As a small business owner, your website is essential. Naturally, you want more visitors, and Google Analytics is the tool you turn to for understanding your website traffic.

But with the roll-out of GA4, there are so many more metrics and dimensions to keep track of. It’s hard to know which are the most important to use regularly.

Take Users, for example. GA4 has four different types of users. So what is a user in Google Analytics, and how can you use this info to make data-driven decisions about your business? 

In this guide, I’ll break down GA4’s four user metrics: Active, New, Total, and Returning, in plain English. You’ll learn exactly what they measure, when to use them, and more importantly, how they can help you grow your business.

What Are The Different Types of Users in GA4?

Before diving into the details, here’s a brief look at the four types of users in GA4:

• Total Users: Everyone who visited your website during your chosen time period.
• Active Users: People who visited your site in the last 28 days.
• New Users: First-time visitors to your website.
• Returning Users: People who have visited your site before and came back.

These metrics work together to give you different views of your website traffic. Let’s look at each one in detail to understand how they can help your business.

Total Users in Google Analytics

Total Users includes everyone who lands on your site—even if they leave after a few seconds. Think of it as your website’s total foot traffic, including both the serious shoppers and the window browsers.

This data helps you see if your website is growing over time. You might use it to see if this month’s growth was better than last month’s, or to check if your new marketing efforts are working.

You can find detailed Total Users data in your Events report (Reports » Engagement » Events). This shows you exactly how people interact with your site.

For instance, you might learn that while 7,000 people visited your site, only 400 watched your video—giving you clear insight into where you could improve engagement.

Think of it this way: If 1,000 people visit your site, but nobody buys anything, that might be worse than having 100 visitors who all make purchases. Quality can be far more important than quantity.

Active Users in Google Analytics

Google Analytics considers Active Users so important, they made it their default metric. Whenever you see ‘users’ listed without any qualifier, GA4 is showing you ‘active users’.

In GA4, active users are either new visitors or users with engaged sessions. An engaged session means the visitor either:

• Stayed on your page for over ten seconds
• Viewed more than one page
• Made at least one conversion

It’s a lot like a gym membership – you care more about who worked out this month than who signed up three years ago and never came back. The 28-day window helps you spot patterns and identify who’s genuinely interested in what you offer.

This metric is especially helpful if you run a blog or sell products that people don’t buy right away. It shows you who keeps coming back to learn more before making a decision.

Pro Tip: While Universal Analytics (pre-July 2023) had a dedicated Active Users report, GA4 integrates this metric throughout its interface. You can find detailed active user data in the ‘Engagement report’.

New Users in Google Analytics

New Users shows you how many people are visiting your website for the first time. In GA4, this is tracked as a ‘first_visit’ or ‘first_open’ event, making it easy to spot fresh faces in your analytics.

Think of New Users like first-time customers walking into a store. They’re exploring and getting to know what you offer, so it’s important to make a good first impression so they’ll want to come back.

You can find your new user data by going to Reports » Acquisition, where you’ll get a quick overview of how many fresh visitors your site is attracting.

You’ll see spikes in New Users when something drives extra traffic to your site – maybe you ran a Facebook ad, got mentioned on social media, or one of your blog posts started ranking well in Google.

But New Users alone doesn’t tell the whole story. If you have many new visitors, but they don’t come back, you might need to work on making your site more engaging.

Returning Users in Google Analytics

While new visitors are great, returning users are even better. Not only does retaining users cost less than acquiring new ones, but returning visitors also signal that your content or products are hitting the mark.

In GA4, anyone who has visited your site before counts as a returning user, even if their previous visit was brief. You can find these loyal visitors by going to Reports » Retention, where you can compare new vs. returning user patterns over time.

Think of Returning Users like regular customers at a coffee shop – they know what they like and keep coming back for more. A healthy website usually has a good mix of new and returning visitors, but too few returning visitors might mean people don’t find your site useful enough.

You can increase your Returning Users by creating helpful content, offering good products, or sending out regular newsletters. The key is to give people a reason to come back.

Research shows that returning customers spend 67% more than first-time buyers, making this metric particularly important for e-commerce sites.

Now that we’ve defined each metric, let’s clearly see the key differences between them all.

Active Users vs. New Users vs. Total Users vs. Returning Users

Now, all of these user metrics can feel confusing, especially when you’re trying to figure out which ones matter most for your business. Here’s a breakdown of how they compare and when to use each one:

Let’s look at a real example to show how these numbers work together.

Imagine your website had these metrics last month:

• Total Users: 1,000
• Active Users: 800
• New Users: 300
• Returning Users: 700

This tells an interesting story: while you had 1,000 total visitors, 800 were active recently. Most of your traffic (700) came from people coming back, with 300 new people discovering your site.

Pro Tip: If you find these metrics overwhelming to track all at once, focus on the ones that match your current goals. For a new website, New Users might matter most. For an established site, you might care more about Returning Users.

Using OnePageGA for Simpler User Data

Now, GA4’s layout often changes with updates, and finding user metrics across different reports is not only time-consuming, but also a headache. It’s actually something I used to dread because try as I might, my brain simply doesn’t like numbers.

That’s why I always use OnePageGA to view and interpret my GA4 data.

It’s a straightforward, single-page dashboard that simplifies your Google Analytics data. It shows an easy-to-understand overview of the metrics that are most important to your business.

When using OnePageGA, you can easily:

• Get insights without needing to learn the complex GA4 interface.
• See ready-made reports for traffic sources, top pages, user locations, and more.
• Choose exactly which metrics to see in your reports, like Active & New Users.
• Track revenue and sales if you sell online, linked to user metrics.
• Identify where users drop off in your customer journey.
• Monitor all your websites in one dashboard and track changes over time.

To find user data in OnePageGA, first, visit the OnePageGA website and sign up for a free account.

Simply click the “Sign up with your Google Account” button and follow the on-screen instructions to authorize OnePageGA to access your GA4 data.

Once connected, you’ll see a pre-built dashboard with essential metrics.

To customize the dashboard to include more User info, click on the “Edit Metrics” button and select the data you want to see.

You’ll then see a chart of this data allowing you to see trends and compare different time periods.

Below that, you can see further information with pre-built reports. For example, you can quickly view user data in relation to traffic sources, landing page, location, device, and much more.

Making Data-Driven Decisions with User Metrics

Now that you can easily find your user metrics in both GA4 and OnePageGA, let’s look at how to use this data to grow your business.

Here are some common scenarios and which metrics to watch:

When Launching a Marketing Campaign:

• Track New Users to measure campaign reach
• Watch Active Users to see if people stay engaged
• Monitor Returning Users to check if the campaign brings quality traffic

When Creating Content:

• Low Returning Users might mean your content needs work
• High New Users but low Return Users suggests engagement problems
• Steady Active Users shows your content keeps people interested

When Running an Online Store:

• Compare Total Users to sales numbers
• Track Returning Users to measure customer loyalty
• Watch Active Users to spot shopping patterns

For example, if you notice your New Users are high, but Returning Users are low, try:

• Improving your website’s first impression
• Creating more engaging content
• Starting an email newsletter

Pro Tip: Don’t try to track everything at once. Pick the metrics that match your current business goals and focus on those first.

Common User Metric Problems and Solutions

Even when you understand what these metrics mean, you might run into some common challenges. Here’s how to handle them:

Remember: Numbers dropping isn’t always bad, and spikes aren’t always good. What matters is understanding why changes happen and taking appropriate action.

Understanding your website’s user metrics doesn’t have to be complicated. Whether you’re looking at Total Users for the big picture or Active Users for current engagement, each metric tells part of your website’s story.

By using tools like OnePageGA to simplify your analytics, you can focus less on finding the data and more on using it to grow your business.

Try OnePageGA free for 14 days and see how easy tracking users can be.

If you’re looking for even more help using Google Analytics, you may also find the following resources useful:

• 5 Types of Website Analytics Every Website Owner Should Know
• How to Track Website Visitors the Easy Way
• How to Add Google Analytics to Your Website
• Is Google Analytics 4 Worth It: The Pros and Cons
• Easy Google Analytics 4: A Simple Guide on How It Works

If you have questions or want to join the conversation, you can also find us on X and Facebook.

When I was new to marketing, Google Analytics was an alien concept to me.

I’d heard it was crucial for understanding my visitors, but honestly, just looking at it made my head spin. All those charts, tables, and numbers, it felt like trying to decipher a code I didn’t have the key to.

I just wanted the basics: Who was visiting? What were they looking at? And were they finding what they needed? It was, to say the least, incredibly frustrating.

If that sounds familiar, you’re definitely not alone. Many website owners and marketers find Google Analytics overwhelming. We all need clear, actionable insights, but getting them shouldn’t be such a headache.

