There are a lot of different reasons as to why you only want to track specific metrics from visitors that come from specific referring sites.  Here are a few different ideas:

• Track social media efforts (Twitter, Facebook, Digg, StumbleUpon, etc),
• Track reputation management (Posts you make on sites defending your site/product/viewpoint),
• Track major news outlets (If your site/product/idea goes national),
• Track other linking efforts (See if blogs you comment on, forums you post on, etc drive traffic to your site),
• Track multiple advertising efforts and compare them to each other (Banner ads on sitex.com, sitey.net, and sitez.org)

There are many things that you can track, and drilling down into all of your referring sites in Google Analytics can take a lot of valuable time if you do it manually.

Using Advanced Segments in Google Analytics

One of the more powerful features of Google Analytics is Advanced Segments.  Here is how Google describes them: “Segments let you group certain types of visits together.”  Then, you can compare these advanced segments against the default “All Visits”, other advanced segments, or any other metric that Google allows you to see in Analytics.

So, follow along to learn how to setup advanced segments in Analytics, how to use them, as well as get a link to an advanced segment I already created to track news outlets, that you can easily modify and apply to your Google Analytics account.

How to Setup Advanced Segments in Google Analytics

Here are the step by step instructions for how to create advanced segments in Analytics.  If you want to go the easy route, then you can use the link I provide below to be sent to Analytics automatically with an advanced segment already set up.  Then, you just need to change it to suit your needs, rename it, apply it to the website profiles that you want, and then save it.

Link to pre-made Advanced Segment for Google Analytics
(Opens in new window… you must be signed into a Google Account that has Analytics).

Step 1: Open Google Analytics.

Step 2: Choose an Account (the one with the website you want to track).

Step 3: Choose “View Report” on the site you want to edit.

Step 4: In the sidebar click “Advanced Segments”.

Step 5: Click on “+ Create new custom segment”.

Step 6:  Here is where you can choose whatever you want to track.  On the left hand side is a list of various dimensions and metrics.  For this tutorial, I am going to show you how to segment only visits from certain domains.  Use your creativity and find other advanced segments to help you get the most out of your stats.  So, for segmenting visitors from a specific domain, in the “type to filter” area, type “Source”.

Step 7:  Drag “Source” from the filter area to “dimension or metric”.

Step 8: Set “Condition” to “Matches Exactly” and under “Value”, you can use the drop down for a list your top traffic sources, or you can just type in a root domain like “cnn.com” or “searchenginewhisperer.com”… no need to enter the whole URL of the page you want to track.

Step 9: Then, to add more domains, click –> “Add “or” statement …. and repeat the process, with the new domain under “Value”.

Step 10: At the bottom, under “Name segment”, add a name, whatever you want. Then, under “Visible in:”, use the drop down to choose other website profiles you want to use this advanced segment in.

That is it!  You have now created your first advanced segment in Google Analytics!

Now, I bet you want to know how to use it, huh?

How to Use an Advanced Segment in Google Analytics

Step 1: Load up a website profile that you added the advanced segment to, just like you would to check your stats.

Step 2: In the upper left area of the large graph, there’s a drop down that is called “Advanced Segments” and has “All Visits” chosen.  Open that drop down.

Step 3: De-select “All Visits” and under “Custom Segments” choose the segment you want to look at.

Step 3: Then click “Apply”, and your stats will all update and only show info for those domains (or other metrics) you specified when creating the segment.

Enjoy! Now you know how to create and use advanced segments to drill down further in your stats in Google Analytics.

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