Tag It Right
This small snippet of code on a website collects data for platforms like GA4 and Meta.
What is a tag (tracking tag, pixel, etc.)?
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We use Google Tag Manager, a free system for managing tracking and analytics tags on a website without having to edit the site's code.
Tags can also be hard-coded on a website, but we use GTM so that we don't need to get a website developer involved every time a change is needed.
Instead of, "Can you pull the data?", this better question helps analytics provide a data pull that is useful.
What is the specific decision we are trying to make with this data?
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This shifts the conversation from data retrieval to purpose. It helps Analytics deliver insights aligned to goals and strategies, not just numbers.
This attribution method spreads credit across multiple interactions in the user journey.
What is data-driven or multi-touch attribution?
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GA4 isn't the perfect attribution solution, but the MTA model has improved with their data-driven attribution model reporting capabilities.
Unlike single-touch models (like last-click attribution) that focus only on the first or last interaction, MTA offers a complete picture of how different marketing efforts work together.
Based on various models (e.g., linear, time-decay), credit is distributed across these touchpoints, providing a weighted value for each one's contribution to the final conversion.
When a tracking issue is identified, this is the first thing you should do.
What is 'reach out to the lead analyst for a discussion?'
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Let's be honest... tracking issues WILL happen. Technology is imperfect. However, an open, honest conversation is needed when this inevitably happens. We don't point fingers, and we all own our mistakes if it was indeed an oversight.
Things like website updates/changes, media plan changes, inconsistent or mispelled naming conventions, and more can lead to tracking issues or data outages.
Most integrated client dashboards are built in this software today.
What is Looker Studio?
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Looker Studio is a free, user-friendly data visualization and business intelligence tool from Google that converts data into customizable reports and dashboards. It allows users to connect to a wide variety of data sources, create interactive reports without coding, and share these insights with others.
This naming convention, added at the end of a URL, keeps campaign tracking clean and consistent across platforms, identifies where website traffic originated, and can be used to help analyze marketing effectiveness.
What are UTMs?
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For most integrated clients, the analytics team builds a UTM generator. We couldn't do this without your input - thank you!
The "fields" or "criteria" for UTMs come from the media strategy and open conversation. Reviewing and aligning to the fields in the tool early is important to reduce rework.
Instead of asking, 'Why is performance down?', this information provides the start of a productive analysis.
What is context?
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Adding information with the request, like the specific metric, the timeframe you are referring to, the associated channel and campaign, what you heard or saw that prompted the request, what changed in the strategy, budget, or media mix during that period, etc., helps us avoid chasing noise and helps isolate actual drivers of performance change.
Traffic coming from AI platforms (like ChatGPT) appears in this Channel in GA4.
What is Referral?
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However, if a user is engaged in a "private conversation", offered by some AI tools like ChatGPT, the user will default into "Direct" traffic.
Over time, we may see Google change the default channel groupings to be more specific, as we saw with the launch of Organic/Paid Social with the launch of GA4. We can also create custom channel groupings ("AI Search Traffic", for example) for clients that need it!
Our best practice is to add that custom channel grouping.
This team translates performance data into insights.
Who is the analytics AND media team?
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This is a shared responsibility!
Analytics and media act as accountability partners to the measurement plan. Both departments are equally responsible for client performance. Channel insights are developed by the SME on the media team in consultation with analytics. These should be included in the insight document and sent to analytics once completed.
Each team should partner on reviewing results together on a standard cadence throughout the campaign (weekly or biweekly meetings, based on cadence, with guidance from the PM team to ensure timely delivery). Insights require inputs from media and analytics (when website data is managed), with final review bythe account team.
Final QC is done by analytics to determine the accuracy of reporting. We aim to tell an impactful story that relates back to the overarching brand framework, marketing strategy, and business objectives. Insights should be more than just a metric.
This visual planning step helps design a dashboard before development.
What is a wireframe?
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Sometimes, a wireframe isn't necessary. When Analytics is involved in the strategic discussion early, we can get creative and showcase our data design superpowers. When dashboards are thought of as "table stakes" or we're asked to "build one like this client has", a wireframe usually isn't required. This happens sometimes, and that's okay!
However, we LOVE to express our creativity with data viz, and wireframes are a great way for us to demonstrate out-of-the-box thinking. It also provides a much greater sense of fulfillment, allowing us to feel connected to the work and deliver unexpected dashboard experiences.
This document is used as a playbook to begin building the dashboard.
What is a measurement plan?
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Measurement plans serve multiple purposes, as it is also used for defining how success is measured, and which data points are required for tracking/reporting.
Instead of asking, 'Can you make a dashboard for this?', what’s a better way to frame the request?
What is 'the challenge is XYZ. Is a dashboard the right tool to deliver on the challenge'?
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This allows analytics to help guide the client on the decisions this dashboard helps us make, how often it will be used, etc. This ensures the dashboard is purposeful and actionable, not just a data dump.
Also, don't forget to ask if there will be implications for costs/technology fees!
Many media platforms often count this type of conversion even if the user never clicks the ad.
What is a view-through conversion?