That’s why I’m writing this guide: to show you how to create simple Google Analytics reports that actually make sense and help you achieve your goals.

What Are Reports In Google Analytics?

Google Analytics reports are your website’s story told through numbers. They’re organized summaries showing exactly what’s happening on your site, from who’s visiting to what they’re doing.

Google Analytics organizes these reports into five main categories:

1. Audience Reports: Who’s visiting your site
2. Acquisition Reports: How they found you
3. Behavior Reports: What they do on your site
4. Conversion Reports: Whether they take desired actions
5. Real-Time Reports: What’s happening right now

Each of these categories answers specific questions about your visitors and their actions.

But here’s the catch: while these reports are powerful, they’re also overwhelming. GA4’s complexity often stands between you and the information you need.

Let’s look at why that happens.

Why Is Google Analytics 4 So Complicated?

Google’s move to GA4 in 2023 significantly changed how we analyze website data, and it’s been a difficult transition for many. Even experienced marketers sometimes struggle with the new terminology and layout.

While terms like “bounce rate,” “sessions,” and “pageviews” might seem simple at first glance, understanding how they all interact requires a lot of learning.

Also, standard reports don’t always have the information you need. You’re forced to use custom reports if you want to track unique customer journeys or combine metrics in a meaningful way.

And creating custom reports in GA4 is quite complex. You need to know about dimensions, metrics, filters, and different report types.

This kind of customization can quickly become overwhelming.

Because of these challenges, many users find themselves spending less time on their marketing efforts and more time figuring out their website data.

So how do you create simple Google Analytics reports that give you the information you need quickly?

Let’s find out.

The Easy Way to Create Simple Google Analytics Reports

Several tools have popped up on the market attempting to solve the complexity of Google Analytics 4. But in my opinion, many of them pose the same problems. Learning to use them often feels just as hard as using GA4 itself, requiring you to learn a whole new system and interface.

If you’re looking for a solution that doesn’t require learning a whole new platform, then OnePageGA is the answer. It’s designed to be intuitive and straightforward, without the learning curve of GA4 or other alternatives.

OnePageGA is a one-page Google Analytics 4 dashboard that gives you simple, easy-to-understand reports about your website’s performance. Instead of GA4s complexity, you get all the essential insights you need in one place.

Here’s what makes OnePageGA different:

• You won’t need training or tutorials to understand how to use it. It’s designed to be intuitive.
• All your core metrics are available on a single page, removing the need to click through endless menus.
• Get key reports like website visitors, popular pages, and traffic sources automatically.
• You don’t need to be a technical expert to set it up or understand it.
• If you need something different, you can easily create custom reports.

To get started with OnePageGA’s simpler reporting, follow these easy steps.

Step 1. Sign Up With Your Google Account

First, go to the OnePageGA website and click the button titled “Try for 14 days free”.

This will prompt you to connect to the platform using your existing Google account.

On the next screen, confirm your data sharing settings and click “Continue”.

Finally, you’ll head to your OnePageGA dashboard, where you can select a website to track.

Step 2. Add Your Website to OnePageGA

To add a new website to your account, click the “Add Site” button.

Then, go ahead and select your Google Analytics property from the dropdown menu and click “Next”.

That’s all there is to it. OnePageGA will now take you to your single-page Google Analytics dashboard, where you can see your simplified reports.

Step 3. View Your Simple Google Analytics Reports

When you open your OnePageGA dashboard, you’ll immediately see a graph of your site’s performance. This includes key metrics like page views, sessions, how long people stay on your site, and your bounce rate.

All of this is in one simple view, so you can quickly see what is and isn’t working on your website.

Under this graph, you’ll see several other simple GA4 reports which tell you even more about your site’s performance, including:

• Where your traffic comes from, so you know which channels are working best.
• Which pages are most popular, helping you to optimize your content strategy.
• Which locations and devices people are using, providing valuable insights into your audience.

For example, in the pages report, you might see that your blog posts on a specific topic are attracting a lot of visitors. This means you can create more content around that topic to engage your readers.

Customizing your reports is just as simple. Unlike the overly complex report builder in GA4, OnePageGA allows you to easily add custom filters, and change which metrics you see on your reports.

Let’s say I want to know which AI engines are sending traffic to my website. In that case, I’d use OnePageGA’s OR logic to filter by specific traffic source like chatgpt.com, google.gemini.com, and so on.

Similarly, you can choose which metrics to track by clicking the settings icon. Here, you can select up to 7 metrics to display that best fit your needs, including:

• eCommerce purchases
• Sessions per user
• Engagement rate
• And much more

With simple Google Analytics reports like these, you can spend less time on learning new platforms, and more on understanding your website data and how it affects your business.

For a head-start, see the types of web analytics you need to know about.

Get Started with Simpler GA Reporting

As you can see from this guide, understanding your website data doesn’t have to be a headache.

With a simpler GA4 dashboard like OnePageGA, you can easily find the information you need, without the unnecessary complexity. You’ll be able to see what is and isn’t working and make smart decisions without feeling overwhelmed.

Start using OnePageGA today and finally feel confident in your analytics

If you have questions or want to join the conversation, you can also find us on X and Facebook.

When I launched my first website, I was completely lost. It honestly felt like I was throwing spaghetti at the wall, hoping something would stick.

Turns out, I wasn’t alone. Around 68% of businesses lack a clear strategy for getting people to take action on their site. Without knowing how visitors actually use your website, you’re essentially flying blind.

That’s precisely why web analytics is so crucial. It’s the process of gathering data about how people interact with your website, helping you understand what’s really going on and where you can improve.

In this guide, I’ll walk you through the various types of web analytics, which will ultimately help you make smarter, more informed decisions for your site.

What Is Web Analytics?

Web analytics is about tracking and learning from your website’s data to see how people use your site. It helps you measure things like how many people visit, what they click on, and if they buy anything. This helps you improve your website and reach your goals.

The data you use for web analytics comes in three main types:

First, there’s quantitative data. This is all about the numbers, like how many visitors you have, which pages they look at, and how many sales you make.

Second, there’s qualitative data, which helps you understand why those numbers happen. This shows you how people move around your site, what they click on most, and what feedback they give. You get qualitative data from surveys, talking to users, getting their direct feedback, and from special tools that track their actions.

It’s also important to know about conversions. These are the actions you want people to take on your site, like buying something, filling out a form, or signing up for your email list.

When you use quantitative data and qualitative data together, you get a full picture of what’s happening on your website and, most importantly, why.

Why Do You Need Web Analytics for Your Business?

Without web analytics, you’re running your website blindfolded, like how I was at the very beginning. You won’t know if your marketing efforts are paying off, if visitors can find what they need, or why they might be leaving without making a purchase. Web analytics solves these problems by providing clear insights into your site’s performance.

Let me share a quick example from my own website. Although I don’t get a lot of traffic, through web analytics, I discovered that most of it was coming from direct sources.

This helped me understand that many visitors were typing my website address directly into their browser or using a bookmark. Without this data, I might have focused on other marketing efforts that weren’t as effective.

Web analytics helps you:

• Track return on investment (ROI) from your marketing campaigns
• Understand which content resonates with your audience
• Identify and fix technical issues that frustrate visitors
• Make data-backed decisions about website improvements
• Measure progress toward your business goals

5 Types of Web Analytics

Every business will use web analytics differently. Many tools have similar measurements, like Google Analytics for traffic and conversions, and Hotjar for recordings and heatmaps.

To get the most out of web analytics, you need to understand the main types. So, let’s look at them to see how they compare.

1. Traditional Web Analytics

Traditional web analytics focuses on the numbers, like how many people visit your site, what they do there, and whether they take action.

These are the foundational analytics metrics that were among the first to be tracked on websites. They provide a basic understanding of your website’s performance.

The basic metrics you can track include:

For example, if your website gets 100 visitors in a day and 5 of them buy something, your conversion rate is 5%. This measurement helps you track if your site is getting better at converting visitors into customers.

Traditional Web Analytics Tools

The most popular tool is Google Analytics, and it’s totally free.

While it offers detailed tracking, many find it overwhelming at first, particularly the newest version, GA4, which has a steep learning curve.

For website owners who want simple, clear data, OnePageGA offers an easy way to track these metrics.

It’s aimed at website owners who want clear insights without the complexity. You get important metrics in a simple way, which is especially helpful for smaller websites and businesses.

2. Behavioral Web Analytics

Behavioral analytics looks at how people actually use your website – where they click, how they move around, and what actions they take. It helps you understand your visitors’ journey through your site.

Here’s what behavioral analytics tracks:

For example, if you notice most people leave your checkout page at the shipping form, you might need to simplify your shipping options or make the form easier to fill out.

