Google Analytics Guide
Setting it up, reading it correctly, tracking the things that actually matter to a business plus working out why the numbers look wrong. Written for GA4, since Universal Analytics no longer exists and most guidance online still describes it.
Almost every business has Google Analytics installed. Very few can tell you what it says. Part of that is the tool: GA4 replaced a product people had spent a decade learning, renamed most of the metrics plus moved everything. The rest is that nobody was ever shown which number answers which question. Sessions are not users, a bounce is not what it used to be plus the traffic labelled direct is frequently nothing of the kind. These guides fix that, then get on to the part that matters, which is tracking the things a business actually cares about rather than the things that come switched on.
What Is Google Analytics?
What the tool does, what it costs, which version you are using plus what it can and cannot tell you. Google Analytics now means GA4 whether anybody likes it or not, so this covers that by default. Read it before anything else here, particularly if you last learned this tool when the screens looked entirely different.
Getting Set Up
Three guides. Installing it is straightforward. Installing it so the data is worth reading is a different job, plus the mistakes are almost always made in the first hour and discovered a year later.
Installing It On Your Platform
Five guides covering the platforms we see most. The tracking code is identical everywhere. Where it goes, plus whether the platform has its own field for it, is what differs.
Connecting It To Everything Else
Three link-ups worth making. The Search Console connection is the one to do first, because Analytics knows what people did on your site plus not how they found it. Search Console knows the opposite. Joined, they answer questions neither can answer alone.
The Four Reports
GA4 organises almost everything into four reporting areas. Knowing which one holds the answer to a given question is most of the skill, plus it is the bit the interface does least to help with.
Where Your Traffic Comes From
Analytics sorts every visit into a channel, plus the sorting is less certain than the neat labels suggest. Direct in particular is where Analytics puts anything it could not identify, which means a large direct figure is frequently a measurement problem rather than a loyal audience.
What The Metrics Actually Mean
More reporting arguments come from these three than from anything else in the tool, usually because two people are looking at different numbers and both think they are looking at visitors.
Tracking What Matters
Six guides, plus the most valuable group here for any business trying to prove marketing works. Out of the box, Analytics counts page views. It does not count the things you actually care about until somebody configures it to.
For a local business the phone call tracking guide is the one to start with, since a tap on a phone number is the closest thing to a measurable enquiry most trades have.
Going Deeper
Six guides for anybody who has outgrown the default screens. None of this is necessary for a small brochure site, plus all of it becomes relevant once somebody is being asked questions the standard reports cannot answer.
When The Data Looks Wrong
Three guides for the moment the figures stop making sense. Frequently the data is fine plus the reading is wrong. Sometimes the data genuinely is not being collected, plus it is worth establishing which before anybody acts on a month of numbers.
We Configure It So It Answers Something.
Analytics installed and never configured reports page views, which tells a business nothing it can act on. We set up the conversions that matter to you: calls tapped, forms completed, quotes requested. Then it appears in your update every three weeks alongside what we changed, so the two can be read together.
What we set up and report:
One clear retainer. No setup fee. The account stays yours.
