Successful Analytics by Brian Clifton
Brian Clifton
Author. Speaker. Google Analytics Pioneer.
I help organisations turn digital data into business insight—ethically and intelligently. With 25+ years leading web analytics, including building Google’s EMEA first analytics team, I now speak and write globally on privacy, data quality, and digital strategy.
From Chapter 6 of the book Successful Analytics
“Deep dive into data”
What I write and speak about
At around 2008, a great friend and mentor said to me: Advanced web metrics is about doing the basics very well and applying it in a clever way. It has influenced my approach to Google Analytics and my books ever since. I still like to refer to it whenever I feel myself getting carried away with a shiny new feature.
“Noise or Music?” is about advanced Google Analytics and GTM setups, metrics understanding, GDPR and online privacy. The purpose is to educate in an actionable way. My passion is twofold: A] Getting good quality data that is actionable i.e. relevant to the business; B] Respecting user privacy and advocating “benign” analytics. That is, collecting data in non-invasive ways.
Note, I only post on things I have given a great deal of thought to and/or researched myself. I do not aim to be a news service, or broadcast the “latest features”. My approach is to write about long-term, sustainable data strategies.
Important articles/studies:
- A Google Analytics Enterprise Study – a major review of the Google Analytics (Universal) setup of 75 global brands, audited for data accuracy and governance.
- Cookie Consent Banner Requirements – what you need to know in order to have a GDPR/ePD compliant cookie banner and not destroy your data collection.
- Google Analytics Anonymize IP – An Impact Study – what difference does it make to geolocation data when you anonymise IP data?
- European Google Analytics Alternatives – Jigsaws and Device Fingerprints
- The myth of Enhanced Conversions and Advanced Matching
Interested in my latest project…?
Over the past 8 years, myself and the team have built Verified Data software – a forensic data auditing tool with an emphasis on accuracy and privacy compliance – visit verified-data.com.
