Table Filter:
Table Filter, a powerful feature in Google Analytics, provides deep analysis to the users about how to perform analytics within the interface. However, there are many users who are still not aware of this amazing feature, which is why this blog is intended to spread some knowledge about the oh-so-awesome Table Filter and its uses.
There are times when we prepare only single dimension report, as it comes by default in Google Analytics. But, this can be improved by adding secondary dimension in the Analytics report, as seen in the screenshot below. With the help of Table Filters, one can easily make reports in multiple dimensions, that too in a much efficient manner.
Filtering Standard Reports with Advanced Table Filters
Click on the ‘advanced’ link as seen in the screenshot below.
There are four levels shown in the above screenshot.
- First Level: Include or Exclude
- Second Level: Dimension or Metric
- Third Level: Matching Type
- Fourth Level: Filter Field
An Overview of Google Analytics Profile Filters:
Google Analytics offers 3 main ways to segment data: Custom Variables, Advanced Segments and Profile Filters.
Now, we will analyze these profile filters and will help you get to know them better.
Two Types of Profile Filters:
In general there are two different types of filters: Predefined and Custom Profile Filters.
Predefined Filter :
There are four types of predefined filters
- Exclude/Include only traffic from the ISP domain
- Exclude/Include only traffic from the IP address
- Exclude/Include only traffic from the subdirectories
- Exclude/Include only traffic from the hostname
Custom Filter Types
In the above screenshot, you can see that the traffic is coming from two different sources:
Content and Traffic
Campaign or Ad Group
We can Exclude/Include only traffic based on a specific dimension: related to ‘content and traffic’ and ‘campaign or ad group’ custom field.
There are many ways to customize a traffic source according to the below chart.
- Lowercase/Uppercase: converts the contents of the field to all lowercase or uppercase characters; only affects letters
- Search & Replace: search for a pattern in a specific field and replace with an alternate form
- Advanced: build a new field from one or two other fields; advanced filters further explained
Useful Google Analytics Profile Filters
There are many ways to use filter property. Given below are 10 such ways that are useful for a wide range of web businesses. It depends how to use them in different situations.
Include Your IP Address:
Including filter on your IP address can prove to be very useful for you. This is quite a common filter, and in all Google Analytics accounts this filter is available. A great way to test goals, filters and even a complete implementation, this filter is surely needed by almost all types of businesses. The filter looks as follows:
Exclude IP Addresses:
Excluding IP address is done to stop the data report from internal traffic. Let’s take an example of a big organisation where every employee has set the company’s website as the home page in their browser. This can easily impact the key metrics, bounce rate and several other factors which are important for report preparation. Please see the below chart.
If you need to filter out a range of IP addresses, this IP address range site may be useful.
Include Specific Region(s)
If you website targets international audience and in case you are interested in filtering out specific regions, then Google Analytics profile filters can make this a very easy task:
Include Only Traffic to Specific Subdirectory
If you want to filter your blog traffic which includes a blog on a website section, e.g. https://www.brandconn.com/blog/, then this filter can come in handy. Please see the demonstration given below:
This blog has covered only a small part of Google Analytics, and there are many more areas that are needed to be explored and analyzed.
So, stay tuned to get more updates on the world of Google Analytics and increase your knowledge!
