Properties and profiles
In Google Analytics, a property is a website, mobile application, or blog, etc., that is associated with a unique tracking ID. A Google Analytics account can contain one or more properties. Learn more about Google Analytics properties.
A profile is a set of specifications for tracking traffic on a single domain. You can think of a profile as a single set of rules for Analytics to use in processing the traffic on a domain. Analytics shows reports for one profile at a time.
You can set up multiple profiles for a single domain. For example, if you were setting up profiles to track "example.com," you might want:
- One profile for traffic to store.example.com
- One profile for U.S. visitors
- One profile whose reports can be viewed only by certain people
How properties and profiles relate to AdSense reporting in Analytics
- You must select a primary AdSense property: When you integrate your AdSense account with Analytics, you'll be asked to select a primary property -- a property whose webpages require only AdSense ad code and Analytics tracking code for integrated reporting. On each property other than the primary property, you'll need to add a third snippet of code, the AdSense Analytics code (ASAC).
- AdSense reporting shows for one profile at a time: If you display AdSense ads on multiple domains, you'll see AdSense reporting in Analytics for only a single profile at a time (and therefore, a single domain).
- Enabling one profile to report across multiple domains: To view AdSense reporting across multiple domains in a single profile, you'll need to take some additional steps to set up your tracking code.