You’ve researched your audience. You’ve created mind-blowing content. You’re ready to launch your digital marketing campaign. But, all your efforts will be wasted if you don’t have a robust analytics system in place from the start. 

According to Renolon, over 55.49% of  all websites use Google Analytics which has the largest market share at 26.87%  (Statista) of any analytics platform. This shows the vital importance of Google analytics as a platform. 

Until 2020, Google’s platform was known as Universal Analytics (UA). This was replaced by Google Analytics 4 (GA4) in 2023. 

So it’s important to understand what Google Analytics is in its current form and what’s changed. This beginner’s guide will make sure your business is already using GA4 to make sure you don’t lose out on data or insights. You can review our guide to GA4 best practices to get a solid overview.  

So let’s find out how you can leverage the power of analytics to maximize revenue and stay ahead of the game.

ChatGPT Prompt Guide for your Digital Marketing Plan

Make the most of ChatGPT in your marketing efforts

  • ↗Set channel strategy
  • ↗Create content pillars
  • ↗Generate content ideas
  • ↗Determine paid media

What is digital marketing analytics?

Digital marketing analytics involves the collection, measurement, and analysis of website and app data. Web analytics tools can provide lots of useful information about the origin of website traffic, how website users navigate and interact throughout a website and mobile app, what content and pages/screens they’re most engaged with, and how they exit the site or app.

What is Google Analytics (GA)?

Google Analytics is an analytics platform that helps you track as well as understand how people interact with your landing pages, website. or app. 

It provides deep dive insights into visitor behavior, including  where they come from (plus additional key demographic data), what pages they engage with, and the actions they take. 

The market leader and most commonly used analytics program is the free version of Google Analytics or GA as it is sometimes known. The paid version of GA, called Google Analytics 360, offers some additional functionality in terms of report validity and sample sizes. But it’s mainly for websites that receive over 10 million page views per month. For the vast majority of websites, the free version of Google Analytics is perfectly fine.

Google Analytics can track the user or consumer journey, providing rich data around channels used, locations, and devices. These journeys can then be tracked through to on-site activity, goals achieved, exit points, as well as returning visitors, which indicates loyalty.

The transition from Universal Analytics (UA) to Google Analytics 4 (GA4): A brief overview

In 2023, the previous incarnation of Google Analytics, UA, was retired and replaced by GA4. The new platform was designed to be a sharper, more intuitive data platform for making informed data-driven marketing decisions in a cookie-free world.

In addition to its machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI)-powered capabilities, GA4 serves up insights that go deeper than website visits and browsing behaviors alone. GA4 also offers the ability to create highly-customized reports based on very specific data-driven goals.

Read: A beginner’s guide to Google Analytics 4

What’s the importance of Google Analytics?

There are many reasons why using analytics tools is a no-brainer for digital marketers today. Here are three of the more important reasons:

It helps you make data-led decisions

Marketers can use the data uncovered by analytics tools to optimize the performance of their channels and websites by taking data-driven decisions. 

These are actions we take to improve performance based on our understanding of the data we’ve recorded; that is, the data is leading the decision. For example, if you find out that one of your blogs gets a lot of traffic, optimize the page to get the most out of it by adding pop-ups and including links to other related articles. 

Using data is an effective way to use rational thought to improve performance. While it’s best practice to follow data-led decisions, we must always remind ourselves to ‘trust but verify’.

It makes reporting easier

Apart from helping with decision-making, web analytics is an important information source to help marketers report back to key stakeholders on how campaigns, apps and websites are performing in relation to your digital marketing efforts. 

Ultimately, marketers are trying to recreate scenarios that lead to commercial outcomes for their organizations or clients. You can do this by measuring and acting on the data trends you observe using web analytics software.

It helps you figure out the ‘story’ behind the data

One of the real values of web data analysis is that it allows you to deduce the ‘story’ behind the data to gain valuable insights and enhance business performance. 

But how exactly does this lead to commercial returns? Well, web analytics can help you understand your customers better and see their journey across your channels. 

It tells you who they are, where they’re coming from, and their core interests. It tells you about their demographics and location. It also helps reveal any conversion challenges that might exist on your website. It helps you appreciate what consumers like or don’t like, and how they interact on your website. 

You can use all this information to improve the experience on your site for the consumer, create personalized messaging that offers direct value to your audience, and to optimize the channels that consumers use to visit your website.

Read: GA4 best practices to understand the platform on a deeper level and drive the best results from your analytics efforts.

What are the benefits of Google Analytics?

Google Analytics is an excellent choice for most marketing needs. Some benefits of the standard, free version of Google Analytics include:

  • It’s free
  • It’s relatively easy to install
  • It offers customizable reports, dashboards, and data collection
  • It offers basic and advanced options
  • It offers seamless integration with other Google products
  • It offers post-click integration with non-Google traffic sources, including Facebook, Yahoo, and Bing
  • It provides extensive, valuable insights into web behavior

Understanding the basic terminology

There are two key concepts underpinning analytics reporting – dimensions and metrics.

