Why You Should Be Using Shortcuts In Google Analytics
Everybody loves a shortcut. A faster way to get from here to there, a cute little icon on your computer that launches your favorite program, they are typically easily understood. Unfortunately in Google Analytics, shortcuts are misunderstood. And… likely largely unused because of it.
No more! Just because something has a odd name, doesn’t mean it can’t be useful (I’m looking at you Bluetooth). Shortcuts are essentially just saved views in Google Analytics. For instance, if you are in the Acquisition > All Traffic > Source/Medium report looking at how people are getting to your site, you might want to break that out by device type.
That is, if most of your traffic is coming from search, you can then see search divided up by desktop, mobile and tablet devices. This is useful to understand behavior and create a great experience of your site for particular types of devices.
Add a secondary dimension of Device Category to your Source/Medium report
So, just add a secondary dimension of “Device Category” to the report. Now you can see each source category by device type. If you click away from this report and come back, that secondary dimension is gone. To save this view, just create a shortcut. Problem solved.
Now the sources are broken out by the type of device
There is more you can do with each report in Google Analytics. And, once you find a view you like or want to come back to, you can save it. Oh, and you can share it too.
If you’re ready to get started, I can’t wait to show you how. I’ve created a 5-video training to help you find all that gold currently waiting for you in your Google Analytics.
