Reporting and usage analysis overview (SharePoint Server 2010)

 

Applies to: SharePoint Server 2010, SharePoint Foundation 2010

This article describes the Web Analytics service application in Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 and its features.

Before you configure the SharePoint Web Analytics service application, we recommend that you read Capacity requirements for the Web Analytics Shared Service in SharePoint Server 2010

This article does not discuss capacity for the Web Analytics service application. For information about capacity, see "Capacity Requirements for Web Analytics Shared Service in SharePoint Server 2010", which can be accessed from Performance and capacity test results and recommendations (SharePoint Server 2010).

In this article:

  • Overview

  • Reporting

  • Web Analytics workflow

  • Web Analytics Web Part

Overview

In Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010, the Web Analytics service application enables you to collect, report, and analyze the usage and effectiveness of your SharePoint Server 2010 sites.

The Web Analytics features are reporting, Web Analytics workflow, and Web Analytics Web Part.

Before any of the Web Analytics features can be used, you must configure the services that support the Web Analytics service application. Next, you must create the View Web Analytics Data permission group and assign this permission to users. For more information, see Configure Web Analytics service application (SharePoint Server 2010).

Reporting

The reporting feature lets an administrator create reports that can be used to understand what users are doing and how they are using a site.

There are three areas of Web Analytics reports available: Traffic, Search, and Inventory.

A list of different reports is aggregated at a site, site collection, Web application, and/or Search service application level for each farm.

Typically, the metrics for each report are displayed one of the following ways:

  • A trend report shows how a particular metric is doing over a period of time.

  • A rank report shows the top 2000 results for a particular metric.

  • A list report shows search-related results for the Best Bet reports.

By default, all reports show data for a period of 30 days. For additional information about how to view and customize a report, see View Web Analytics reports (SharePoint Server 2010).

Traffic reports

The traffic reports capture user behavior information related to total clicks, frequent users, popular pages, and information about navigation to and from the current SharePoint component, for example, a site collection or Web application.

The following table describes the available traffic reports.

Name Type Description Available at Web application level Available at site collection level Available at site level Available at Search service application level

Number of Page Views

Trend

Displays the number of page views per day during the specified date range. Every time a user visit generates a server page request, a page view is recorded.

X

X

X

Number of Daily Unique Visitors

Trend

Displays the number of unique visitors during the specified date range. Use this report to determine the number of unique visitors on a given day, understand visitor traffic patterns, or identify periods of high or low traffic.

X

X

X

Number of Referrers

Trend

Displays the amount of traffic from Web pages that refer traffic to your site. Use this report to identify traffic patterns related to referrers.

X

X

X

Top Pages

Rank

Displays the most popular pages based on page views during the specified date range. Use this information to target individual pages for improvement or to measure the effectiveness of specific content.

X

X

X

Top Visitors

Rank

Displays the top unique visitors to your Web site during the specified date range. Use this report to understand who uses your Web site the most.

X

X

X

Top Referrers

Rank

Displays the top Web pages that refer traffic to your site. Use this report to understand which pages are directing traffic to your site and how visitors arrive at your site.

X

X

X

Top Destinations

Rank

Displays the external Web pages your visitors most frequently go to when they leave pages on your site. Use this report to understand your visitors' traffic patterns or to analyze the effectiveness of your referrals to other pages.

X

X

X

Top Browsers

Rank

Displays the Internet browser types and versions most commonly used by visitors. Use this report to understand the technologies that your visitors use and to configure your site for optimal viewing.

X

X

X

Search reports

The search reports capture user behavior information related to the queries on a site that is using a configured search service application.

The Best Bets Suggestion report helps site collection administrators determine what the most relevant search result is for a given keyword. In Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010, suggestions are periodically sent out for new Best Bets using all the search metrics that have been collected. Site collection administrators can look through the Best Bets suggestions and easily accept or reject them.

The Best Bets Suggestion, Best Bet Usage, Best Bet Action History reports are available on the Site Collection Web Analytics Reports page.

Typically, Best Bet reports are displayed in list format.

If you want to retrieve basic information about search queries within your farm, use either the trend or rank search reports. If you want to get a more in-depth view of how the site is being used, use the Best Bet reports.

The following table describes the available search reports.

Name Type Description Available at Web application level Available at site collection level Available at site level Available at Search service application level

Number of Queries

Trend

Displays the number of search queries performed during the specified date range. Use this report to identify search query volume trends and to determine times of high and low search activity.

X

X

X

Top Queries

Rank

Displays the most popular search queries performed during the specified date range. Use this report to understand what types of information visitors are seeking.

X

X

Failed Queries

Rank

Displays search queries that returned no search results or results that received zero or low click-through rates. Use this report to identify search queries that might create user dissatisfaction and to improve the discoverability of content.

X

No Result Queries

Rank

Displays search queries that returned no search results. Use this report to identify search queries that might create user dissatisfaction and to improve the discoverability of content.

X

Best Bet Suggestion

List

Recommends URLs that are the most likely results for particular search queries, based on analysis of usage patterns. The site administrators can accept or reject these suggestions. If they accept, the corresponding query-URL pair is added to the search keywords list.

X

Best Bet Usage

List

Displays how Best Bet suggestions are doing over time. For every Best Bet query issued, the report shows the percentage of clicks on the Best Bet URL compared to other URLs.

X

Best Bet Action History

List

Displays the actions that were performed by the site administrator on the Best Bet Suggestion Report.

X

Inventory reports

The inventory reports are targeted to help site administrators manage a site by keeping track of the site structure and storage and version issues.

The following table describes the available inventory reports.

Name Type Description Available at Web application level Available at site collection level Available at site level Available at Search service application level

Number of Site Collections

Trend

Displays a daily snapshot of the number of site collections in a Web application during the specified date range.

X

Storage Usage

Trend

Displays a daily snapshot of storage usage for a site collection during the specified date range. Use this report to understand the storage growth pattern for a site collection.

X

Number of Sites

Trend

Displays a daily snapshot of the number of sites in a site collection during the specified date range.

X

X

Top Site Product Versions

Rank

Displays the top site product versions based on the product version property of each site in a site collection. Use this report to understand the site product version distribution in your site collection.

X

X

Top Site Languages

Rank

Displays the top site languages based on the number of sites created using each language. Use this report to understand the site language distribution in your site collection.

X

X

Web Analytics workflow

The Web Analytics workflow enables you to have reports sent out on a schedule or when certain criterion is met. For example, you can have a workflow that sends you e-mail every time the total number of pages views drop by 80 percent week over week.

Note

To create a Web Analytics workflow, you must be a member of the Farm Administrators group.

Web Analytics Web Part

Site managers can add the Web Analytics Web Part to any page on a site. For example, the Most Viewed Content report can be configured on the site to display data. The data in the Web Part is continuously refreshed as new content or new search queries become more popular. For information about how to configure the Web Analytics Web Part, see Configure Web Analytics service application (SharePoint Server 2010)