Released in October of 2008, advanced segments for Google Analytics did more to bring the free tool up to speed with established paid tools like Omniture and Web Trends than any other single previous feature.  It gives users the ability to define audience segments quickly and easily, and then apply those segments to any report in Google Analytics.   The result is vastly more actionable reports.

Now you can quickly know:

• The percentage of “branded” search engine traffic (visitors who reached your site by searching for you by name) and their specific activities
• The traffic sources that are delivering quality traffic such as those that demonstrate engagement or directly convert
• The top content viewed by members of a specific audience segment such as visitors from California or New York, new visitors or repeat visitors, paid search or organic search visitors, or those driven via a specific email blast.
• The behavior of visitors who access your site via an iPhone or other mobile device
• The most common actions taken by those who access the site directly
• The most popular products across each key audience segment mapped to traffic source or landing page

The above is just a small sample of what can be revealed.  Examples of criteria used to set up a segment might include, page title, organic keywords, paid keywords, internal search terms, network location, campaigns, entry page or exit page, product categories or even individual product purchases.

Fully utilizing advanced segments provides true context to your data so you can easily evaluate your site’s ability to communicate to and convert specific groups.  It should be among the first steps of any web analytics initiative.  Your segments should be regularly reviewed and updated to take into account new abilities to more clearly identify a segment.  However, when updating segments, be sure to keep track of when those updates took place and factor this in as data totals may shift up or down.  For instance, adding a new traffic source to a segment can markedly increase visit totals.

Start using advance segments today and watch your reports take on a whole new meaning.

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