Set up segments in Google Analytics

Set up segments in Google Analytics

1. Compile a list of questions about your audience you’re looking to get answers for, based on your marketing goals.

For example: What age groups of visitors are more likely to complete goals on my site? Do mobile or tablet visitors bounce more often than desktop visitors? Did first-time visitors convert more before or after the big website facelift?

2. Sign in to your Google Analytics account and select any report to view.

3. Click the plus sign or Add Segment option above your data charts.

4. Select Google Analytics built-in segments that will answer the questions you compiled earlier, and click Apply.

For example, if you’re looking to find out which users bring the most traffic between mobile and desktop users, you’d select the mobile and desktop segments. You can apply up to four segments at a time, and you can remove the selection from the All Users segment if you don’t need it.

5. If the built-in segments won’t give you data to answer your questions, create your custom segment.

You have two options to create a new segment. The first option is clicking on the New Segment button at the top of the segments list. The second option is using the Actions menu available for all existent segments, and then selecting Copy. This last option can be used when you want to reuse some of that criteria in your new segment. Follow the Demographics, Technology, Behavior, Date of First Session, and Traffic Sources buckets created by Google, for quickly creating groups of visitors.

6. If none of those accomplish what you need, select the Conditions or Sequences options on the New Segment box’s bottom.

Both feature a full menu of dimensions and metrics you can filter on, and a set of rules you can select. The sequences menu adds an additional layer of filtering by allowing you to select visitors who have completed or not, certain actions in a series of steps, during the same session or across different sessions. For example, If you had an ad group called Health Plans driving traffic to your website to compare health plans, request a quote (Goal 1) and Sign Up (Goal 2), you could create a segment to identify users that: Arrived through Health Plans ad group; Completed a quote request (Completed Goal 1); Did not finish signing up (Did not complete Goal 2).

7. Use your segments to build Remarketing audiences for your Google Ads Campaigns.

Click on the +Ad Segment option at the top of your Report to see all available segments. Select the Segment you want to use as a Remarketing audience, and open the Actions menu at its right. Click on the Build Audience option, and it will take you to define the Audience Settings and link it to your Google Ads account.