Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Using Google Analytics: Step-by-Step for Beginners


We have already talked a few times here on the blog that measuring results is essential for your business . After all, this is how we are able to measure the evolutionof the website, the performance of marketing actions and much more. Google Analytics is one of the market's leading tools in monitoring solutions for web analytics, although it is not the only one. How about learning  how to use Google Analytics and monitor your website's performance?

The truth is, first, we need to demystify the collection of data analysis. I have often heard phrases like "But I don't even know where to start, there is so much data that I get dizzy". However, there is no need to panic. Over time youbecome more familiar with the metrics and everything becomes easier. And, to help you get started with this tool, we've separated 5 steps to set up and letyou know how to use Google Analytics .

Step 1: Create your Google Analytics account
To startunderstanding how to use Google Analytics, you must create your account you will need to have a Google account . Here the great tip is to use an email thatyou usually access. This is because eventually some notifications will be sent and it is important that you check them out. Later, you can also give other users access to Google Analytics.

So come on!After logging in with your Google Account, go to the tool's website and proceed with setting up your account . Next, you’ll need to specify whether you’re creating an account to monitor a Website or Mobile App.

You willstill have to create a name for your account, specify the URL of your website and the industry. And a lot of attention when specifying the country and time zone, by default we have the United States, but it is important to put the correct information because this will guarantee fidelity in the data related to the behavior of users on your site.

Step 2: Install the tracking code
Afteraccepting the terms of service, you will receive the global site tag , gtag. She is responsible for communicating her website with Google Analytics and sending the data to the monitoring tool. With it working properly, the information will show the behavior of people on your site, their traffic sources and more. Each account receives a tag with a specific Tracking Id, which starts with “UA-”, following the example below:

how to use google analytics

There arebasically two ways to install your Google Analytics tracking tag: the first is to add it directly to the <head> section on every page of your site. Inaddition to adding the tag, you will also need to send some parameters to create your goals on the platform and that is the disadvantage of this method. If you do not have the technical knowledge to do this type of addition directly in your website code, you will need the help of a professional in the field.

The secondway is through Google Tag Manager . This is a tool that allows you to manage all website tags, create events, goals and more without having to mess with your website's code. In addition, you should use it to manage all the tags on your site, such as the Facebook Pixel, pixels from other partners and so on. The advantage is that you will not need someone to make these changes and, in addition, managing tags, events and goals becomes much easier and more organized since you do not need to make changes directly to your website code. Another important point in this process of using Google Analytics, is that before publishing the changes you can use a view modeto test your tags. On the other hand, involvement will be needed to understand how the tool works and create your tags. But, once understood, you save a lot of time and often money too.

Once themethod is chosen, add the Tracking Code to all pages of your website. The next step will be to check if the Tag is working correctly, so check out our third step.

Step 3: Use the Google Tag Assistant to check your Tag
We arrivedat the 3rd step to understand how to use Google Analytics and here is a precious tip: as important as installing the Tag on your website is to ensure that it works correctly . Often the gtag is inserted into the site, eitherdirectly or through Google Tag Manager, but it is not tested, Analytics ends up being forgotten and you only discover that it was not working properly when you need to analyze the data. So, right after adding the tag to your website, use the Google Tag Assistant for Google Chrome and make sure everything is fine.

As it is anextension for Google Chrome, it is always at hand and ends up becoming very practical. Its use is very simple , just click on its icon and enable it:

how to use google analytics

Then, youonly need to load the page you want to analyze and the tool will show which tags are active on the site and working correctly on the site and if there are any errors , as shown below:

how to use google analytics

Step 4: View settings and user management
Once you've installed your Google Analytics tracking tag on your site, it's time to set up the view . You can access this part by clicking admin> view settings:

how to use google analytics

The view is basically for you to decide what information from that property you want to see in a segmentation.

For example, you can have an unfiltered view on the same property that shows all the data and a view with only data from a part of your site as a specific subdomain.

The ideal isto always maintain a view with all the data on your site , without any filter and create new views according to the subsets of data you want to view. This ensures data integrity and that you will always have a total parameter to compare.

In the view settings submenu you can create the filters you want and also change information such as country, territory, currency, etc. In addition, here's an important tip: enable search tracking on the site , so you can see information about the internal searches that users do on your site.

Also, don'tforget to give access to users who need to view your website data. You just have to choose if you want to give access to the Account, Property or View level, client in the corresponding management menu:



Next, you'llneed to choose the level of access you want to grant:

Editing : allows you to create and edit accounts, properties, views, filters, goals, whatever. It is the most complete management access of the tool.
Collaboration : allows you to create and edit shared resources such as dashboards and annotations, but you cannot change the “structure” of your Google Analytics.
Reading and analysis : allows data consultation, but no changes.
At all levels of access, user management permission is optional. So if you don't want to give editing access, but want the user to be able to add new people with thesame or less access level, it's possible. The user who has granted access will receive an email to confirm the invitation and, from there, will be able to see the data of your site.

Everything okay so far? Well, let's move on to the next step on how to use Google Analytics.

Step 5: Creation of goals and configuration of the e-commerce module
It is not enough to only have user access data on your site to master the art of using Google Analytics, it is also necessary to measure actions that are important to you .

Whether filling out a contact form, expressing interest in a product or even a sale. Even if you have an e-commerce, activate the e-commerce module of your Google Analytics and see the sales data captured directly in the tool. This allows you to create your sales funnel and understand your website's conversion rate , your cost per conversion, etc.

The configuration of the e-commerce module must be done at the view level. Thus, if you have several views for your e-commerce, you will need to activate each one. In addition to activating the module, you will also need to send some parameters in your website code that will tell Google Analytics which product was sold, what was the price, quantity, product SKU and so on.

The creation of goals will depend on how you installed the Google Analytics code. If it was done directly in the <head> section of your website, you will need to create them directly on your website. However, if you have used Google Tag Manager , it is enough to create the goals through your tag manager and he will be in charge of sending the data to Analytics. Oh, do n't forget to use Tag Manage r's preview mode to test your tags before publishing them and make sure they are working correctly.

Bonus - Step 6: Don't forget to integrate your Google Analytics and activate remarketing
Very important: if you use or intend to start using Google Ads , do not forget to integrate the tools. Just click on the “Google Ads Link” item at your Analytics property level. The procedure must also be done if you use Google AdSense or AdExchange.

Another very important thing: activate remarketing by creating your first target audience. After all, you never know the future, maybe in a while you decide to make an ad strategy and want to run remarketing to people who have visited your site. That way, make the activation right on creating the account and already have the data ready for when you need it.

And now, what's the next step?
Now, you already know how to use Google Analytics.  Certainly, the tool has a multitude of possibilities for configuration and optimization according to your business and these are just the first steps to start your measurement strategy. So, get started today!

You can, for example:

use the data to create email marketing campaigns;
monitor pages and results of actions related to SEO ;
invest in marketing automation .
If you want extra help in solutions for you to achieve success in a more assertive way. Click on the banner below and talk to one of our experts!


How to use Google Analytics

Enjoy and also read about the  Importance of Performance in Web Projects and  6 Tools for analyzing the behavior  of your website users. They can be content that will help you in the search for the success of your projects