DCatalog Analytics

DCatalog Analytics

DCatalog Analytics gives you valuable insights into how users interact with your digital editions—just like Google Analytics, but tailored for your catalogs. Whether you're tracking views, clicks, or devices, everything is organized into clear sections that make it easy to monitor performance and improve engagement. Follow the steps below to access DCatalog Analytics:

1. Click "My Analytics" on your Dashboard


2. Go to "DCatalog Analytics" tab








Before diving into your catalog analytics, it’s important to select the correct template, edition, and date range. This ensures the data you see is accurate and relevant to the specific content you want to analyze.


From the Analytics Dashboard, follow these steps:

  1. Choose your Template – This defines the layout and structure used by the edition

  2. Select the Edition – Pick the catalog you want to review analytics for

  3. Set the Date Range – Choose the time period you want to analyze (e.g., last 7 days, custom range, etc.)


Once selected, you can explore the available tabs (Page View, Events, Geo, etc.) to see performance insights for that edition and time period.



Finally, you will need to choose the date range.

Specific Tabs

If you click on each of the available tabs, such as General Overview or Page View or you will see specific data for each view. We will go over that now.

General Overview Tab

Below are the different data you'll see under the General Overview tab

Frequency Overview –Displays visit data grouped by how often users return, including total visits, unique visitors, bounce rate, and engagement metrics like actions and average time on page. This section helps you understand how frequently your audience returns and how their behavior changes over time. This is useful for measuring repeat engagement and content effectiveness.


Visits Overview – A summary of your catalog's key engagement metrics, including total visits, visit duration, bounce rate, actions taken per visit, maximum actions in a single visit, total and unique page views, site searches, downloads, and outbound link clicks. This section highlights both volume (traffic and activity) and quality (engagement and interaction) of visits, along with percentage changes compared to the previous period.



Returning Visits Over time –This chart shows the daily trend of new vs. returning visitors to your edition over the selected time range.

  • New Visits (orange line) represent users accessing your edition for the first time, identified by a unique browser ID.

  • Returning Visits (blue line) represent users who have visited your edition before using the same browser.

A steady flow of returning visits is a strong indicator of audience loyalty and ongoing interest, while a high number of new visits reflects your ability to reach fresh users.

Pro Tip: Metrics may be affected by actions like clearing browser cache, using multiple devices or browsers, or shared access. These can impact how visits are tracked.

Visits per Local Time – Understand what times of day your audience is most active, based on their own local time zones.






Visits per Local Time – Understand what times of day your audience is most active, based on their own local time zones.






  • The first column shows total visits per hour
  • The second column shows percentage change compared to the previous hour



Visit by Day of the Week – This shows the number of visit per day of the week



Page View Tab

The Page View tab provides a detailed look at visitor behavior over the selected date range, based on the template and edition you’ve chosen.

It includes two main charts:

  • Visits Over Time – Tracks how visits fluctuate throughout the selected period

  • Visits Overview – Summarizes key metrics such as:

    • Total visits

    • Unique visitors

    • Average time spent

    • Bounce rate

    • Unique page views

You’ll also see:

  • Search keywords used within the edition

  • Links clicked by visitors

  • Whether files were downloaded

Pro Tip: Click on any section in Visits Overview to see that data reflected in the Visits Over Time chart for deeper insights.

Understanding Key Metrics

To make the most of your analytics, it is important to understand the key terms used through out the dashboard. Here's a breakdown of the most common metrics:

What Are Page Views?

A page view is counted every time a page or edition is opened in a browser—regardless of whether it's loaded from cache or freshly rendered.

  • If a user clicks the back button or refreshes the page, it still counts as a new page view

  • Page views are only tracked if the DCatalog tracking code is installed on the template

What Are Visits?

A visit is a session started when a user accesses your edition.

  • One visitor can generate multiple page views during a single visit

  • If the user closes their browser or remains inactive for a period of time (typically 30 minutes), the visit is considered over

  • A single person can have multiple visits over days or weeks

What Are Unique Visitors & New Visitors?

Each visitor is identified using a unique ID stored in their browser by the DCatalog tracking system.

  • If the system finds a matching ID, the user is marked as a Returning Visitor

  • If no ID is found, a new one is created, and the user is marked as a New Visitor

Keep in mind:
Factors like clearing browser cache, using multiple browsers or devices, or sharing a computer can affect how visitors are counted. These actions may result in a user being recorded as “new” even if they’ve visited before.

What is Bounce Rate?

Bounce Rate measures the percentage of users who view only one page and then leave without taking further action.

