+1 reporting in Google Webmaster Tools and Google Analytics

UPDATE: +1 Reports in Webmaster Tools have been retired. You can now find information about the performance of +1 buttons on your pages using Social Reports in Google Analytics.

(Cross-posted on the Webmaster Central and Analytics blogs)

It’s been a busy week for us here at the Googleplex. First we released +1 buttons to Google search sites globally, then we announced the beginning of the Google+ project.

The +1 button and the Google+ project are both about making it easier to connect with the people you trust online. For the +1 button, that means bringing advice from trusted friends and contacts right into Google search, letting the users who love your web content recommend it at the moment of decision.

But when you’re managing a website, it's usually not real until you can measure it. So we’re happy to say we’ve got one more announcement to make -- today we’re releasing reports that show you the value +1 buttons bring to your site.

First, +1 metrics in Google Webmaster Tools can show you how the +1 button affects the traffic coming to your pages:

• The Search Impact report gives you an idea of how +1‘s affect your organic search traffic. You can find out if your clickthrough rate changes when personalized recommendations help your content stand out. Do this by comparing clicks and impressions on search results with and without +1 annotations. We’ll only show statistics on clickthrough rate changes when you have enough impressions for a meaningful comparison.
• The Activity report shows you how many times your pages have been +1’d, from buttons both on your site and on other pages (such as Google search).
• Finally, the Audience report shows you aggregate geographic and demographic information about the Google users who’ve +1’d your pages. To protect privacy, we’ll only show audience information when a significant number of users have +1’d pages from your site.

Use the +1 Metrics menu on the side of the page to view your reports. If you haven’t yet verified your site on Google Webmaster Tools, you can follow these instructions to get access.

Finally, you can also see how users share your content using other buttons besides +1 by using Social Plugin Analytics in Google Analytics. Once you configure the JavaScript for Analytics, the Social Engagement reports help you compare the various types of sharing actions that occur on your pages.

• The Social Engagement report lets you see how site behavior changes for visits that include clicks on +1 buttons or other social actions. This allows you to determine, for example, whether people who +1 your pages during a visit are likely to spend more time on your site than people who don’t.
• The Social Actions report lets you track the number of social actions (+1 clicks, Tweets, etc) taken on your site, all in one place.
• The Social Pages report allows you to compare the pages on your site to see which are driving the highest the number of social actions.

Over the next few days (and if you’re using the default version of the latest Google Analytics tracking code), if you’ve added +1 buttons to your site we’ll automatically enable Social Plugin Analytics for +1 in your account. You can enable analytics for other social plugins in just a few simple steps.

Social reporting is just getting started. As people continue to find new ways to interact across the web, we look forward to new reports that help business owners understand the value that social actions are providing to their business. So +1 to data!

UPDATE: 7/11/11 2:05pm PST, corrected references to the social plugin analytics feature.

Written by Dan Rodney, Software Engineer

+1 around the world

A few months ago we released the +1 button on English search results on google.com. More recently, we’ve made the +1 button available to sites across the web, making it easy for the people who love your content to recommend it on Google search.

Today, +1’s will start appearing on Google search pages globally. We'll be starting off with sites like google.co.uk, google.de, google.jp and google.fr, then expanding quickly to most other Google search sites soon after.

We’ve partnered with a few more sites in Europe, Japan, India, Australia and New Zealand where you’ll see +1 buttons over the coming days.
If you’re a publisher based outside of the US, and you’ve been waiting to put +1 buttons on your site, now’s a good time to get started. Visit the +1 button tool on Google Webmaster Central where the +1 button is already available in 44 languages.

Adding the +1 button could help your site to stand out by putting personal recommendations right at the moment of decision, on Google search. So if you have users who are fans of your content, encourage them to add their voice with +1!

Posted by Nick Radicevic - Product Manager

New Interface Wednesdays: Analyzing earnings by page views vs. ad requests

If you’ve spent time wandering around the Performance reports tab in the new interface, you've likely stumbled upon the Columns button. This button lets you customize your report to view earnings by page views, ad requests, matched requests and individual ad impressions. Selecting one of these options will change the columns and data shown in the table and graph. All other metrics, like CTR & RPM, will be based on the selection you choose.

We’ve received some questions about understanding these reports, especially when viewing by ‘page views’ and ‘ad requests’. To get an overall sense of your ad performance, view your earnings by ‘page views’. When looking at specific ad units or channels, however, we recommend using the ‘ad requests’ view. This will provide you the most accurate numbers for specific reports like ad units, ad sizes, custom channels, ad types, targeting types, and bid types.

Why is this? When analyzing the performance of individual ad units, the ‘page views’ view may show you inaccurate CTRs and RPMs if you have multiple ad units on one page. Each time a user views a page with multiple ad units, your reports will log only one page view and associate it with the first ad unit on the page. This means that when you’re viewing more granular reports by ‘page views’, the CTR and RPM of the second and third ad units on the page will be calculated based on “zero” page views, resulting in invalid data. By using the ‘ad request’ view when looking at specific ad units, you’ll ensure that you’re reviewing valid CTR and RPM values.

Try it now! Navigate to the new interface and click on the Performance reports tab, then select the ‘Columns’ button from any report to change the metrics you’re viewing.

Today marks the last post of our New Interface Wednesday series. We hope you're now more familiar with features available in the new interface, and how you can use them to better understand your ad performance and manage your account. You can review any of the previous posts in this series by visiting the New AdSense Interface label at any time, and learn more about specific features in our Help Center. As we continue to develop new features in the new interface, we'll be sure to post updates here on our blog, so please check back frequently!

Posted by Guillaume Ryder - AdSense Engineering