Behavior Analytics Tools

Hotjar is a popular choice that shows heatmaps and records visitor sessions. It’s easy to use and gives you visual insights into how people use your site.

CrazyEgg focuses on click tracking and scroll maps. It’s good for testing different layouts and seeing which elements get the most attention.

Microsoft Clarity is free and offers basic behavioral tracking. While it’s newer than other tools, it provides helpful insights for beginners.

3. Customer Journey Web Analytics

Customer journey web analytics looks at how people move through your website, from their first visit to completing a purchase or goal. It helps you understand what works, fix issues, and improve the user experience.

A journey analytics tool measures:

Imagine seeing that most customers read three blog posts before signing up for your service. This insight could help you create more relevant content to guide people toward conversion.

Customer Journey Analytics Tools

Google Analytics offers powerful journey tracking features. While it’s free and detailed, setting up proper journey tracking requires some technical knowledge.

Mixpanel is popular for its user-friendly interface and detailed path analysis. It works well for both websites and apps but comes with a monthly fee.

Amplitude provides advanced journey mapping and prediction features. Though expensive, it’s particularly good for large businesses tracking complex customer paths.

4. Content Analysis

Content analysis helps you understand what content works best and where to focus your efforts. It combines search data with performance metrics to guide your content strategy.

Key content metrics include:

Take a blog post that gets many comments and shares but few conversions. This might mean you need a stronger call-to-action or better connection to your products.

Content Analysis Tools

LowFruits helps find easy-to-rank keywords and content opportunities. It’s affordable and particularly useful for new websites building their content strategy.

SEMrush provides detailed content and keyword analysis. While it’s more expensive, it offers comprehensive tools for content research, tracking, and optimization.

Ahrefs shows content performance in search results and competitor analysis. It’s a premium tool that helps track rankings and find content opportunities.

5. SEO Analytics

SEO analytics measures how well your site performs in search engines. It tracks your rankings, shows which keywords bring traffic, and helps identify ways to improve your search visibility.

With SEO analytics tools, you can typically track:

For instance, if your click-through rate is low despite high rankings, you might need to improve your page titles and descriptions to attract more clicks.

SEO Analytics Tools

Google Search Console provides direct data from Google about your site’s search performance. It’s free and shows exactly how Google sees your site, including technical issues and search queries.

All in One SEO helps optimize your WordPress site directly. While primarily a WordPress plugin, it includes helpful analytics features for tracking SEO performance and making improvements.

Moz combines rank tracking with site auditing features. It’s particularly good for beginners due to its user-friendly interface and educational resources.

Choosing the Right Web Analytics Tools

Not every business needs every type of analytics tool. Your choice should depend on your goals, budget, and how you’ll use the data.

Consider these factors:

• Business Size – How big is your business? Bigger companies usually need more complex tools.
• Goals – What do you want to track? Make sure your tools can measure what matters to you.
• Skills – How comfortable are you with data? Choose tools that match your experience level.
• Budget – How much can you spend? Free tools work for some, but paid ones often offer more features.
• Time – How much time can you spend learning new tools? Complex tools need more time to master.
• Integrations – What other tools do you use? Make sure everything works together.

It’s important to remember that one tool rarely provides a complete picture. Most businesses use a combination of tools to get a complete picture.

For example, you might use Google Analytics to track visitor numbers while using heatmaps to see how people interact with your pages. This combination helps you understand both what users do and why they do it.

Setting Up Web Analytics

Google Analytics is considered the industry standard and a popular place for website owners to begin. Setting it up is straightforward:

• Create a Google Analytics account
• Add your website
• Install the tracking code on your site
• Set up basic goals like contact form submissions
• Configure conversion tracking

For a more detailed walkthrough, see our guide on how to add Google Analytics to your website.

If Google Analytics is too much to start with, there are many options to get started, such as OnePageGA. It’s a single page dashboard that works alongside Google Analytics, giving you clear, actionable insights about your website.

Instead of digging through multiple Google Analytics reports and complex menus, you’ll see all your key metrics in one place – traffic, top content, conversion rates, and more. This makes it easier to spot trends and make decisions without getting lost in the data.

Get Started With Easy Web Analytics

Web analytics is essential for making smart decisions about your website, and is something all website owners should do. Choose the tools that best fit your needs and focus on the metrics that matter to your business.

Start simple, learn what works, and add more features as you grow. No matter what tool you use, getting started is the most important thing.

With OnePageGA, you can get started with a free 14-day trial today, and see how easy understanding your website’s performance can be.

If you have questions or want to join the conversation, you can also find us on X and Facebook.

Are you wondering if your website is actually working? Do you know who’s visiting and what they’re doing?

Tracking website visitors lets you see what’s performing well and what’s not, giving you the power to make smart decisions that grow your business.

According to a recent report by HubSpot, 61% of marketers say generating traffic and leads is their biggest challenge.

Let’s be real, though, Google Analytics 4 (GA4) can be a lot. It’s powerful, sure, but all that data can be overwhelming and leave you feeling lost.

This guide makes it easier. I’ll show you how to track website visitors with simple, actionable steps you can take right away.

Can I Track Visitors to My Website?

Tracking visitors to your website is possible and easier than you might think. You don’t need to be an expert to understand what’s happening on your site.

The most common method is using a web analytics tool, like Google Analytics. This involves adding a small piece of code to your website, which then collects data about your visitors. You’ll get valuable insights into where people are coming from, what pages they visit, and how long they stay.

Beyond Google Analytics, there are other tools that offer simpler ways to track your visitors. Many focus on specific aspects of website analytics or provide a more user-friendly interface (more on these options later).

Why Track Website Visitors?

So, now you know you can track visitors, but why should you? Simply put, tracking your website visitors allows you to understand how people are interacting with your online presence. As a result, you get insights that can help you improve your website and your overall strategy.

Here’s why it’s so important:

• Understand User Behavior: By tracking visitors, you can see how they navigate through your site. Which pages are they landing on? Where are they clicking? How long are they staying on each page? This data shows how people are actually using your website.
• Improve Website Performance: With this data, you can see what’s working and what’s not. If you notice people are leaving a specific page, it might need attention. You can spot areas for improvement and make your website more user-friendly.
• Enhance Marketing Efforts: You can also see where your visitors are coming from, like social media, search engines, or other sites. This helps you see which marketing channels drive the most traffic and engagement. If a campaign isn’t working, you can adjust your strategy based on real data.

Ultimately, tracking your visitors provides the data you need to make informed decisions. This allows you to improve your website’s design, content, and marketing for a bigger impact on your business goals.

This isn’t just theoretical; a study by McKinsey found that companies that leverage customer behavioral insights outperform peers by 85% in sales growth.

How to Track Website Visitors With Google Analytics

For this guide, I’ll focus on using Google Analytics 4 (GA4), the latest version of Google’s web analytics platform. While there are other options, GA4 is the most popular and widely used method for tracking website data. It’s also completely free.

GA4 helps you get insights into your website’s traffic and user behavior. You can see how people find your site, what pages they visit, how long they stay, and a lot more.

In fact, GA4’s popularity is undeniable. With a staggering 88.7% market share, it’s the go-to analytics solution for most website owners. It’s also used by over 32 million live websites on the internet.

While GA4 is powerful, it’s not without its quirks. To get a more in-depth understanding of its strengths and weaknesses, you can check out my article on the pros and cons of Google Analytics.

Step 1. Set Up a Google Analytics Account and Property

To begin tracking your website with GA4, you’ll need to set up a Google Analytics account and create a property. It’s pretty straightforward.

Start by making sure you have a Google account, then go to the Google Analytics website to sign up. The setup process will guide you through creating a property—this is where your website’s data will be stored.

Next, select “web” as your platform and set up a data stream using your website’s URL.

For a more in-depth walkthrough, take a look at my guide on how Google Analytics works.

Step 2. Add the Google Analytics Tracking Code to Your Website

Now it’s time to connect Google Analytics to your website by adding the tracking code. This code is a small snippet of JavaScript the platform uses to collect data about your visitors.

The method for adding this code will vary depending on how your website is built. If you’re using a platform like WordPress, Shopify, or Squarespace, the process is generally straightforward.

Most of these platforms offer a specific place in their settings where you can paste the code. However, if you have a custom-built website, you may need to add the code directly to your site’s HTML.

Don’t worry; no matter what platform you’re using, I have you covered. I’ve put together a detailed guide on how to add Google Analytics to your website, which covers all the major platforms.

Once you’ve added the tracking code, GA4 will start collecting data about your website visitors. This is where things start to get exciting because you’ll be able to see how people are actually using your website.

Step 3. Understand Key Metrics While GA4 Collects Data

Now that you’ve added the tracking code, allow Google Analytics some time to gather data. It might take a few hours or even a day before you see everything, so patience is key here.

