Woohoo Web is demystifying Google Analytics for beginners by providing a complete guide that covers all the key factors of the GA. In this article, you will get to know about step-by-step guides on setting up a Google Analytics account, navigating the dashboard, and understanding key metrics of GA. Woohoo Web also offers practical tips on using Google Analytics to optimize digital marketing campaigns, improve website performance, and show factual and accurate descriptions. By breaking down tricky concepts into easy-to-understand language and providing realistic examples, Woohoo Web makes GA accessible and allows beginners to tackle its power for digital growth.
Google Analytics is a free web analytics tool hosted in the cloud that will help you create more efficient websites (blogs, pages, e-commerce) thanks to the data obtained from it.
- It helps us improve the user experience (UX) of our website
- It helps increase conversion
- It measures the performance of our keywords and the online campaigns that we have active
- It gives us access to a large number of metrics related to our website/business.
On the other hand, it answers such important questions as
- What are the users who come to my website like?
- Where do they come from?
- How long are they on my site and how do they use it?
- How can one improve its website so that users who come repeat/stay longer/complete the purchasing process?
How Does Google Analytics Work?
The user accesses its website which contains a Javascript code that is downloaded in the form of a cookie to your computer. Therefore, it continues its path through which the cookie is created.
In certain cases, Google Analytics will not work correctly:
- Users who block Javascript
- Users who block or delete Cookies
- When we access a page from the Google cache (what has been temporarily saved)
Beginner’s Guide to Google Analytics Demystification is intended to be a mere introduction to getting in touch with this powerful tool and learning its most basic aspects. The idea is to study it in depth to have a good knowledge of all its potential and to be able to extract all the metrics and reports that help us improve the results of our website. First of all, we recommend reading “Web Analytics: Basic Concepts and Tools You Maybe Didn’t Know “to understand the common and necessary essential terminology.
Phases or Processes That Are Developed in Google Analytics
- Data Collection
Logically, Google Analytics requires data to feed itself and to be able to later offer us any information. These data are obtained from our website, mobile phone, tablet or any device that can access our site from the internet. All information (through so-called “hits”) related to the page that the user is viewing is sent through a tracking code. Collects information about which browser you use, language, operating system, traffic source, etc.
It is important to know that:
- Google Analytics does not store or report personal information
- Google workers cannot access this data without your permission
- Information Processing
It is about transforming all the information collected and converting it into useful data. Hits are organized into sessions and users. All the information collected by both Analytics and Search Console, Adwords and any other external source is gathered and the data is imported.
- Configuration
This phase is about customizing the tool as much as possible to obtain the most interesting reports on our website/blog/e-commerce (filters, modifications, etc.) This information goes through a process called aggregation in which it is prepared to be analyzed. All information is organized in databases so that we can access it quickly. These databases are unalterable and therefore we will never be able to modify the Analytics history.
- Report Generation
Finally, we can access all this data through reports. To do this, we can use the ones that GA offers us by default or develop our own.
- Google Analytics structure
From the administration panel, we will begin to configure the account options, web properties, views and users, as well as all aspects of the tool.
- Accounts
An Account in Google Analytics represents the access point with a limit of 100 per user. Each account is identified with an ID that makes up the first seven digits of the UA code –> UA-YYYYYYY-X
How to Create an Account in Google Analytics?
- Web Property
Within each account, there must be at least one web property in which we can create different views, manage users, etc.
- Property configuration
- User management
- Tracking information
- Link to Adwords
- Remarketing list management
We can create new web properties with a limit of 50.
- Views
A view is a customization of a Google Analytics report and is created within an account’s Web Properties they are used to:
- Measure subdomains separately
- Measure sections of the website
- Control access to information
- Users
Google Analytics is a tool with a collaborative purpose, so it is common for there to be various permissions when working and accessing it.
- Administration-> Full level
- Editing -> Access to reports
- Collaboration -> Creation of shared elements
- Reading and analysis
- Google Analytics Main Interface
Upon entering Google Analytics, 5 reports will be loaded into the Main Interface and located in the left column:
- Real Time
- Audience
- Acquisition
- Behavior
- Conversions
- In Real Time
You will be able to see the number of active users and also their traffic sources. It will also tell us if they are new or returning visitors. Another interesting fact is the keywords by which they have entered our website and the locations or countries from which they have accessed.
Conclusions
As we already mentioned at the beginning, we have tried to bring a little closer to the basic information that most of you are not yet familiar with Google Analytics, and a blog and you need to have a certain degree of knowledge of this best digital tool that Woohoo Web offers the best predetermined statistics, analytics and reports and customize them as required.
