Overview
Google Analytics is a web analytics service offered by Google and is the industry standard for tracking, analyzing and reporting website traffic. Using Google Analytics can help you measure site traffic, SEO, engagement, ad revenue, and activity on social media. You can also track goals (like driving visitors to a certain page or hitting conversion points), follow the paths of your visitors, or see how people interact with a page in real time. In a nutshell, it helps you understand where an individual visitor came from, how they found you, what they did on your site, how engaging they found your content to be, and how they left your site.
Logging into Google Analytics
To view your site’s Google Analytics, you need to a have a Google-based email address added to your Google Analytics account. If your email account has already been added, you may click on the link below to access your stats.
Please note: if you are not logged into your gmail account, you’ll be asked to login to the email account linked to your Google Analytics account. If you are unable to view your stats, please contact us and we will make sure you are set up.
Once you’re in, you’ll notice that GA4’s navigation menu is located on the left-hand side of the screen. The menu is represented by icons, which you can see in full by hovering over them.
Understanding Your Google Dashboard
Now that you’re in the right place, let’s get familiar with the dashboard’s layout.
Home
The Home section is your starting point, a command center where you can get an overview of your data at a glance. It helps you quickly identify trends and patterns, providing a broad snapshot of what’s happening across your website or app. While it may not give you all the details, it’s a great launch pad for deeper analysis.
The GA4 home dashboard displays key metrics like:
- Users: The number of visitors to your site over the selected date range (e.g., last seven days)
- New Users: Out of the total users, how many hadn’t visited before
- Average Engagement Time: The average time spent on your site per visitor
- Event Count: The total number of events (clicks, form submissions, etc.)
Reports
This is where the bulk of your data analysis will happen. The Reports section, accessible by clicking on the bar chart icon, houses both overview and detailed reports that cover key areas such as user acquisition, engagement, monetization, and more. This section is the heart of GA4, and understanding how to navigate it is crucial for finding the insights you need.
Reports Snapshot
The Reports Snapshot acts as your quick-access overview within the GA4 dashboard, popping up when you select Reports from the left-side menu.
It’s customizable, allowing you to set any overview report of your choice as the snapshot.
Realtime
The Realtime Report in GA4 shows you your site’s current number of active users. It’s like a live window into who’s visiting right now.
The main card displays the user count from the last 30 minutes, broken down by device type (desktop, mobile, tablet).
Scrolling down, you’ll find additional real-time cards with different insights.
This report is handy for monitoring the performance of recent campaigns, sales, giveaways, or social media promotions.
Acquisition
The Acquisition Report breaks down how visitors found your website.
To see the primary channels, start with the Traffic Acquisition report:
Engagement
The Engagement Report shows what users are doing on your site – the pages visited, events triggered, and conversions completed.
The Pages and Screens report is a great start:
Advertising
For those running ad campaigns, the Advertising section provides insights into your ad performance. Here, you can track your return on investment and see how your ads are influencing user behavior on your site or app. It’s an essential tool for understanding the impact of your marketing efforts.
Admin
Lower down in the menu, represented by a gear icon, is the Admin section. This is where you’ll set up your tracking, manage events, and customize your GA4 settings. Here you can add events to track, set events as ‘key events’ (formerly conversions in GA4 and Goals in UA), and so much more. Think of this as the backend of your analytics setup, ensuring that the data you collect is accurate and aligned with your business objectives.
Introduction to Default Reports
Once you’re comfortable with the layout, it’s time to dive into the default reports that GA4 provides right out of the box. These pre-built reports are an excellent starting point, offering a broad overview of your data.
Pre-built Reports Available Out of the Box:
GA4 comes equipped with a variety of reports designed to give you an immediate snapshot of your website or app’s performance. These include reports on user acquisition, behavior, engagement, and more. While they might not cover every specific need, they’re incredibly useful for getting a quick read on key metrics.
Before you start customizing, it’s essential to understand what the default reports offer. They provide a baseline that helps you identify which areas need more detailed exploration and where customization might be beneficial. By knowing what’s already available, you can avoid duplicating efforts and instead focus on enhancing the reports that matter most to you.
Questions or suggestions? Contact: networksupport@artsopolis.com