While GA4 is collecting information, let’s look at some of the main metrics you’ll be tracking. Understanding these will help you make sense of your data:

• Users: This is the number of unique individuals who visited your site. GA4 uses identifiers to determine new and returning users.
• Sessions: A session is a single visit to your site. It starts when someone arrives and ends after a period of inactivity. If they leave and come back, that’s a new session.
• Pageviews: This is how many times a page on your site has been viewed. If you have an app, it’s the number of screen views. This metric shows which content is most popular.
• Engagement Rate: This is the percentage of sessions where people engaged with your content. It’s based on how long they stay, how many pages they visit, and if they interact with things on the page. A higher rate means your content resonates with your visitors.
• Events & Conversions: Events are specific actions on your site, like clicking a button or watching a video. When these events help your business goals, they’re called conversions.
• Traffic Sources: Acquisition reports show you where your visitors are coming from – search engines, social media, etc. This helps you see what marketing is working.

For a deeper dive into these terms, take a look at my guide on what is a metric in Google Analytics.

Step 4. Analyze Your Website Traffic with Google Analytics

Now that GA4 is set up and collecting data, let’s look at the reports and see what’s happening on your website. Navigating GA4 can be a little tricky, but I’ll show you the important areas.

To see your reports, log into Google Analytics. On the left side, click “Reports.”

You’ll see categories like “Acquisition,” “Engagement,” and “Monetization.” These reports help you understand how your website is doing.

If you want to create custom reports, GA4 offers “Explorations.”

Click “Explore” on the left side and use the drag-and-drop tool to build your own reports.

When you analyze your traffic, look for trends. For example:

• Is your social media traffic going up or down?
• Which pages are getting the most attention?
• Are people leaving certain pages quickly?

Based on this data, you can make changes. For example, you might:

• Update content: If a page isn’t getting many views, you could update it or make it more interesting.
• Improve mobile: If lots of mobile users are leaving, you need to make your site more mobile-friendly.
• Change marketing: If a marketing campaign isn’t working, you can adjust it.

The main goal is to use this data to make your website better for your visitors, so you can reach your business goals.

How to Simplify Your GA4 Data

Let’s be honest: GA4 can be complicated. It’s easy to feel lost in all that data, and it can be hard to find the information you need.

Analyzing data in GA4 can also take a lot of time. You often have to make custom reports to find the metrics you want. And even then, understanding the data can be difficult.

That’s why we created OnePageGA. It gives you a simple, easy-to-use view of your GA4 data, without all the confusion.

OnePageGA connects to your GA4 account with a few clicks, so you don’t need to add any extra code to your website. It just uses the data GA4 is already collecting.

With OnePageGA you can:

• View important metrics on one easy-to-understand page. You don’t have to click through different reports.
• See those metrics presented in a way that’s easy to understand and use to improve your business.
• Discover insights much faster so you can focus on other areas of your business.
• Get started quickly, even if you’ve never used GA4 before.

Setting up OnePageGA is also easy. Just connect your GA4 account, and OnePageGA will show your data on a single page.

How to Track Website Visitors in OnePageGA

When you open your OnePageGA dashboard, you’ll see a graph of your site’s performance. This includes page views, sessions, how long people stay, and your bounce rate.

All of this is in one simple view, so you can quickly understand what is and isn’t working.

Below the graph, you’ll find simple Google Analytics reports for:

• Where your traffic comes from.
• Which pages are most popular.
• Which locations and devices people are using

It’s designed to give you the information that matters, right when you need it. And if you need more details, you can easily drill down and filter by different data points.

Want to see how your website performs over time? Just click ‘Compare’ in the date picker, and you can see a visual comparison.

OnePageGA also lets you design your own custom reports.

You can choose which metrics to track, including:

• New users.
• How engaged your users are.
• How much revenue you’re making.

If you run an online store, it’s just as easy to track your eCommerce data, including revenue and transactions.

You can also set up custom sales funnels to track visitors from when they land on your site until they become subscribers or customers.

Besides this, OnePageGA also lets you:

• Track multiple websites from one dashboard.
• Add notes to your reports to see how specific actions affect your traffic.
• Track unlimited pageviews without extra fees.
• Toggle on dark mode to browse comfortably at night.

With OnePageGA, you can easily see your website’s performance, quickly find areas to improve, and make informed decisions to grow your business.

Turn Visitor Data into Real Results

Ultimately, learning how to track website visitors is the best way to understand how they use your site, so you can improve it. GA4 is great for collecting the data, but it’s complex. That’s where OnePageGA shines. It takes your GA4 data and puts it on one simple page, so you can understand what’s happening without the headache.

Think of it this way: GA4 gives you the raw numbers, and OnePageGA helps you quickly make sense of them. Using both is the most effective approach.

Ready to make things easier? Start a 14-day free trial of OnePageGA today and see your website data in a whole new way.

If you have questions or want to join the conversation, you can also find us on X and Facebook.

What are metrics in Google Analytics, and why are so many website owners struggling to use them properly? A recent study found that 85% of business leaders second-guess their decisions due to data uncertainty.

Well, I’m here to provide some clarity. In this guide, I’ll explain what Google Analytics metrics are and how to use them for better website results.

For more details, see our take on the pros and cons of Google Analytics.

For instance:

• Metric: Number of sessions (visits to your site)
• Dimension: Source (where those visits came from, like Google or Facebook)

Understanding both metrics and dimensions helps you dig deeper into your data. For example, knowing your overall bounce rate isn’t as useful as knowing the bounce rate for specific landing pages. This information helps you focus on improving the right parts of your website.

Key Metric Categories in Google Analytics

Google Analytics offers many metrics to help you understand your website. To make sense of this data, it’s helpful to group them into categories. Let’s look at the main types of metrics you’ll see and how they can help you improve your site.

User Metrics

User metrics help you understand who’s visiting your site and how they’re interacting with it. These numbers give you a clearer picture of your audience and how well your site is performing.

Here are the key user metrics to watch:

By keeping an eye on these metrics, you can track your site’s growth, see how engaging your content is, and spot areas that might need improvement.

Acquisition Metrics

Acquisition metrics reveal which of your marketing efforts are paying off and where you might want to focus more attention.

Let’s break down the main ways people arrive at your site:

These metrics paint a picture of your most effective traffic sources, helping you fine-tune your marketing strategy.

Behavior Metrics

Once visitors land on your site, what do they do? Behavior metrics shed light on how people interact with your content and navigate your pages.

Here are the key indicators to keep an eye on:

By understanding these metrics, you can identify your top-performing content and spot areas that might need a boost.

Conversion Metrics

Conversion metrics are all about results. They show you when visitors take the actions you want them to, like making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter.

Here’s a look at the key conversion metrics:

Understanding these metrics helps you see how well your site turns visitors into customers or leads. By improving your conversion metrics, you can boost your website’s impact on your bottom line.

How to Use Metrics in Google Analytics

Now that you know what metrics to look for, let’s see how to find and use them in Google Analytics.

Start by logging in to your Google Analytics account.

Once you’re in, look on the left side of the screen. You’ll see a sidebar with different options. Click on “Reports”.

Next, you’ll see several report categories. These include things like “Acquisition”, “Engagement”, and “Monetization”.

To see more detailed information, click on any of these categories. Inside each report, you’ll find various metrics. These are usually shown as charts and tables.

Let’s say you want to find out where your website visitors are coming from.  To do this, look at the left sidebar and click on “Acquisition”.

In the dropdown menu, select “Traffic acquisition”. Now, in the main part of the screen, you’ll see a breakdown of your traffic sources.

If you ever need to find something quickly, remember there’s a search bar at the top of the page. You can use this to find specific metrics or reports.

Setting Up Custom Reports in GA4

Sometimes, the standard reports in Google Analytics don’t show exactly what you need. That’s where custom reports are helpful. They let you pick the metrics you want to see together.

To create a custom report in Google Analytics, click on “Explore” in the left sidebar. This takes you to a page where you can build custom reports.

On the Explore page, choose “Free form”. This gives you some initial data to start with, making it easier to build your report.

Next, select the date range for your report. It’s set to the last 30 days by default, but you can change this to any time you want.

Now, start adding different parts to your report:

• Segments: These group your traffic into categories. For example, mobile users or users who made a purchase.
• Dimensions: These are the categories you want to analyze, like “Event name” or “Page location”.
• Metrics: These are the numbers you want to see, such as “Users”, “Pageviews”, or “Revenue”.

With the data sources in place, you can build your report using drag and drop:

• Drag segments to the “Segment Comparisons” box to compare different groups.
• Add dimensions to rows or columns. If you’re new to this, start with just rows.
• Drag metrics to the “Values” section. This is where the numbers will show up.

Remember, creating custom reports takes practice. Don’t be afraid to try different combinations to find what works best for you.

