The Ultimate Guide to Using Google Analytics for Your Website

A website owner who does not analyze certain aspects of his website loses valuable information that could be key to the growth of the website and, consequently, the business.

How much traffic do you get to your website monthly? What aspects of your website invite that traffic? What parts of your website need the most improvement? These are questions that analyzing your website helps you answer. Google Analytics (GA) is a tool that makes website analysis easier and more accessible.

This blog post is the only guide you need to maximize GA to the fullest and get the website traffic results you desire.

What Is Google Analytics?

GA is Google’s free website analyzing tool that helps you determine your website traffic and the sources of the traffic. There are currently two versions of GA, and the version you use determines the kind of information about your website you can access. Universal Analytics is the original version of GA and started getting phased out in July 2023. By July 1, 2024, all customers will lose access to Universal Analytics. Therefore, this post will focus on how to use GA4 for your website.

GA4 has improved features and uses artificial intelligence (AI) to better track the metrics of a website. Furthermore, it is not limited to just website traffic like Universal Analytics was. GA4 can also be used with applications and helps you analyze conversion rates, expenses, and other website analysis metrics.

Why Use Google Analytics for Your Website?

Semrush reported that Google gets 5.9 million searches per minute. This means that a lot of users will most likely come across your website through Google. GA is a great way to discover the inner mechanisms of your website to reach your goals faster.

Here are some of the website metrics you can use GA to determine:

1.    Your Website Visitors

GA allows you to discover who visits your website during a specific period. Not only can you see the demographics of your visitors, but you also get access to the languages they speak and the cities they live in. Crucial information like this can help you easily determine whether or not you are attracting your target audience.

2.    Actions Taken on Your Website

With GA, you get to see what kind of actions these visitors take on your website. Are they clicking on links you want them to? Are they signing up for your newsletter? Are they filling out the contact form? This helps you measure your conversion rate and quickly implement any needed changes.

3.    What Brings Visitors to Your Website

You get to check out what directs visitors to your website. This could be organic traffic, paid advertisements, or even email marketing. You can measure the success or otherwise of your strategy when you figure out what brings in the most visitors.

4.    What Pages Are Doing Better Than Others

You can also gain insight into the traffic garnered by individual pages on your website. That way, you can determine which pages are doing better and how to bring the other pages up to standard.

Just like that popular saying goes: 'knowledge is power'. GA gives you the needed knowledge about your website. Now, let us walk you through how to use GA.

How to Set up Google Analytics on Your Website

There are two broad steps to setting up GA on your website. One is actively creating a GA account, and the other is installing GA on your website for the tracking to begin. Both steps will be broken down below:

Step 1- Create a GA account

Just like all other Google services, before you can access GA, you need to sign up for it. However, you need to have an existing and valid Google account before signing up for GA. If you already have an account, you can simply log in rather than create an account.

You will be required to give your GA account a name, and while you can choose any name, it is best to use your business’s name. There is other information you will be asked to provide to fully set up your GA account, but some are optional.

Step 2- Create Your GA Property

Property in this sense refers to the collection of data from a single website or application. After creating your account and clicking ‘next’, you are automatically led to the property creation aspect of the process. You will also need to name your Property and state your preferred time zone and currency for your reports.

Step 3- Fill out Your Business Details and Objectives

You will need to describe your business; particularly your industry and business size. Once that is completed, you will need to state your objectives so that GA can ensure that the reports are suited to your needs. You will also need to accept the terms of agreement presented to you once you fill out the relevant details and objectives. You should always take a moment or two to review the terms and conditions to understand what the information you have provided will be used for.

Step 4- Set Up a Data Stream

A data stream refers to sources of information that trickle into your GA property. This source could be your website or application. This step depends on whether your source is a website, iOS, or Android application. Seeing as this post focuses on utilizing GA for your website, that is the option we will be discussing. To create a data stream for your website, simply click on the ‘Web’ icon, enter your domain into the ‘website URL’ field, and name your stream. Once you click on ‘create stream’, you will be given its measurement ID, otherwise known as your tracking ID.

Step 5- Install GA on Your Website

There are three ways to install GA on your website. You could either install it manually, integrate it, or use Google Tag Manager.

