A simple guide for anyone working with Google Analytics

Every website owner wants to know how visitors use their site. What do they read? How long do they stay? What do they click on? Google Analytics is the most widely used free tool to answer all of these questions. In this guide, we’ll explain in simple terms what Google Analytics is, how to set it up, and what key areas you can review every day to improve your website.

What is Google Analytics?

Google Analytics is a service from Google that allows you to measure the behavior of visitors to your website. It collects data about who visits your site, how they get there, what they do, and whether they achieve certain goals (such as a purchase or registration). This information helps you understand what works and what doesn’t, so you can optimize in a targeted manner.

How to install Google Analytics

To get started, create a free account with Google Analytics. Go to analytics.google.com and log in with your Google account. Follow the steps to create a property (your website). You will receive a piece of code (the tracking code) that you place on every page of your website. Are you using a popular system such as WordPress? Then you can often install a plugin and paste the code.

Real-Time reports: what's happening now?

The first thing you see after installation is the Real-Time overview. This shows you exactly how many people are currently on your site, which pages they are visiting and where they are coming from. Useful to immediately check whether a new referral or social post generates visitors.

Important key terms

• Users: the number of unique visitors.
• Sessions: visits that consist of one or more page views.
• Page views: the total number of times pages are viewed.
• Bounce rate: the percentage of sessions in which someone sees only one page and leaves.
• Average session duration: the average length of time a visitor stays.

Audience report: who are your visitors?

The Audience report contains demographic data such as age, gender, interests and location. You can also see technical information: which device and which browser visitors use. These insights help you tailor your content and design to your target audience.

Acquisition report: How do people find you?

Acquisition shows you through which channels visitors come to your site: organic search (Google), direct (type in URL), referrals (other sites), social media or paid ads. This way you discover which channels bring in the most and best visitors.

Behavior report: What do visitors do?

This report shows which pages are popular, how often visitors click through, and which paths they follow. With the Site Content section you can see top pages and perform analyses, such as which pages have a high bounce rate and therefore need attention.

Conversions report: Are you achieving goals?

Set goals in Analytics, such as a purchase, registration or download. The Conversions report shows how many goals have been achieved and through which pages and channels. This is crucial information for measuring ROI.

Dashboards and custom reports

You can create your own dashboards with the most important statistics in one overview. You can also build custom reports in which you combine specific dimensions and statistics. This way, you always have the figures that are relevant to your website at your fingertips.

Segments: compare groups of visitors

With segments, you can divide visitors into groups, for example new versus returning, mobile versus desktop users, or people from the Netherlands versus Belgium. By comparing segments, you can discover which group converts best and where there is still room for improvement.

Helpful tips for beginners

• Check your most important KPIs (users, sessions, conversions) weekly.
• Create a dashboard with your top three metrics.
• View the Acquisition reports to see which channel is delivering growth.
• Test different content and compare with segments.
• Set email alerts for sudden drops or spikes.

Common mistakes

• Not setting goals: without goals, you don't know if your website is performing.
• Too much data without focus: choose your top KPIs and ignore noise.
• Wrong tracking: check whether the tracking code on all pages.
• No period comparison: always compare to a previous period to measure growth.

Next steps

Now that you know the basics, you can dive deeper. Learn about Event Tracking (measuring interactions), e-commerce tracking (webshop data) and integration with Google Ads. This way you get even more value from your Analytics data.

Conclusion

Google Analytics is a powerful tool for anyone with a website. By understanding the most important reports and setting them up easily, you gain insights that help you make better choices. Start measuring, analyzing and optimizing today. You will be surprised at the growth opportunities that are there for the taking!

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