diff --git a/docs/annotations.md b/docs/annotations.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..ec1d2e05 --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/annotations.md @@ -0,0 +1,54 @@ +--- +title: Annotations +description: "Add annotations to mark important events directly on your Plausible traffic chart. Deployments, campaigns, outages: see the context behind every spike or drop." +--- + +import useBaseUrl from '@docusaurus/useBaseUrl'; + +Annotations let you pin notes to specific dates directly on your traffic chart. A product launch, a campaign going live, a site outage, a big press mention: anything that might explain a change in your data. + +When you spot a spike or a drop, annotations tell you why it happened. The context is right there on the chart. + +Annotations on the Plausible traffic chart + +## Personal and team annotations + +There are two types of annotations: + +- **Personal annotations** are visible only to you. Use these for notes that are relevant to your own workflow but not worth surfacing to the whole team. +- **Team annotations** are visible to all team members who have access to the dashboard, as well as anyone viewing through a [shared link](shared-links.md). + +## Where annotations appear + +Annotations show up as markers along the bottom of the main traffic chart. When the date of an annotation falls within your selected time range, the marker appears on the chart. Hover over a marker to read the note attached to it. + +## Add an annotation + +Open the options menu (the **⋮** icon in the top right of the chart) and select **Add annotation**. Choose the date the event occurred, write a short note describing it and select whether it should be personal or shared with your team. Save it and the annotation will appear on the chart immediately. + +:::tip +Annotate events as they happen rather than after the fact. A note added on the day of a deployment is more useful than one added a week later when you're trying to explain a traffic change. +::: + +## Edit or delete an annotation + +Hover over an annotation marker on the chart to see the note. From there you can edit the text or delete the annotation entirely. You can always edit or delete your own annotations. Only team members with editor access or above can add, edit or delete team annotations. + +## Practical uses + +Annotations are most useful when your team is making changes that affect traffic. Some common things worth marking: + +- **Deployments:** a significant change to the site that might affect page speed, structure or conversion rate +- **Marketing campaigns:** when a paid campaign, newsletter or social post goes live +- **SEO changes:** publishing new content, updating meta data or restructuring URLs +- **Technical incidents:** a downtime period, a tracking issue or a misconfigured redirect +- **External coverage:** a press mention, a viral post or a spike from an unexpected source +- **A/B tests:** start and end dates for experiments that affect traffic or conversion behavior + +Annotating these events means future you (and your teammates) can read the chart without having to dig through Slack, commit history or email threads to understand what changed. + +## Annotations and date ranges + +Annotations are not filtered by your active [filters or segments](filters-segments.md). They are tied to a date, not a subset of traffic. An annotation will appear on the chart as long as its date falls within the selected time range, regardless of what filters are active. + +When [comparing two periods](compare-stats.md), annotations from both date ranges appear on their respective sides of the chart. diff --git a/docs/guided-tour.md b/docs/guided-tour.md index d802ae06..a4a4ebef 100644 --- a/docs/guided-tour.md +++ b/docs/guided-tour.md @@ -26,6 +26,8 @@ The time format (24-hour or 12-hour am/pm) is displayed based on your browser's Here you can enter "[Site Settings](website-settings.md)" but also switch to a different [pinned site](landing-page.md#access-your-pinned-sites-from-the-site-switcher-list) that you have added to your Plausible account ::: +You can also **add annotations** to the chart to mark important events like a deployment, a campaign launch or an outage. Annotations appear as markers on the chart so you and your team always have context for traffic changes. [Learn more about annotations here](annotations.md). + ## Set a different chart interval You can **set a different unit of time the stats on the chart are grouped by** in the options menu (the **⋮** icon in the top right of the chart). Click it and select **Graph interval**. The available interval options depend on the date range you've selected. For example, if you select "Today", you can display the stats by minute or by hour. diff --git a/docs/traffic-spikes.md b/docs/traffic-spikes.md index e4a974cd..51baa32e 100644 --- a/docs/traffic-spikes.md +++ b/docs/traffic-spikes.md @@ -36,3 +36,5 @@ Traffic spike or drop notifications can be set to be sent to multiple recipients You can set the notifications to be sent to as many people as you want. You can remove individual recipients or completely stop the notifications at any time. P.S. If you're dealing with a traffic drop and need some tips on how to investigate it using your Plausible dashboard, take a look at our [blog post](https://plausible.io/blog/drop-in-website-traffic). + +Once you've identified the cause of a spike or drop, you can [add an annotation](annotations.md) to the chart so you and your team have a permanent record of what happened and when. diff --git a/sidebars.js b/sidebars.js index bc4c612a..986716de 100644 --- a/sidebars.js +++ b/sidebars.js @@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ module.exports = { 'guided-tour', 'consolidated-views', 'compare-stats', + 'annotations', 'filters-segments', 'google-search-console-integration', 'realtime-dashboard',