Google Analytics lets you see how people find and use your website. So learning how to set up Google Analytics is fundamental to working out which pages they visit, where your traffic comes from and what actions visitors take.
The current version is Google Analytics 4 (GA4). Setting it up involves creating an Analytics property for your website, adding a web data stream and installing a Google tag on your site.
Here’s how to get started.
1. Create a Google Analytics account
Go to Google Analytics at analytics.google.com and sign in with your Google account.
If you haven’t used Analytics before, select Start measuring. If you already use Analytics for another website, open Admin, select Create, then choose Account or Property, depending on what you need.
Give your Analytics account a recognisable name, normally your company or organisation name.
New Property Set Up for Google Analytics
2. Create a GA4 property
A property is the container Google Analytics uses to hold the data for your website or app.
Enter a descriptive property name, such as your website or business name, then choose your:
- Reporting time zone
- Currency
- Industry category
- Business size
- Business objectives
Choose the time zone carefully because it determines when each reporting day begins and ends.
Once you’ve completed the details, select Create.
3. Add your website as a data stream
Google Analytics now needs to know where the data will come from.
Go to Admin > Data streams and choose Web. After that, enter your website URL and give the stream a recognisable name.
You’ll also see an option called Enhanced measurement. For most websites, leave this switched on. It allows GA4 to automatically measure several useful interactions in addition to normal page views, including things such as scrolls, outbound link clicks, site searches and file downloads.
Select Create stream.
[Screenshot: Create web stream screen with Website URL, Stream name and Enhanced measurement]
Google will now create a unique measurement or Google tag ID for the website. It normally begins with G-.
4. Install the Google Analytics tag on your website
When you set up Google Analytics, creating the Analytics property doesn’t automatically start tracking your website because you also need to install the Google tag.
Open your web data stream and choose View tag instructions.
There are several ways to install it.
Using a website builder or CMS
Platforms such as WordPress, Shopify, Wix, Squarespace and others provide ways to connect Google Analytics without manually editing every page of your website.
Depending on your platform, you may simply need to enter your Google tag ID or use an appropriate integration or plugin.
Configure the Google Analytics tag manually
Google can provide a JavaScript tracking snippet.
Copy the complete Google tag and add it immediately after the opening <head> tag on every page of your website.
You should only add the Google tag once to each page.
Using Google Tag Manager
If your website already uses Google Tag Manager, you can deploy Google Analytics through Tag Manager instead. This is particularly useful if you intend to add additional tracking later, such as form submissions, button clicks or other marketing tags.
[Screenshot: Google Analytics installation instructions showing CMS and manual installation options]
5. Check that Google Analytics is working
Don’t assume everything is working simply because the tag has been installed, firstly open your website in another browser tab and visit a few pages. Then go back to Google Analytics and open the Realtime report.
You should start to see your visit and activity appear. Google advises that initial data collection can take up to around 30 minutes to begin.
If nothing appears, check that:
- the correct Google tag ID has been installed;
- the tag appears on every page;
- your cookie consent settings aren’t preventing Analytics from loading; and
- the tag isn’t being blocked by your browser or an ad-blocking extension.
What should you do next?
Once basic tracking is working, don’t stop at page views.
If you’re setting up a GA account for a website that is managed by a CMS (content management system) like WordPress or Shopify, have a look at these additional notes on Google.
Afterwards, think about the actions that actually matter to the website: enquiries, form submissions, purchases, downloads, registrations or important button clicks, because this will help you identify tracking actions that can be set as conversions to measure high-value actions.
GA4 records interactions as events, and important events can be marked as key events so that you can measure whether your website is achieving its objectives.
It is worth checking your privacy and cookie-consent setup before relying on Analytics data, particularly if your website serves users in the UK or European Economic Area.
With the basic GA4 installation working correctly, you have the foundation needed to start measuring where your visitors come from, what they do on your website and which marketing activity produces useful results.
If you need to learn more about GA, have a look at one of my courses.
