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
