How to Open a Google Analytics Account

Creating a Google Analytics account is one of the most important first steps you can take to understand your website’s performance. Without it, you’re flying blind, relying on guesswork to figure out who is visiting your site and what they’re doing. This guide will walk you through setting up a Google Analytics 4 account from scratch, helping you get the data you need to grow your business.

What Exactly is Google Analytics?

Google Analytics is a free web analytics service that tracks and reports website or app traffic. At its core, it gives you the story of your audience. Think of it as a detailed report card for your website. It doesn’t just tell you how many people visited, it tells you who they are (in an aggregated, anonymous way), how they found you, and what pages they spent the most time on.

You need an analytics account because this data is the foundation of smart decision-making. With it, you can:

• Understand Your Audience: Learn about their demographics (age, gender), interests, location, and what devices they use to browse your site.
• See What Content Works: Find out which blog posts, landing pages, or product pages are the most popular, and which ones are causing visitors to leave.
• Track Marketing Performance: See which channels (like social media, Google search, or email campaigns) are driving the most traffic and conversions.
• Optimize Your Website: Use data to find and fix issues, improve the user experience, and guide more visitors toward your goals, whether that’s making a purchase, filling out a form, or signing up for a newsletter.

In short, it helps you replace assumptions with facts, turning raw data into strategic business insights.

Before You Begin: What You’ll Need

The setup process is straightforward, but you’ll want to have two things ready to go before you start:

1. A Google Account: You need a Google account (like a Gmail address) to sign up for Google Analytics. It’s a good idea to use an account associated with your business rather than your personal account. If you don’t have one, you can create one for free.
2. Access to Your Website: You’ll need to be able to add a small bit of code to your website to connect it with Google Analytics. This usually means having administrative access to your website’s backend, whether that’s a WordPress dashboard, Shopify admin, Squarespace panel, or the ability to directly edit your website’s HTML files.

Creating Your Google Analytics 4 Account: Step-by-Step

Ready to get started? We’ll go through the process screen by screen. Don’t worry, it’s simpler than it looks.

Step 1: Go to the Google Analytics Website

First, navigate to the Google Analytics homepage. If you’re not already logged into a Google account, it will prompt you to do so. Once you’re signed in, find and click the button that says “Start measuring.”

Step 2: Set Up Your Account Name

The first screen is for “Account creation.” Think of the “Account” as the top-level folder for your business. If you manage multiple businesses or websites, you can keep them neatly organized under different accounts.

In the “Account name” field, enter your business name (e.g., “My Awesome Company”).

Below that, you’ll see several “Account Data Sharing Settings.” These checkboxes allow you to share your anonymized data with Google for things like technical support and performance benchmarking. For most users, it’s best to leave these checked to get the full benefits of the platform. Once you’re done, click “Next.”

Step 3: Create Your First Property

The next step is to set up a “Property.” A property represents your website or app. You can have multiple properties within one account (for example, if your business has a website, an Android app, and an iOS app).

• Property name: Enter the name of your website (e.g., “My Business Website”).
• Reporting time zone: Select the time zone you operate in. This is important for accurate daily reports.
• Currency: Choose the currency your business uses. This is especially important for ecommerce tracking.

When you’re finished, click “Next.”

Step 4: Provide Your Business Details

Google asks for a bit of information about your business to help tailor your reports and provide relevant benchmarks. This section is for informational purposes and won’t negatively impact your data.

• Select your Industry Category.
• Select your Business Size from the dropdown menu.
• Check the boxes for how you intend to use Google Analytics. It’s okay to select multiple options. If you’re not sure, choose “Measure customer engagement with my site or app” and “Optimize my site or app experience.”

Click “Create” and accept the Google Analytics Terms of Service Agreement for your country.

Setting Up Your Data Stream

You’ve created your account and property, now it’s time to tell Google Analytics where to get its data from. This is done by creating a “Data Stream.”

Step 1: Choose Your Platform

Analytics will ask you to choose a platform. Your options are “Web,” “Android app,” or “iOS app.” For this guide, we’ll assume you’re setting up tracking for a website, so click “Web.”

