The absolute beginner’s guide to Google Analytics

As a website owner, the beginner’s guide to Google Analytics will prove very useful to you.

This digital marketing tool helps you meet the very purpose of creating your website – whether personal or commercial. All you need to do is take into account the vital information gathered.

Google Analytics is an effective measure of your website traffic. Thus, the inputs you derive may be used to increase your visibility and lead conversion rates.

Google Analytics tells you about:

The number of visitors per day
Viewer concentration, and in which regions
The website pages frequently visited
The length of time spent exploring your site
Number of visitors converted to customers

Here is a step-by-step beginner’s guide to Google Analytics to get you started:

Create your account

Use your Google account to set up your Google Analytics account for free. Start by entering all the required information when prompted. Then, configure the requisite data sharing settings. Your unique tracking ID gets generated after you agree to the Google Analytics terms and conditions.

Add the tracking code to your website

Google Analytics will measure and report all activity on your website. For this, you need to install the tracking code on each page of your website. The method of installation will depend upon the type of website and CMS platform you use.

Set-up site search

Activate the ‘Site Search Tracking’ option on your Google Analytics account. This will help you keep track of the sections of your website which are most popularly viewed by your website visitors. Thereafter, highlight your query parameters on the basis of which your search results are extracted.

Enumerate your goals

Google Analytics can track your conversions and provide important information once you have your definite goals in place. This is critical in order to determine the effectiveness of your website. Also, in order to make necessary improvements on your website, every action of your website visitor must be duly recorded.

You can either create customs goals or smart goals or simply use a standard template as a measuring tool. Of course, this depends on your business objectives and the type of website you use.

Describe your goals

Every beginner’s guide to Google Analytics will advise you to select your type of goal at the start. Only then will the reports generated make sense. This valuable feedback can subsequently be used to your venture’s advantage.

You have the choice of selecting either destination, duration, pages/screens per session or events, as your type of goal. Thereafter, configure the required details based on the type of goal selected. At a later stage, you can change your existing goals if you need.

It takes around 24 hours for your Google Analytics account to be activated after you set it up. To be able to view reports and other relevant information, just explore and navigate through your activated account. This beginner’s guide to Google Analytics should get you started on the right track. Then, you can find out the top Google Analytics metrics to track for your website.

At Them You & Me, we are ever willing to guide you through your digital marketing. We can handhold you through the process of setting up your Google Analytics account and help you create digital strategies in line with the feedback you receive. Contact us if you have any questions.