingHits ExceptionHit   Again,someofthesearesubcategorizedinto2types InteractionHit Non-InteractionHit Bydefaultmostofthehitsareinteractionhits,i.eGoogleAnalyticswillusethesehitstocalculateengagementmetricssuchasavg.timeonpage,bouncerate&soon… TomakeahitaNon-Interactionone,you’llneedtoaddsettheevent “non-interaction ==true”(inGTM).IfyouarenotusingGTM,thenjustaddthenon-interactionparameterasbelow. [crayon-5f7eff108bb27207153921/] [crayon-5f7eff108bb33582329395/] WhatInteractionDataissentviaDifferentTypesofHits? PageviewHit: Bydefault,onlythepageviewhitdatagetssentoneverypageloadbytheuser.Theeasiestwaytoseethedataistoopenthechromedebugger networkrequest&searchforcollectrequest DataSent:(*markedareacompulsoryparameter)   Variable Data Explanation v 1 Protocolversion* tid UA-12344523-1 PropertyID* cid 123453443.214124124 ClientID* t pageview HitType* dl https://www.digishuffle.com/ documentlocation* dt Digishuffle–PageTitle documenttitle …… …… OtherBrowserVariables … … OtherBrowserVariables   Dimensions&MetricsPopulated: Users Sessions Pageviews PageURL PageTitle ScreenResolution BrowserLanguage OperatingSystem …etcetc   ScreenviewHit(forApps): Ifyouhaveinstalledgoogleanalyticssetupinyourapp,thenthe screenviewhitwillsendthefollowingdatatotheservers. DataSent:(*markedareacompulsoryparameter)   Variable Data Explanation v 1 Protocolversion* tid UA-12344523-1 PropertyID* cid 123453443.214124124 ClientID* t screenview HitType* an Calculator AppName av 2.0.0 AppVersion aid com.calc.app AppId aiid com.vending.android AppInstallerID cd home Screenname   Dimensions&MetricsPopulated: Users Sessions ScreenViews UniqueScreenViews Screens/Session ScreenName AppName AppVersion AppID AppInstallerID   EventHit: Tosendaneventhit,you’llneedtoimplementcustomcoding.Also,it’lldependonwhatyouareusingtofireanalyticstags(GTMoranalytics.js/gtag.js). Ifyou’reusingGTM,youcancreateauniversalanalyticseventtagtosendaneventhit. ThereportsareavailableintheBehavior>Events>Topeventssection. DataSent:(*markedareacompulsoryparameter) Variable Data Explanation v 1 Protocolversion* tid UA-12344523-1 PropertyID* cid 123453443.214124124 ClientID* t event HitType* ec downloads EventCategory* ea linkclicks EventAction* el analyticsguide EventLabel ev 100 EventValue   Dimensions&MetricsPopulated: EventCategory EventAction EventLabel EventValue TotalEvents UniqueEvents EventValue Avg.Value   EcommerceHit: Tocleartheconfusion,letmeiteratesomething. Thereare2waystotrackecommercedataonyourwebsite. EnhancedEcommerceTracking –Dataissentviapagevieworeventhit. EcommerceTracking–Dataissentviaecommercetransaction&itemhit. NOTE:Bothcannotbeimplementedatthesametimeforthesameproperty.  So,ecommercehitsareonlysentwhenyouimplementecommercetracking&notenhancedecommerce. Ecommercetrackinghitsimplyhas2subhittypes: Transactionhit Itemhit Let’stakealookatwhatdatagetssentperhit. Also,onceyouenabletheecommercereports,youwillfindthedatainthe Conversion>Ecommercesection. DataSent–TransactionHit:(*markedareacompulsoryparameter) Variable Data Explanation v 1 Protocolversion* tid UA-12344523-1 PropertyID* cid 123453443.214124124 ClientID* t transaction HitType* ti 1001 TransactionID* ta formalShoes TransactionAffiliation tr 100.00 TransactionRevenue ts 10.00 