Creating User Segments in GA4

Segments help you look at specific groups of users or sessions. This lets you dig deeper into your data and understand different parts of your audience.

You can create segments based on many factors:

• Demographics: Age, gender, or location.
• Behavior: Pages visited, time spent on site, or purchases made.
• Technology: Device type, browser, or operating system.
• Traffic source: Where users came from (like Google search or social media).

To create a segment, first, look at the top of your report and click on the “Add segment” button. This will open up a new window with segment options.

From here, choose “Create a segment” to start building your own custom segment.

Next, give your segment a name that describes the group you’re focusing on. Then, pick the conditions for your segment.

For example, you might select users from a specific country or those who visited a certain page on your site. You can add multiple conditions to narrow down your segment further.

Once you’re happy with your segment setup, click “Apply” to finish. Your new segment is now ready to use in your reports.

Analyzing Segment Data

Once you’ve created segments, you can use them to compare different groups. This helps you understand your audience better. Here are some ways to use segments:

• Compare mobile vs. desktop users: This can show if people use your site differently on phones than on computers. For example, you might find that mobile users spend less time on your site or visit fewer pages.
• Look at new vs. returning visitors: This helps you see how people behave when they first visit your site compared to when they come back. You might find that returning visitors buy more or spend more time on your site.
• Check purchasers vs. non-purchasers: This can help you understand what makes someone more likely to buy from you. You might find that purchasers tend to visit certain pages more or come from specific traffic sources.

To analyze your segment data, apply your segments to any report you’re looking at. You can do this by clicking on the segment at the top of the report.

Next, look at how the metrics are different between your segments. For example, do mobile users have a higher bounce rate than desktop users?

Finally, think about why these differences exist and what they mean for your business. If mobile users aren’t staying on your site as long, maybe your mobile site needs to be easier to use.

A Clearer View of Your Website Metrics

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the data in GA4, you’re not alone. Even I struggled at first, which is why we developed OnePageGA. We needed a way to simplify GA4 data and present it in a way that made sense.

OnePageGA is a simple, yet powerful tool that shows your GA4 information on a single, easy-to-read page. No more clicking through multiple reports – you see all key metrics at a glance, saving time and making it easier to spot important trends.

We’ve cut through the clutter to show only the most critical data points. Whether you’re a beginner or not, you’ll find the dashboard easy to navigate and customizable to fit your needs.

For example, you might quickly notice that your website traffic increased alongside more frequent social media posts, leading you to focus more on your social media strategy.

As you can see, OnePageGA presents your data in a clean, easy-to-understand format with simple Google Analytics reports. At a glance, you can see metrics like visitor numbers, top pages, and traffic sources without switching between screens or reports.

If you’ve been struggling with Google Analytics 4, OnePageGA could be just what you need. It gives you insights without complexity, helping you make data-driven decisions efficiently and take action with confidence.

Turn Your Data Into Results

The metrics in Google Analytics offer a powerful way to understand your website by showing you what is and isn’t working. But numbers alone aren’t enough. The real value comes from using them to improve your visitors’ experience and achieve your business goals.

If you’re finding Google Analytics overwhelming, OnePageGA can help. It simplifies your data, allowing you to focus on what matters most – growing your online presence and connecting with your audience.

Start your free 14-day trial of OnePageGA today.

If you have questions or want to join the conversation, you can also find us on X.

Ever wondered how many people visit your website? Or where they come from? Google Analytics 4 (GA4) has all the answers, but many find it tricky to set up.

In this guide, I’ll show you how to add Google Analytics to your website, no matter what platform you’re using. You’ll learn how to set it up, what it can do for you, and how to start getting valuable insights about your visitors.

Why Add Google Analytics to Your Website?

If you’re wondering if Google Analytics is worth the effort, trust me, it is. Here’s why:

• Make Smarter Decisions: GA4 gives you real data to guide your choices. No more guesswork.
• Understand Your Visitors: Find out where they’re coming from, what pages they visit, and how long they stay.
• Track What Works: See which marketing campaigns are bringing in visitors and sales. For example, you might discover that Instagram followers are your best customers.
• Improve Your Website: Spot problem areas quickly. If visitors always leave on a certain page, you know it needs work.
• Stay Privacy-Friendly: GA4 is designed with privacy in mind, helping you comply with laws like GDPR.

Let’s imagine you run an online store. GA4 shows you that mobile users make up 70% of your traffic but only 30% of your sales. That’s a clear sign your mobile experience needs improvement.

The best part? Google Analytics is free. It’s like giving your business superpowers without spending a dime.

To dive further into the details, see our take on the Google Analytics pros and cons.

How Do You Use Google Analytics?

Once you’ve set up GA4, you might feel overwhelmed by all the data. Don’t worry – I’ll break it down for you.

Here are some key reports you’ll want to check out:

Realtime Report

This shows you what’s happening on your site right now. It’s great for seeing immediate results from a new post or campaign.

Audience Overview

This report gives you a snapshot of who’s visiting your site. You can see details like where they’re from, what devices they’re using, and how often they return.

Acquisition Reports

These tell you how people are finding your site. Are they coming from Google searches, social media, or other websites?

Now, let’s look at how you can use this data:

• See Top Traffic Sources: Find out which sites or platforms are sending you the most visitors. Maybe you’ll discover that Instagram is driving more traffic than you thought!
• Understand User Behavior: See which pages people visit most and how long they stay. This can help you focus on your most popular content.
• Track Conversions: Set up goals to track important actions on your site, like newsletter sign-ups or product purchases.
• Measure Campaign Success: See how well your marketing efforts are paying off. You can track specific campaigns to see which ones bring in the most visitors or sales.

Remember, GA4 is powerful but can be complex. If you want to dive deeper, see our Easy Google Analytics 4 guide for a more detailed walkthrough.

And if you’re looking for a simpler way to see your key metrics at a glance, stay tuned – I’ve got a great solution coming up later in this article.

How to Add Google Analytics to Your Website

Now that you know why Google Analytics is so valuable, let’s get it set up on your website. Don’t worry – it’s easier than you might think.

Getting Your GA4 Tracking Information

Before we dive into adding the code to your site, you need to get two important pieces of information from Google Analytics:

• Your Measurement ID: This is a unique identifier for your GA4 property. It always starts with “G-” followed by a series of numbers and letters (like G-XXXXXXXXXX).
• The global site tag (gtag.js) code snippet: This is a small piece of JavaScript code that you’ll need to add to your website. It looks like this:

<!-- Google Analytics -->

<script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-XXXXXXXXXX"></script>

<script>
  window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];
  function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);}
  gtag('js', new Date());
  gtag('config', 'G-XXXXXXXXXX');
</script>

Remember to replace ‘G-XXXXXXXXXX’ with your actual Measurement ID.

Now, let’s look at how to find these details.

First, sign in to your Google Analytics account and go to the Admin section (look for the gear icon at the bottom left).

Now, in the Property column, click on “Data Streams” then, go ahead and select your website’s data stream.

Here, you’ll see your Measurement ID at the top of the page.

To get the gtag.js code snippet, click on the “View tag instructions” option.

From there, select “Install Manually”. You’ll see a box with some code, which is what you’ll need to add to your website.

Adding the GA4 Tracking Information to Your Website

Now that you have your GA4 tracking information, it’s time to add it to your website.

The general process involves adding the global site tag (gtag.js) code to the <head> section of your website’s HTML. This ensures that Google Analytics can track all pageviews and events on your site.

The exact method for adding this code can vary depending on the platform you’re using for your website. In the following sections, we’ll walk through how to add Google Analytics to some of the most popular website platforms.

Enhanced Measurement in GA4

Google Analytics 4 offers an “Enhanced Measurement” feature that automatically tracks additional events on your website without requiring any extra code.

This feature includes tracking for:

• Page views
• Scrolling
• Outbound clicks
• Site search
• Video engagement
• File downloads

To ensure Enhanced Measurement is enabled, go to Admin » Data Streams and select your website.

Look for “Enhanced measurement” and make sure it’s turned on.

Enabling this feature ensures GA4 can track important events on your site automatically, giving you more detailed insights into user behavior.

How to Add GA4 to Popular Website Platforms

As I mentioned earlier, the exact method for adding this code can vary depending on the platform you’re using for your website. Let’s walk through how to add Google Analytics to some of the most popular website platforms:

• WordPress
• Shopify
• Wix
• Squarespace
• Webflow

Adding Google Analytics 4 to WordPress

WordPress powers over 43% of all websites, and for good reason: it’s versatile and user-friendly.

If you’re using WordPress, you’re in luck because adding Google Analytics 4 is a breeze, especially with plugins like MonsterInsights.

