Page Grouping is a powerful tool that lets you view part or all of your Web site formatted like a tree (the Site Usage Map). Each branch on the tree represents a specific group of Web pages such as a product line, specific interest or activity.

The Site Usage Map is often used to do market analysis for Web sites. It quickly illustrates how many people are interested in one product or topic compared to another.

The Site Usage Map is located under "Pages By" in the Live Stats interface. The example shown above illustrates three areas of interest on the Sun Spot Travel Web site. Traffic for Tours, Cruises and Company Information are tracked.

Create New Page Group

Page Grouping is done manually. This should not be a problem considering that Web sites are constructed as trees with logical branches to help users navigate the site.

Create the Root Page Group

The first Page Group you create defines the root (the beginning of a new tree). Each Page Group you create after that will represent another branch on the tree. Our example illustrates how the "Sun Spot Travel/Sun Spot Tours/Greece for a Week" branch was created.

1. First the root Page Group is created. It defines the beginning of the tree.

   

   Note, "Is not a Sub-Group" is selected. Since this is the root group it is not possible for it to be a sub-group.

   Colors can be selected for each defined group. They offer a way to visually identify different branches.

    

2. A filter must be created for the Root Page Group. Filters determine what pages will be tracked for the Page Group.

   

   /* indicates that every page below the root will be tracked including the default page. As a result this filter will report 100% of traffic. This is illustrated in the Site Usage Map located at the top of the page.

Create "Sun Spot Tours" Page Group

1. "Sun Spot Tours" is the second Page Group we will create. It will tell us what percentage of all traffic is interested in available tour packages.

   

   Note, the new "Sun Spot Tours" group is a sub-group of the "Sun Spot Travel" root group.

    

2. In this example a filter is not created for the "Sun Spot Tours" Page Group. The parent "Sun Spot Tours" group automatically inherits the traffic statistics for the "Greece for a Week" and "Fiji Island" child groups (discussed below).

   It should be noted that there is nothing preventing us from creating a filter for the "Sun Spot Tours" Page Group. We have chosen not to in order to illustrate the inheritance quality of the Page Group feature. If we had created a filter for the "Sun Spot Tours" Group, it would automatically inherit the traffic filtered by the "Greece for a Week" and "Fiji Island" child group filters as well as the "Sun Spot Tours" group filter.

Create "Greece for a Week" Page Group

1. "Greece for a Week" is the third Page Group required in our example. This group will tell us what percentage of all traffic is interested in the Greece for a Week tour package.

   

    

2. "Greece for a Week" requires a filter to determine what pages will be tracked by the "Greece for a Week" Page Group.

   

   /greece/* indicates that every page within /greece/ directory and every page below it will be tracked.

    

3. We have chosen to add another filter to the "Greece for a Week" Group in order to include traffic that clicks on the "Backpacking Crete" story that happens to be in the customer testimonials pages on the Sun Spot Tours Web site.

   

   /crete/* indicates that every page within /crete/ directory and every page below it will be tracked.

All Groups & Filters

1. Shown below is the list of all the Groups defined in our example:

   

 

• "Sun Spot Travel" is the root group.
• "Sun Spot Tours" is a sub-group of "Sun Spot Travel".
• "Greece for a Week" is a sub-group of "Sun Spot Tours".

 

2. Shown below is the list of all the Filters defined in our example:

   

 

• The /* filter tracks the entire site for the "Sun Spot Travel" Group.
• The /greece/* filter tracks everything in and below /greece/ for the "Greece for a Week" Group.
• The /crete/* filter tracks everything in and below /crete/ for the "Greece for a Week" Group.
• No filters were created specifically for "Sun Spot Tours". "Sun Spot Tours" tracks everything in and below both /greece/ and /crete/ because "Greece for a Week" is a sub-group of "Sun Spot Tours". Consequently it inherits the statistics for both groups.

Conclusion

The result of Page Grouping is a Site Usage Map. It offers an advanced view showing how a Web site is used and can be used to track market statistics such as:

• For a ski lodge: Interest in downhill skiing versus cross-country.
• For an automotive site: Interest comparison showing different models, financial packages.
• For a travel company: Favorite destinations, cruise packages, accommodations.

This Sun Spot Travel example illustrates a simple site usage map. Of course the better a Web site is laid out, the easier it will be to create a Usage Map for it.

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