This post is for you if:
- Don’t you know what Google Analytics is?
- Haven’t you installed it on your website?
- Have downloaded it but never look at your data.
While it may be difficult to believe, some websites don’t use Google Analytics to see how many people visit them.
In this article, kustomyze, best of wood flooring, and Yelloudt will look at Google Analytics from the point of view of someone who has never used it before. For example, what is the point of having this? How can I get my hands on it? How do I use it and work around common problems?
Google Analytics can answer a lot of other questions, but these are the ones that most website owners want to know about the most. Then, let’s talk about how to set up Google Analytics on your site now.
1. Set up your Account and Property:
You are going to need a Google Analytics account before you can do anything else. If you already have a main Google account that you use for other Google services, like:
- Google Calendar
- Google Drive.
- Google+
To set up Google Analytics, you should use the account that you already have set up for Google. Or, you might have to start over.
Google Analytics lets you organize your account in a way called a hierarchy. As long as you utilize the same Google account, you can have up to 100 different Google Analytics accounts set up. A single Google Analytics account can keep track of up to 50 different websites. A single property on a website can get up to 25 people to look at it.
As the reason is it all comes down to how you want to set up your websites. The best way to set up your Google Analytics account is the way that works for you. When it comes time to name your accounts or properties, you can always do it again, of course! That is true, though. You can’t move a site from one Google Analytics account to another. You’d have to make a new property under the new account and lose the old one’s history.
2. Install Your Tracking Code
Once you have finished, click the “Get Tracking ID” button to get your tracking ID. Next, you will see a popup with the terms and conditions for Google Analytics. You must agree with them. As soon as that is done, though, you’ll get your Google Analytics code.
All of your website’s pages should have this on them at all times. There will be different steps to follow based on the type of website you have. To build a WordPress site on my own domain, I use the Genesis Framework. In this framework, I can add scripts to the header and footer of my site.
In this case, you can use the Google Analytics by Yoast plugin to get your code. Even if you’re using a theme or framework, it doesn’t matter.
Tracking code: If your site is made up of HTML files, you’ll need to put it prior to the tag on every page of your site. When you use a text editor program, you can do this. In the next step, you will use an FTP program to send the file to your web host (such as FileZilla).
If you have a Shopify e-commerce store, go to the settings for your Online Store. Then, paste your tracking code in the right place.
Make sure your Tumblr blog is set up. Next, click the Edit Theme button in the top right corner. Then, type in the Google Analytics ID that you want to track your site.
As you can see, the way you set up Google Analytics varies depending on the platform, theme, and plugins you use. When you search for your platform + how to install Google Analytics, you should be able to find simple instructions on how to install Google Analytics on any website that you want.
Set up Goals
To make your websites more useful, you’ll need to set up a small but important setting. After you put the tracking code on your website, you can go into your Google Analytics account. This is where you’ll set your goals. You can tell it apart by:
- Go to the Admin tab at the top of your Google Analytics account. Select Goals from the View column and then click on the Goals button.
Google Analytics will be alerted through goals when your website does something important. If you have a website that gets leads through a contact form, like:
- You’ll need to find a thank you page for people to visit after they submit their information.
If you have a site that sells products, you’ll need to find (or make) a thank you message at the end. Or a confirmation page for people to go to after they buy something.
You can do this again if you want to keep track of other goals or conversions on your site. Set up to 20 goals on your site. Make sure that the people you make are important to the success of your business. Business goals:
- Lead form submissions.
- Buy completions.
- Email list signups.
Of course, your goals will vary based on the nature and purpose of your website. In Google Analytics, this is the most basic sort of conversion tracking. Consult the Google Analytics support manual for further information on goal tracking.
3. Set up Website Search
Site Search is another quick-to-add feature that will help you in the future. For example, at the top of the Moz Blog is a search box that you can type in:
- To start, look at your site. Then, keep the tab open. You’ll need the URL soon.
- Go back to your Google Analytics Admin menu. In the View column, choose View Settings from the drop down menu.
- Then, scroll down until you see a button that says “site settings on.”
- Return to your URL to see what you found. After you enter the query parameter, click Save (usually s or q). It’s called “q” on Moz.
- This lets GA track any searches that people do on your website. This is because it lets you know more about what your visitors are looking for on specific pages.
4. Add more Accounts and Properties:
If you want to create a new account on GA:
- Go to your Admin menu.
- Click the drop-down under the Account column.
- Then click the Create New Account link.
You should wait about 24 hours for the program to start collecting data. After you’ve:
- Installed it on your website(s).
- Set up your goals.
- Set up site search(es).
After that, you’ll be able to begin viewing your data.
5. View Google Analytics data
When you have the data, you can start learning about how people use your site. Every time, people who go to your GA will be taken to the Audience Overview report, which shows how many people have seen your site.
There are a lot of websites you can choose from if you have more than one. Then, you’ll go to the Audience Overview report for that site.
They have a report called “Analytics” which is the first one you can get from it. You can also get to these reports by going to the Reporting tab at the top of the page and clicking on the report you want.