TransactionShipping tt 5.00 TransactionTax cu USD CurrencyCode   DataSent–ItemHit:(*markedareacompulsoryparameter) Variable Data Explanation v 1 Protocolversion* tid UA-12344523-1 PropertyID* cid 123453443.214124124 ClientID* t item HitType* ti 1001 TransactionID* in Shoes ItemName* ip 100.00 ItemPrice iq 1 ItemQuantity ic QW12ED ItemCode/SKU iv shoes ItemVariation/Category cu USD CurrencyCode   Dimensions&MetricsPopulated: TransactionID Revenue Tax Shipping Quantity Product ProductSKU ProductCategory UniquePurchases ProductRevenue Avg.Price Avg.Qty etc…   SocialInteractionHit: Thesehitswillpopulatethesocialreportsingoogleanalytics(Acquisition>Social>Plugins).Thesehitsalsoneedcustomsetup&areanoptionforimplementation. DataSent:(*markedareacompulsoryparameter) Variable Data Explanation v 1 Protocolversion* tid UA-12344523-1 PropertyID* cid 123453443.214124124 ClientID* t social HitType* sa downloads SocialAction* sn linkclicks SocialNetwork* st analyticsguide SocialTarget*   Dimensions&MetricsPopulated: SocialAction SocialNetwork SocialTarget   UserTimingHit: ThesehitswillsendthetimingdatatoGoogleanalytics.Theyneedcustomsetup&areanoptionforimplementation. TheywillpopulatetheUserTimingreports.(Behavior>SiteSpeed>UserTimings) DataSent:(*markedareacompulsoryparameter) Variable Data Explanation v 1 Protocolversion* tid UA-12344523-1 PropertyID* cid 123453443.214124124 ClientID* t timing HitType* utc PageTabTime UserTimingCategory* utv VisibleTab UserTimingVariable* utt 100 UserTimingTime* utl /digixport/ UserTimingLabel   Dimensions&MetricsPopulated: TimingCategory TimingVariable TimingLabel Avg.UserTiming UserTimingSample   ExceptionHit: Exceptiontrackingallowsyoutomeasurethenumber&typeofcrashes/errorsthatoccuronyourproperty.Youcanlearnmoreaboutexceptiontrackingviaanalytics.jshere. DataSent:(*markedareacompulsoryparameter) Variable Data Explanation v 1 Protocolversion* tid UA-12344523-1 PropertyID* cid 123453443.214124124 ClientID* t exception HitType* exd SyntaxException ExceptionDescription* exf 1 ExceptionisFatal?* HowToViewTheHitData? Theeasiest &themostrecommendedwaytolookatthedatacapturedbygoogleanalyticsisfromthenetworktabofyourbrowser. Let’slookatthepracticalexample.I’llbeopeningthetestpagefrommywebsitetoseewhatdetailsaregettingcaptured. Here’sthescreenshotafterthepageload. Justfiltertherequestbytyping“collect”… Bydefault,youcanseetheGETrequestcontaining“t=pageview”,that’sthepageviewhit,whileother’sareeventhit.(needcustomsetup) Ifyouhaveenabledtheremarketingfeatureinyourgoogleanalytics,thenyou’llseea302redirectto“https://stats.g.doubleclick.net/r/collect”whichinternallyredirects(307)to“https://www.google.com/ads/ga-audiences” tofetchtheDoubleClickdata.   Othergreattoolisagoogleanalyticsdebuggeradd-on.Thiswillgiveyouthedetailedhitdatainformationinthebrowserconsole. WhataretheHitLimits? SinceGoogleanalyticscollectslargeamountsofdata(nearly500+dimension&metricsarepopulated),itdoeshavesomelimitations.EvensomeoftheselimitationsareextendedtoGoogleAnalytics360. Tosummarizehere’sagreatview: Let’stakealookatitonebyone. Property-LevelLimits: IfyouareNOTaGoogleAnalytics360user,youcanprocess 10millionhits/month/property You’llreceiveanemailfromgoogleifyoueverreachthatlimittoupgradeyouraccountortosampleyourdata. User&SessionLevelLimits: Ifyouareusinggtag.js,analytics.js,Android SDK,iOSSDKormeasurementprotocol,thelimitsareasfollows: 200,000hitsper user perday 500hitsper session Ifyouareusingga.jsoranylegacylibraries,thelimitsareasfollows: 500hitsper session NOTE:Additionalhitswillnotbeprocessedforanyoftheabovelibrariesifyougoabovetheselimits.    