1.    Manual Installation

To do this, you will need to access tag instructions from your stream details, which are available under your GA Property settings. You can then choose ‘install manually’, which will provide you with a code snippet. This method requires dealing with your website’s code and can be tedious because you will have to post that code snippet into your website’s template below the <head> tag of the page. You should also bear in mind that you will be required to repeat this process for every page you want to track if the pages have different headers.

2.    Integration

Certain Content Management Systems (CMS) such as Wix and HubSpot allow easier GA installation. They simply require you to enter your Tracking ID, or account number into the required field for installation. However, other systems use plug-ins which are software that adds new functions to a program without altering it. An example is WordPress. The process for adding these plug-ins differs depending on the CMS, but it usually involves installing the plug-in, signing into your account, verifying your ownership of the website, and then installing GA on the website.

3.    Google Tag Manager (GTM)

GTM helps you store and manage marketing tags and third-party code snippets. This includes GA. You will need to create an account on GTM and set it up for your website. During this process, you will be required to create a ‘container’ which contains tags for your website. Once you agree to the terms and conditions, you will be given a code snippet that you will need to add to your website’s code for installation. Once this is done, click on ‘Google Analytics’ in your GTM account and select ‘Google Tag’, before inputting your Tracking ID. After this, you should click on the ‘Triggering’ field, select ‘all pages’, and then save.

This action should load a new page where you will be required to input your website URL. This should successfully connect your GA to your website through GTM and you can manage your changes in your container’s overview.

If you are wondering how to switch from Universal Analytics to GA4, don’t despair, we've got you as well. If you are still using Universal Analytics, you should have a notification letting you know that you have to move to GA4. Google has provided a GA4 Property Setup Assistant that will help you create a GA4 Property. You will then proceed to install it using any of the formerly mentioned methods of installation. You should also check out Google’s Migration Guide.

Furthermore, you can add members of your team to your GA account by adding their email addresses. This can be done through the Admin and Access Management part of your account. You can limit the actions that added users can take on your account or give them full access like you have.

Using Google Analytics to Track Your Website Traffic

Website traffic refers to the number of users that visit your website within a specified period. Tracking and measuring your website traffic can help you consistently refine your marketing strategy to get the best results attainable.

GA automatically creates certain reports using the information gathered from your website or application. Some of these reports can be used to track website traffic and they are accessible from the ‘Admin’ portion of your GA

1.    Realtime Overview Report

As the name suggests, the real-time overview report allows you to track and view activities taken on your website as they occur. You gain access to the number of users on your website per minute in the last 30 minutes, where these users are coming from, who they are, and what activities they take. The report distinguishes between new users who are users visiting your website for the first time and returning users that GA has already processed.

You can use this report to determine the initial effect of a new strategy or post. For example, if you link your website to a social media post or you try Search Engine Marketing for the first time, you can check your real-time overview to see if it has had any effect on your traffic. Of course, you will not always gather traffic immediately but it is still a useful metric.

2.    Acquisition Overview Report

This report is automatically split into different summary cards which range from Users and New Users to Lifetime Value. This report essentially summarizes the number of users your website is attracting. Alongside Acquisition Overview, you gain access to User and Traffic Acquisition.

You will be able to see how much of your traffic is paid or organic which can help you determine the success of your marketing efforts. It further shows the level of traffic gotten through referrals and the unassigned users who are users who find your website through other sources. This report is important because it helps you determine what marketing channels to prioritize and what tactics you need to drop.

3.    Audiences Report

Under this report, you will gain information about your audience which entails every user within a specified period. This report contains metrics such as active users, sessions, average session duration, views per session, and total revenue. You will be able to view the number of users that have interacted with your website, how long they spend on your website on average, and how much you have made from users paying for subscriptions or making purchases.

4.    Conversion Report

GA only marks an event as a conversion when you classify it as such. You can add actions such as downloads, clicks on specific buttons, and others as conversions. Your conversion report will detail these events and you can add or remove certain metrics in the report. Just like the Audiences Report, this report also shows your total revenue from purchases.

Conclusion

GA is a powerful tool when properly utilized. It may come across as a little confusing at first but after reading this post, navigating it should be a piece of cake for you. If you have never had a GA account, consider setting one up for your website to ensure you are not missing out on information about your website that may be key to actualizing your goals.