With MonsterInsights:

• You don’t need to touch any HTML or risk breaking your site.
• The plugin keeps your GA4 integration up-to-date without you lifting a finger.
• You get additional tracking options and easy-to-read reports right in your WordPress dashboard.

How to Add GA4 Using MonsterInsights

To get started, you’ll need to install MonsterInsights.

Head over to the Plugins section in your WordPress dashboard, click “Add New,” and search for “MonsterInsights.”

Once you find it, just click “Install Now” and then “Activate.”

After activation, you’ll see a welcome message with a “Launch the Wizard!” button. Click it to start the setup process.

The wizard will guide you through choosing your website category and connecting to Google Analytics.

When you reach the connection step, click “Connect MonsterInsights” and select the Google account you use for Analytics.

You’ll then be prompted to choose your GA4 property and the appropriate profile for your website.

As you complete the setup, you’ll have the option to enable recommended settings or customize them to your liking.

Once you’ve finished, MonsterInsights will automatically add the necessary GA4 tracking code to all pages of your WordPress site.

To verify the connection, go to Insights » Settings in your WordPress dashboard. Under the “General” section, you should see your GA4 property listed.

That’s all there is to it. You’ll start seeing data in your Google Analytics account within 24–48 hours. 

Remember, MonsterInsights offers both free and paid versions. The free version is great for getting started, but the paid version offers more advanced features if you need them.

Setting up Google Analytics 4 in Shopify

As an e-commerce powerhouse, Shopify knows the importance of good analytics. That’s why they’ve made adding Google Analytics 4 to your online store a straightforward process.

To get started, log in to your Shopify admin panel. Look for “Online Store” in the left sidebar and click on it, then select “Preferences.”

Scroll down the page until you spot the “Google Analytics” section. Here, click “Set up Google”.

You’ll now need to install the Google app, so go ahead and click the “Install” button.

From there, connect the Google account you used to set up your Google Analytics profile.

After, scroll down to the “Google Analytics” section, and you should see a dropdown box where you can choose your Analytics property. Select the appropriate property and click “Connect”.

There you have it. You’ve successfully set up Google Analytics 4 on your Shopify store.

Adding Google Analytics 4 to Squarespace

Squarespace is known for its sleek designs and user-friendly interface, and their approach to analytics integration is no different. Adding Google Analytics to your Squarespace site is a simple process that doesn’t require any coding.

First, log into your Squarespace account and navigate to the site you want to add GA4 to. Once you’re in, look for the “Settings” menu in the left sidebar.

Click on it, and then find and click on “Developer Tools” in the menu that appears.

At the top of this page, click the “External API Keys” option.

Here’s where you’ll paste your GA4 Measurement ID. Remember, this is the one that starts with “G-”.

Squarespace will now start sending data to your GA4 property.

Once you’ve added your Measurement ID, don’t forget to enable Enhanced Measurement in your GA4 property, as explained earlier. This will ensure you’re getting the most out of your analytics setup.

And there you have it. You’ve successfully added Google Analytics 4 to your Squarespace site. 

Remember, it might take a day or two before you start seeing data in your GA4 reports, so don’t panic if you don’t see immediate results.

Connecting Google Analytics 4 to Wix

Wix allows millions of users to create stunning websites, and you can improve yours with robust analytics. The process of adding Google Analytics Wix is refreshingly simple.

First, log into your Wix account and head to the Dashboard for the site you want to add GA4 to. Look for the “Marketing” menu in the left sidebar and click on it.

Then, find and the “Google Analytics” option and click on “Connect Google Analytics”.

Wix will ask you to connect your account. So click the “Add Google Analytics ID” button.

Next, you’ll need to enter your GA4 Measurement ID. Paste your Measurement ID into the field and click “Save.”

Wix will now verify the connection with Google Analytics. Once the connection is verified, you’ll see a success message.

And that’s it. Wix will now start sending data to your GA4 property.

Enabling Google Analytics 4 in Webflow

For those who love design flexibility with the convenience of a visual interface, Webflow is a go-to platform. Adding Google Analytics 4 to your Webflow site is as smooth as the platform’s drag-and-drop interface.

First, log into your Webflow account and from your dashboard click the Settings icon on your chosen website project.

Next, click the “Apps & Integrations” option in the left-hand sidebar. On this page, find the Google Analytics heading.

Here, you’ll find a field labeled “Measurement ID.” So, go ahead and paste your Google Analytics Measurement ID into this box.

Once you’ve added your ID, click “Save” at the top of the page. Webflow will now start sending data to your GA4 property.

And there you have it! You’ve successfully added Google Analytics 4 to your Webflow site. 

Testing and Verifying Your GA4 Setup

Great job on setting up Google Analytics 4. But before you pop the champagne, let’s make sure everything’s working as it should.

First, head over to your GA4 property and click on “Reports” in the left sidebar.

Then, select “Realtime Overview” at the top. This report shows you what’s happening on your site right now.

To test it out, open your website in a new tab and navigate around a bit. You should see your activity appear in the Real-time report within a few seconds.

If you do, congratulations. Your basic tracking is up and running.

But what if you’re not seeing any data? Don’t panic! Here are a few things to check:

• Make sure you’re looking at the right property in GA4.
• Double-check that you’ve added the correct Measurement ID to your website.
• If you’re using a caching plugin on WordPress, try clearing the cache.

For more advanced setups, you’ll want to verify that your events and conversions are tracking correctly. You can do this by setting up some test events and checking if they appear in your Google Analytics reports.

If you’re still having trouble, Google’s troubleshooting guide is a great resource.

Using Google Tag Manager (Optional)

If you’re looking to take your analytics game up a notch, Google Tag Manager (GTM) might be just what you need. It’s like a Swiss Army knife for website tracking, and it plays nicely with Google Analytics 4.

You might be wondering, “Why bother with another tool?” Well, GTM has some pretty cool benefits:

• Code Management: Instead of cluttering your site with various tracking codes, GTM lets you manage all your tags in one place. It’s like having a tidy toolbox for all your analytics needs.
• Advanced Tracking: Want to track specific button clicks or form submissions? GTM makes it easy to set up custom events without touching your website’s code.
• Quick Updates: Need to add or change a tracking pixel? With GTM, you can do it in minutes, without waiting for your web developer to make changes.
• Improved Site Speed: GTM is designed to load your tags efficiently, which can help keep your site running smoothly.

To get started, you’ll need to create a GTM account and container.

Think of the container as a bucket for all your tags.

Once you’ve set up your container, you’ll add the GTM code to your website. This code goes on every page, similar to the GA4 tag.

Next, you’ll set up a GA4 configuration tag in GTM. This is where you’ll enter your GA4 Measurement ID.

Finally, you’ll create a trigger to fire your GA4 tag on all pages.

Once you’ve got GTM set up, you can start adding more advanced tracking. Want to see how far people scroll down your pages? Or track when people click on your “Contact Us” button? GTM makes all of this possible without needing to edit your website’s code directly.

If you’re interested in learning more about setting up GTM with GA4, Google has some great resources:

• Get started with Google Tag Manager
• Set up Google Analytics 4 with Google Tag Manager

Remember, while GTM can be super powerful, it’s also more complex than a basic GA4 setup. If you’re just getting started with analytics, you might want to stick with the standard GA4 installation for now. You can always add GTM later when you’re ready to dive into more advanced tracking.

A Simpler Way to View Your GA4 Data

Congratulations on setting up Google Analytics 4. You’ve taken a big step towards understanding your website and audience better.

While GA4 is powerful, it can be overwhelming. This is where that solution I mentioned earlier comes in: OnePageGA.

It’s designed to simplify your GA4 data, presenting key metrics like total visitors, top traffic sources, and most popular pages on a single, easy-to-read dashboard.

Remember, the goal of analytics is to help you make smarter decisions about your website. Don’t get lost in complex features – focus on the data that matters most for your goals.

If you’re finding GA4 challenging or just want a more streamlined approach, give OnePageGA a try. It could be the tool you need to make sense of your data without the headache.

Ready to simplify your analytics?

Start your free OnePageGA trial today.

If you have questions or want to join the conversation, you can also find us on X and Facebook.

Are you looking for Google Analytics 4 pros and cons to see if it’s worth it? You’re not alone. It’s a scenario many website owners currently find themselves in.

GA4 is Google’s new way to track how people use your website. It’s a significant update from the previous version, but people are divided about it largely due to its complexity.

So, should you spend time learning GA4? Will it actually help your business?

In this guide, I’ll examine Google Analytics 4’s pros and cons and help you decide if it’s right for you.

What Is Google Analytics 4 (GA4) & Why’s It Different?

GA4 is an updated version of Google Analytics that allows you to track how people use your website and apps. It’s quite different from the old version, with several important changes.

