In this article you will find out what is Google Analytics and what its usefulness is in a website optimization process
Google Analytics is a free web analytics service provided by Google that allows web masters to analyze visitor statistics for a website. Google Analytics was launched by Google in November 2005 and is used for internet marketing
the Google Analytics service is the most used Google service for website data analysis because it provides you with a huge amount of data relating to user access to your website
and together with the Google search console that monitors the problems that may arise on search results, these are the tools necessary for managing the organic traffic of a website
with Google Analytics you can get to know your users and have very precise and detailed information that allows you to understand who your customers are, their age range, their interests and much more
the accuracy of the service is such that you can know which device your customers are connecting with, whether from smartphones or desktops and with an Android or IOS operating system
Google Analytics allows you to understand which pages generate the most traffic and which ones generate the most engagement
you can also know with which keywords you are found online and which are the pages that attract more traffic and what type of traffic
Google Analytics divides site traffic into 4 categories:
- organic traffic
- direct traffic
- Social traffic
- referral traffic
Google Analytics is the most used analytics service in the world and data says it is used by 62.4% of the top 10,000 websites on the internet
web masters use Google Analytics because it is a free service that allows you to know every detail of your website and to make advanced operations that aim to optimize the performance of your website both in terms of visibility and sales
moreover, what should not be underestimated Google Analytics is a “freemium” service, ie its use is completely free
How Google Analytics Works
to use Google Analytics the first step is to create a Google Analytics account
How do i create a Google Analytics account ?
to create a Google Analytics account you need to perform these steps:
- Go to google.com/analytics
- Click on Get started now
- Sign in with your Google account
- Enter your personal information
- enter the domain name of your website
once registration is complete you will be able to access the Google analytics home page ,
the procedure may be slightly different if you have a website created with Wix, in this case you will need to connect your wix site to Google Analytics through the web builder ‘s SEO tools in the ” marketing integration ” section
if you already have a GA account and want to add another website, the procedure is very simple
to connect a website to Google Analytics , perform the following steps
- Log into your Google Analytics account
- Click on Administrator
- Select Create New Property
- Enter your website information
- Save your settings
once you have entered your website data you will be able to see the information of your website visitors on the main page
the Google Analytics interface is set up on two columns, a menu on the left and a main part with data
in the menu on the left column we find the 4 main areas of Google Analytics :
- Public
- Acquisition
- Behavior
- Conversions
the public section allows you to have an overview of the users who visit the website ( demographic data , interests, interests and geographical data )
the acquisition section allows information on the type of traffic entering the website ( organic traffic , partner, referral)
the behavior section allows information on the general behavior of the site and users on the website (flow of user behavior, site speed)
the conversions section allows you to monitor the actions set by the web master, for example to monitor how many clicks users make on a particular link
data analysis through Google Analytics is an excellent tool to learn about the habits and interests of those who visit your website
knowing your customers’ information is useful for knowing how to optimize your website and how to create segmented content that answers the questions of your audience
knowing your customers allows you to create much more precise and impactful content that favors the engagement of your customers or conversion actions (purchase, subscription to the newsletter, etc.)
Google Analytics allows you to be able to evaluate various data on your website
Here is the list of the most important data that can be evaluated:
- number of page views
- average time on page
- enter
- bounce rate
- % exit
number of page views : this figure indicates the number of times a page has been viewed in a given period. the data includes repeated views of the same page
Average time on page : This figure indicates the average time of users on a specific page
Entries : this data indicates the number of times that users have entered the site through a given page
Bounce Rate: This figure indicates single page sessions with no interaction with the page. A bounce session lasts for 0 seconds
% Exit : this data indicates the percentage of exit from the website through a given page
Google Analytics Certification
Google Analytics is a really powerful tool and of course there are so many things to know and learn
to learn how to use this tool in a complete way, Google has made available a Google Analytics course
the Google Analytics course lasts 6 hours and is totally free
at the end of this course you can apply for Google Analytics certification
to obtain the certification you must register on Google Academy at: https://analytics.google.com/analytics/academy/
once you have registered through the Google account you have access to all the contents of the Google Analytics course
the courses available on Google Academy are:
- Google Analytics for Beginners
- Advanced Google Analytics
- Introduction to Google Analytics 360
- Fundamentals of Google tag manager
the course lasts 90 minutes at the end of which you can pass an exam. passing the exam will entitle you to Google certification valid for 12 months
Google Analytics certification is obtained only after passing the Google 75-minute test with a score equal to or greater than 80%
Google certification certifies your level of competence for digital marketing strategies through the Google network
