Digital.gov

Data.gov launches metrics tools

Fri, 13 Sep 2024 00:00:00 -0500

New Data.gov metrics dashboard provides information on most visited datasets, most downloaded files, most clicked outbound links, top search terms, and more.

From pageviews to progress

Tue, 12 Sep 2023 15:05:00 -0500

A 10-year recap of GSA’s Digital Analytics Program (DAP) highlights its impact on federal government agencies and the public, high-level observations using government-wide website analytics and trends, and new goals set for the next decade to help generate useful answers to meaningful questions to make government websites better.

Join the Web Analytics

Wed, 07 Jul 2021 09:13:00 -0500

Make better decisions using web analytics and other optimization strategies.

The Federal Web in the Year of COVID-19

Fri, 16 Apr 2021 13:55:00 -0500

The past year was like no other. We take a look at how it affected federal website traffic and search data.

Become a DAP Certified Analyst

Mon, 28 Dec 2020 17:00:00 -0500

Become a DAP Certified Analyst—The Digital Analytics Program (DAP) now offers the opportunity to become a DAP Certified Analyst. Prospective analysts must complete the DAP Certification Exam with a score of 80 percent or better. The exam is 50 questions and is multiple choice. Prospective analysts can take the exam more than once.

How to Build an Analytics Strategy

Tue, 22 Dec 2020 14:01:00 -0500

A case study using Digital.gov as an example of how to assess, report, and take action using web analytics as part of an analytics strategy.

Optimization Case Study: Performance, SEO, and Accessibility with CFPB

Thu, 28 Apr 2022 14:00:00 -0500

Join three technologists from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) as they discuss methods used to ensure that the CFPB website is discoverable and fully accessible to all.

Overcoming Your Fear of Data

Thu, 13 Jan 2022 14:00:00 -0500

Learn how to overcome resistance to data analytics and visualization, ask the right questions, and improve customer experience.

FedRAMP & DAP Case Study Part 2: Reporting and Decision-Making

Wed, 01 Sep 2021 14:00:00 -0500

In this second part of our analytics case study series, we’ll address how to pull reporting and conduct analysis through the lens of your analytics strategy.

FedRAMP & DAP Case Study Part 1: Assessing Analytics Strategy

Wed, 28 Jul 2021 14:00:00 -0500

In this two-part Analytics Case Study, we’ll speak with the GSA’s FedRAMP team about their analytics strategy, data collection, reporting, and subsequent decision-making for a new site launch.

Tag Managers Part 2: Configuration Framework

Wed, 24 Mar 2021 14:00:00 -0500

This session will help DAP users configure and use their tag manager, to augment their reporting on more advanced interactions with their websites.

Tag Managers Part 1: The Data Layer

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 14:00:00 -0500

This session will help the audience expand analysis capabilities by using the tag manager data layer!

Analytics Case Study Part 3: Action

Wed, 21 Oct 2020 13:00:00 -0500

In this webinar, we’ll address how to use the analysis and insights you created using DAP Google Analytics, to take action.

Analytics Case Study Part 2: Analysis

Thu, 24 Sep 2020 15:00:00 -0500

In this workshop, we’ll address how to pull reporting and conduct analysis through the lens of your analytics strategy.

Analytics Case Study Part 1: Assessment

Wed, 26 Aug 2020 14:00:00 -0500

In this workshop, we’ll address how to assess your web analytics strategy to ensure you’re pulling the most impactful and relevant data to enrich your analysis and understanding of your website performance.

Analytics Lessons From Canada.ca

Thu, 23 Jul 2020 14:30:00 -0500

In this session, we’ll be joined by Nicholas Pjontek of Canada.ca. Nick will talk about some of the analytics goals, lessons, barriers, and successes in the government of Canada.

Shifting Your Metrics Mindset

Wed, 24 Jun 2020 14:00:00 -0500

In this session, we’ll discuss the classic suite of “marketing metrics” vs what’s more important to us in government “content-based metrics”.

Making Critical Government Information More Resilient

Thu, 04 Jun 2020 11:00:00 -0500

Become a DAP Certified Analyst

Wed, 27 May 2020 13:00:00 -0500

In this session, we’ll tell you about the Digital Analytics Program’s Certified Analyst exam and how you can use it to demonstrate your analytics mastery!

