What is Google Analytics

What is Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a platform you can use to track and analyse the data and performance of your website or app. You can access various information and reports on the activities of website visitors and their behavioural patterns.

Google Analytics can monitor various types of digital media and refer upstream websites, display and search ads, other Google campaigns and social media traffic.

What is Google Analytics used for?

Google Analytics can help tracking the following data of a website :

  • Data filtering and funnel analysis
  • Optimisation of your pages
  • Characteristics of the audience
  • Custom reports of advertising
  • Sharing and communication of the website
  • How many visitors of the website convert?
  • Which social platforms should be targeted?
  • Easy integration with other platforms like Google Ads, Google Data Studio, Google AdSense, Google Optimize 360, Google Search Ads 360, Google AdWords and Google Search Console.

How Does Google Analytics Work?

Google Analytics implements page tags, which are added to each page's code. Google's data-gathering servers get data from each visitor via this tag, which is embedded in the visitor's browser. Google Analytics can then generate customisable reports to track and display information on the website traffic, the average session lengths, sessions by route, page views, and more.

BENEFITS OF GOOGLE ANALYTICS

  1. COST EFFECTIVE

    2. Google gives you free access to the Google Analytics version. There is no fee associated with using this tool for small business owners. In comparison, anyone needing advanced features must pay some recurring expenses

  2. AVAILABLE GLOBALLY

    3. Google Analytics is a global platform that allows anyone worldwide to access their business and google page insights. It makes it easier for big corporations to examine their data while managing various operations in different countries.

  3. SUPPORTS MULTIPLE DEVICE

    4. With the help of an internet connection, you can examine your website data using multiple devices. It is not only confined to desktop computers but can also be accessed on mobile phones or tablets.

  4. USER FRIENDLY

    5. Google Analytics for beginners is a friendly tool as the information displayed on this platform is simplified, making it easier for new users to understand their website's metrics. Everything can be analysed using a single device.

LIMITATIONS

  1. DATA SAMPLING

    2. Reports on Google Analytics account are generated by the sampling of data, so only a fraction of the data is analysed. Google Analytics portrays only some of the website's insight which can prove to be a hindrance to the study of the data.

  2. RELIABILITY

    3. Google Analytics is only sometimes a reliable platform, as it cannot trace particular websites, and sometimes bot traffic is incorrectly reflected on the Google page insights as actual traffic. This inaccurate information will stay in the system permanently and will hamper with future analysis as well.

  3. DOES NOT ANALYSE OFFLINE CONVERSIONS

    4. Ideally, a platform should be able to provide both online and offline conversions, but Google Analytics lacks the features to track offline conversions like calls, transactions, etc, which subsequently does not show clear feedback from the website.

  4. BLOCKING OF GOOGLE ANALYTICS COOKIES

    5. Users' restriction of Google Analytics cookies is one factor that can influence data accuracy. Google Analytics fail to gather data if cookies are not configured. Each user can disable cookies, which causes Google Analytics to lose the data from those visits.

GOOGLE ANALYTICS 4

The previous version of Google Analytics was Universal Analytics, whereas now they're modifying to the next generation of Analytics, i.e. Google Analytics 4. GA4 gathers information from apps and websites to understand the user experience better. It employs an event-based data model instead of a session-based to provide user-centric analysis. GA4 is built with privacy at its heart and aims to benefit customers and users.

CONCLUSION

One of the most vital components of any marketing campaign is understanding how your targets are achieved. Google Analytics is an excellent tool for any business as it works wonders for your company and offers valuable information that can be applied to enhance the performance of your website and boost conversion rates. Google Analytics remains a highly relevant free-of-cost solution for managing your website's analytics.