CWI Media, LLC
Earlier this week, I saw a Tweet about adding Google Analytics (GA) to a Facebook (FB) fan page, so naturally I checked it out. The blog post came from a London-based Web development company called WebDigi, so kudos to them for sharing this with the rest of the world.
The only problem I found with the blog post is that their instructions aren’t very clear, as evidenced by the numerous questions that appeared in the comments section. So, after piecing together the responses and doing a little trial and error myself, I decided to come up with a soup-to-nuts list of steps for implementing WebDigi’s strategy for adding GA to FB.
1.) For starters, you will need to create a new Google Analytics (GA) account for your Facebook fan page. This is completely separate from any other analytics you use to track other sites - this GA account is specifically for your Facebook fan page.
2.) If you don’t have a Gmail account, get a free account at Google.com and then visit Google.com/analytics to get started.
3.) Once you add a new site to GA, you will get some code to add to your site. Do not copy the entire set of code. Instead, just look for a small string of code that looks something like “UA-12345678-9.” Copy this string of code and move on to the next step.
4.) Visit http://ga.webdigi.co.uk/ and generate an image tag by using Webdigi’s code generator. (You’ll need your Google Analytics UA code you copied in step 3.)
5.) Enter your GA code in the first box, facebook.com in the second box, page link information in the third box, and the page title in the last box. Then click “Generate Code.”
6.) Copy the code and then move on to the next step.
7.) Go to the Static FBML Facebook fan page at http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=Static+FBML&init=quick#!/apps/application.php?id=4949752878&ref=search&sid=616126479.2955418844..1
8.) In the upper left, click on “Add to my Page” and choose the fan page(s) you’d like to add FBML to and click “Close” when you’re done.
9.) Go to your Facebook fan page and click on “Edit Page” just below your page’s profile picture.
10.) Under “Applications” look for FBML and click on “Edit”
11.) Change the Box Title to whatever you want (i.e. Links, Contact Info, etc.)
12.) Paste the code from step 6 into the big text box labeled “FMBL:” (You can also add other text, but just put the code at the bottom.)
13.) Click “Save Changes”.
14.) Go back to your page.
15.) Click on the “Boxes” tab. (If you do not have Boxes enabled, click on the big plus (+) button and add it.
16.) Look for the box with the title you created in step 11. For this example, we used “Thanks for stopping by!” Click on the pencil icon on the right - this is the “edit” button.
17.) A drop-down menu will appear - click on “Move to Wall tab”
18.) This step is purely optional. It’s more for aesthetics. After you add the box to your Wall, you will be taken to your Facebook fan page home page (usually your Wall unless you’ve changed it). Look in the left column for the “Google Analytics” box, which is blank. Roll your cursor over the header, click and move it to the bottom of the left column.
19.) If you used FBML to create custom tabs (i.e. pages) for your Facebook fan page, you can add the same code (from step 11) to the bottom of each of your FBML custom pages.
20.) That’s it, you’re all done.
Now all you have to do is sit back and wait a day or two for Google to pick up on the tracking code you added to your Facebook pages. If you have questions, or would like us to blog about a specific topic, please let us know by leaving a comment below, or visiting our Contact Us page.
By Gary Cope
Ah, behold the power of Twitter. I’ve preached about the business benefits of using Twitter and shared examples of other Tweeple who have had problems solved when the company with which they were having issues with saw their gripe-filled Tweets and contacted them to fix things. Well, now I am one of those stories.
Last Wednesday, I wrote a blog post called My Beef with Google’s Web Master Tools detailing my frustration with their recently introduced “Link From” feature that allows you to see which external URLs are linking to non-existent URLs on your domain. The only problem, most of the time the tool didn’t work. I would get an “Our servers are busy. Try again later.”
After a couple of weeks of getting this message, I was fed up and blogged about it. I’d actually posted a couple of Tweets about it, too, but never got a response. But, my blog automatically posts to my Twitter account and later that same day, I got a Tweet from Sagar Kamdar (@skamdar) that read:
@garycope we are looking at the issue with the “Linked From” functionality. will get back to you when it is resolved.
I was floored! I could only assume that Sagar worked for Google. The next day, I got an e-mail alerting me that someone left a comment on my blog post. It was Sagar. He wrote:
The issue has been resolved. (link)
I checked the Webmasters Tools again and all but one “Linked From” function was working. I wrote back:
@skamdar Thanks! All but one of the “Linked From” links are working now for me. The first one on my list still returns “server busy” msg.
Sagar replied.
@garycope we’ll take a look.
@garycope we are unable to reproduce the issue internally. could you tell me the site and link that is ending in error.
This morning, I logged into Google’s Webmaster Tools and the link was working just fine. As a matter of fact, all of the links were working. I Tweeted back to @skamdar:
@skamdar The issue appears to be resolved. I logged into my Webmaster Tools today and did not receive any errors. Great job! Thanks!
I also told him via a comment on my blog that I would write a follow-up blog post (kinda like this one) singing the praises of Google’s development team. So, thanks Sagar and the rest of the Google Webmaster Tools team for using Twitter and actually taking the time to ready my blog and address the issue. It has been a tremendous help. All Hail Google! OK, well, let’s not get carried away. Take care everyone!
By Gary Cope
As a Web designer, Webmaster and inhouse SEO/SEM, I was THRILLED when Google announced that its Webmaster Tools had added a “Linked From” feature. This new feature finally allowed Web site owners to find out which URLs were linking to “not found” pages on their site.
For example, let’s say you did a redesign and in the process, renamed some of your URLs. If another Web site was linking to your old URL and you move it or rename it, the link from that other site is now broken and you’re not getting credit for that link because the search engines aren’t finding anything when they follow that link. Booo!
How do we fix this? Well, for starters, I would suggest keeping the old URLs and creating a 301 redirect from the old URL to the new one. This preserves any ‘link juice’ your older URL had acquired and transfers it to the new one. It also prevents “Not Found” links from appearing in your Google Webmaster Tools > Diagnostics > Web Crawl > Not Found list because anyone still linking to the outdated URL will automatically be directed to the new one and you don’t have to do a thing.
The “Linked From” function was going to make my life, and the lives of many SEO/SEMs, much easier because it could save us the time of trying to find out who was linking to our “Not Found” URLs. Alas, you can imagine my supreme disappointment when I logged in to use the new feature and 95 percent of the time I get is this error message.
This kind of tool is invaluable to SEOs, especially inhouse SEOs, who are trying to make the most of their limited time and budgets. By identifying sites that have outdated links to our site, we can contact their Webmaster and provide the updated link, thus increasing our link juice. Of course, IF Google’s Webmaster Tools’ “Linked From” feature worked, it’d be even better.
