Google Analytics Tutorial For Beginners

What is Google Analytics? 

 

A web analytics tool, Google Analytics is a free-to-use tool from Google that helps website owners to track their website users' activities. With the coming of the digital age, websites have become a common online platform where common masses can access information about a particular topic. 

 

While there are many web analytics tools that can help you track your visitors' activities, Google Analytics is one of a kind domain that is surely going to take your breath away. Be it for beginners or for experts, Google Analytics is your one-stop to all web-related issues and affairs. One can do almost anything and everything when it comes to using Google Analytics. 

 

Launched in the late months of 2005, Google Analytics, the tool can help one track bounce rate, time spent per session, and even the pages a user has visited in a particular session. With so much to do, one can get to discover about the same with more tools and techniques. 

 

"Google Analytics is one of the most popular Web Analytics platforms to monitor website and mobile application traffic." -History of Google Analytics

 

With the emergence of Search Engine Optimization, Google Analytics has risen to a stage where it is popular for helping website owners identify the most-visited areas on their websites and optimize their web pages accordingly. 

 

With the coming of the internet, the tools to manage functions online have also come around making it easier for people to become efficient and active. Website traffic, as it is termed, has become a crucial determinant of website popularity and thus helps website operators to stay up to date with their website content and user interaction. 

 

As digital marketing is on its rise as a profession, we present you detailed information on Google Analytics so that you are all set to get started. 

 

Getting Started with Google Analytics

 

Google Analytics is a premium platform that allows website operators to collect data and track the activities of their website users. Google Analytics for beginners is fairly easy if understood well. 

 

Web analytics for beginners includes everything from clicking on links to spending a particular time span on the website, operators can know almost anything that takes place on their web page. To begin with, here is a quick note on how the application works.  

 

1. Enroll yourself with Google

 

First things first, enroll yourself with Google. This means that to begin using Google Analytics, one has to enroll himself/ herself with Google. A Google account is a must for getting started with Google Analytics and is surely the only way one can access Google Analytics and its exciting features. 

 

If you already have a Google account, then jump on to Step B, or else head towards the Google page and register yourself immediately. 

 

 

2. Sign Up on Google Analytics

 

Once you have signed up with Google, you are now ready to get a head start on the Google Analytics application and set up Google Analytics account. But again, you need to make sure that you are signed up on Google Analytics. Just a series of boxes to fill and you are all set to get started. 

 

This involves your credentials like Account Name, Website URL, Website name, etc. This also involves registering your tracking objective and prevalent industry as well. In no time you will be ready to get started on Google Analytics and this will help you to achieve your objective well. 

 

 

3. Allot a Tracking Code to your Website

 

After the registration is done, the user is now expected to allot a tracking code to his/ her website through the Google Analytics application. Since you have already filled in the website URL that you wish to keep a track of, now is the time when you allot a tracking code that will help Google Analytics to keep an eye on your users' activities and report you the same straightaway. 

 

To allot a tracking code to your website, follow these steps:

 

Sign Up | Admin Tab | Account (select your account) | Property (Choose a property) | Tracking Information | Tracking Code 

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Tracking code allotment

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Hurray! You've got yourself the tracking code that will be your key to tracking all the important information of your website. 

 

 

4. Enter the code on your Website

 

While Google Analytics is all set to track your website through the help of a tracking code, there is one more task that you need to do- enter the code on your website. This involves following different protocols for different websites and then copying the code in the required space. 

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Puting code for website tracking

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Once the code is entered, you can be assured that your Google Analytics account and your website, both are aligned and the process of tracking will be without any occlusions, thanks to the Google Analytics tracking id.  

 

Once everything is in place, it can take up to 24 hours for the application to get synchronized with the website and get started before it is able to provide reports. 

 

5. Get Started with Google Analytics

 

Now all you have to do is start discovering the amazing variety of features that are available on Google Analytics. By moving your cursor here and there, you can explore the application and get started with your website tracking objective in no time.

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Website tracking at Google analytics (homepage)

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Given below is a list of some Google Analytics features that one can try in order to improve website performance and set goals for the future. 

 

• HITS HELD SO FAR

 

This feature lets the operator know about the hits that the webpage holds so far. The audience report in Google Analytics is a very helpful review that can help you to measure the popularity of your web page. 

 

 

• LIVE ACTIVITY

 

The real-time report or live activity displays the exact number of users who are currently active on the web page. Google Analytics real-time active users can be displayed on the screen of the application. 

 

 

• EVENT REPORT

 

This shows the number of users who have participated in an event. For example- forms, surveys, polls, etc. 

 

 

• SESSION SCHEDULE

 

Session schedule refers to the total time span your users have remained active on the web page. 

 

 

• USER DEMOGRAPHICS

 

As the name itself suggests, user demographics refers to the location of your visitor who is visiting or has visited the web page.

 

 

• MEASURING METRICS

 

Metrics provide you with the tally of how many sessions have taken place over your web page so far. 

 

 

• BOUNCE RATE

 

Bounce rate is yet another feature that helps you to measure the number of users who flee away from your web page by just visiting one or two pages in all. The feature of exit rate Google Analytics is very helpful in identifying the reasons as to why the page looks attractive or unuseful to the users. 

 

(Recommended blog: 15 Digital marketing Tools for Business)

 

 

Why is it important? 

 

There is no doubt as to why Google Analytics is important for you. Still, I have listed down a few pointers to help you identify the benefits of Google Analytics and the tremendous ways it helps you around. 

 

1. Data Accumulation

 

When it comes to the benefits of analytics, Google Analytics accumulates data that no other site can do. In a way, it is remarkable and offers a one-of-a-kind experience when you are dealing with your web traffic. 

 

Thus, its advanced Google Analytics algorithm of collecting data makes it so important to help you analyze your website’s performance online. It is so important that it is known to be the most popular web analytics tool in the whole world! 

 

Other than its data accumulation technique, it is easy to use and uses an automated algorithm to process data that makes it error-free and good to go!

 

 

2. Performance review

 

Out of all benefits that Google Analytics offers, its splendid way of helping you review your performance is unmatched so far. Not only it helps you to review your performance using a variety of features to choose from, but it also helps you tackle those and understand the reason as to why your performance is so. 

 

It is helpful so much that it helps you understand your performance, analyze the reasons behind it, and come up with solutions to get better in the long run. 

 

 

3. Getting Goals done 

 

Another feature that the application provides its users is to set goals and work on them. Getting goals done, as Google Analytics will help you to, is a fun-filled task yet something that requires care and caution. 

 

Getting goals done often includes reducing the bounce rate, making the web page more helpful in terms of the results obtained from the site search, and so on. All these goals can be achieved, thanks to Google Analytics. 

 

 

4. Initiates improvement 

 

The last of all benefits, which I believe is the most crucial, is that Google Analytics helps you to initiate improvement. By collecting data, reviewing your performance, and accomplishing goals, one can improve on his/ her web page and therefore, become better. 

 

With respect to the exciting features available on Google Analytics, there is undoubtedly an enormous scope for improvement throughout.  

 

(Must check: Google Compute Engine)

 

Summing Up

 

In conclusion, an advanced and adequate application that helps us to track user information of our web page is all that Google Analytics does. 

 

Yet it is more than what it offers. A free-to-use application that costs nothing but enthusiasm and optimism, Google Analytics has remained unbeatable in its journey so far. 

 

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A user-friendly platform that respects our privacy and uses a coded algorithm to process our information, Google Analytics is one of the biggest necessities in real-time and in reel-time too!