Favorite New Features in Google Analytics and GTM

As we near the end of 2017, you will start to see lots of “year in review” posts coming out over the next 2-3 weeks.

I’ll probably contribute one of those posts at some point as well, because it’s always good to summarize how far we’ve come (and remember the awesome work that we put into a year of building content).

But this week I wanted to share another type of “year in review” post – where the team at ConversionXL has gathered many of my favorite Google Analytics/Google Tag Manager friends and asked for a quote on their favorite new features in GA/GTM.

Here’s a link to that article: 11 Analytics Experts Share Their Favorite New Features of GA and GTM

You’ll notice that I am one of those featured in the article. My comment didn’t actually mention a feature in either product, but rather my thoughts on the UX improvements we’ve seen in Google Analytics in 2017. There are many that I thought deserved special attention.

Here’s my quote from the article.

My favorite update in GA in 2017 was actually the removal of several irrelevant items from the reporting interface. The new Google Analytics interface and home dashboard draws your attention to some of the most important reports to view in Google Analytics, and finally provides a meaningful overview from the get-go. This is opposed to the old audience overview report, which hadn’t changed in 10 years.

Not only that, but we are no longer inundated with useless or under-cooked reports like dashboards, shortcuts or automated intelligence. These reports were prominently featured in the GA navigation for years, but were rarely useful.

The biggest update in 2017 was to make Google Analytics more useful when you first log in. The first dashboard you see is actually useful… Only took 10 years to get there!

What has been your favorite advancement in Google Analytics or Google Tag Manager in 2017?

Would love to hear your thoughts by replying to this email – or if you are a student – posting in the Analytics Course forums, or our Facebook community!

Maybe we can compile enough quotes to run our own post (and give you credit of course!)