Google Analytics is the most popular web analytics tool on the market. This robust and powerful application is trusted by more than 50,000,000 websites around the world.

Google Analytics can be used by any website to gain a better understanding of what visitors do on the site. It is free and easy to track important data.

You can access a variety of reports using GA. Some are very simple while others can be quite complex.

For beginners, I will explain which reports using to get started. This guide will walk you through how to install Google Analytics on your site.

What is Google Analytics? It is important to use it.

Google Analytics is a website analytics tool that webmasters can use to analyze site traffic. It is one of the many tools Google provides for website metrics.

The platform provides a comprehensive picture of your site’s performance.

GA gathers many data points and produces insightful reports. These reports can be used to gain insight into your website and visitors.

GA collects basic information such as how many people visit your site, their origin, how they navigate your site, how long they spend on each webpage, and many other things. This list could go on.

Google Analytics: Why is it important?

Your website is your core online presence. Your website is the foundation of your online success, whether you run a personal blog or a small business website.

Google Analytics will give you a better idea of the effectiveness of your website as a marketing tool. This will give you valuable information such as which Miami digital marketing campaigns drive the most traffic to your site.

You can track traffic patterns and visitor behavior to help you measure the effectiveness of both your website and your digital presence.

Which countries are your website visitors located in? What marketing channels drive the most traffic to your website? Which pages are most visited on your site?

Google Analytics can answer all of these questions and many more.

The best value you can get is if your traffic volume increases

Google Analytics is loved by everyone who uses it. That’s me too. It’s second nature for me to install GA whenever I create a website.

Although Google Analytics offers seemingly limitless capabilities, most GA users use it only to monitor their traffic volume.

This is the best information you can get as a beginner. Traffic is a critical piece of information for any website or business.

It is very beneficial to see your traffic increase or decrease by the day, week, or month.

Monitoring traffic can reveal a lot about the website’s performance, even at the most basic level. Traffic that is growing is a sign that something is working. Are you seeing traffic decrease? Something is wrong, or it needs to be improved.

Newer websites will see a significant increase in traffic. This helps you stay on track and motivates you to do the right thing.

2 Other useful reports

Most people will install Google Analytics and use it to check their traffic quickly. Then log out. You can also review a few other reports.

• All Pages
• All traffic

These are essential for beginners.

All Pages

All Pages reports can be found in the “Site Content” section of the “Behavior” menu located on the left-hand side of your GA dashboard.

This report shows all pages that visitors have viewed on your website over a specified time frame. This report is useful in determining the interests of visitors when they visit your site.

The All Pages report will show you which pages should be improved or updated. Conversions should be made easier on pages that are of the highest interest. You can adjust the content of pages that aren’t receiving enough attention to make them more interesting.

All traffic

All Traffic reports are available in the GA control panel’s “Acquisition” menu.

You’ll find reports on specific topics in the All Traffic section.

• Channels
• Treemaps
• Source/Medium
• Referrals

These reports will tell you where your traffic comes from. These reports will provide you with additional analytics such as sessions, users, new users, and sessions. You’ll also get behavior analytics data and conversions data.

Explore the rest of Google Analytics

It would be an understatement to say that Google Analytics analyses tons of web analytics. I consider myself a GA expert and feel that I have only scratched the surface of its capabilities.

It’s overwhelming to see so many data points. These reports can be difficult to navigate, especially for beginners.

I urge you to take your time and explore the site if you are interested. Don’t be overwhelmed if you feel overwhelmed.

The vast majority of users will only need two to three reports. You can check your traffic by viewing the All Pages report and the All Traffic reports.

Google Analytics offers 80% more value than basic reports. Don’t be afraid to use them.

How to install Google Analytics

Sign up to create an account and get started with Google Analytics. However, this is not enough. Google Analytics must be installed directly on your site. This is how Google Analytics can track your data.

Google Analytics installation will differ depending on which platform you use to power your website.

No matter what platform you use, you will need to generate the Google Analytics tracking code before installing it. First, I will show you how to get that code. Next, we’ll discuss the installation instructions for the most common website types.

How to generate your Google Analytics Tracking code and Tracking ID

Step 1: Navigate to your admin menu

I assume you have a Google Analytics account. It takes only a few minutes to sign up if you don’t already have one.

Navigate to the “Admin” page from your GA home screen. It is located in the bottom left corner.

Step 2: Choose “Tracking Code” in the “Tracking Info” section. 

Click “Tracking Info”, which expands the options below. Next, click “Tracking Code” from the expanded menu.

Step 3: Copy the tracking ID or code.

This page contains the tracking ID and tracking codes. Depending on which platform you use to manage your site, at least one of these is required to install Google Analytics.

Follow the steps below to find the right website type for you.

