Transactions
also called PurchasesOrders
Definition
The number of completed transactions recorded by your web-analytics source in the period.
How it's calculated
A sum of the transactions column supplied by the analytics export, with nulls read as zero.
Scope, grain and dimensions
- Grain
- One number per date range and medium, or one row per breakdown value.
- Dimensions
- country · device · page · keyword · source_medium · intent · category
- Required filters
- date_range
- Aggregation
- Sums across rows.
- Metric type
- raw measure · transactions
Data sources
Where you'll see this
Named reports that normally include this metric.
Skills and analyses that use it
Skills carry the judgment; the analysis verbs do the reading.
Analysis verbs
conversions_overviewweb_analytics_overviewpop_significancefunnel_dropoff
Method rungs and levers
A rung tells you what a movement here can and cannot explain, read the rungs below it first.
Ask Quattr
- "How many orders came from organic search?" Simulate this →
- "Transactions by landing page?" Simulate this →
How to read it
The narrowest and least ambiguous outcome in the set, a completed purchase, not a configured goal. It is the natural bottom step of a macro funnel that runs sessions to conversions to transactions.
Caveats, freshness and failure modes
Transactions are a subset of conversions in most configurations, so they are never added to the conversion count.
Whole-domain only today.
The conversions tool's default scope is All traffic sources with the search type pinned to web, not organic.
- Freshness
- loads nightly, a same-day question gets yesterday's number, labelled as yesterday's.
Common failure modes
- Adding transactions to conversions to make an outcome total.
Not the same as
The confusions that cause the most wrong decisions.
Transactions Conversions Compare definitions →
Conversions cover every configured goal; transactions are completed purchases only. In most configurations transactions are already inside the conversion count.
Watch this metric read in a real run
All runs →
1 min 55 secChatGPT cites us. Does any of it become revenue?AI visibility + Web analytics · Search to revenue◐Recreated from an anonymized session
2 min 18 secThe deck is due tomorrow. The numbers live in five places.Search Console + Rank tracking + AI visibility + Web analytics + Google Ads · Monthly exec review◐Recreated from an anonymized session
2 min 20 secWhere do we stand? Five questions answer it, in order.Search Console + Rank tracking + AI visibility · Monthly exec review◐Recreated from an anonymized session
Related metrics and workflows
Verification
A definition is the smallest part of this.
The measurement matters because something acts on it. Here is the rest of the showcase, in the order most people find useful.