Dimensions describe data: things like country, channel, location, age, gender, and device used. Metrics measure data such as visitor numbers, revenue, goal completions, and so on.

We segment metrics using dimensions – for example, visits by device type – to get a complete picture. So we can see the total visitor metrics for a website segmented by the device category dimension – i.e desktop, tablet, or mobile users. This allows us to better understand the effectiveness and scale of each device in driving visits and conversions on a website.

Some common dimensions within Google Analytics include:

  • Channel Name
  • Month
  • Country
  • Device

Some common engagement metrics within Google Analytics include:

  • Sessions
  • Users
  • Percentage New Sessions or users
  • Views
  • Average Engagement Time 

You should explore the metrics that are available to you, and see how they can be segmented using dimensions to get a deeper understanding of your website traffic and customers.

What are conversion metrics?

Conversion metrics are an extension of standard visitor metrics. They focus on telling the story behind the valuable actions that users can take on your website. These are generally actions that impact commercial performance, such as revenue totals, conversion rates, and so on.

There are some common conversion metrics within Google Analytics. They can all be viewed in the Traffic reports, so you can see how much value each of the different channels is driving. Common conversion metrics include:

  • Key events: The number of valuable actions taken on the site, including sales, leads, or downloads
  • Key event rate: The percentage of visitors that complete a goal
  • Transactions: The number of individual sales or shopping basket items sold on an ecommerce website
  • Revenue: The monetary value of the ecommerce sales

You can start to determine the value of the campaigns from your different digital marketing channels by looking at the number of goals and transactions from each channel, the conversion rates, and the cost per conversion. 

With these three data points, you can decide if a channel is profitable in relation to its time and cost investment.

Read: Google Analytics Goals Guide: How to Set Up And Track Your Bottom-Line KPIs to find out more about setting up goals on GA.

Setting up a Google Analytics (GA4) account: Essential steps

Follow these steps to sign up for and set up a GA4 account.

1. Log in to Google Analytics

Go to https://marketingplatform.google.com/about/analytics/. If you don’t already have an active Google account, you can create one.

2. Create a property

To create a property:

  1. Click Create Property.
  2. Enter a name for your property (such as your website’s name)
  3. Choose the relevant industry your website.
  4. Select your relevant reporting time zone and currency.
  5. Click Create.

3. Create a data stream 

To create a data stream:

  1. Select Web as your data stream type for websites or choose iOS or Android for apps.
  2. For websites, enter your website’s URL.
  3. Enter your stream name.
  4. Click Create Stream.

4. Install your measurement code

When installing your measurement code, remember:

section of your website’s HTML .

  • Google Analytics will provide you with a measurement ID and a code snippet to complete your set up.
  • To start tracking your data, use Google Tag Manager, your website settings, or just paste this code snippet into the

Note: Your app developer will need to set up your app data stream if tracking a mobile app.

Pro tip: For practice purposes, you can add the GA demo account to your account list via the link: analytics.google.com/analytics/web/demoAccount

How to ensure accurate tracking in GA4

To ensure accurate tracking in GA4 and preserve the integrity of your data, there are certain measures you can take.

These include:

  • Set up ‘Custom Events’ (conversion goals based on your specific business goals) by using the platform’s ‘Tag Manager ’ (GTM) to make it easier to track insights based on web performance and user behavior.
  • Use custom definitions ‘Dimensions’ (attributes that describe your data in more detail) and Metrics rather than the platform’s default settings to give more context, as well as value, to your analytical insights.
  • Remove any unwanted referral traffic data from third-party sources or cross-domain navigational triggers that might skew your data or make it misleading.

GA4 mistakes you should avoid

When setting up and configuring a Google Analytics 4 account, many marketers make these common mistakes:

  • Not customizing your tracking settings or parameters, leading to inaccurate or generic insights that offer little value
  • Setting up multiple triggers based on the same Event, causing tracking inconsistencies
  • Setting up low-value Events as key Events and overlooking or missing valuable data
  • Not customizing your GA4 account and set up in a way that aligns with reporting goals and customer journey

By avoiding these common mistakes, you’ll ensure you connect with analytical insights that offer direct value to your marketing efforts.

Your Google Analytics setup checklist

  • I’ve signed up for a Google Account.
  • I’ve followed the four essential GA4 set up and verification steps.
  • I’ve labeled everything clearly and correctly.
  • I’ve customized the platform’s parameters to my specific reporting goals and needs.
  • I’ve taken measures to ensure my tracking is as accurate as possible.
  • I’ve tested my GA4 account to ensure everything is operational and optimized.

Read: How full guide on how to set up GA4 for detailed advice and information on getting the most from the platform.  

Reporting on Google Analytics: The essentials

Your main user dashboard on GA4 will give you a central overview of your website or app’s performance with access to visual data based on parameters including engagement, conversions, acquisition, retention, monetization, audience insights, and a breakdown of your marketing funnel performance.

From this reporting dashboard, you can customize existing parameters, set up new ones, and drill down deeper into a wealth of valuable information with ease.