How to install Google Analytics on Wix

Wix websites don’t require you to worry about Google Analytics codes; all you need are the tracking ID.

Step 1: Click on “Marketing and SEO”

Scroll to the left of your dashboard until you see the “Marketing and SEO” menu.

Step 2: Navigate to the “Marketing Integrations” section

The “Marketing Home Menu” has three sections: SEO, Marketing, and Branding.

Scroll down until you reach the “Marketing” section. Click on “Marketing Integrations” at the bottom.

Step 3: Connect to Google Analytics

Google Analytics is just one of the many integrations that can be found on this page.

It should be the first one to appear on your screen. Scroll down until you locate it. To continue, click on the “Connect” button once you have located it.

Step 4: Create Your Google Analytics Tracking ID

Click on the button “Connect Google Analytics” in the upper right corner of your screen. This popup will appear:

Copy the tracking ID I have shown you how to create earlier.

Be sure to remove any spaces between the code and the HTML. Google will not save the IP addresses of website visitors if you choose the “IP Anonymization” box.

To complete the final step, you will need a premium Wix website with a connected Domain. If you are currently on a free plan and have not connected your domain, you will not be able to install Google Analytics until after you upgrade.

How to install Google Analytics on WordPress

You have many options to install Google Analytics on WordPress. It can be installed manually or via a plugin. Three of the most popular plugins are MonsterInsights and Site Kit by Google.

For this tutorial, however, I will show you how to manually install the code. This will ensure that you don’t need to worry about third-party plugins.

Step 1: Open your theme editor

The theme editor can be accessed by clicking on the “Appearance” menu in your dashboard.

Google Analytics must be installed in a child theme. If you do not, your code will be overwritten each time you update WordPress themes.

The child theme inheriting template files from its parent theme will prevent you from accessing the header. To access the header, click on the parent theme name. The parent theme in the above example is “Twenty Twenty”.

Step 2: Navigate to your theme header

Scrolling through the files to the right of the page will take you to the header. You can also scroll down and search for the item. Section manually, as I have highlighted above.

Step 3: Copy the Google Analytics tracking code

Simply paste the Google Analytics tracking code before the theme head.

This is the “global website tag” we created earlier. It is made up of several lines. The tracking ID is not to be pasted (single line beginning with UA). This is not the place to install your tracking ID.

How to install Google Analytics on Shopify

Google Analytics is a quick and easy way to add Google Analytics to an ecommerce website on Shopify.

Step 1: Navigate to Shopify preferences

From the left sidebar of Shopify, click the “Online Store” sales channel. Next, select “Preferences”.

Step #2: Paste your Google Analytics tracking code

Scroll down a little on your preferences screen to see the Google Analytics section.

It’s that easy! Simply copy your tracking code and save your changes. That’s it!

Remember to paste the tracking code and not the tracking ID number. Paste multiple lines of code and not the ID line beginning with UA.

Squarespace: How to Install Google Analytics

You can install Google Analytics on Squarespace in two ways. The tracking ID is used, while the code is used.

The first option is simpler, so I’ll show you how to do it in this three-step tutorial.

Step 1: Log in to Squarespace

Click on the “Settings” menu to the left of your Squarespace dashboard.

Step 2: Click on “Advanced” settings

You will find the “Advanced menu” at the bottom of your Squarespace settings.

Step #3: Paste your Tracking ID

Find the “External Services” section in your advanced settings menu. Simply paste your Google Analytics tracking ID from here.

This is the easiest method to install Google Analytics within Squarespace. It’s not the only way to go. Instead of external services, you could navigate to code injection from the Advanced Settings menu. You can then simply copy and paste the Google Analytics code into the header.

You should not use both the Squarespace and Google Analytics installation methods. Choose one method. Although the tracking ID method is the most straightforward, it’s not difficult to paste the code into your header. It is a personal choice.

Google Analytics Custom Installation

If you are using a different platform for your website, you can still add Google Analytics to it with a custom installation.

Simply copy the tracking code and paste it into the HTML editor’s header or footer. The header is recommended.

If your site has many JavaScripts, adding the code to your footer could cause errors. Because JS snippets are triggered by the order they’re embedded on your site. The footer scripts won’t run every time, but the header scripts will load first.

After you have installed the code, you can test it by sending traffic to your site.

This section is located on your GA Tracking Code Page.

The active user number will update in real-time if you have installed the code correctly. This process can take up to 30 seconds.

Last Thoughts

Google Analytics should be used by every website. Google Analytics is a free tool that provides valuable information about site traffic.

Google Analytics offers many advanced functions. However, it is possible to limit your search to a few basic reports for beginners. These basic reports are all that you need.

Google Analytics installation is also very simple. The instructions for installing Google Analytics vary depending on which platform you use to power your site.

This guide will provide a detailed tutorial on how to install Google Analytics.