HOW TO GET STARTED WITH GOOGLE ANALYTICS

INTRODUCTION

You can read this article on my personal blog, where it’s presented with better formatting.

Google Analytics is a popular platform that allows you to see who visits your website and what they do there. It provides tools to analyze audience behavior and offers advanced features, such as creating audiences based on user actions. These audiences can be exported to Google Ads for effective retargeting, helping you optimize your marketing strategies and reach the right people at the right time. In this guide, we will teach you how to get started with Google Analytics.

HIGH-LEVEL OVERVIEW: WHAT WE’LL DO

Before we can work with Google Analytics, we need to start sending data to it using special pieces of code, known as tags, on our website. To avoid manually creating and maintaining all these tags, we will use Google Tag Manager. At a high level, we'll follow these steps: 1) Create a Google Analytics account and property, then get the Measurement ID. 2) Create a Google Tag Manager account and container, which will provide us with the tracking code. 3) Install the tracking code into the HTML of our web pages. This article will guide you through each of these steps.

PREREQUISITES

To follow this guide, you'll need to create a Google Tag Manager account and a Google Analytics account. Most importantly, you should be able to install the GTM code on each page of your website or have a developer who can do it for you. This setup is essential for collecting data and making the most of Google Analytics.

PART I. GOOGLE ANALYTICS

Understanding Measurement ID, Account, and Property in Google Analytics

Here are some explanations of key parts of Google Analytics structure:

- Google Analytics Account: This is similar to a personal or organizational account. It's the highest-level structure in Google Analytics, where you can manage multiple properties.

- Example: If you have multiple businesses, you can have a separate account for each one.

- Property: Within your Google Analytics account, a property typically manages a specific website or product. Each property has its own unique settings and data streams.

- Example: If you have a blog and an online store, you might set up one property for the blog and another for the store.

- Measurement ID: This ID is unique to each property and serves as an address where data from your website is sent.

- Example: If your website were a house, the Measurement ID would be the specific house number where all your website data (visitor information, behavior, etc.) is delivered and stored.

Now, with key concepts clarified, please do the steps below to get your Measurement ID:

Disclaimer

Please note that the specific steps to accomplish different actions may vary as Google continues to update and improve the platform. However, the overall process should remain the same: you create an account, then a property, then a data stream, and from there you obtain your Measurement ID.

1. Create a Google Analytics account:

- Go to the [Google Analytics website](https://analytics.google.com/).

- Click on "Start for free" and sign in with your Google account.

- Follow the prompts to set up your account name and data sharing settings.

2. Create a Property:

- Once your account is set up, click on "Admin" in the lower-left corner.

- In the Property column, click on "Create Property."

- Enter a property name (e.g., your website's name), select your reporting time zone and currency, then click "Next."

3. Create a Data Stream (Web):

- Under Property, click on "Data Streams."

- Select "Web" as your platform.

- Enter your website's URL and a stream name, then click "Create Stream."

4. Obtain the Measurement ID:

- After creating the web data stream, you will see a screen with your Measurement ID (e.g., G-XXXXXXXXXX).

- Note this ID as it will be used to connect your website to Google Analytics.

Following these steps, you'll have your Google Analytics account, property, and Measurement ID ready for integration.

PART II. GOOGLE TAG MANAGER

To set up Google Tag Manager (GTM) and connect it to your Google Analytics account, follow these steps:

1. Create a Google Tag Manager Account:

- Go to [Google Tag Manager](https://tagmanager.google.com/).

- Click on "Create Account" and sign in with your Google account.

- Enter your account name (e.g., your organization’s name), country, and container name (e.g., your website’s name).

- Select "Web" as the target platform and click "Create."

2. Get the GTM Tracking Code:

- After creating your account and container, you will see the GTM tracking code.

- Copy the provided <head> and <body> code snippets.

If you are using Jekyll for site generation, you can use the [jekyll-google-tag-manager](https://github.com/t-richards/jekyll-google-tag-manager) plugin to install the GTM code easily.

3. Install the GTM Tracking Code on Your Website:

- Paste the <head> snippet immediately after the opening <head> tag on each page of your website.

- Paste the <body> snippet immediately after the opening <body> tag on each page of your website.

- If you are not familiar with HTML or need help, ask a developer to install these snippets for you.

4. Creating a variable in GTM for your GA4 Measurement ID:

1. In GTM, go to "Variables" and click "New" under "User-Defined Variables."

2. Name the variable (e.g., "GA4 Measurement ID").

3. Click "Variable Configuration" and select "Constant."

4. Enter your GA4 Measurement ID (e.g., G-XXXXXXX) in the Value field.

5. Click "Save."

5. Set Up Google Analytics Tag in GTM:

- In your GTM workspace, click on "Tags" in the left-hand menu.

- Click on "New" and name your tag (e.g., "Google tag").

- Click on "Tag Configuration" and select "Google tag."

- Enter your Google Analytics Measurement ID in place of Tag ID, e.g., use the variable that we created in our previous step.

- Set the trigger to "Initialization - All Pages" so the tag fires on every page of your website.

- Click "Save" to finalize your tag setup.

6. Publish Your Container:

- Click on "Submit" in the top right corner of the GTM workspace.

- Add a version name and description (optional) and click "Publish."

By following these steps, you'll have your Google Tag Manager set up and linked to your Google Analytics account, enabling you to track and analyze your website’s data effectively.

CONCLUSION

And that's it! You're now set to begin configuring your analytics setup with GTM and Google Analytics. With these tools, you can track and analyze your website’s data more effectively. I hope you found this guide useful in getting started. If you did, please share it with others who might benefit from it. Happy tracking!

#GoogleAnalytics #GoogleTagManager #WebsiteAnalytics #DataTracking #DigitalMarketing