Data is the new gold rush, and in the world of digital marketing, Google Analytics is the most popular web analytics tool on the market that helps businesses mine it effectively. GA is a crucial component of any successful marketing strategy, gradually becoming a must-have tool for any digital marketer.
Table of content:
I. What is Google Analytics?
Google Analytics is a web analytics service offered by Google that tracks and reports website traffic. It provides insights into website visitors' behavior, including how they find and interact with the website, what pages they visit, how long they stay on each page, what actions they take, and more.
Google Analytics uses a tracking code to collect data from website visitors, which is then processed and presented in a variety of reports and visualizations. Users can use Google Analytics to measure and analyze the performance of their website, track marketing campaigns, identify areas for improvement, and make data-driven decisions to optimize their online presence.
Before we move forward, you should know that there are currently two versions of Google Analytics: Universal Analytics and GA4. GA is notoriously complicated, and with the latest release — GA4 — things are just about clear as mud.
The biggest difference between the two versions is their measurement models. With Universal Analytics, measurements include pages, events, e-commerce and social interaction hits. In Google Analytics 4, these interactions will fall under one category: events. In other words, all interactions in Universal Analytics will be converted as an event in Google Analytics 4.
What is Universal Analytics?
Universal Analytics is the current version of Google Analytics. If you set up your Google Analytics account before October 2020, you likely have Universal Analytics.
What is GA4?
GA4 is the latest version of Google Analytics. It has a slightly different UI and the reports, tools, and features have been upgraded. If you created a Google Analytics account after October 2020, you likely have GA4.
You'll know if you have Universal Analytics or GA4 by the way your home screen looks. On the left is Universal Analytics and on the right is GA4.
II. Why Should You Use Google Analytics?
1. Cost-effective:
Google Analytics is the most powerful tool to track website metrics, and it comes from the king of search engines. On top of that, it’s free to use, making it an affordable option for small businesses and startups.
2. Easy to set up
Google Analytics works on every site, and it’s easy to download. All you need to do is create a Google Analytics account, set up a property for your website, and add the tracking code to your website's header.
Google provides detailed instructions on how to do this, and there are also many tutorials and guides available online to help you through the process. Once the tracking code is installed, Google Analytics will begin collecting data on your website's traffic and performance, and you can access this data through your account dashboard.
3. Third-party data
Google Analytics does not directly collect third-party data for analysis. However, Google Analytics does use cookies to collect and store data about website visitors' behavior and insights, such as age range, gender, user numbers, the pages they visit, how long they stay on the site, or where they come from. In addition, Google Analytics can be configured to import data from other sources, such as CRM systems, email marketing platforms, or social media. This data can be used in conjunction with the data collected by Google Analytics to provide a more complete picture of customer behavior and marketing effectiveness.
4. A product of Google
Google is a well-established and trusted brand, and the association with the Google name gives Google Analytics a certain level of credibility and legitimacy. This can be particularly important for businesses that are trying to establish trust and credibility with their customers.
Moreover, as a Google product, Google Analytics integrates seamlessly with other Google products such as Google Ads, Google Tag Managers, allowing for a more comprehensive view of website and marketing performance.
5. Supportive community
As a popular and widely used product, Google Analytics has a large and active user community. This community can be a valuable resource for sharing knowledge, best practices, and tips on how to get the most out of the platform. The Google Analytics Help Center provides extensive documentation, tutorials, and troubleshooting guides to help users navigate the platform and troubleshoot issues.
III. How Google Analytics Can Help Achieve Business Goals
1. Understand user behavior
Google Analytics unlocks the power of understanding how users, visitors, and customers use your websites. Having behavioral data can drastically improve the results of your online business. Without behavior data, optimizing a website’s performance is impossible.
2. Goal setting and tracking
Google Analytics allows businesses to set up and track specific goals, such as the number of purchases, form submissions, or downloads. By setting up goals, businesses can identify areas where they need to improve and focus their efforts on achieving specific outcomes.
Google Analytics provides real-time data on website traffic and user behavior, which can be used to track progress toward specific goals. This allows businesses to see whether they are on track to achieving their goals and make adjustments as needed.
3. Improve website performance
Google Analytics allows businesses to track key performance indicators, such as bounce rates, conversion rates, and average time on site. By analyzing this data, businesses can identify areas for improvement and optimize their website to provide a better user experience.
4. Optimize website content
Google Analytics provides insights into which pages on a website are most popular, which can help businesses optimize their content to attract and retain visitors.
IV. Limitations of Google Analytics
1. Limited data
The limit for hits (interactions tracked on a website) is 10 million per month per property, which includes page views, events, e-commerce transactions, and other user interactions. Once the limit is reached, Google Analytics will stop collecting data until the next month.
In terms of data export and reporting, there is a limit of 50,000 unique rows of data per a report in the standard version of Google Analytics.
2. Inaccurate data
In cases where a website generates a large amount of traffic, Google Analytics may use data sampling to analyze the data. This means that only a portion of the data is used to generate reports, which can lead to inaccuracies.
3. Google's products bias
Using GA can create a bias toward Google products, which may not accurately reflect a user's behavior or preferences. GA may provide more detailed data and insights for users who interact with Google products such as Google Ads or Google Search Console, which could result in incomplete or inaccurate data.
4. No advanced analytics
While Google Analytics offers customizable reporting options, it may not meet the needs of all businesses. Some businesses may require more advanced analytics tools to capture and analyze specific data points.
5. Ownership of data
GA is owned by Google, which means that businesses do not own the data they collect. While businesses can export their data, they must rely on Google to store and manage it, which can raise privacy concerns for some users. Businesses must comply with data protection regulations, such as the GDPR, and inform users about the data they collect and how it is used.
V. Conclusion
Google Analytics is a highly valuable tool for any business as it gives you tangible data that you can apply to grow your business. It provides nearly endless amounts of information about your website’s data. Once you set up Google Analytics on your website, you can access metrics covering nearly every part of your customer’s journeys.
Overall, if you are a digital marketer looking to improve your website's performance and drive business growth, Google Analytics is a must-have tool in your arsenal. Bookmark this guide and come back to it as your data tracking becomes more sophisticated.
There are other tools available that can provide more advanced analytics capabilities, such as Rocket.BI. With Rocket.BI, businesses can access advanced data visualization and analysis features, as well as customizable dashboards and reports. If you're looking to take your analytics capabilities to the next level, consider integrating Rocket.BI into your data analysis toolkit. Visit our website to learn more and start your free trial today.
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