How to Run Google Analytics
Thinking you need a data science degree to use Google Analytics? Not anymore. The platform is designed to give you powerful insights into your website's audience and performance, and this guide will walk you through setting it up and finding the answers you actually need. We’ll cover everything from initial setup in Google Analytics 4 to understanding the most important reports to grow your business.
What is Google Analytics and Why Does It Matter?
Google Analytics is a free web analytics service that tracks and reports website traffic. Think of it as the ultimate dashboard for your website. It answers foundational questions that are critical for any business or creator:
Who are your visitors? (Where are they from, what devices are they using?)
How did they find you? (Google search, social media, a direct link?)
What did they do on your site? (Which pages did they visit, how long did they stay, did they fill out a form?)
Essentially, it helps you move from guesswork to data-backed decisions. Instead of hoping your new blog post is resonating, you can see exactly how many people are reading it. Instead of wondering if your Facebook Ads are working, you can track the traffic and conversions they drive. This is the bedrock of understanding and improving your digital marketing efforts.
You’ll likely hear people refer to "GA4." This stands for Google Analytics 4, the latest version of the platform. It replaced the older Universal Analytics (UA) and focuses on a more user-centric, event-based model, which is much better suited for tracking today's cross-device user journeys.
Step 1: Setting Up Your Google Analytics 4 Property
Getting your GA4 property live is the first hurdle, but it's simpler than it looks. You just need to create an account and place a small snippet of tracking code on your website. Here's how to do it.
Create Your Google Analytics Account
First things first, you need an account. If you already have a Google account (like for Gmail or Google Drive), you're halfway there.
Go to the Google Analytics homepage and click "Start for free."
If this is your very first time, you'll be prompted to create an Account. Give it a name - usually your business name is best. Example: Dave's Amazing Dog Accessories. You'll also configure data-sharing settings, the defaults are fine for most users.
Next, you'll create a "Property." A Property represents your website or app. Give your property a name, like "My Awesome Website." Make sure to set the correct reporting time zone and currency.
Set Up a Data Stream
A "Data Stream" is the source of data for your GA4 Property. For most people, this will be your website.
You'll be asked to choose a platform. Select "Web."
Enter your website URL (e.g., www.yourwebsite.com) and a name for the stream (e.g., "[Your Website Name] Web Stream").
Ensure "Enhanced measurement" is turned on. This is a powerful feature that automatically tracks common interactions like page views, scrolls, outbound clicks, and file downloads without any extra setup.
Click "Create Stream."
Install the Tracking Tag
Now you've got your tracking information. Google needs to connect to your website, and it does this through a small piece of code called the Google Tag. You’ll be shown a screen with your "G-" Measurement ID and installation instructions.
You have two primary options:
Best for most people (especially on WordPress, Shopify, etc.): Look for a built-in Google Analytics or "site tag" integration in your platform’s settings. Most modern website builders (Wix, Squarespace, Shopify) have a specific field where you can simply paste your "G-" Measurement ID. This is the cleanest and easiest method. Your theme or a separate plugin may offer this as well.
Better for control (and the recommended path): If you’re comfortable, use Google Tag Manager. It’s a slightly steeper learning curve but acts as a container for all your tracking scripts, keeping your website code clean and making future management a breeze. This is the industry standard for marketers.
Manual Installation: You can also install the code directly. Click on "View tag instructions" and find the "Install manually" tab. You'll see a JavaScript snippet. This code needs to be placed in the
<head>section of every page on your website. If you’re using a template or theme, you can often add this to a single header file that applies site-wide.
Once the tag is installed, data will start flowing into your GA4 account within a few hours, though it can take up to 48 hours to be fully processed.
Navigating the GA4 Interface: Your Key Reports
Opening GA4 for the first time can feel a little intimidating. Don't worry about understanding every single button. Focus on the core “Reports” section, which is where you'll spend most of your time finding valuable insights.
Reports Snapshot: Your 30,000-Foot View
When you click on the "Reports" icon in the left-hand navigation, you land on the Reports Snapshot. This is your high-level dashboard. It gives you a quick look at:
Users and New Users
Top Campaigns
Top Traffic Channels (where users are coming from)
Top Pages visited
Top Conversions
Think of this as your morning coffee check-in. It helps you spot any major changes or interesting trends at a glance before digging deeper.
