Adding Google Analytics to Your Website
So, you’ve got your new website, it looks good, but you have no idea how many people are visiting your site let alone how they are finding you or what they’re doing when they get on your site. This is where Google Analytics can help.
What is Google Analytics?
If you’re already familiar with Google Analytics and what it does, you can skip this part and jump straight to adding it to your website.
Google Analytics is a free service that allows website owners to view data related to their website traffic and gain vital insight into how visitors find and use a site. The information it provides can help you in a variety of ways, from understanding your customer to creating successful marketing strategies.
Here are a few pieces of information you can get from Google Analytics:
- The number of visits your site gets
- Whether visitors are new or returning
- How many people came direct to your website or via search engines
- The websites or social media platforms that your visits come from
- How many times each page has been viewed
- The number of people visiting your website on mobile or desktop devices
- The locations of your website visitors
To add Google Analytics to your website you will first need to create a Google Analytics account. Once you have set up an account, you need to add the tracking code to your website to begin collecting data.
How do I add Google Analytics to my Website?
Google Analytics 4 (GA4) helps you understand how people find and use your website. The older Universal Analytics version stopped processing data for standard properties on 1 July 2023, so instructions using a tracking ID beginning with UA- no longer apply.
Step 1. Create or select your GA4 property.
Sign in to Google Analytics and open Admin. Select the correct account and create a GA4 property if you do not already have one. Choose the reporting time zone and currency for your business.
Sign in to Google Analytics and open Admin. Select the correct account and create a GA4 property if you do not already have one. Choose the reporting time zone and currency for your business.
Step 2. Add your website.
In Admin, open Data streams. If your website is not already listed, choose Web and enter your website address and a stream name.
In Admin, open Data streams. If your website is not already listed, choose Web and enter your website address and a stream name.
Step 3. Find your Measurement ID.
Open your website’s data stream and copy its Measurement ID, which normally starts with G-.
Open your website’s data stream and copy its Measurement ID, which normally starts with G-.
Step 4. Choose the right installation method.
If your website builder has a dedicated Google Analytics Measurement ID field, paste the ID there. If it requires custom code instead, open your data stream’s View tag instructions, choose Install manually and copy the complete Google tag script—not just the G- ID.
If your website builder has a dedicated Google Analytics Measurement ID field, paste the ID there. If it requires custom code instead, open your data stream’s View tag instructions, choose Install manually and copy the complete Google tag script—not just the G- ID.
Step 5. Add the tag and check your privacy settings.
For manual installation, use your builder’s supported header or custom-code feature. Google instructs you to place the complete tag immediately after the opening `` tag on every page. Avoid installing the same tag twice, and check your privacy and cookie-consent setup before enabling Analytics. If you’re unsure how to install it on Pagio, contact us for help.
For manual installation, use your builder’s supported header or custom-code feature. Google instructs you to place the complete tag immediately after the opening `` tag on every page. Avoid installing the same tag twice, and check your privacy and cookie-consent setup before enabling Analytics. If you’re unsure how to install it on Pagio, contact us for help.
Step 6. Check it is working.
Visit your website and check the Realtime report in GA4. Google says data collection can take up to 30 minutes to begin. If you do not see activity, use Google’s Tag Assistant to check the installation.
Visit your website and check the Realtime report in GA4. Google says data collection can take up to 30 minutes to begin. If you do not see activity, use Google’s Tag Assistant to check the installation.
Final thoughts
Google Analytics has an array of tools for data collection, so it is worth taking the time to play around with them and make sure you understand how they all work. With all the information you could possibly want about your website and its users all in one place, it is an invaluable tool in your digital toolkit.
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