Google Analytics, the complete guide

Google Analytics is a free web audience analysis tool, delivered as a web application. It can help you measure the return on your marketing actions and check your company’s online presence by monitoring and analyzing your traffic.

Its scope is wide: it can analyze a website as well as a mobile app.

This complete guide walks through the features of the tool.

What is Google Analytics?

Google Analytics is therefore a free website analysis tool. Our SEO agency uses it every day to get statistical data on a site’s visitors, why they search, and how they query. Those figures make it easier to optimize a site’s organic search.

The free services and the richness of the information also make it one of the strongest web analytics tools on the market. Google Analytics comes with several basic features that anyone can use. Some of the more complex features still take real web expertise. The tool remains essential for optimizing your SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and your digital marketing strategy.

Who can use Google Analytics?

Anyone and any company with an online activity can use Google Analytics. You only need to create a Google account to access the software.

It comes in two versions. On one side, the free version, available online to everyone. On the other, the paid version, Google Analytics Premium, which offers customized features so you can identify more data.

What are Google Analytics’ features?

Historically, Google acquired Urchin Software Corporation (an American company specialized in website traffic analysis) in April 2005. Google based its own analysis tool on the features of the Urchin on Demand product.

A few extra features were then added to the original tool, such as:

• Alerts so you can quickly fix problems such as a broken link (a link that sends people to a 404 page).

• A custom dashboard so you can review KPIs (key performance indicators).

• Segments so you can create a group of data to analyze, such as mobile visits or visits from social networks.

• Tracking of the site’s internal searches, so you can analyze queries typed into the site’s own search engine. The tool also lets you analyze the most viewed, commented, and shared articles on social networks.

• Shortcuts to dashboards, segments, and more.

What is Google Analytics used for?

Reviewing the essential data

The essential information appears as soon as you log in to Google Analytics. Still, check how your dashboard is set up so the data you actually need shows up quickly. Users can also create several dashboards, each with its own widgets.

To do that, first go to the dashboard in the menu bar. Then choose “New Dashboard.” Add the widgets that show a specific function, a chart comparing metrics, a timeline of one or two metrics, and so on.

You can change the date range, and the data displayed on the widgets then updates automatically.

Google Analytics also tells you whether a mobile version of the site is needed. To find out, go to the Audience menu. It includes an option that shows the percentage of visits coming from a mobile device.

Understanding the audience

Google Analytics helps users understand the characteristics of the audience:

• Visitor location

The tool maps where visitors come from. To see that information, look under your Audience menu. It displays visitors’ demographic data. Those figures cover average visit duration and the bounce rate (the ratio between the total number of visits and the number of single-page visits) of people from certain countries. They also give a more precise conversion rate (the number of visitors who become buyers) for each country. With all of that, you can target each message you send.

• Searches made on the site

Google Analytics can identify what visitors search for. This feature analyzes queries so you can see which products or services interest them. To get that information, go to View settings in the View column. Then switch the button to ON to enable site search tracking. Next, tell Google Analytics which query parameter you use. Finally, save the changes.

• Clicks

The analysis tool shows which clicks visitors prefer.

How? With In-Page Analytics, which identifies how people behave on your pages. That analysis is essential if you want to judge the effectiveness of the layout, the design, and the CTA buttons (calls to action). Go to “Behavior,” then “In-Page Analytics.” You have 3 display options: show tooltips, show colors, and show the browser size option.

• Cart abandonment rate

This is the share of visitors who left an ecommerce purchase process partway through. The indicator is essential for judging how usable and how effective the checkout funnel is. To see the data, click the settings icon and then “Goals.” Check “Use a funnel” and enter the URLs of the pages that correspond to the main purchase steps. When you enter those URLs, include only the domain name of the pages (without the http://www. prefix).

Identifying the site’s strengths

• Marketing campaigns

Marketing campaigns are among the essential elements to analyze in Google Analytics. You can create customized URLs with a UTM tag. Those tags give you a clearer view of web traffic.

They are essential for automatically tracking your marketing campaigns. Start by entering the site link you want to track and a short description of the campaign. Google then gives you a trackable link to use. To display the data on campaign performance, go to “Acquisition – Campaigns.”

Keep in mind that this information is critical for judging how a marketing campaign is performing. The data supports the profitability and growth of your ecommerce business.

• Page ranking

You can identify the pages on your site that people prefer. Go to the “Site Content” menu under the “Behavior” tab to see which content holds visitors’ attention. That information is essential if you want to produce even more relevant content.

When someone visits a page on your site, two situations come up:

• Visitors are satisfied with the information they found and may explore more pages.

