Your 3 Standard Google Analytics Views
Every time we set up a new Google Analytics account for a client, the first thing we do is create 3 views for each active analytics property. It is a process that we settled on after many years of starting new accounts, inheriting accounts from clients, and auditing accounts managed by other agencies. By setting up these 3 views for each of our digital marketing clients, we know that the data integrity will hold and that our clients will be able to easily onboard any new vendor or team member to understand their data ecosystem.
What are Google Analytics Views?
A Google Analytics account has 3 layers (unless you’re using GA4, which is a different story).
Account
The Google Analytics Account is the top-level, controlling everything below it (generally users and properties). It is what you use to group together your data; you can use a single Google Analytics Account to collect data from different websites. If you own the account, then you have access to everything below it.Property
The Google Analytics Property is generally set to a single website or app, allowing you to segment your data based on specific businesses.View
The Google Analytics View is where you can look at your data. It is where filters are applied and you have dashboards and tables to understand what is happening on your website. Because this is where you put your trust in digital marketing for your business, it is very important that you have your Views structured for data integrity and your ongoing success.
Why should I have a standard Google Analytics set of Views?
It all comes back to data integrity and confidence: a standard set of Google Analytics views allows you to know which view you use for reporting, which you use for testing, and which you use as a backup reference if something goes awry.
The 3 Standard Google Analytics Views
1.0 - [domain] - Primary
2.0 - [domain] - Test
3.0 - [domain] - No Filters
1.0 - [domain] - Primary
As the name suggests, the 1.0 - [domain] - Primary view is what you will use as your go-to view. This is where you add any annotations, it is what you use to build any reports, and it is what you share with any agencies, vendors, or team members who are looking for analytics access.
2.0 - [domain] - Test
As the name suggests, this is where you do any testing that impacts how Google Analytics processes your data. This often includes:
Filters to rename sources/mediums for more aligned reporting and data integrity
Setting all data to be lowercase (mixing upper and lower case can cause separate counting in Google Analytics, which is the most frustrating thing to uncover while reporting)
Add subdomains to differentiate between multiple websites using your Google Analytics property
Removing spam
Excluding employee browsing behavior
Filters flow down
You will never have a filter on Primary that is not also on Test (unless that is your test), but you will have filters on your Test view that are not on your primary (hence the test).
How long do you test in this Google Analytics view?
It depends on what you are testing, but if you are relying on your own on-site behavior to prove your test, then running through your testing protocol should be enough. However, if you have a large website with a lot of traffic, I generally recommend allowing 10% of your monthly traffic data to flow through your test filters before moving them down to Primary. You can always add filters, but you can never remove filtered data once that filter has been applied. We err on the side of keeping the status quo with your data until we are confident that a new filter or test will benefit the integrity of your data collection on Primary.
Do I need a separate property for testing in Google Analytics?
All data sent to test will still flow into your other views, as it is the same property. If you need to test a completely new data source and do not want the data in this property, you must create a separate testing property in Google Analytics.
3.0 - [domain] - No Filters
This is the best because you set it up and you never change a thing. Once the view is created, it’s done. Just leave it alone.
You want a No Filters view so you can troubleshoot if a filter is removing data that you need. You probably won’t need to use this view (we hardly ever do), but you will rest easy knowing the view is there, just in case.
How do I create a Google Analytics view?
Create a new Google Analytics View from scratch
To create a new Google Analytics View from scratch, do the following:
Open Google Analytics
If you are on a dashboard page, click Admin in the lower-left corner of the screen
Select the Google Analytics Account in the left column that you will be working on
Select the Google Analytics Property in the middle column that you wish to add a view to
Click + Create View at the top of the right column
Add your Reporting View Name and time zone, then click Create View
Duplicate a Google Analytics View
If you already have a view in Google Analytics that you just want to duplicate (great if you are creating your Test View), do the following:
Open Google Analytics
If you are on a dashboard page, click Admin in the lower-left corner of the screen
Use the drop-down in the left column to select the Google Analytics Account you will be working on
Use the drop-down in the middle column to select the Google Analytics Property you wish to add a view to
Use the drop-down to select the Google Analytics View you wish to duplicate
Click View Settings
In the upper-right corner, click Copy view
Add the name for your View, then click Copy view
What do I do if I already have a Google Analytics account/property/view?
If you have already been using Google Analytics for a while, that’s great! You most likely have 1 view called All Web Site Data. This should be changed to be named 1.0 - [domain] - Primary, then create the rest of your Google Analytics Views.
Next Steps
Collecting your data is the easy part; learning which data to pay attention to and how to take action using your data is your next challenge.