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View-through conversions are a metric that supports the attribution discussion with clients. Though they rely on cookies, it is still an impactful way to show how each platform touchpoint leads to outcomes, even at the top of the funnel.
The best way for media and analytics to stay aligned on success metrics.
What is a shared measurement framework?
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Oftentimes, the measurement plan is built and forgotten. The measurement plan drives performance and optimization plans. Keeping this document up to date and discussing it frequently will ensure we remain aligned with shifting strategies, media plans, and definitions of success.
These are the main differentiators between Power BI and Looker Studio.
What is the cost, improved privacy & security, more advanced capabilities, better storage/processing options (and speed), and/or integrates with Teams?
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See the Features comparison slide in the Analytics 101 Training Deck for more information!
The best time to discuss tracking requirements and naming standards to avoid problems later.
What is at the beginning of building the strategy?
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Referencing the Media and Analytics Strategic Process doc (shout out Ryan and Claire for the refresh - more to come on this soon!), this conversation should begin immediately, during the Strategy and Media Planning step of the process. It will be reviewed and finalized during the tracking, tagging, and QC step.
Instead of asking, 'Can you add this new metric?', what’s a better question that promotes alignment?
What is, 'how does this new metric connect to our existing KPIs or objectives?'
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This encourages strategic consistency and avoids diluting focus with redundant or disconnected metrics.
When Meta and GA4 both claim a conversion, this is the main reason they disagree.
What are the different attribution models (different attribution windows are also acceptable)?
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This is expected in the results, and should encourage discussion/collaboration as both sources of data have rationale.
A frequent point of client confusion is why this happens. Explaining the attribution models and windows is important during the measurement plan review. Ongoing education is often required.
While website conversion tracking is best reported on from Google Analytics for the most in-depth eCommerce and goal tracking, content optimization is better reported on using this platform.
What is BrightEdge (or VWO, etc.)?
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BrightEdge is an enterprise-level SEO and content performance platform that uses AI to help large organizations improve their organic search visibility, content strategy, and revenue. It provides a unified platform for keyword research, content optimization, competitor analysis, and performance measurement, which helps digital marketing teams manage large-scale SEO initiatives more effectively.
Ask Cami if you are interested in learning more!
The biggest red flag in a dashboard when metrics don’t match across sources.
What is an inconsistent data definition, a broken data connection, incorrect naming standards usage, or missing context?
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It's important to have an open discussion when reviewing the results of the dashboard. Data definitions and naming standards are the most frequent cause of "the data being wrong".
Does the analytics team make mistakes? Sometimes, yes, we all do. However, we frequently see clients and other CoPs say "the dashboard is wrong", and the analyst takes the first punch.
That comes with the territory of "owning" the dashboards. However, when the data is wrong, it should be an open discussion about "why", rather than simply "fix it". This encourages more trust, collaboration, and ownership of the root issues, and helps to avoid them moving forward.
This code snippet provides information on a website user's behavior.
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What is a Buy Now click pixel (also acceptable "purchase", or "conversion")?
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Most ad platforms that provide pixels supply the tag via HTML. This is then used to build the "tag" in GTM, where the action the users take (pageview, click, purchase, etc.) is built as the "trigger". The data is then sent back to the ad platform once users complete the tracked action.
Instead of asking, 'Can you double-check this number?', what’s a better way to engage Analytics?
What is, 'can we walk through the data source and calculation logic together?'
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This turns verification into collaboration, helping both teams understand the methodology and prevent future mismatches.
This report type in GA4 helps analyze how users move between channels and pages before converting on the web.
What is a path exploration report?
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A GA4 path exploration report is a tool in the Google Analytics 4 "Explore" section that visualizes how users navigate through a website or app by showing the sequence of events, pages, or screens they interact with.
It allows you to analyze both forward paths from a starting point (like the homepage) or backward paths to understand how users arrived at a specific goal or conversion event. This helps you uncover common user journeys, identify drop-off points, and improve the user experience.
This is the source of truth when platforms report different numbers.
What is the dashboard?
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We will display the agreed-upon source of truth metric in the dashboard accordingly.
Platform differences are expected (GA4 vs. Meta vs. Bridgtedge vs. etc.)! Agreement on the reporting source of truth should occur early, with client education/alignment provided along with the measurement plan. Both can be used in insights and data storytelling; however, both analyst and media specialist need to be aligned early and often, and display the appropriate metrics in the dashboard.
When building dashboards, data is connected to any of these four options.
What is manually (Google Sheets/Excel import), the source platform, ETL (Funnel.io), or a data warehouse?
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We want to avoid manual work whenever necessary. Not only because of the time factor, but also because it has the largest risk for errors.
A data warehouse is an excellent option as it improves dashboard performance (speed) and allows for advanced AI/ML capabilities.
Funnel.io is the ETL used by Marcus Thomas, giving us the ability to set data definitions, standards, and blend data sources BEFORE the data gets to the dashboard. This also improves dashboard performance and gives us "roll up" and "drill down" capabilities.
There are many reasons why we connect different sources differently. Budget, timelines, platform capabilities (such as API availability), and more. As such, nearly all clients and data challenges are unique. Because of these factors and caveats, it is important to have an analyst in the planning stages to account for these factors and plan accordingly.