• Visitors are not interested and leave empty-handed or unsatisfied.

Google Analytics aims to improve the user experience. It will also identify the least relevant pages on the site.

How do you install Google Analytics?

Installing the tracking code

Installing Google Analytics is fairly straightforward. The process starts with creating a Google account or a Gmail account. Then go to Google Analytics and click “Create account” in the upper right. Choose Website and enter the information requested. Finally, click “Get Tracking ID” at the bottom of the page. That option gives you your tracking code. On the next page, you get a code to copy.

Then open the admin panel and go to “Settings,” then “online store.” An empty field appears on the screen for the codes you just copied.

The last step is to enable ecommerce in Google Analytics. Go to Admin in the menu bar at the top of the screen. Select your account and your property from the drop-down menus. Then choose all of the site data, again from the drop-down menu. At the bottom, in the Ecommerce Settings section, turn on the Ecommerce option. Finally, click “Save.”

Site Search

The Site Search option identifies visitor intent by tracking how people use the site’s search field. The tool takes into account the words typed into the search bar and how people behave with the results.

• Setting up Site Search

The setup steps are essential if you want relevant reports on users’ search activity. Start by signing in to your Analytics account. Then go to Admin and to the View you want to configure. Click “View Settings.” A field named “Query Parameter” then appears; enter the terms that designate the internal query parameters, such as term, query, or search. Specify the URL query parameters you want to strip. Finally, save the changes.

• Recognizing search query parameters

When a user searches, the query is usually included in the URL. So if someone starts a search on Google, the URL will contain the search terms.

For example, if you search Google with the keywords Mountain View, the URL will contain the query like this: http:///www.google.com/#hl=fr&q=mountain+view. It is essential to identify the query parameter that corresponds to your site.

• Setting up Site Search for search engines that use the POST method

The POST method sends data from a form to the server. This method is recommended when you need to change server data or send sensitive data.

To display Site Search data, sign in to Google Analytics, open the View, go to the Reports section, and choose Behavior, then Site Search.

Adding a new Google Analytics account

Adding a Google Analytics account lets you organize and categorize data by its specifics, and therefore analyze it more clearly.

Start by signing in to your Analytics account and going to Admin. In the Account column, select “Create account.” Then choose Website. Enter the account name and the website URL. Choose an industry category and a reporting time zone. Select the settings inside the Data Sharing Settings section. Then click “Get Tracking ID.”

The view feature in Google Analytics

What does the view feature do?

A Google Analytics account gives the user access to reports and analysis tools. The application automatically creates an unfiltered view for each property on the account.

What is a Google Analytics property?

A property is a place for sending data and configuring report views. The user can set up several views for one property. All of the information sent to a property then appears automatically in the associated report views. This feature covers website data and app information.

The user can apply view customization filters to sort the different report data. For example, you can select one view to display all internal traffic and another view to display activity on a platform subdomain. The site owner can also limit access to specific views for other users.

Adding a view

When you create a report view, you choose between an app view and a web view. The difference between the two is in how they analyze data. Both categories still offer the same service.

To create a view, start by signing in to the Google Analytics account. Then go to Admin and open the account. Select the property to configure. In the View column, open the menu and click “Create View.” Then choose Website or App. Define the name.

This step needs a specific, descriptive name so you can identify the data easily. Choose the time zone. Finally, click “Create View.” All of these settings can be changed on the Admin page.

Deleting a view

As with adding a view, deleting one requires edit permission. Deleting a view deletes the data, the settings, and the configuration preferences. The data stored at the property and account levels stays intact.

Permanent deletion takes effect 35 days after the operation.

To delete a view, start by signing in to the Analytics account and going to Admin. Then go to the view you want to delete. In the View column, click “View Settings.” Then choose “Move to Trash.”

What are the different types of Google Analytics reports?

Audience reports

• The essential information

Audience reports give you information about the visitors to your platform. These reports break into several sub-reports covering demographic criteria (gender, age, nationality), geographic criteria (location, language), operating systems (Mac, Windows), and the devices visitors use (desktop, mobile, PC). The Audience Overview report also covers the total number of visitors on the site (sessions), unique visitors (users), page views, the average number of pages viewed per session (pages per session), average session duration, bounce rate, and new users.

• Additional information

The additional information sits at the bottom of the Audience Overview. These extra details cover language, country and city, preferred browser, service providers, mobile operating system, mobile service providers, and mobile screen resolution.

• Segments

Google Analytics shows all of the information related to your site traffic, but those reports, complete as they are, are also very general.

