Add a short annotation in Google Analytics on the day anything changes: the site, the ads, an email, a print run, an outside event. Months later, every jump and drop in the graph has an explanation.

The graph with no story

Open the audience overview in Google Analytics for the past year and the line has bumps: a spike in April, a dip in July, and a week in September when the contact goal recorded nothing.

Each had a cause. A newsletter went out, the ads were paused, a form was rebuilt. At the time, everyone knew.

Six months later nobody does, and the graph becomes a guessing game. Decisions about next year's budget get made on the guesses.

Annotations solve this for almost no effort.

What an annotation is

An annotation is a short dated note attached to the graphs. A small marker appears below the line on that date, and clicking it shows the note.

To add one, open the small tab under any graph that shows time, choose to create a new annotation, pick the date and type a line of text.

Notes can be shared with everyone who has access to the view, or kept private. Shared notes need the Collaborate permission; private ones can be made by anyone who can read the reports.

Annotations belong to a view, so a business with a filtered main view and an unfiltered backup should add them where people actually look.

What deserves a note

The last gets forgotten more than any other, and it matters most. A week of missing data looks exactly like a week of missing customers unless something on the graph says otherwise.

Write it the same way every time

A note is only useful if someone else can read it in a year. Start each one with a short label, such as SITE, ADS, EMAIL, PRINT, OUTSIDE or DATA, then say what happened in plain words.

Anything that runs for a while gets two notes, one when it starts and one when it stops: ads paused, tracking broken, a sale on.

Keep the opinions out. Ads paused is useful; ads paused because they were not working is a conclusion that may turn out to be wrong.

Who adds them

Whoever makes the change, on the day, is ideal. In practice that means the owner, whoever runs the ads, the web company and whoever sends the newsletter.

Ask each of them to note their own changes, and give them the access to do it. A web company making changes to the site should be adding notes as a matter of course, so ask whether yours does.

Where that is not realistic, one person can collect them weekly: a five-minute check of what went out, what changed and what happened outside, entered every Friday.

Filling in the past year

Annotations can be added for any date, so the last twelve months can be reconstructed.

The evidence is usually there: the email service's record of sends, the change history in the AdWords account, the printer's invoices, the dates of new pages and posts on the site, and the calendar.

An hour with those sources explains most of the bumps on last year's graph, which matters as soon as this year is compared with it.

A worked example

A baby sleep consultant who works alone, with home visits and phone consultations, opened her year's graph in October to decide where next year's marketing money should go.

There was a sharp rise in March, a dip through most of June, and three weeks in August when the consultation booking goal recorded nothing at all.

She could not explain any of them. The March rise looked like the parenting magazine ad she had paid for, and she was about to book it again.

Her sent folder and calendar told a different story. The rise began with a talk at a community centre and a guest article on a parenting site, a week before the magazine came out.

June was a holiday, with her ads paused.

August was a move to an online scheduling service. Bookings carried on, but the thank-you page the goal counted was no longer on her site, so nothing was recorded.

The service now returns people to a thank-you page on her own site, the goal counts it again, and the whole year has notes. New ones go in on the day.

Reading the graph with notes on it

With notes in place, comparing this month with last year starts with the right question: what was different then.

A drop beside a paused campaign is a decision, not a crisis. A rise beside a talk says where time might be well spent.

And a drop with no note beside it becomes worth investigating, rather than one more bump to shrug at.

Keep a copy outside Analytics

Annotations live in one view of one property. If the view is deleted or the business starts a new property, the notes stay behind.

Keep the same lines in a shared spreadsheet: date, label, note. It takes seconds more and survives any change of tools.

It also helps anyone without Analytics access, such as a bookkeeper or a new hire, who needs to know what happened when.

The counter-case

A site that rarely changes and spends little on marketing will collect few notes, and that is fine. A line for each newsletter and each site change may be all it ever needs.

Annotations also record coincidence, not cause. Two things on the same day still need judgement to say which one mattered.

But a note costs seconds and the alternative is guessing. Add one on the day anything changes.

Starting today

  1. Open the audience overview for the past year.
  2. List the bumps you cannot explain.
  3. Check email, ads and calendar for those dates.
  4. Add notes with a label and plain words.
  5. Mark any period when tracking was broken.
  6. Ask everyone who makes changes to add theirs.
  7. Keep the same notes in a spreadsheet.

Step five matters most. A gap in the data is the bump most likely to be misread, and nobody will remember a year from now that it was a fault rather than a slow month.

Another misreading the graphs invite, this one about devices, is covered in phone visitors who enquire later on a computer.

Frequently asked questions

What is an annotation in Google Analytics?

A short dated note attached to the graphs. A marker appears below the line on that date, and clicking it shows what happened, so jumps and drops can be explained later.

What should get an annotation?

Site changes, advertising starts and pauses, emails and print runs, outside events such as a talk or press mention, and any period when tracking was broken.

Can I add annotations for past dates?

Yes. Use the email service's record of sends, the AdWords change history, printer invoices, page dates and the calendar to reconstruct the past year.

Who should add the annotations?

Whoever makes the change, on the day. Where that is not realistic, one person can collect the week's changes every Friday and add them.

Do annotations show in every view?

No. They belong to the view they were made in, so add them where people actually look, and keep a copy in a spreadsheet as well.

Do annotations prove what caused a change?

No. They show what happened at the same time. Judgement still decides which of two events on one day mattered, but at least both are on the graph.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

A graph full of unexplained bumps?

Send us read access. We will help reconstruct the past year and set up the habit for the next one.

Start a Conversation