An Introduction to the Basics of DAP

Thu, 23 Apr 2020 14:00:00 -0500

New to DAP? No problem. Join us to learn about the reporting interface, common terminology, and basic reports. This 2.5 - 3 hour session is designed for novice users to “get off the ground” with DAP and Google Analytics.

The YouTube Event Option

Wed, 19 Feb 2020 14:00:00 -0500

In this session, you’ll learn how to track plays of embedded YouTube videos on your DAP-enabled pages, and how to create reports for analysis.

DAP Learning Series: A Deep Dive Into Behavior Reports

Wed, 23 Oct 2019 14:00:00 -0500

A deep dive into behavior reporting to help DAP users understand how to use it and what are the pitfalls.

DAP Learning Series: A Deep Dive Into Acquisition Reports

Wed, 25 Sep 2019 14:00:00 -0500

In this webinar, we’ll review the acquisition reporting section in-depth, and discuss usefulness of reports and where there may be gaps in data.

DAP Learning Series: Using the analytics.usa.gov API

Thu, 23 May 2019 15:00:00 -0500

Learn how Analytics.usa.gov, the public window into how the public interacts with federal government websites, uses an API and allows you to query data in machine-readable formats.

DAP Learning Series: Using the Advanced Analysis Tool

Wed, 24 Apr 2019 14:00:00 -0500

We’ll demo the Advanced Analysis tool and show how you can use it to better understand your data and create drag-and-drop reports!

Web Analytics: Why the Users Metric Just Got More Complicated

Thu, 04 Apr 2019 13:51:00 -0500

A look at how the new Safari policy will alter your web analytics benchmarks.

DAP Learning Series: Understanding When to Use Sessions vs. Unique Pageviews

Wed, 20 Mar 2019 15:00:00 -0500

In this webinar, Freddie Blicher, an analyst for the Digial Analytics Program, will discuss how to think about sessions and unique pageviews in reporting and content analysis.

Analyzing Web Metrics for Federal Privacy Professionals

Tue, 19 Feb 2019 15:00:00 -0500

For this event, DAP has partnered with the fine folks who run the Federal Privacy Council’s Tech Tuesday Series to teach us how to measure, analyze, and improve experiences for users visiting privacy pages on your agency websites.

DAP Learning Series: Creating Goals and Conversions

Wed, 17 Oct 2018 14:00:00 -0500

This online event will cover the Goals feature in Google Analytics.

DAP Learning Series: Writing Custom JavaScript for Tag Managers

Thu, 20 Sep 2018 14:00:00 -0500

This online event will focus on how to track specific events and write JavaScript to maximize the tag manager experience

DAP Learning Series: An Introduction to the Basics

Wed, 15 Aug 2018 13:00:00 -0500

This online class will provide an introductory training on how to use Digital Analytics Program (DAP) google analytics data.

DAP Learning Series: Analytics and Accessibility

Wed, 18 Jul 2018 14:00:00 -0500

This online event will cover how to check if behaviors change when people are using keystrokes to click, which might give insight into how users with disabilities interact with your site

DAP Learning Series: Using the Search Console

Thu, 07 Jun 2018 14:00:00 -0500

This online class will dive deeper into the benefits of integrating Google Search Console with your independently managed Google Analytics account

DAP Learning Series: Advanced Concepts

Wed, 23 May 2018 13:00:00 -0500

This half-day online class will expand upon the basics of Google Analytics.

DAP Learning Series: Creating Your Own Campaign URL Builder

Wed, 18 Apr 2018 15:00:00 -0500

This online event will cover how to create a campaign URL in Google Analtyics and how to effectively implement it.

DAP Learning Series: A Deep Dive into Analytics Events

Thu, 22 Mar 2018 14:00:00 -0500

This online event will focus on events in Google Analytics

DAP Learning Series: An Introduction to the Basics

Thu, 15 Feb 2018 13:00:00 -0500

This online class will provide an introductory training on how to use Digital Analytics Program (DAP) google analytics data.

DAP Learning Series – Visualizing Analytics Data Part 2

Thu, 12 Oct 2017 14:00:00 -0500

In this online event, we’ll discuss how to use tools that are designed to import data and visualize it without report exports.

