JB Articles

Event tracking and URL Parameters

What is event tracking?

Straight out of the box, Google Analytics records pageviews and not much else. When a user interacts with content without changing the URL, this can be captured using an “event.”  Events could include: file downloads, clicking a link, downloading a PDF, submitting a form, playing a video, etc.

Single Page Apps, Javascript and URL Fragments

What are Single Page Apps?

Single Page Apps are increasingly common, especially for highly interactive sites. Here different content is served through Javascript rather than HTML, so while it may look like there are different pages, they are (from a Google Analytics point of view) the same. This means that Google Analytics can’t record how long a user spends in a particular area or what they look at without some additional setup. 

Deepening User Insight: Scroll Tracking, Heatmaps, and Session Recording

Scroll tracking, heatmapping, and session recording

What it is 

Although Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics do have some facility for scroll tracking (seeing how far down the page users get), this is one area where other packages do it better, more easily, and in a more robust way. We usually use Hotjar for scroll tracking and heatmapping. 

Technical Code and Server Level Variables

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

How do I get my website more (and better) traffic?

SEO consists of two focus areas – (i) tasks for software developers and (ii) tasks for content developers and outreach specialists. The first group relates to implementation of website code and best practices for presenting your site’s content and structure to search engines. The second group relates to developing high value, long-tail search targeted content and working with other online entities.

Domain & Server Management: Canonical Tags

Domain & Server Management

Changing URLs is almost always bad. Keywords in URLs don’t really matter as much as most agencies think, and traffic is often lost with even the best redirects. Mindfully managing your page’s addresses, your domain(s), and how traffic is being routed is a critical piece of effective site management with clear impacts on SEO and its implementation.

Managing Subdomains

Parameters on internal links should never be used to generate click tracking information, as this can overwrite and interrupt the chain of activity recorded by Google Analytics. In particular, UTM parameters should never be employed on internal links.

Internal Redirects & Redirect Chains

Internal Redirects & Redirect Chains

What they are

Redirects occur when you the address for a page changes. For example, let’s say you have yoursite.com/overview and decide that this page would more accurately be called “about us”. So you change the URL in your CMS, save your changes, and the page can now be found at yoursite.com/about-us. Now, if someone who has the old address /overview, unless a redirect is created they will get a 404 (Not Found) error when they try to access it. Redirects are implemented to help route traffic to the new page address, much as a Change of Address form does when you move to a new house or apartment. 

Avoid Broken Links and Server Errors on Your Site

What it is

Broken links are those that result in a 404 File Not Found or 403 Forbidden Status code. In both cases, a visitor has clicked a link and been taken to a page where content is either not found or inaccessible.

Why it matters

Broken links are a usability issue and a negative quality signal. Missing content can also result in SEO value being lost from old but valuable and well-linked content

XML Sitemap, Robots.txt, and Hreflang Tags

What it is

Two key tools for helping search engines understand and properly index your website are an XML sitemap file and Robots.txt file.

• XML sitemap: An XML document that shows search engines the overall structure and inter-relationship of content on your site.
• Robots.txt: File declaring what should be excluded from indexing. 

Why it matters

In combination both files should provide a comprehensive and accurate picture of what content you want a search engine to index and how it is organized.

Structured Data and Render Checking

What is structured data?

Structured Data markup allows you to provide search engines with content level organizational information. (see examples below).

Why it matters

Making use of structured data help search engines parse content and display it inline in search engine results pages, leading to richer and more interesting results that usually see higher click through rates.