TimingHitLimits: Thetiminghitsalsoincludesitespeedhits(forgtag.js/analytics.js/ga.js).Thesehitshaveseparatelimitsasfollows. 10,000or1%ofthetotalnumberofpageviewsprocessed(whicheverisgreater)/Property/Day.   Forlowerhitcounts,limitationsareasbelow: Pageviews(PreviousDay) Maximumnooftiminghitsprocessed 0–1,000 100 1,000–100,000 10%ofthetotalpageviews 100,000–1,000,000 10,000 1,000,000+ 1%ofthetotalpageviews   ConcurrentHitLimits: Ifyouaresendingtoomanyhitsatonce,thesearelimitsimposedfortheseconcurrenthitstopreventtheclientsfromsendingdatatooquickly. Eachlibrarytrackerhaslimitstosenddataconcurrentlyasfollows gtag.js&analytics.js– 20hits/trackerobjectthatarereplenishedatarateof2hitspersecond.(exceptecommercehits) ga.js– 10hits/trackerobjectthatarereplenishedatarateof1hitpersecond(onlyeventhit) AndroidSDK– 60hits/appinstancethatarereplenishedatarateof1hitevery2seconds(exceptecommercehits) iOSSDK– 60hits/propertythatarereplenishedatarateof1hitevery2seconds (exceptecommercehits) Toknowmore,checkgooglelimitationdocshere. WhereCanISeeTheTotalHitsForMyProperty&View? Yes,youcanviewthetotalnumberofhitsyou’resendingtoyourproperty&yourview.Here’showyoucandoit. PropertyLevelHits GoToAdmin>Selectyourproperty>Propertysettings. Goto“PropertyHitVolume”Section.   ViewLevelHits: Createacustomreport&add“Hits”asametricwith“page”(orany)dimension. Here’syou’llgetallthetotalhitnumberfortheviewirrespectiveofittype. ConfusionDebunked:Hits,Pageviews&Sessions. Manyusersgetconfusedbetweenhits,pageviews,sessions.Thebetterwaytovisualizeitistotryoutthegoogleanalyticssimulationtool. Aswehaveseendifferenttypesof“Hits”senddifferentdatatogoogleanalyticsservers. Pageviews(orpageviewhits)isjustthenumberofpageviewhitssentforaparticularpage.So,basicallyitisjustasubsetofallhittypes. Sessionsarethegroupofuserinteractions(orhits)withyourwebsitethattakesplacewithinagiventimeframe. Toknowmoreofthesedifferences,Iwouldhighlysuggestyoutocheckoutthisarticlerelatedtopageviewsvssessionsvsusers. FinalThoughts Youcantrycheckingthehitdataforvariousothersitestoo.Thiswillgiveyouanideawhatallthingstheyaretracking&youshouldtoo. Thisopennatureofgoogleanalyticsdatacollectionviameasurementprotocolalsohasanegativeeffectlikespamhitsdataorinsecurityfordatatransfer.ThisisthereasonwhylargecompanieslikeAmazon,eBay,targetpreferadobeanalyticsortheirowninternalanalyticstrackingsetup. Mostanalyticstoolsdefinetheirpricingbasedonthenumber ofhitsyou’resendingtotheirservers.Sobasedonyourrequirementyoucanchoosewhatalldatatotrack. Fornow,Ihopeyoucannowunderstand&debugyourtrackinginabetterwaythanbefore.Letmeknowifyouhaveanyissueswhiledebuggingyourhits. RitwikB RitwikisaWebAnalyst&ProductMarketer.Helovestowritetechnical&easytounderstandblogsforMarketers&Entrepreneurs.FocusedonGoogleAnalytics,FacebookAnalytics,TagManagement,Marketing&AutomationScripts&more. GoogleCertifiedProfessional. 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