How to Set Up a Google Analytics Account

Getting your website data set up correctly is the first step to truly understanding what your visitors are doing. That's where Google Analytics comes in, and this guide provides a clear walkthrough for creating and installing a Google Analytics 4 account, even if you’ve never touched a line of code in your life. We'll cover everything from the initial clicks to verifying that your data is flowing correctly.

What is Google Analytics 4 Exactly?

Google Analytics 4 is Google's newest platform for understanding how users interact with your website and apps. If you used Google Analytics in the past, you were likely using the older version, Universal Analytics (UA). As of July 2023, Universal Analytics has stopped processing new data, making GA4 the new standard.

The biggest difference is how GA4 thinks about data. Where UA was centered around "sessions" and "pageviews," GA4 is built around "events." Think of an event as any distinct action a user takes, like:

• Clicking a link
• Watching a video
• Scrolling down a page
• Adding an item to a cart
• Making a purchase

This event-based model gives you a much more flexible and complete picture of the customer journey, from their first visit to their final conversion. It’s a smarter way to track what people are actually doing, not just which pages they're looking at.

Before You Start: What You'll Need

Getting started is straightforward, and you only need two things. Don't worry if the second one sounds technical, there are almost always easy, plugin-based solutions.

• A Google Account: This is the same account you use for Gmail, Google Docs, or Google Drive. If you don't have one, you can create one for free.
• Access to your website's backend: You’ll need to add a small snippet of code (called a "tag") to your site. Most website platforms like WordPress, Shopify, or Squarespace make this extremely easy through plugins or built-in integrations, so you likely won't have to touch any code directly.

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

Ready to go? Let's walk through the creation process, one step at a time. The whole thing should take you less than 15 minutes.

Step 1: Create a Google Analytics Account

First, navigate to the Google Analytics website and click "Start measuring."

You’ll be prompted to create an "Account." An account is the highest level of organization in GA and typically represents your business or company. For example, if you run a business called "Sunrise Coffee Roasters," you would name your account that.

You’ll also see settings for "Account Data Sharing." These allow you to share your anonymized data with Google for benchmarking and technical support. You can review and adjust these settings as you see fit before clicking "Next."

Step 2: Create a Property

After creating the account, you need to create a "Property." A property represents the website or app you want to track. If your business has multiple websites, you'd create a separate property for each one under the same account.

• Property Name: Give it a clear name, like "Sunrise Coffee Website."
• Reporting Time Zone: Select your local time zone. This is important because it ensures your daily reports reset at midnight in your time, not somewhere else.
• Currency: Choose the currency you operate in. This is especially important for e-commerce tracking.

Step 3: Provide Your Business Details

Next, Google asks for some basic information about your business, like your industry and company size. This information helps Google tailor your experience and provide relevant industry benchmarks so you can see how your performance compares to others in your field. Fill this out and click "Next."

Step 4: Choose Your Business Objectives

This is an important step that determines how GA4 organizes your reports. You'll see a checklist of objectives like "Generate leads," "Drive online sales," or "Raise brand awareness."

What you choose here dictates which collections of reports will appear in your left-hand navigation by default. For example, if you select "Drive online sales," your Reports section will automatically feature an "E-commerce purchases" report collection.

If you're unsure which to choose, a great starting point is "Get baseline reports." All the reports will still be available regardless of your choice, but this populates your interface with the most common ones. After making a primary business objective selection, hit "Create." You'll then have to agree to a terms of service agreement for your geography/location before having access to your business analytics account from a brand new dashboard.

Step 5: Set Up a Data Stream

Your property is now created, but it’s not receiving any data yet. To connect it, you need to set up a "Data Stream," which is just a fancy name for the flow of data coming in from your website or app.

You’ll be asked to choose a platform. Select "Web" for a website.

• Website URL: Enter the main URL of your website (e.g., 'yourwebsite.com')
• Stream Name: This is a custom title just for your Data Stream. We'd suggest giving a title such as 'sunrise-coffee-official-website'.

You will see a setting called 'Enhanced Measurement' is automatically selected below your URL. Enhanced Measurement allows you to start your Data Measurements instantly. Some of its features include tracking page views, user site searches, scrolls, clicks, or any file downloads.

Click "Create stream" and congratulations, you have an officially registered Google Analytics 4 property that also has an established Data Stream!

You’ll now see a "Stream details" page. Don't close this! It contains an important piece of code/info that you will use to connect your analytics account to your page, either your "Measurement ID" (which looks like 'G-' followed by a string of letters/numbers) or your Global Site Tag.

Installing the Google Tag on Your Website

Now it’s time to connect the data stream to your actual website by installing the Google tag. This small piece of code is what allows GA4 to collect information. Below are the most common ways to do this, from easiest to most advanced.

Method 1: Site Builder Integrations (The Easiest Way)

Most modern website builders and e-commerce platforms have a very simple, built-in way to integrate with your newly activated Google Analytics.