The new GA4 aims to give you a fuller picture of how people interact with your site. It uses new ways to collect data and understand user behavior, which can take some getting used to.

But these new features also offer more detailed insights into how people interact with your site or app.

Here’s how GA4 differs from Universal Analytics:

Google Analytics 4 Pros and Cons

Now that we understand how GA4 differs, you might wonder if it’s right for you. To help answer that, I’ve been testing GA4 on my projects and have put together my findings.

What Are the Pros of Google Analytics 4?

First, I’ll look at the benefits of using GA4 on your business website.

1. Combined Web and App Tracking

GA4 can track your website and app in one place, which helps if your business uses both.

One key advantage is seeing how people move between your website and app. This insight can shape your marketing strategy and help you improve each platform.

Another benefit is having all your data in one place. Gone are the days of juggling separate Google Analytics reports for your website and app. This not only saves time but also makes spotting trends easier.

But how does this work in practice? Let’s look at a real example:

Imagine you run an online store. GA4 might show that customers using both your website and app spend more than those using just one. Armed with this information, you could encourage website-only customers to try your app, potentially boosting sales.

2. Deeper Engagement Insights

GA4 introduces new ways to measure how people interact with your site. Two key metrics are “engaged sessions” and “engagement rate.” These give you a better picture of how interested visitors are in your content.

An engaged session is when a user spends at least 10 seconds on your site, views more than one page, or completes a conversion event. This tells you more than just how many people visit your site – it shows who’s interested in what you offer.

The engagement rate is the percentage of sessions that were engaged. A high engagement rate means your content is capturing people’s attention.

These new metrics can help you in several ways:

• Improve your content: If certain pages have a low engagement rate, you might need to make them more interesting or useful.
• Spot technical issues: A sudden drop in engagement could mean a problem with your site that’s turning visitors away.
• Measure campaign success: Beyond counting clicks, you can see if your ads bring in engaged visitors who are likely to become customers.

For example, let’s say you run a blog. You might find that posts with videos have a much higher engagement rate than text-only posts. This could lead you to include more video content to keep visitors on your site longer.

3. AI-Powered Predictions

One of GA4’s more exciting features is its use of artificial intelligence (AI) to make predictions. This is helpful, especially because cookie restrictions make user tracking more difficult.

GA4’s AI can fill in data gaps and even predict what users might do in the future by:

• Filling in missing data: If some users don’t allow cookies, GA4 can estimate what they might have done based on similar users. This gives you a more complete picture of your site’s performance.
• Predicting customer behavior: GA4 can predict things like which users will likely make a purchase in the next week. This helps you focus your marketing efforts on the right people.
• Spotting trends early: The AI can identify patterns in your data that might be hard for a human to see. This can help you catch new trends before your competitors do.

For example, if you run an online store, GA4 might predict that customers who view a certain product are likely to purchase it within 3 days. You could use this information to send these customers a timely email reminder or special offer.

4. Free Analytics for Everyone

One of the best aspects of GA4 is that it offers powerful tools at no cost. This is great news, particularly for small businesses and new startups.

GA4 gives you access to advanced tools that used to be only for big companies with lots of money. Now, whether you have a personal blog or a growing online store, you can use the same powerful analytics as major businesses.

This means you can make smart decisions based on data, without spending money. You can compete better with bigger businesses and grow your online presence using top-notch tools.

5. Flexible Event Tracking

GA4 makes it easier to track what people do on your website. Instead of just counting page views, it looks at “events.” An event can be anything a user does, like clicking a button, watching a video, or filling out a form.

The best part is how flexible this system is. GA4 automatically tracks some common events for you. But you can also create your own custom events to track exactly what matters to your business.

For example, let’s say you have a music streaming website. You could create custom events to track when someone:

• Plays a song
• Creates a playlist
• Shares a song with a friend
• Upgrades to a premium account

GA4 lets you add extra information to these events, too. These are called “parameters.” For our music website example, you could add parameters like:

• The genre of the song played
• How long someone listened to a song
• What time of day they usually listen

This system allows you to track almost anything on your site. It gives you a clearer picture of how people use your website, which helps you improve it.

6. Advanced Analysis with BigQuery

GA4 has another unique feature for people who want to dig deeper into their data. It connects easily with BigQuery, a tool for quickly analyzing huge amounts of data.

Here’s how this can help your business:

• More Data: With BigQuery, you can look at all your raw data, not just the summaries GA4 shows you. This means you can ask more detailed questions about how people use your site.
• Custom Reports: You can create your own reports that show exactly what you want to know. This is great if GA4’s regular reports don’t quite fit your needs.
• Combine Data: You can combine your GA4 data with other information, like sales or customer information, to get a complete picture of your business.
• Historical Data: BigQuery lets you keep your data for longer than GA4 does. This is useful for looking at long-term trends.
• It’s Free (to start): Google lets you export your GA4 data to BigQuery for free, up to a certain amount. However, you’ll need to pay if you use it a lot.

While BigQuery is more complex to use than regular GA4, it opens up a world of possibilities for better understanding your data. If you’re comfortable with data analysis or have someone on your team who is, BigQuery can be a game-changer.

7. Direct Marketing Integrations

GA4 works well with other marketing tools, especially Google Ads. This means you can easily use your website data to improve your ads.

This connection between GA4 and your marketing tools allows for better ad targeting, helping your ads reach the right people more often. As a result, you can see how your ads are performing alongside your website data, making it easier to understand which ads bring in customers.

One of the most powerful features is the ability to create custom audiences. You can group people who’ve done specific things on your site and then show ads just to them. For instance, you could display a special offer to people who’ve visited your site but have yet to purchase.

For a more in-depth overview, see our guide: Easy Google Analytics 4: A Simple Guide on How It Works

What Are the Cons of Google Analytics 4

While GA4 has many great features, it also has some problems. Having used it on various websites, I’ve run into some issues that you should know about.

These problems aren’t deal-breakers. They’re more like challenges you can overcome if you know how to handle them.

1. Steeper Learning Curve

One of the biggest challenges with GA4 is that it’s pretty different from the old Google Analytics. It looks at website data in a new way, which can be hard to get used to at first.

Instead of simply counting page views, GA4 tries to understand how people really use your site. It focuses on ‘events’ rather than just pageviews and sessions. While this can give you better insights about your visitors, you might have to relearn how to find the information you need.

The layout and reports are new, and even how you set up tracking has changed.

In GA4, you need to think more about what specific actions you want to track on your site, which is tricky if you’re not used to it.

2. Limited Historical Data

Another challenge with GA4 is that you can’t see your old data from Universal Analytics. UA is gone, so you can’t look at your old numbers anymore.

This is difficult if you would like to compare this year’s data with last year’s. You can’t do that easily with GA4.

But there are ways to deal with this:

• If you saved your old UA data before it disappeared, you can still use it. If not, you’ll have to start fresh with GA4.
• Focus on collecting good data in GA4 from now on. You can’t get the old data back, but you can make sure you have good data going forward.
• Think about what numbers really matter for your business. GA4 shows you some new things that UA didn’t.
• Use your first year of GA4 data as a starting point. You can compare future years to this.

Losing your old data is tough, but GA4 gives you new ways to understand your website. As time passes and you collect more data in GA4, not having the old data will matter less.

3. Less Developed Reporting Interface

Many people find GA4’s reports harder to use than the old Google Analytics. The way GA4 shows data is quite different and can be confusing at first.

In the old Google Analytics, you could easily find common reports like pageviews or bounce rates. In GA4, these reports look different or might not exist in the same way. This means you have to dig around more to find the information you want.

Also, some standard reports in the old version are now “custom reports” in GA4. You have to set them up yourself, which can be tricky if you’re not used to it.

But it’s not all bad news. Google is always working to make GA4 better. They’re adding new features and making things easier to use all the time. Plus, once you get used to it, GA4’s reports can give you more detailed information than the old version.

GA4 and Privacy: A Double-Edged Sword

GA4 takes a new approach to privacy, which can be both a pro and a con, depending on your perspective. According to the Google Analytics Data Controls Guide:

Rising consumer expectations and changing industry regulations have set higher standards for user privacy and data protection. This has led many businesses to revisit how they are managing data in their Google Analytics accounts.

One big change is that GA4 relies less on cookies. Cookies are small files that websites use to track users, but many people don’t like them because they feel invasive.

Instead, GA4 uses other ways to understand user behavior. It looks at what pages people visit, how long they stay on your site, and what actions they take (like clicking buttons or watching videos).

This privacy-focused approach has some benefits and drawbacks:

To work with these limitations, you might need to focus more on overall trends rather than individual user behavior. You can also use GA4’s AI features to get insights that don’t rely on personal user data.

Do You Really Need All That Data?

GA4 provides a wealth of information, but are you really using all of it? Many website owners are drowning in data, trying to figure out how to use it effectively.

