If you use Google Analytics (which I’m just going to type Googlytics) and are not using Filters, you’ll want to learn how to use them. They are extremely powerful and precise arrows you’ll want at the ready, your decision quiver.

I found them because it was becoming very important to know web stat data such as uniques, pages per visit, search engine referrals, bounce rates, etc. for subsections of our sites, such as the homepages, forums, local listings, videos and groups. Now that I have filters in place for each of these, we can now see, slice and dice the entire realm of Googlytic data for each of these areas just as you can for the whole domain.

Googlytics filters can be used either to exclude or include relevant data. If I want to see Dogster usage data for visitors that come from search engines vs. referred links I can. If I want to know usage data for people not using javascript vs. those that are, I can. You can even use multiple filters in a compound manner. If I wanted to see usage data on people directly referred to this entry (but not from search engines), that did not come from digg.com, and compare those to the people that came from digg, that were already using Flash9 but over dial-up connections, I’d be a crazy person—but I could. (Note filters only work on new data, not historical, so there is no retroactive data mining.)

For the purpose of this intro I’m just going to show you how to make simple filters, to show subsets of data you can compare to your main domain or other filtered date. With these you’ll pretty much be able to isolate any standard or custom web log values such as referrer data or type, URL strings, browser setting, page title, ISP, AdWords campaign, operating system, connection speed, etc., etc., etc.; these can all be isolated as you wish. Heck, they even support RegExp for complicated filtering.

The best way to make a new filter is to:

• » Analytics Settings -> Filter Manager (found in the bottom right) -> and then name and create your new filter. Repeat for as many filters as you want to have.
• » Before applying a filter to a profile, you want to duplicate the profile by going to Analytics Settings -> Add Website Profile -> then select “Add a Profile for an existing domain,” select domain, then give a unique name to the duplicate profile. Repeat for as many filters as you want to run against a domain. (Reminder, if you run multiple filters on a profile they will act in compound. You need a different duplicate profile for each filter set you want.)
• » Before you can use this new profile you will need to have Googlytics confirm it’s real (just click the link that says ‘Check Status’) by confirming the same way you did the original domain.
• » Finally, associate a filter to the duplicate profile by going to Analytics Settings -> Edit the new profile -> Add Filter -> then select “Apply existing Filter to Profile,” and pick the filter from the list.
• » From this point forward you can see the entire stat data for each profile.

TAKE HEED: A very easy mistake to make (I’m looking at you Googlytic filter documentation) is applying a filter against a primary profile. Doing so will limit your primary web stats to just filter matches. Unmatched data during that time period will be lost forever. So only run filters for your primary profile unless you really want your core stats modified (such as excluding traffic from your office, but even that I’d prefer to have as a secondary profile just to see the original vs. the non-office.)

And a reminder, filters only work on data that occurs after they are put in place. They cannot be used to crunch historical usage.

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