Google Analytics is a powerful tool offered by Google that provides insightful data about your website’s traffic, performance, and user behavior. Whether you’re a website owner, digital marketer, or just someone interested in your site’s performance, Google Analytics is a tool you need to be familiar with. Here, we will run through the step-by-step process on how to access Google Analytics.
Step 1: Create a Google Account
Before you can access Google Analytics, you have to create a Google account if you don’t already have one. To do this, go to https://accounts.google.com/signup and fill in the required information.
Step 2: Sign up for Google Analytics
Once you have a Google account, the next step is to sign up for Google Analytics. Visit https://analytics.google.com/analytics/web/provision/#/provision and click on the ‘Start measuring’ button.
Step 3: Set up a Property in Google Analytics
The next step involves setting up a ‘Property’ in Google Analytics. A ‘Property’ represents your website or app and is the collection point in Analytics for the data from your site or app. To create a new Property, navigate to the ‘Admin’ tab in Analytics, click ‘Create Property’, and fill out the required information.
Step 4: Set up a Reporting View in Google Analytics
The last setup step involves setting up a ‘View’. Views let you create filtered perspectives of your data; for example, all data except from your company’s internal IP addresses, or all data associated with a specific sales region. Navigate to the ‘Admin’ tab, in the View column, click ‘Create View’, and fill out the required fields.
Step 5: Install the Tracking Code
Once you’ve set up both a Property and a View in Google Analytics, you’re ready to install the Google Analytics tracking code on your website. The tracking code is what allows Google Analytics to collect data from your website. To access your tracking code, navigate to the ‘Admin’ tab, in the Property column, click ‘Tracking Info’, and then ‘Tracking Code’. Copy the tracking code and paste it onto every web page you want to track.
For WordPress users, you can easily install the tracking code using a plugin like MonsterInsights or Insert Headers and Footers.
echo “\n”;
echo “\n”;
echo “\n”;
}
add_action(‘wp_head’, ‘googleAnalyticsCode’);
Remember to replace ‘XXXXXXXX’ with your Google Analytics ID in the above code.
Step 6: Access Google Analytics Data
Once the tracking code is installed on your website, data will start flowing into your Google Analytics account within 24 hours. To access this data, simply log in to your Google Analytics account and click on your website’s Property. From there, you can access a wide variety of reports that will give you valuable insights into your website’s performance.
With these steps, you’re now equipped to start leveraging the power of Google Analytics! Happy Analyzing!