Google Analytics is one of the most important tools that small business owners can use to measure the performance and success of their website. It provides insights into how people are finding and using your website, as well as how you can improve your website’s performance.
In this blog post, we will discuss Google Analytics in depth, including the new GA4 updates. We will also provide tips on how small business owners can use Google Analytics to improve their website’s ROI. For personalised digital marketing advice, contact the Somer Design team today!
What is Google Analytics and what does it do?
Google Analytics is a free web analytics tool that helps website owners track and analyse their website’s traffic. Google Analytics can provide insights into where your website’s visitors are coming from, what they’re doing on your website, and how you can improve your website to attract more visitors. Google Analytics also provides data that can be used to measure the success of your website’s marketing campaigns.
Google Analytics is a powerful tool, but it can be daunting for small business owners who are not familiar with web analytics. The good news is that there are plenty of resources available to help you get started, including Google’s own Analytics Academy.
Once you’ve set up Google Analytics on your website, you can start tracking your website’s traffic and performance. Google Analytics will provide you with data on things like:
- The number of visitors to your website
- The average time spent on your website
- The pages that are being visited most often
- The sources of your website’s traffic (e.g. organic search, direct traffic, referral traffic)
- The geographical location of your website’s visitors
- The devices that are being used to access your website
- And much more!
Google Analytics is an incredibly powerful tool that can help you to improve your website’s performance. However, it is important to remember that the data provided by Google Analytics should be interpreted in the context of your website’s overall goals.
For example, if your goal is to increase sales on your website, then you will want to focus on metrics such as conversion rate and average order value. If your goal is to increase brand awareness, then you will want to focus on metrics such as reach and engagement.
It is also important to remember that Google Analytics is only one tool that you can use to measure the success of your website. Other important tools include Google Search Console and Google My Business.
How to set up Google Analytics
If you don’t already have Google Analytics installed on your website, then you’ll need to set it up. Google Analytics is a fairly simple process, but there are a few things that you need to do in order to get started.
- First, you’ll need to create a Google Analytics account. You can do this by going to Google’s Analytics website and clicking on the “Create an account” button.
- Once you’ve created your account, you’ll need to add Google Analytics code to your website. This code will allow Google Analytics to collect data about your website’s traffic and activity.
- If you’re not familiar with code, don’t worry! There are plenty of resources available to help you, including Google’s own Analytics Help Centre.
- Once you’ve added the Google Analytics code to your website, you’ll be able to start tracking your website’s traffic and performance.
The different features of Google Analytics
Google Analytics provides a wide range of features that can be used to track and analyse your website’s traffic. Some of the most important features include:
- Google Analytics tracking code: This code is used to collect data about your website’s traffic and activity.
- The Google Analytics interface: This is where you can access your website’s Google Analytics data.
- Google Analytics reports: Google Analytics provides a range of reports that can be used to interpret your website’s traffic data.
- Google Analytics filters: Filters can be used to segment your website’s traffic data, making it easier to analyse.
- Google Analytics goals: Goals allow you to track and measure progress towards specific objectives.
- Google Analytics e-commerce: Ecommerce tracking allows you to track and measure sales and conversions on your website.
Measuring SEO success with Google Analytics
One of the most important things that Google Analytics can help you with is measuring the success of your website’s SEO efforts. SEO is a vital part of any digital marketing strategy, and it’s important to track your progress so that you can see what’s working and what’s not.
There are a few different ways to measure SEO success with Google Analytics, but one of the most important is to track your website’s organic traffic. Organic traffic is the traffic that comes to your website from search engines, such as Google and Bing.
To track your website’s organic traffic, you’ll need to go to the “Acquisition” tab in Google Analytics and then click on “All Traffic.” From there, you’ll be able to see how much organic traffic your website is receiving, as well as the keywords that are driving that traffic.
You can also track your website’s conversion rate, which is the percentage of visitors who take a desired action on your website (such as making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter). To do this, go to the “Conversions” tab in Google Analytics and then click on “Goals.” From there, you’ll be able to set up goals for your website and track your progress over time.
Google Analytics can also help you to track your website’s mobile traffic. Mobile traffic is important because more and more people are using their smartphones and tablets to access the internet. To track your website’s mobile traffic, go to the “Audience” tab in Google Analytics and then click on “Mobile.” From there, you’ll be able to see how much mobile traffic your website is receiving, as well as the devices that are being used to access your website.
The new GA4 updates for Google Analytics
The Google Analytics team has been working hard to make sure that Google Analytics is up to date with the latest changes in the digital marketing landscape. As a result, they’ve recently released a number of new features and updates for Google Analytics, which include:
- Google Analytics for Firebase: This new feature allows you to collect data from mobile apps and use it to create Google Analytics reports.
- Google Tag Manager support: Google Tag Manager can now be used to manage your Google Analytics tags.
- The GA 360 Suite: The GA 360 Suite is a set of tools designed for enterprise users.
- Google Analytics for BigQuery: This new feature allows you to export your Google Analytics data into BigQuery for analysis.
These are just a few of the new features and updates that have been released for Google Analytics. For now, we recommend setting up both properties (Google Analytics and GA4) to retain all features and benefits. Google Analytics is an ever-evolving platform, so make sure to stay up to date with the latest changes!
