If you manage a website or a blogging platform, you should consider using Google Analytics.

Whether you’re a small business, global company, or running your own site for personal use, Google Analytics can help you understand your audience better, create optimal experiences for visitors, and increase web traffic.

Keep reading for a simple overview of Google Analytics and how your business can benefit from it!

What is Google Analytics?
Google Analytics is a popular digital analytics software that lets you track your site or app’s performance. As part of the Google Marketing Platform, Google Analytics is a free tool for business owners to gather valuable data and gain an in-depth understanding about the visitors on their website. It also integrates with other marketing and advertising platforms from Google, such as Google Ads, Search Console, and Data Studio, making it a great choice for people who are already accustomed to Google tools.

Why is Google Analytics important for my business?
For most companies, having a good web presence is a key factor for success. Given that your website is the go-to destination for your customers and visitors, you’ll want to invest in a quality website that sets a positive first impression. As such, having Google Analytics will provide you with important qualitative and quantitative data that you need to maximize your website’s performance.

How does Google Analytics work?
With Google Analytics, you can receive a full picture of how your website is performing to help you build efficient marketing strategies. It works by the inclusion of a block of JavaScript code on pages in your website, which executes a tracking operation that retrieves data and presents it in a consumable manner. The reports you receive can be used to gain critical insight into your website’s performance and the people who visit.

 Create a Google Analytics Account
Getting started is easy— all you need to do is create an account and add a tracking code on your website. This tracking code allows Google Analytics to track your website’s performance and visitors.

Data Collection
Once you have a Google Analytics account, the JavaScript code embedded in your Analytics lets you collect helpful data such as your visitors’ browser settings, screen resolution, and other computer settings. When someone visits your website, Google Analytics will use cookies (small files that contain information about the user’s activities) to track user activity. It can even display the URL of the page the user is viewing, and the location of your best visitors if you want to focus your marketing efforts on a specific country/location.

What kind of reports will I see?
Once Google Analytics has processed the raw data, you can access the information in the form of user-friendly reports. There are five groups of standard reports that Google has created, which are:

1. Real-Time Reports
These reports show the number of live users on your website. It allows you to monitor the activity on your site or app and continues to update continuously. Business owners can see which pages or events visitors are interacting with, and which goal conversions have occurred.

2. Audience Reports
This category contains several useful reports about your audience— users that you group together based on any combination of attributes that are meaningful to your business. You can use the Demographics report to check the age and gender of your visitors, use the Mobile report to see which device your visitors are using to view your website, and much more.

3. Acquisition Reports
This section tells you how traffic reaches your website, such as search engines, social networks, or other site referrals. With this information, business owners can determine which online marketing tactic to invest in.

4. Behavior Reports
Knowing how users are spending their time on your website will help you make better choices and future development investments. This section contains detailed information about your

users’ behaviors, such as the Behavior Flow report. This report can even view your visitor’s complete journey on your site, from where they enter and where they decide to exit.

5. Conversion Reports
As the name of this category suggests, these reports display data about your website’s conversion rate. Conversion rate refers to the percentage of visitors that complete a desired goal (or conversion) out of the total number of visitors. A high conversion rate reflects a successful marketing and web campaign— and Google Analytics can show you the location on your site where goals are completed the most. If you own an online store, you can also track which ecommerce products are seen and clicked, which products are being added to cart, removed, and much more.

The reports within these five categories give insight into every part of your site, from audience demographics to the channels through which they found your website. With Google Analytics, business owners can also see the number of unique users who have visited their site, which is especially important when determining the success of a promotional campaign.

Conclusion
Google Analytics is a fundamental tool that every business owner should be taking advantage of. It’s free and there’s no better way to gain valuable insight about your users, what they’re searching for, where they’re navigating, and other useful information. Although there are several advanced functions in Google Analytics, beginners can still benefit greatly from the basic reports and overviews. If you’re interested in trying Google Analytics for your own website, check out this set-up guide from Google.

Got more questions about Google Analytics or digital marketing strategies? Contact an InMarket representative today!