Exciting Additions to Analytics.usa.gov

Fri, 17 Jun 2016 12:30:45 -0400

We’ve expanded analytics.usa.gov to include 15(!) more agency-specific dashboard pages. We now offer agency-specific analytics data pages for a total of 25 major federal agencies, and each one is accessible from the dropdown menu at the top of the site.

Why Switching to HTTPS Will Make Your Analytics Better

Mon, 06 Jun 2016 11:00:14 -0400

Federal agencies are required to make all federal websites accessible through a secure, HTTPS-only connection by the end of the 2016 calendar year. What you might not have known is that the switch to HTTPS will improve your ability to track which sites are directing web traffic to yours. Recently, a federal colleague reached out

The Postal Service Just Broke Analytics.usa.gov

Tue, 22 Mar 2016 12:52:55 -0400

Ok, so it didn’t really break it. But you might notice that the amount of “people on government websites now” on analytics.usa.gov is a lot higher than it used to be.

Analytics.usa.gov: Now with Agency-Specific Dashboards

Thu, 18 Feb 2016 11:10:51 -0400

We’ve added agency-specific dashboards to analytics.usa.gov!

Analytics.usa.gov: New Features and More Data

Tue, 01 Dec 2015 13:00:53 -0400

As of writing this post, 25,225 of the 124,878 total visitors on federal government websites participating in the Digital Analytics Program (DAP) are NOT located in the United States. And as a result of

Gov Analytics Breakdown #2: Mobile Is Bigger than Ever

Wed, 21 Oct 2015 13:22:30 -0400

A review of the Digital Analytics Program (DAP) data confirms what many are already saying: Content is being viewed on mobile devices more than ever before, and the percentage of sessions via mobile devices is growing.

Gov Analytics Breakdown #1 – Browsers: Chrome Takes the Cake

Thu, 15 Oct 2015 15:25:39 -0400

We wanted to take a look at overall browser usage now that DAP has a few years of data, and the changes tell an interesting story. Here’s a breakdown of the percent of total sessions of the top five browsers during the last three years.

Caution: Your Web Analytics Might Not Be Human

Wed, 09 Sep 2015 10:00:14 -0400

A Digital Analytics Program (DAP) user recently contacted me with an observation/problem: The data he had from his website’s independent Web-analytics account was much, much higher than the data he was receiving in the DAP user interface. Theoretically, both tools (in this case, two separate Google Analytics accounts), were trying to measure the same thing,

Analytics Prove People Care About Space (and Pluto!)

Tue, 14 Jul 2015 11:48:43 -0400

Despite the fact that Pluto has been downgraded to a “dwarf planet”, the analytics of federal government websites prove there are still a lot of people who want to get an up-close look. NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, a project over nine years in the making, flew by Pluto this morning at approximately 7:49 a.m. The

Why Your Social Traffic Looks Low in Analytics Tools

Tue, 07 Apr 2015 13:00:23 -0400

Part of my job as an analyst on the Digital Analytics Program (DAP) team is to help agency users try to make sense of digital analytics data by using web analytics tools. I

Turning Government Data into Better Public Service

Thu, 19 Mar 2015 10:32:42 -0400

Every day, millions of people use their laptops, phones, and tablets to check the status of their tax refund, get the latest forecast from the National Weather Service, book a campsite at one of our national parks, and much more. There were more than 1.3 billion visits to websites across the federal government in just

Guidance for DAP Gov-Wide Data

Thu, 28 Aug 2014 11:11:14 -0400

On August 17th, Steve VanRoekel, U.S. Chief Information Officer, sent a memo to the CIO Council that stated beginning Aug 29, 2014, access to all Digital Analytics Program (DAP) data government-wide will be rolled out to all participating DAP agency users. That means that DAP users will have access not only to their specific agency’s

Challenge, Contract or Grant – Which tool is right for the job?

Thu, 14 Aug 2014 09:52:00 -0400

Choosing between a contract, a grant, or a public prize competition to get solutions to the problems your agency faces is a difficult task. Each is a tool that has different qualities and each might be the best choice for varying situations.

“Deconstructing” Public Prize Competitions Can Result in Better Solutions

Tue, 29 Jul 2014 10:07:10 -0400

The message from a recent DigitalGov University webinar on public prize competitions (challenges) was that the government can often receive better solutions by going through the exact same process, and giving awards at each step.

User Experience (UX) vs. Customer Experience (CX): What’s the Dif?