Most businesses only need a few key numbers to make good decisions. Do you really need to know every detail about your visitors? Or do you just need to know how many people visit your site, where they’re coming from, what they’re doing, and whether they’re converting?

This is where OnePageGA comes in.

OnePageGA simplifies GA4 data, giving you just the insights you need without the complexity:

• See all your key metrics on one page
• Focus on what really impacts your business
• Quick setup and pre-built reports
• No fluff: Just the data you need

With OnePageGA, you get the benefits of GA4’s data collection without the complex interface.

Is Google Analytics 4 Worth It for You?

We’ve looked at GA4’s strengths and weaknesses. It’s a powerful tool, but it can be challenging to use and takes a lot of time to understand.

If GA4 feels too complicated, OnePageGA might just be the choice for you. It takes GA4 data and makes it easy to understand, allowing you to get the important information without all the confusion.

If you want to simplify your analytics but still get the benefits of GA4, try OnePageGA free for 14 days to see if it works.

If you have questions or want to join the conversation, you can also find us on X.

Are you missing out on easy Google Analytics insights about your website traffic? Google Analytics 4 (GA4) has the answers, but many website owners find it too hard to use.

Luckily, you’ve come to the right place.

In this guide, I’ll make easy Google Analytics a reality. You’ll learn how it works, how to set it up, and how to quickly get the insights you need for your business website.

What Is Google Analytics 4?

Google Analytics 4 (GA4), used by over 14.2 million websites, is a powerful tool from Google that tracks user behavior on your website. It shows you where your visitors are coming from, what pages they’re looking at, and how long they stay.

This information helps you understand what’s working and what isn’t so you can improve your website and get better results for your business.

What Exactly Does Google Analytics Do?

Google Analytics shows you what people are doing on your website. It tells you where they come from (like Google Search, Facebook, or other websites), what device they’re using (computer, phone, or tablet), and where they’re located.

GA4 also tracks what pages they visit, how long they stay on each page, and if they do things like fill out a form or buy something. Basically, it helps you understand how people use your website so you can make it better.

How to Use Google Analytics 4

You’re probably wondering if Google Analytics is easy to use. The truth is many website owners find the amount of data in GA4 overwhelming. It’s a lot to take in, and even after 10+ years of using it, I still sometimes find it confusing.

However, with a little effort and the right tools, understanding Google Analytics is manageable. Once you know where to look and what to focus on, GA4 can be a valuable asset for your business. And that’s exactly what I’ll teach you in this tutorial.

Let’s dive in.

Step 1. Create a Google Analytics Account

First, you’ll need a Google account. If you already use Gmail, Drive, or any other Google service, you’re good to go. If not, head over to accounts.google.com and create one. It’s quick and free.

Next, visit the Google Analytics website and click the “Start measuring” button.

You’ll be asked to name your account (usually your website name) and set your account data-sharing settings before clicking next.

Then, enter your property name (such as your site’s name), time zone, and currency.

After this, Analytics will ask for your business industry and size.

The next screen asks you to choose your business objectives. This will help tailor your reports to the metrics that matter most to your business.

Here, you can select any of the following:

• Leads
• Sales
• Traffic
• User engagement & retention
• Other

The last step is to choose a platform to collect data from. Since you’re setting up Google Analytics for a website, click the “Web” option.

From there, you’ll need to enter your website’s URL and name. Once you’ve done this, click “Create and Continue”.

Google will now provide you with a unique tracking ID, a string of characters that starts with “G-.” This ID tells Google which website to track.

You’ll need to add this tracking ID to your website, which I’ll go into in more detail next.

Step 2. Add the Tracking Code to Your Website

Now that you have your GA4 account and tracking ID, it’s time to connect it to your website.

There are a few ways to add the tracking code to your website. If you’re using a website builder like WordPress, the easiest method is with a plugin.

I recommend MonsterInsights, one of the best Google Analytics plugins for WordPress. I use it on my own sites, and it’s super simple.

MonsterInsights automatically adds the GA4 tracking code to your website without you having to touch any code.

For a full walkthrough, please see their guide on How to Add Google Analytics to WordPress.

Another popular option is Google Tag Manager. This tool allows you to manage all your website tags (including your GA4 tracking code) in one place. It’s a bit more advanced, but it gives you greater flexibility and control.

If you’re not using WordPress or prefer a more hands-on approach, you can add the tracking code directly to your website’s HTML. Google Analytics provides instructions for this, but it’s generally best for users comfortable editing code.

The tracking code needs to be added to every page you want to track, usually within the <head> section of your HTML. It’s a small snippet of code, but it’s essential for collecting data.

Step 3. Enable Conversion Tracking

If you want Google Analytics to tell you how many visitors are taking action on your website (like signing up for your newsletter, filling out a form, or buying a product), you need to set up conversion tracking.

GA4 can automatically track some of these things, like file downloads and video views, with its “Enhanced Measurement” feature. But there are a few limitations.

For example, the video tracking only works with YouTube videos, and the form tracking might have issues if you’re also using a Facebook Pixel.

To turn on Enhanced Measurement, click the Admin cog at the bottom left of your GA4 screen, then click the “Data Streams” option.

Here, click on your website’s data stream.

Then, you’ll see the “Enhanced Measurement” section. Make sure it’s switched on. You can even click the little cog icon to choose exactly what you want GA4 to track automatically.

Now, you can tell GA4 which of these automatically tracked events you want to count as conversions. These are called “key events” in GA4.

To do this, go back to the Admin cog and click “Events”.

Then click the toggle switch next to the events you want to mark as conversions.

Now, whenever someone completes one of these actions, GA4 will count it as a conversion.

A Quick Guide to GA4 Reports

Once you’ve set up GA4, you can access its reports to understand your website’s performance. When you first log in, you’ll see the home dashboard, which gives you a quick overview of key metrics like users, new users, engagement time, and event count.

On the left-hand side, you’ll find the navigation menu. Click “Reports” to access a deeper dive into your website’s data.

Realtime Report

This report shows you what’s happening on your website right now. How many people are on your site at this very moment? What pages are they looking at?

This report is great for tracking the immediate impact of a new campaign or social media post.

Acquisition Report

This report tells you where your visitors are coming from (Google Search, social media, other websites, or direct traffic).

This helps you understand the most effective marketing efforts and where to focus your resources. If you drill down into this report, you can see which specific sources drive the most traffic to your site.

Engagement Report

This report shows you what people are doing on your website – which pages they visit, how long they stay, and if they complete specific actions (like filling out a form or adding a product to their cart).

The Pages and Screens report is particularly useful here, showing you metrics for each page on your site.

Monetization

If you sell products online, the monetization report tracks sales data, revenue, and other key e-commerce metrics. To use it effectively, you’ll need to set up e-commerce tracking.

Demographics and Tech Reports

The Demographics report provides information about your audience, such as age, location, gender, and interests. 

Similarly, the tech report details the technology they use to access your website, such as the device type, browser, and operating system.

With this information, you can tailor your content and marketing efforts to suit the type of audience interested in your business.

Now, this is a very simplified overview of how reporting works in GA4. You can find more information by digging into individual reports, parameters, and specific audiences.

However, this can quickly become confusing. That’s why, next, I’ll introduce an easier way to find the metrics that matter most to a growing business website.

Get Easy Google Analytics Reports

Many website owners wish there was a simpler way to see the most important metrics about their website’s performance without digging through complex reports and data they don’t understand. They want a clear, concise overview of what’s working and what’s not.

That’s where OnePageGA comes in.

It’s a simple, easy-to-use, one-page dashboard for Google Analytics 4 that brings back the simplicity and clarity of the old Google Analytics.

With OnePageGA, you see all the key metrics on a single page at a glance. No more clicking through endless reports.

You’ll see only the metrics that truly matter for growing your business so you can quickly identify what needs attention.

Setting up OnePageGA is quick and easy. Just connect your GA4 account, and you’re ready to go in minutes. No complicated settings to configure.

You also get pre-built Google Analytics reports designed to give you instant, actionable insights. This saves you valuable time and effort, allowing you to focus on improving your website.

Get Started with Easy Google Analytics

We’ve covered a lot in this guide, from setting up your GA4 account to understanding its various reports. While GA4 can be powerful, it can also be overwhelming.

Remember, the goal is to use your website data to make informed decisions and grow your business. Don’t get bogged down in the complexity of GA4. Focus on the metrics that matter most to you.

If you’re looking for a simpler, more streamlined way to access and understand your Google Analytics data, give OnePageGA a try. It’s designed to make GA4 easy, even for beginners.

Ready to get easy Google Analytics and start seeing real results?

Get started with OnePageGA today.

If you have questions or want to join the conversation, you can also find us on X.