• For WordPress: The easiest approach is to use a plugin. Plugins like Google Site Kit (by Google) or MonsterInsights allow you to authenticate with your Google account. Others may need you to simply paste your "Measurement ID" into a specific Analytics field on their administrative backend. With this method, you do not have to copy any JavaScript snippet because the plugin appends it to your site.
• For Shopify: Shopify has a dedicated Google & YouTube App. Install this from the Shopify App Store, and it will give you some guided steps to securely connect your Google account. This process adds necessary codes to any necessary field automatically so that you do not need to do any manual work.
• Other builders like Framer, Webflow, Wix, or even Squarespace: Many websites feature an integration section located in their main Settings Dashboard where you can copy-paste and add your Google Analytics 'Measurement ID'.

Method 2: Google Tag Manager (The Best Practice)

Google Tag Manager (GTM) is its own separate free tool that contains all of your site codes, commonly called "Tags." Setting up a new Google Tag to track the base Analytics Tag is one of this software's major selling points! If you decide to go with GTM, you'll notice that over time, if you decide to add in a Google Ads Tag, you will still simply visit the app or online home of Google Tags and set your new conversion 'Tag.'

Here’s the basic overview:

1. Create your tag inside Google Tag Manager - the tag type you need is called "Google Analytics."
2. Choose a "Google Tag Tag," then just enter the "Tag ID."
3. Create your 'Firing Trigger,' and this is where that Tag begins to collect data. For example, when this 'Triggers...' it sends the 'Tag...'. Your site's Firing trigger will ultimately 'pull its Tag' and you can just name that "All webpages" etc., which is another one of Google's default trigger recommendations. As you can see, GTM lets a user organize a trigger pull based on certain behavior.
4. Preview from the dashboard that it is working right and 'Submit' and 'Publish Now!'

Manual Install/gtag (Old-School Way/Code)

If you have a developer on call and feel ready for their help, one great thing to do is for them to visit the site GITHUB, a place used by engineers across the world to contribute and receive new information with other engineers to answer common inquiries using codes and information sharing among experts worldwide.

• In your analytics admin area, go back again to the ‘My Web Stream Details’ and locate the option marked as: ‘Global Site Tag / (‘gtag’)' to begin manually inserting code.
• Google now displays to you an option letting a user 'copy' a short JavaScript snippet. That is your website Global 'TAG' or 'Tag Gist Snippet.'

Now from inside any admin account to your actual home page dashboard, your job is finding where your website's 'header code source information' is shown so you could add it directly by copying your code and pasting it onto an 'External JavaScript Snippet Block' or some even provide a feature that is labeled 'Code Injection,' which places it above your page HTML code. This ensures every page loads and logs that code whenever visited!

How to Check and Confirm Site Integrity

The code script must be installed without issue before collecting its data. To verify, start by heading into the GA4 Dashboard.

1. Within a separate tab from this ‘Admin Site View’ you were just completing changes, visit one of your sites. Do normal web behaviors – visit sub-pages or just stay on the HOME page.
2. Return back to the GA Tab, look left, see the menu and click 'Realtime reporting.' As soon as someone logs a session, if your setup is successful - in Real-Time Analytics - your Dashboard will log this single user and that indicates successful implementation. Don't worry if it doesn't appear immediately, as it may take several minutes for the server to receive fresh info. Your website may not reflect accurate traffic on certain sections/reports until up to 48 hours after the data has been processed.

OK, I'm Done.. Next Step…? What Now?

Setting up your GA account is a significant step towards understanding your business presence online. The key is optimizing all settings to ensure you gather only high-quality data. Here are a few tips:

• Exclude All Internal Site Traffic: Create that filter to stop receiving any metrics from your office coworkers' IPs, avoiding false measurements. Define it as an ‘Internal Network’ in the backend section by searching for a tab under “My Data Stream” for 'Configuring the Tag Setting' and select all to be sure.
• Set Up 'Cross Domain' Website Monitoring & Tracking: Use this feature to keep data consistent even as users navigate between different sites you own. Without proper implementation, visits may show as distinct sessions and you might lose track of the actual customer journey.
• Link your other Google products with GA: Do you run paid Google Advertising, Youtube, etc. for this business? Link your GA account to pull data from these sources into a single view. GA connects automatically to your Google Search platform, so everything from Impression Counts to Keyword-query data is integrated for a comprehensive view.

Final Thoughts

Getting your Google Analytics up is the best tool an owner, founder, or marketer can use to begin seeing a complete picture of what's happening on their website. By setting up properties and verifying them, you gain invaluable insights.

Gathering information is just the beginning. Knowing what to do with these insights is the next challenge. I'm using Graphed to transition from spreadsheets to more time-efficient tools. You're finally on a platform poised for success, with the opportunity to reach your vision more effectively. There’s no better time than now to get started on the path to new business development and success.