The key GA4 reports and metrics

These key Google Analytics reports and metrics will prove pivotal in connecting with data-driven insights that improve key aspects of your marketing strategy.

Real-Time Reports

These types of reports offer a live view of your general website or app activity as it unfolds.

Key metrics used: Active users, events, pages per session, average session duration.

User Reports

This branch of GA4 reporting drills down into the users visiting your website or app so you can understand your user base on a deeper level.

Key dimensions and metrics used: Users, activeusers, user demographics

Acquisition Reports

Customer acquisition reports are useful as they track where your users or visitors are visiting from, giving you an insight into your most valuable referral channels as a result.

Key dimensions and metrics used: Users, Sessions, views,  default channel groups (like organic search, social media, direct, etc.).

Engagement Reports 

This style of GA4 report will give you a greater insight, as well as more context, on how your users or visitors actually interact with your app or website.

Metrics used:  views,, average engagement time, event tracking, engagement rate.

Monetization Reports

Reports like this measure how effective your ecommerce activities  are and how successful you are at achieving them across channels.

Metrics used: Transactions, revenue, average purchase revenue

How to set up a segment in GA

Segments in Google Analytics are used to group site visitors who share common characteristics. They isolate specific types of traffic within your reporting which allows you to interpret your data in a much more efficient manner. 

The key benefit of segments is that they provide a temporary filter that can be added and removed and never affect the underlying data. You can add up to four segments at a time and compare the data in your reports.

Analytics offers you the choice between pre-created, or “system” segments, or creating custom segments.

Popular Google Analytics segments include:

  • By traffic source: Is your organic traffic performing better than your paid?
  • By visitor type: Are new or returning users more likely to convert?
  • By location: Which cities are the biggest drivers of traffic?
  • By demographics: What is the proportion of female customers to males?
  • By action taken: Which goals are site visitors more likely to complete?
  • By content viewed: Which pages on your website are the most visited?
  • By browser or device type: Which type of device or web browser did your site visitors use?

If you’re interested in building segments, visit the Analytics Solutions Gallery. This is a platform on which other Analytics users share the segments they’ve created and can provide inspiration that aligns with your specific digital marketing goals.

How to collaborate with your team

To collaborate effectively with team members, as well as with external agencies and clients, you need to ensure that everyone is working from the same data source. 

To do this, you can grant access to other users within your Google Analytics account, and apply different permission settings. Do this in the User Management section at an Account or Property level.

Linking to other tools

One of the really useful aspects of Google Analytics is its ability to seamlessly link to other Google products and tools so that you can supplement your reports with additional insights.

The main tools available to link to are Google Ads, Google Search Console, Merchant Center, and Search Ads 360 (formerly known as DoubleClick by Google).

To link these additional tools, you need to access the product linking section within the Property settings. Each of the available tools for linking is listed there and you simply follow the instructions to link the tools.

Read: A guide to reporting in GA4 for comprehensive tips, insights, and practical advice on the subject

Advanced features of Google Analytics 4

Now that you know the reporting basics of Google Analytics, let’s glance at the slightly more advanced features of GA4 you can use to your advantage.

You can use enhanced eCommerce tracking to dive deeper into data surrounding concepts like purchase journeys, checkout behavior, and shopping preferences. Having access to this wealth of invaluable information will help you improve the value of your content while optimizing the most important elements of your customer journey.

Other advanced GA4 features that will help you squeeze maximum data-driven juice from the platform include:

  • Automatic event tracking
  • Machine learning-powered predictive metrics and insights
  • Cross-platform tracking capabilities
  • User-ID tracking to drill down into specific visitors’ activities and journeys across channels and devices

Read: Our essential guide on advanced Google Analytics (*link when published*) features and discover how to use the platform’s lesser-known capabilities to your advantage.

GA4 for search engine optimization (SEO)

You can use some of GA4’s key reporting tools and metrics to optimize your site’s SEO efforts and boost your search visibility.

Working with the right mix of metrics, you can optimize your on-site SEO strategy by gaining access to:

  • Organic web traffic analysis and reporting
  • Detailed keyword performance tracking
  • Interaction and engagement with on-page elements like headings, links, and CTA buttons
  • Site speed and mobile performance monitoring
  • Backlink analysis

You can set up tailored reporting based on your own custom SEO parameters and metrics – those that align with your specific aims – and work with the data parameters that will serve up the most relevant insights.

If you’re looking to assess the performance of your organic traffic referrals, for example, you can set up a custom report that identifies the top-ranking key terms that bring engaged visitors to your site. Doing so will empower you to identify terms that you might have overlooked or develop content that is likely to boost your organic search rankings further.

Read: Our full guide on using Google Analytics for SEO to gain further tips and insights.

Use Google Analytics to Get Actionable Insights

Google Analytics can provide you with a goldmine of data, but it can be overwhelming if you’re seeking specific information. DMIs short data and web analytics course will teach you the fundamentals of data and analytics, explore the ins and outs of GA4, cover data security and compliance, and show you how to visualize and present data. Get started today!