- Tracking Google Analytics events with Tag Manager in our Help Center
- Auto event tracking with Google Tag Manager at Justin Cutroni’s Analytics Talk blog
- Event Listener documentation and Event Tracking Macros documentation in our Help Center
No Code Required: Auto-Event Tracking with Google Tag Manager
Browsing, Sharing and Importing Analytics Insights Now Just A Click Away
More magic in Slides: editable themes and widescreen presentations
With widescreen presentations, you get a ton of new space to fill with words, charts, tables or even a simple, beautiful image.
Since the majority of monitors and displays are now widescreen, new presentations will be widescreen by default. You can change the size of your slides using the pull down menu in the theme chooser, or by visiting Page setup in the File menu.
Every presentation you make with Slides has a theme that comes with a set of preset colors, font styles and sizes, backgrounds, etc. to give you a consistent look and feel throughout your deck.
One of your top requests has been to customize these presets throughout your presentation. With editable master slides, you can now easily tailor how content appears on every slide by selecting "Edit master" from the Slide menu. For example, you can set all of your header fonts to Alconica, make all of your first level bullets bold, and add a logo in the bottom right corner.
Voila! The thumbnail previews alongside the master show that all of these changes are made instantly across all of the slides in your presentation.
And that’s not all. Each theme consists of a variety of slide layouts, which can also now be individually customized or created from scratch.
We hope that these new ways to customize Slides help you tell better stories, and look forward to seeing the beautiful themes that you come up with. Look out for these updates throughout the course of the day.
Since so many of you have been requesting custom themes, we want to see what you can do! Share your own custom theme on Google+ with the hashtag #mygoogleslides and we'll feature the most impressive & beautiful presentations on our +page.
Posted by: Michael Thomas, Software Engineer
New Acquisitions Reporting & Channels Shows A More Complete Picture Of Your Users & Marketing
- Acquisition Overview quick summary view of traffic acquisition
- Channels Report detailed view on a per channel basis
- Which channels acquire the most users
- Which channels acquire users who engage most with your site
- Which channels acquire users who result in the most conversions
- System Defined Channel exactly matches Direct
- System Defined Channel exactly matches Referral
We're thrilled with the response from users so far. Here's what Caleb Whitmore, Founder & CEO of Analytics Pros (a Google Analytics Certified Partner) had to say:
"The new Acquisition, Behavior, Conversion approach sharpens the focus for digital analysts on what matters most: how potential customers are acquired, how they behave, what their experience consists of, and last but not least, the outcomes from those behaviors - conversions. We will benefit from the streamlined architecture and the enhanced focus on data that matters afforded by this addition to Google Analytics."
Best practices for succeeding with mobile
Consumers continue to embrace smartphones and constant connectivity at breakneck speed. Over the past two years, smartphone penetration in the US nearly doubled from 31% to 56%1 while smartphones as a percentage of new handset sales have surged from 50% to 85%.2
As people continue to make their smartphones a central part of their everyday lives, marketers have increasingly woken up to this consumer reality, but many still struggle with how to focus their efforts. To address this, we released The Mobile Playbook last year to help marketers better understand how they can win with mobile. And just as the industry has changed over the last year, we know that the best practices and considerations for winning in mobile have evolved too, which is why we’re relaunching The Mobile Playbook today.
We’ve spoken to hundreds of marketers to understand what mobile areas they still struggle with, talked with leaders from around the industry, and searched high and low for the best examples of businesses that have succeeded in creating great mobile experiences.
The Mobile Playbook outlines five questions every business should address when it comes to developing successful mobile strategies:
- How does mobile change our value proposition?
- How does mobile impact our digital destinations?
- Is our organization adapting to mobile?
- How should our marketing and attribution adapt to mobile?
- How can we connect with multi-screening audiences?
- How to address the showrooming challenge head on.
Industry veteran Michael Scharff shares strategies on how retailers can address showrooming, where mobile consumers use physical stores to check out products in person but end up buying them online or somewhere else. Scharff touches upon strategies such as selective price-matching and ideas on how to enhance the in-store experience for mobile consumers. - The age-old question of when to build a mobile website and when to build a mobile app.
A mobile site is still the #1 priority. Advanced marketers are now taking a step further by tapping into the full potential of apps to deepen customer relationships and drive repeat sales or customer loyalty. - What it really means to build multi-screen marketing campaigns.
84% of all multi-screen shopping experiences involve mobile, and most of these interactions start on a mobile device.3 Marketers now need to see mobile as the first screen when it comes to integrated, multi-screen campaigns. Brands like American Apparel and My M&Ms share how they made mobile core to their broader digital marketing efforts. - How marketers can really understand the full value of their mobile efforts across devices, calls and in stores.