Step 2: Configure Your Web Stream

A new screen will pop up asking for your website’s information:

• Website URL: Enter your website’s domain (e.g., www.myawesomecompany.com). Make sure to select https if you have an SSL certificate (which most sites do these days).
• Stream name: Give your stream a descriptive name, like “Main Website” or your domain name.

Notice the section called “Enhanced measurement.” Leave this turned on. It’s a huge benefit of Google Analytics 4, as it automatically tracks important user interactions like page views, scrolls, outbound clicks, site search, and file downloads without any extra configuration. Click “Create stream.”

Installing the Google Analytics Tracking Tag

Almost there! You’ve created the stream, and now you have a unique tracking ID. But for your data to start flowing, you need to add it to your website. Google will present you with a “Web stream details” page, which includes your Measurement ID (it looks like G-XXXXXXXXXX). This ID is how Google knows to send data to your specific property.

Here are the three most common ways to install it.

Method 1: Use a Platform-Specific Integration or Plugin (The Easiest Route)

Most modern website builders and CMS platforms have a simple way to add Google Analytics without touching any code.

• For WordPress: Install a plugin like Site Kit by Google (Google’s official plugin) or MonsterInsights. Once activated, the plugin will provide a settings page where you can simply paste your “G-” Measurement ID.
• For Shopify: Go to your Shopify Admin > Online Store > Preferences. In the Google Analytics section, paste your Measurement ID.
• For Squarespace or Wix: Look under Marketing > Marketing Integrations (or an equivalent section). There will be a dedicated field for your Google Analytics Measurement ID.

This is the best method for anyone who isn’t comfortable with code.

Method 2: Use Google Tag Manager (The Marketer’s Choice)

If you plan on adding other marketing or analytics tags to your site in the future, using Google Tag Manager (GTM) from the start is highly recommended. It acts as a container for all your scripts, so you only have to add GTM’s code to your site once.

Here’s the quick version:

1. Create a free Google Tag Manager account.
2. Inside your GTM container, create a new tag and select “Google Analytics: GA4 Configuration.”
3. Paste your “G-” Measurement ID into the appropriate field.
4. Set the tag to fire on all pages by selecting the “All Pages” trigger.
5. Save, and then click “Publish” to make it live.

You’ll only need to make sure the GTM container code itself is installed on your site.

Method 3: Add the Tracking Code Manually (The Direct Approach)

If you prefer to add the code directly, Google provides you with a snippet of JavaScript called the “Global Site Tag” (gtag.js). On the “Web stream details” page, look for the “Install manually” tab.

You’ll see a code block that looks something like this:

<!-- Google tag (gtag.js) -->
<script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-XXXXXXXXXX"></script>
<script>
  window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [],
  function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments),}
  gtag('js', new Date()),
  gtag('config', 'G-XXXXXXXXXX'),
</script>

Copy this entire snippet and paste it into the <head> section of your website’s HTML. You need to add it to every page you want to track. If you use a templating system, you can usually just add it to your main header template file.

How to Check If It’s Working

Don’t just assume it’s working! Verification is simple and gives you immediate peace of mind.

1. In a new browser tab or on your phone, open your own website.
2. Go back to your Google Analytics dashboard.
3. On the left-hand navigation menu, go to Reports > Realtime.

If everything is set up correctly, you should see “1” pop up in the “Users in last 30 minutes” card within a minute or two. Seeing yourself as a live user on your site is the best confirmation that data is flowing correctly. It can take 24–48 hours for regular reports to start populating, but the Realtime view should work almost instantly.

Final Thoughts

Congratulations, you’ve successfully set up Google Analytics! Getting your tracking in place is a foundational step for making data-informed decisions instead of relying on gut feelings. You now have the power to understand how people find and interact with your website, giving you the insights you need to grow.

Once your data starts collecting, the next step is transforming it from rows of numbers into clear, actionable reports. At Graphed, we specialize in taking that complexity out of the equation. We make it easy to connect data sources like Google Analytics and create real-time dashboards using simple, natural language. It’s like having an on-call data analyst who helps you ask questions and get answers in seconds, not hours — so you can focus on building a better business.