Mon, 07 Jul 2014 10:00:02 -0400

“User Experience” and “Customer Experience.” They sound pretty similar, right? Well, here at the Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies, we look at it like this: User Experience (UX) deals with people interacting with your product and the experience they receive from that interaction. UX is measured with metrics like: success rate, error rate,

CDC’s “Predict the Flu Season Challenge” Could Keep You Well in the Future

Tue, 24 Jun 2014 10:00:36 -0400

The results of an innovative government prize competition might help you avoid the flu next season. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently announced the winner of the “Predict the Influenza Season Challenge”: Dr. Jeffrey Shaman of Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and his team submitted an

Consumer Action Handbook – Usability Case Study

Fri, 06 Jun 2014 10:00:32 -0400

The Consumer Action Handbook is a guide to making smarter decisions with your money. It’s print and online formats, available in English and Spanish, include a compilation of buying tips from across government agencies, updates on the latest scams, and a robust consumer contact directory.

In Crowdsourcing Competitions, Defining the Problem is Half the Battle

Mon, 28 Apr 2014 10:00:31 -0400

After leading a complex effort to crowdsource ideas to solve a problem facing your agency, the last thing you want to hear is that the innovative solutions you received don’t actually help remedy the issue. More than 20 federal innovators recently took part in

GSA Acquisition Portal – Usability Case Study

Mon, 21 Apr 2014 10:00:24 -0400

Incorporating usability testing throughout the entire design process, especially before launch, allows you catch glitches and/or make design changes prior to anyone seeing it live. When more than minor adjustments need to be made to your site, it’s much better to have completed them before the public sees it. For Christina Mullins, a Contracting Officer

Heatmapping Tools Show What’s “Hot” on Your Pages

Fri, 04 Apr 2014 10:00:37 -0400

Most analytics tools can tell you how many times a link on your page is clicked on, but they can’t help you draw conclusions about a page with just a mere list of top links. A tool called a heatmap turns data into a data visualization, so you can more easily see how people are

Measuring User Experience: A Few Tips

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 10:00:24 -0400

With a calculated process, the right tools, and a staff willing to make it work, you can measure user experience (UX) on your websites and implement usability changes that show results. In a recent DigitalGov University webinar entitled “Measuring User Experience”, UX supporters and practitioners heard from Achaia Walton, Senior Digital Analyst at the Department

HHS Uses Crowdsourcing in Booming mHealth Industry

Wed, 19 Mar 2014 10:07:39 -0400

The mobile health (mHealth) market is projected to become a $50 billion industry by 2020, and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has been actively contributing to the rise of the mHealth applications. The agency uses public prize competitions like the recent “Game On: HIV/STD Prevention Mobile Application Video Game Challenge” to crowdsource a

Crowdsource Ideas with New Competition Platform

Tue, 11 Mar 2014 12:26:37 -0400

Federal agencies now have the ability to create a challenge competition website that accepts submissions and allows public voting with a new, no-cost tool. The Challenge.gov team unveiled and demonstrated the capabilities of GSA’s new crowdsourcing and prize competition platform, Challenge.sites.usa.gov on a DigitalGov University webinar. The platform is now available for any

Software/Apps Challenges: Getting Results for Your Agency

Tue, 04 Feb 2014 15:10:17 -0400

Federal agencies are rapidly finding that software and/or app prize competitions have the potential to harness innovative ideas from the public. But

Common Questions about DAP (FAQ)

Mon, 02 Dec 2013 07:37:00 -0400

This guidance is part of the Digital Analytics Program (DAP): Support to Help Agencies Implement the Tool. See more on the DAP. Below are the questions we hear most often about the Digital Analytics Program (DAP).

Key to Successful Prize Competitions: Define Your Problem Statement

Wed, 13 Nov 2013 13:06:21 -0400

In a prize competition, failing to properly define your problem up front can result in lower participation and submissions that don’t actually solve your issue. To create a challenge that produces viable results, start by doing your own homework. Vaguely defined problems invite less-than-desirable solutions or scare

Tackling PII in Electronic Data

Mon, 23 Sep 2013 18:11:36 -0400

As non-lawyers peering into the legal world, be advised this post is not official legal advice from the Office of General Counsel. These are our impressions and what we took away from the Legal Learning Series session Social Media – Privacy, Records and Litigation.