Glossary: Analytics for Marketers

Every key term from the course, in plain English. When a lesson says a word you don't know, it lives here.

The 15-Minute Review

The weekly analytics ritual: three reports, one decision written down. If a review takes longer, you are looking at too much.

The Decision Dashboard

One page — five numbers — that actually change what you do: traffic by channel vs last quarter, top pages by leads, leads by source, email subscribers, Search Console clicks.

The Content Goldmine

The Search Console workflow that turns ranking queries into a content plan: find queries at positions 4–15 with real impressions, then optimize the ranking page or write the missing one.

Key event

A GA4 event marked as a conversion — a form submit, a phone click, a purchase. Key events unlock conversion columns in every report.

Enhanced measurement

GA4's automatic tracking: page views, 90% scrolls, outbound clicks, site search, video engagement, and file downloads — on by default, free.

Engagement rate

Engaged sessions divided by total sessions. An engaged session lasts 10+ seconds, fires a key event, or views 2+ pages. Healthy small-business sites sit around 50–70%.

Session

A group of user interactions on your site within a time window. One person visiting twice in a day creates two sessions but is one user.

User

A distinct browser or device GA4 recognizes. Users are people-ish; sessions are visits. Always know which one a report is counting.

UTM parameter

Tags added to links (source, medium, campaign, term, content) so analytics knows exactly where each click came from. Tag every link you control.

Data-driven attribution

GA4's default model: distributes conversion credit across touchpoints by modeled contribution, instead of giving it all to the last click.

Impression

One appearance of your page in Google's search results. Seen, not clicked — the raw material CTR surgery works on.

CTR

Click-through rate: clicks divided by impressions. High impressions with low CTR means the ranking is fine and the title needs surgery.

Query

The exact words someone typed into Google. Your Queries report is market research in your customers' own language.

Data retention

How long GA4 keeps your detailed data — set it to 14 months in Admin, or history vanishes before your first quarterly review.

Referral

Traffic from a click on another website. Check yours for payment processors and your own subdomains — those belong on the unwanted referrals list.