Skip to content


How to Filter Google Checkout Transactions in Google Analytics

Hey everybody!

I’ve been neck deep in work (and loving every second of it) since landing the position of ecommerce manager at AVISPL, but I need to chug out a post – even if it’s a quick one  - just so I get back into the blogging mindset again.

One of the things we’ve been working on since I arrived is trying to close the loop on transaction reporting, specifically matching up final transaction and revenue numbers to reported phone and web sales.

Google Analytics ecommerce tracking was already implemented, but we weren’t recording the Google Checkout transactions – an easy enough fix, but then we wanted to filter out those transactions vs the transactions that took place on the site.

The problem was there’s no easy way to set up an advanced filter to show only those transactions that went through Google Checkout. The only difference in transactions was the length of the transaction number.

Regex to the rescue! Here’s what you do:

Go to the Goals > Ecommerce > Transactions tab in Google Analytics. In the on-page filter box, edit the filter and select regex, then add this regex code:

^\d{1,8}(\s+\d{1,8})*$

You can choose to include or exclude depending on your needs. Then simply save to dashboard and you’re good to go.

Posted in Analytics, Google.


Google Plus Direct Connect for SEO

Just watched a great hangout on setting up Google + badges and connecting your website to your Google + business page.

Big Whup, you say? You’ve already got the Google + button on your site, you don’t need no stinkin badge?

Well, yeah..you do.  Here’s why.

Google Direct Connect.

Once you install this badge to your site and link it to your Google + business page (doesn’t work with personal accounts as of now…bummer), you are automagically added a brand new search feature known as Direct Connect.

To see what this is, just go to Google and start your search with +’keyword’, e.g. +cat. Here’s an example of what you’ll see.

google direct connect

According to Jenny Murphy over at Google, the keywords being pulled in for use are contained in the Title of the Google + business page. So make sure you optimize those business page titles, people.

Another cool feature of this is that once you click on one of the ‘plus’ results, you go right to the Google plus business page, where you’re presented with a pop-up to follow that page. Nice.

google popup notification for google plus circles Installing the badge on your site is pretty simple, it just requires a few lines of code. You’ll have to sign up for a Google + platform account first, then get the code from the Google + Platform developer page.

As long as you have the Google Plus button already on your site, all you need to do is add one more line of code:

<g:plus href="https://plus.google.com/{plusPageUrl}"></g:plus>

		

Posted in Google.

Tagged with , , .


How to Force a Refresh in Google Chrome

This one is for all the developers who are still pulling their hair out because they can’t get Google Chrome to refresh the page.

I’m thinking that this mostly applies to sites that have an ‘expires-header’ set, but I could be wrong. Regardless of what the core issue is – you just want to refresh the damn page, so let’s get right to it.

Forcing Chrome to Refresh a Page

Step One – Open Up Dev Tools (ctrl + shift + i) or hit f12.

chrome dev tools bar

 

Next, click on the ‘network’ icon inside the dev tools bar, then look for the gear at the bottom right of the dev tools.

chrome network settings gear icon

You are so close to solving this nightmare now. Click that gear icon and you’ll be presented with a bunch of options (many of which are supremely cool, but let’s not worry about all of that now).

disable cache option in chrome dev tools

Click the ‘Disable cache’ box under the Network heading – on the right side of the page.

Reload the page - Hallelujah! You’ve just refreshed your cache for this page.

Posted in Google, Web Design.

Tagged with , , , , .