Marketers now are realizing that mobile doesn’t have a conversion problem, but a measurement problem. We’re seeing more examples of companies, like Myntra, adidas and Extra Space Storage, identify and measure all of the ways that mobile is driving value for their businesses and building new attribution models to make sure they’re investing correctly in mobile.
Posted by Jason Spero, Director of Global Performance Solutions
1 Google & Ipsos Our Mobile Planet, 2011-2013
3 Google & Ipsos Multi-screen Consumer Research, 2012
50 million lines of code and counting: supporting students in open source
To date, the program has produced 50 million lines of open source code from more than 8,500 student developers—and in 2014, we'll mark the 10th anniversary of Google Summer of Code.
To celebrate the previous nine years of student contributions and set the stage for the best Google Summer of Code yet, we’re launching 10 things to make the program better than ever. Here’s a peek at what we’ll be up to, stay tuned to the Open Source blog for updates:
- We’re planning 10 visits to countries with the highest participation throughout the year to promote the program and celebrate local students and mentors.
- A 10 percent increase in the student stipend, bringing the amount to $5,500.
- We’re also accepting 10 percent more students than ever before—more than 1,300 students will spend their summer coding as part of the program next year
- A 10-year reunion mentor summit held at Google’s Mountain View campus for our Google Summer of Code organization alumni.
We’re excited to be running a program that touches a lot of lives around the world every year, and we want to celebrate all of the accomplishments we’ve seen from our participants.
We’re also committed to getting younger students involved in open source software. For the fourth consecutive year, in November we’ll run Google Code-in, an international contest designed to introduce 13-17 year old students to the world of open source development. You don’t have to be a coder to get involved in this contest; there are a variety of ways students can contribute to open source projects.
Each year, open source software is becoming more important to governments and industries such as healthcare, gaming and technology. We believe that investing in youth and open source will improve both technology and society. Applications for Google Summer of Code open in March and students interested in Google Code-in can apply starting November 18. See our Open Source blog post for more details on both programs. Here’s to the next year in open source!
Posted by Carol Smith, Open Source Programs Office
Get more out of Google Shopping with Channel Intelligence
Channel Intelligence is a feed management service acquired by Google in February. Channel Intelligence works with many merchants to deliver high quality product feeds across all major shopping engine services, including Product Listing Ads. Channel Intelligence manages feeds, optimizes bidding and provides data quality monitoring for clients. These services can help with increasing Return on Ad Spend while improving the performance of individual products on shopping engines.
Here are some best practices Channel Intelligence uses to help merchants prepare for a successful holiday with Product Listing Ads:
- Make sure your data quality is accurate. A good data feed is important. Confirm that all of your products are correctly submitted to Google and approved. Review policies for such things as non-family safe items.
- Get ready for traffic across devices. Shoppers will be on-the-go throughout the holidays. Reach where shoppers are by opting into mobile bidding as part of your overall holiday strategy.
- Prepare for Cyber Monday. Shoppers are going to be looking for the best deals on products. If you are planning to have holiday promotions for your products, there’s a separate attribute for promotional text. More details can be found in the feed specifications at the Merchant Center Help Center.
Join Channel Intelligence for a webinar on October 15th at 11am PT
The team at Channel Intelligence will share knowledge and experience with Product Listing Ads to help you prepare for the holidays. The team is giving insight on how merchants can get more from their product campaigns this season. Topics will cover where multichannel retail is heading, how you can improve your ad content, and how to apply best practices to your campaigns.
If you are interested in the webinar, register here.
To learn more about Channel Intelligence services, visit www.channelintelligence.com. If you are new to Product Listing Ads and would like step-by-step instructions on how you can get started, check out our Get Started Guide.
Posted by TT Ramgopal, Head of Channel Intelligence
*Comscore, Inc., 2012 Holiday Season To Date vs. Corresponding Days in 2011, NonTravel (Retail) Spending, November 2012
The new HP Chromebook, made with Google
Earlier today, HP introduced the HP Chromebook 11. Designed and built in partnership with our friends at HP, it has all of the speed, simplicity and security benefits you'd expect from a Chromebook, and some unique design elements that address many of the challenges people face with computers today.
First, a laptop should be light and mobile. So the new Chromebook is really thin with no extra fluff. It weighs in at just over two pounds—one of the lightest laptops on the market. There are also no sharp edges so nothing digs into your wrists while you type. And when you’re traveling, you don’t need to throw an extra charger into your bag. The HP Chromebook 11 is powered by a micro-USB charger, which can also be used to juice up your Android phone or tablet.
Second, a computer should look good—something you’re proud to take out at a coffee shop. So the new Chromebook has a sleek, distinctive and super simple look. The fanless design means it doesn’t need any grills for venting. And it comes in a variety of colors to match your mood (or your wardrobe).