A bounce typically means:

  1. The visitor quickly found what they needed and exited

  2. The content didn’t match their expectations or needs

Monitoring bounce rate helps you understand how engaging and relevant your catalog content is.


Geo Tab

The Geo tab displays a visual map showing where your visitors are located, helping you understand the geographic reach of your catalog.
Geo is the map.


Device Tab

The Device tab provides a breakdown of your visitors by device type—such as desktop or smartphone. It shows which devices are most commonly used to access your edition. Visits are recorded for all users, including first-time visitors. If a user returns and views a page more than 30 minutes after their last activity, it’s counted as a new visit.

      


By clicking on Open Row Evolution, you can visualize how the metrics for each individual row evolve over time. This is especially useful for identifying trends or comparing performance across different devices, channels, or audience segments.



Pro Tip: If you scroll down within any view, you’ll find an option to select an additional device for side-by-side comparison. This allows you to easily compare performance metrics across different devices, as shown in the images below.


Search Keywords Tab

This section displays the exact search terms visitors entered into the catalog’s search bar, along with how those searches performed. For each keyword, you can see:

  • Keyword – The term the visitor typed in.

  • Searches – The total number of times that keyword was searched.

  • Search Results Pages – The number of results pages shown for that keyword.

  • % Search Exits – The percentage of searches where the visitor left immediately after seeing the search results (an indicator of possible irrelevant or unsatisfactory results).

This data helps identify what users are looking for, detect common typos, and spot potential gaps in your catalog’s content.


Events Tab

Events Tab is very important. This is where you will keep track of all events within your digital edition. 

The Events Tab is a key part of your analytics—it tracks all user interactions within your digital edition, going far beyond basic page views. From zooming in on content to opening pop-ups or using the Table of Contents, this tab gives you a clear picture of how your audience is engaging with specific features.

It’s especially useful for identifying high-engagement actions, spotting trends in behavior, and uncovering opportunities to improve the overall user experience.


Each Event Category represents a specific action, such as:

  • Zooming in on a page or item

  • Toggling between single and double-page view

  • Clicking on the Table of Contents

  • Opening a video pop-up, image, or HTML element

  • Viewing the edition itself

For each tracked event, you’ll see:

  • Visits – How many visits included that specific event

  • Events – The total number of times the event occurred

  • Event Value – (If configured) A numeric value representing the impact or importance of that event

  • Average Value – The average value per event

  • Min / Max Value – The lowest and highest values recorded for the event



Settings Key

At the bottom of the list of Views, you will see a Settings Key:

To get to the nitty gritty of your data, click on the Chart Icon:



You will see this pop up:



In the next section, we will go over the most important views of your data.

Insights

Insights provides data as to how edition views have increased or decreased over time.



Vertical or Pie Chart Graph

You can also choose to view your data as a vertical graph or a pie chart, depending on the visuals that you need. 






Exporting Analytics

Each Tab (except “Geo”) gives you the option to export analytics. The export button across the tab will look like this . Once clicked you will have the following options:

1. Select the Export format

2. Choose a Report type

3. Set Row Limit
4. Choose to Format metrics

Once all parameters are set, click the “Export” button.


Note: To use the generated export URL, you will need to specify an app token auth. You can configure these tokens in [Admin → Security → Auths Tokens]. Replace ENTER_YOUR_TOKEN_AUTH_HERE in the Export URL by your Auth token. Warning: Never share the URL with the real token with anyone else.


    • Related Articles

    • GA4 Analytics

      Google Analytics 4 Just as with Universal Analytics, GA4 enables you to track your online catalog that you create with DCatalog. The new GA4 product will provide you with the essential insights you need. This new, more intelligent product will help ...

    • Analytics Help - Events

      What can I see under "Events"? What type of data? An event allows you to measure a distinct user interaction on a website or app. For example, loading a page, clicking a link, and completing a purchase are all interactions you can measure with ...

    • 📊 Tracking Link Interactions by Type (Icon, Rectangle, or Polygon)

      DCatalog tracks link performance based on link shape—helping you analyze which type drives more interactions. This can guide your decision on whether to keep using all link types or consolidate to the best-performing one. ✅ How to View Link ...

    • Will we need to add a new Google Analytics Connection for every new edition created?

      If you have already created and added your G4 ID number when you set up your first template, there is no need to add the G4 ID again. (If you have not yet done this, click here). You will only need to set up the tracking ID for each NEW template ...

    • Analytics

      G4 Analytics For an interactive guide of G4 analytics, please visit the following page using this link HERE Google Analytics 4 is the next generation measurement solution. If you are using Universal Analytics, keep in mind that those properties will ...