What’s this about Google Analytics and AMP Reporting?

This is an extract from The Week In Search SEO Update for w/e 19th May 2017.

Google Analytics has made strides in updating its AMP data reporting to unify users and remove some of the current duplication which affects key metrics, such as sessions, visits, bounce rates and time on site. This will help site owners to Know Your Numbers.

#SEO #GoogleAnalytics #AMP #KnowYourNumbers #AccurateData

Google Analytics Enhances Support for AMP

Google Analytics AMP Support Summary:

  • Google Analytics has announced it is enhancing support for unifying same-user sessions across AMP and non-AMP pages.
  • This will only affect AMP and non-AMP sessions on the same domain.
  • If a user uses AMP’s, or other provider’s cache, they will still be double-counted.
  • This relates to tracking issues first mentioned in TWIS 3rd March 2017.

TWIS 19 May 2017 Google Analytics AMP Enhancements

Actions to take:

  1. There are no actions for implementation. It will be rolled out with no need for intervention.
  2. On the Analytics reporting side, snapshot users / sessions etc now, before it rolls out, and compare to data once it has rolled out.
  3. Expect user numbers & sessions to drop if you have AMP & non-AMP pages on the same domain.
  4. New user numbers may increase as new user IDs get issued. Pages per session and Bounce Rates may improve as the data aggregates two sessions into one.
  5. If AMP pages are hosted on a separate cache, stay tuned, Google is working to fix.
  6. Contact me to discuss this, or for help with implementation.

AMP Analytics Discussion:

Double counting AMP users is a pain in the what-not. It inflates users and sessions unnaturally, while depressing other key metrics like pages per session and bounce rate. You should be aware of this when SEO Goal Setting and Monitoring.

Google has worked reasonably quickly to fix this single aspect of the issue, but much more work is needed to be done to fix the issue when AMP traffic crosses domain boundaries. The fix for that is more tricky, since, in theory, it means breaking the internet. I haven’t tested but I’m also wondering if AMP traffic is identified as a different Adsense user as it crosses the domain boundary. If it isn’t then this is a stronger incentive for Google to fix. If it is, then it’ll be “in the pile”.

More info:

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