And there are a bunch of other things that we hope will make your computing experience even more awesome:
- Brilliant display. Often when folks gather around a screen, everyone tries to gently nudge the computer in their own direction so they can see better. No more nudging. The new Chromebook's screen has a 176-degree viewing angles so you can see even when looking at it almost completely sideways. And the super bright display brings all of your favorite photos, shows and videos to life.
- Light but sturdy. We wanted the Chromebook to hold up well against everyday bumps and bruises. So it has a magnesium frame that makes it incredibly sturdy. You can hold it from a single corner without it bending or flexing.
- Finely-tuned speakers. Many computers have speakers on the bottom, which is great if you have ears in your lap. Instead, the speakers on the new Chromebook are under the keyboard, which means the sound is crisp, clear and pointed up towards your ears.
- Goodies built-in. And, of course, many Google apps come built-in, including 100GB of Google Drive cloud storage (free for two years) and a 60-day free trial of Google Play Music All Access.
This Chromebook is crafted with the same obsessive attention to detail as the Chromebook Pixel. But we worked hard with HP to keep the price low: the new HP Chromebook 11 is available for just $279.
Look for it starting today at Best Buy, Amazon, Google Play and HP Shopping in the U.S., as well as at Currys, PC World and many other retailers in the U.K. It will be available in other countries that sell Chromebooks in time for the holidays.
So if you’ve been looking for a computer that makes it easier to get stuff done (and look good doing it), we hope you give the new HP Chromebook 11 a try—or add it to your gift list this holiday season. We designed it to make computing faster, simpler and more secure, for everyone.
Posted by Caesar Sengupta, VP, Product Management
The cultural catwalk: 5000+ new works in the Cultural Institute
Fabrics are the starting point of many designs. You can see this in the wonderful costumes added by the Textile Museum of Canada to the Google Art Project. Highlights include a kimono from Japan, a cape from Polynesia and an 1800s jacket with beautiful detail from Greece. The creation of these fabrics is highly skilled work; in an online exhibition, The Craft Revival Trust gives us an insight into the 5,000-year-old Indian textile tradition which creates the prints, motifs and colors that are still used today, while the The Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg exhibits quilts of delicate beauty.
If regalia and royal jewels are more your thing, then then be sure to see new exhibits from La Venaria Reale in Italy and the Palace of Versailles in France. Zoom in at brushstroke level to the gigapixel painting of Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia to appreciate the jewellery, metallics, fabrics and lace of the King’s royal mantle, scepter and crown. And accessories were as important in the 17th century as they are today: an online exhibition entitled “Louis XIV: the construction of a political image” curated by experts in Versailles features an amazing wax portrait moulded from the monarch’s face, complete with a real wig.
The fashion world has long taken inspiration from tribal traditions. In a new photographic archive named "African ceremonies,” the diversity and beauty of 100+ unique African cultures is on full display—the work of two world-class artists who spent 30 years criss-crossing the continent. From the painted Karo Dancers of Ethiopia to The Hands of the Ashanti King, you'd be hard-pressed to find more elaborate body art and ceremonial dress.
You can also browse the interiors of the first two museums in China to open their doors to Street View; enjoy our first collection of children’s art from Norway; learn about Sumatra’s Pustaha book of spells reflecting the wisdom of nine generations of magicians; or simply sit back and let yourself be taken on a tour by a museum director through one of the 12 new galleries they’ve created. With 5,400 new items to explore, there’s some style inspiration for all of us!
Posted by Piotr Adamczyk, Program Manager, Google Cultural Institute
Google Shopping goes local
Recently, we began rolling out two new local features for Google Shopping. The first is local availability for Product Listing Ads on desktop and smartphones. When someone searches for a product on Google, she may see a Product Listing Ad for a local store. When she clicks on the ad, she’ll arrive at a local storefront where she can browse a large selection of the store’s inventory before she visits in person.
For example, someone searching for a new fragrance may see an ad letting her know it’s available at a nearby store. After clicking the ad, she’ll see product and availability information for that fragrance, along with similar items in stock at the store. She can search other available products, find store hours, and get directions. If she still needs more information, she can call the store or visit the website directly from the local storefront. Below are examples of how these features appear on mobile and desktop devices.
Both local availability for Product Listing Ads and the local storefront are based on a local product feed managed through Google Merchant Center, which allows retailers to provide users with up-to-date, item-level price and availability information for each physical store. Participating retailers pay for clicks on the Product Listing Ad to the local storefront on a cost-per-click (CPC) basis. All clicks and interactions on the local storefront are free. Retailers can also see separate local click performance.
These local features help retailers leverage the scale of Google Shopping to market items sold in their physical stores. They’re currently available to a limited set of US retailers, and we look forward to making them more widely available in the coming months. Please fill out this interest form if you are a US merchant and would like to participate in the future.
Paul Bankhead, Senior Product Manager, Google Shopping