It can therefore be useful to segment certain sessions and certain users so the analysis is more precise.

The software has already set up a few popular segments in your Analytics account. With that segmentation, you can analyze data from visitors who came through organic search, or from visitors who came from abroad.

• Why this information matters

The audience report gives essential information about your customer profile. The country data shows whether your products or services attract interest outside your usual reach and targeting. City-level information can help you improve shipping logistics. For example, you may be able to reduce delivery time, choose a fulfillment warehouse, or promote proximity with consumers. Browser and operating system information is useful for seeing how your site displays on each user’s screen, and therefore for optimizing the user experience.

Behavior reports

• The information

Behavior reports provide the essential data you need to improve the platform’s content and the interactions with users. The report also covers page load speed, which is important for the site’s SEO. Behavior reports also help you estimate the abandonment rate of each page and the cart abandonment rate. That rate is often caused by a visitor getting lost or losing interest. By analyzing the pages with a high abandonment rate, you can put a strategy in place to fix the problems.

• Why this information matters

Behavior reports show which parts of the platform still need work. Understanding that some content is useless to visitors forces the owner to focus on more relevant pieces. The goal is to meet consumer needs in order to raise the conversion rate.

Acquisition reports

• The information

The acquisition report section analyzes the different sources and mediums of your traffic, such as paid traffic, organic traffic, and referring sites. The report gives you information that helps you evaluate how each medium is evolving and the share it takes in your traffic.

• Why this information matters

This information helps you evaluate the methods that attract the most visitors, so you can optimize them further. Knowing which channels generate more sales traffic underlines their performance. Knowing which websites point links to your page and your domain also opens new opportunities to grow traffic volume. Understanding visitor motivations helps you grow the audience.

Conversion reports

• The information

Conversion reports appear only if the “Ecommerce Tracking” option in Google Analytics is turned on. An external platform such as Shopify then sends information about your products or services, your sales rate, and your conversion rate to your Analytics account. The report tells you which type of product the visitor bought. It also mentions the quantity of products sold and the revenue those purchases generated. These reports also cover the transaction, fees, and shipping.

• Why this information matters

This information is essential if you want to generate more sales. Understanding customer preferences by product range tells you what consumers need and how effective your marketing strategy is. Revenue per transaction and products per transaction are also profit indicators. You can then offer quantity discounts or remove shipping fees on a large order.

Removing a Google Analytics feature

Deleting a property

Deleting a property permanently deletes the reports. The property disappears 35 days after the operation and cannot be recovered. As with deleting an account, deleting a property requires edit permission. After you sign in to the Google Analytics account and go to Admin, go to the “Property” column and choose “Property Settings.” Then click “Move to Trash.”

Disabling Google Analytics

Google Analytics tracks and analyzes user behavior on a web page. If you do not want your browsing to be tracked, you can disable Google Analytics. External software such as Ghostery and NoScript can turn the features off. Google also has its own add-ons for disabling it. The operation consists of installing the add-on of your choice so the program’s features stop sharing information about your platform. Google Analytics is not the only way to analyze traffic, though; other services exist. Disable all of those tools as well.

Deleting an account

To move a Google Analytics account to the trash, the user needs edit rights. This operation deletes all of the properties and views of the components. The account is permanently erased within 35 days of the deletion. Monthly backups of the data are permanently deleted 84 days after the operation. After deletion, no restoration, recovery, or reinstatement is possible.

To delete an account, start by removing the Analytics tracking code from the web pages and apps. Then sign in to your Google Analytics account. After clicking Admin, choose the account to delete from the menu in the Account column. Then choose “Account Settings.” Click “Move account to Trash.” Permanent deletion is confirmed by an email sent to the account owner.

Other Google tools for data analysis

Google Search Console

Besides Google Analytics, Google Search Console offers a range of information that is useful for your site. Those details help you optimize organic search. The program also includes a feature that evaluates your platform’s position in search engine results. It also lets you analyze the keywords to prioritize if you want to rank the site better.

An important point: Google Search Console data can be integrated into Google Analytics. To do that, click “Acquisition,” then “Search Console,” then “Set up Search Console data sharing.” The site details need to be verified in Search Console before you finalize the sharing.

Google Data Studio

Google Data Studio is one of Google’s flagship tools for analyzing and understanding the data that matters for a website. It is a data visualization tool connected to Google Analytics. The program aims to make the data easier to understand and to make KPI display more dynamic. In other words, it shows your data as charts, maps, colored circles, and diagrams. It also focuses on the relevant data that can help optimize your online business.