Key Report Categories
Within the Reports section, you’ll find several collections under the "Life Cycle" dropdown. Here are the most important ones to start with:
Acquisition Reports
Business Question: "How are people finding my website?"
This is where you discover your traffic sources.
The Traffic acquisition report tells you where your sessions are coming from. Did someone click a link from a Google search ("Organic Search"), a paid ad ("Paid Search"), an email ("Email"), or a link on another website ("Referral")?
The User acquisition report is similar, but it looks at the source of new users, telling you where they first discovered you.
Engagement Reports
Business Question: "What are people doing on my website?"
This section helps you understand user behavior once they arrive.
The Events report is a core concept in GA4. Everything is an "event" - a page view, a scroll, a click, a form submission. You can see a list of all captured events here.
The Conversions report is a filtered view of your most important events. You can mark specific actions, like "purchase" or "generate_lead," as a conversion to track your most valuable activities.
The Pages and screens report is one of the most useful reports. It shows you which pages are getting the most views, so you can see what content is most popular with your audience.
Metrics That Truly Move the Needle
Don't get lost in "analysis paralysis." Instead of trying to monitor dozens of metrics, focus on a handful that provide genuine business insight.
Users / New Users: The total number of unique individuals who visited your site. New Users shows how many of them visited for the very first time. Tracking this helps you understand your audience growth.
Engaged Sessions: This is a key GA4 metric. A session is considered "engaged" if the user was active for more than 10 seconds, had a conversion event, or visited 2 or more pages. This is a much better indicator of quality traffic than the old "bounce rate" metric. A high number of engaged sessions means people are finding your site useful.
Events and Conversions: An event is any action. A conversion is an event you've tagged as being valuable to your business (e.g., watching a demo video, signing up for a newsletter). This is how you measure what matters most.
Views by Page title: Found in the "Engagement -> Pages and screens" report. This simple metric shows you exactly what content your audience is consuming. If a new blog post is getting thousands of views, you know you've hit on a topic that resonates.
Session default channel group: Found in the "Acquisition" report. This categorizes your traffic into easy-to-understand buckets: Organic Search, Direct, Referral, Paid Social, etc. It helps you see which marketing channels are driving the most traffic.
Answering Your First Questions with Data
Let's make this practical. Here’s how you can use GA4 to answer common questions.
Question 1: "Where is my traffic coming from?"
Head to Reports > Acquisition > Traffic acquisition. The main table will break down your sessions by "Session default channel group." You can quickly see if your SEO efforts are paying off (Organic Search), if your social media is driving clicks (Organic Social), or if people are coming to you directly (Direct).
Question 2: "Which of my blog posts are the most popular?"
Go to Reports > Engagement > Pages and screens. The table lists your webpages by view count, with the most popular at the top. Use the search bar just above the table to filter for "/blog/" to see only your blog posts. This is a fantastic way to find out what content to double down on.
Question 3: "Are my new Facebook Ads actually working?"
This works for any campaign if you use UTM parameters. A UTM parameter is a small tag you add to your URL that tells Google Analytics exactly where the click came from. When someone clicks an ad with a UTM tag, you can see that specific campaign right inside your "Traffic acquisition" report. Look for the "Session campaign" dimension. If you see your "SummerSale2024-Campaign" driving engaged traffic and conversions, you know your money is well-spent.
Final Thoughts
Running Google Analytics isn't about becoming a master data scientist overnight. It’s about leveraging a powerful, free tool to understand your audience and make smarter decisions. By setting up GA4 correctly and focusing on core reports and metrics, you can transform your website from a simple brochure into a dynamic source of business intelligence.
As you get comfortable with Google Analytics, you’ll find that it’s just one piece of your data puzzle. All of your other marketing and sales tools - your ad platforms, your CRM, your email service - have their own analytics. Instead of jumping between a dozen different tabs, we built Graphed to be your central source of truth. We connect all your data sources, including Google Analytics, and let you build dashboards and uncover insights using simple, natural language. It’s the easiest way to see what's really driving your business, without spending your whole day chasing down data.