Set up Google Analytics

Search Console shows what happens on Google before someone clicks. Google Analytics shows what happens after they land on your website: how many people visit, where they came from, and which pages they look at. It's free.

The current version is called Google Analytics 4 (you'll see "GA4" in help articles). The setup has three parts, and Google uses a word for each:

• Account: the top level, usually one per business.
• Property: one website (or app) you want to measure.
• Data stream: the connection between your website and the property.

1. Go to Google Analytics and sign in.
2. If it's your first time, select Start measuring. If you already have an account, open Admin, select Create, then Property, and skip to step 4.
3. Give the account a name (your business name is fine), choose your data-sharing settings, and select Next.
4. Name the property, for example "My Business Co. website," pick your time zone and currency, and select Next.
5. Choose your industry and business size, then how you plan to use Analytics, and select Create. If you're asked to accept Google's terms, read and accept them.

1. When Analytics asks where to collect data, choose Web.
2. Enter your website's address and a name for the stream, like "My Business Co. website."
3. Leave enhanced measurement turned on. Google recommends it: it automatically collects page views and some other visitor actions.
4. Select Create stream.
5. Copy your Measurement ID from the stream details. It starts with G-.

Need it again later? In Admin, under Data collection and modification, select Data streams, then your stream.

Analytics only works once your website sends it data. Most website builders just need your Measurement ID. A custom-built site needs the Google tag, a short piece of code. Find your platform below.

Shopify

Shopify uses its Google & YouTube app, per Google's Shopify instructions:

1. In your Shopify admin, search for "Google & YouTube," then install the app.
2. If the app asks, connect the Google Account you used for Analytics.
3. On the app's Overview page, find the section for setting up Google Analytics and select Get started.
4. Choose your Google Analytics property, select Connect, then Confirm.

Squarespace

From Squarespace's own help:

1. Open the Developer tools panel in your site's settings.
2. Select External API keys.
3. In the Google Analytics account number field, paste your Measurement ID, then select Save.

Squarespace says statistics can take up to 24 hours to appear in Google Analytics.

Wix

Wix needs a Premium plan and a connected domain for this. From Wix's help:

1. Go to Marketing Integrations in your site's dashboard.
2. Under Google Tag, select Connect.
3. Select Add Google Tag ID and paste your Measurement ID, with no spaces before it.
4. Select Save.

Wix's page also suggests changing two enhanced measurement settings when you create your data stream. If you're on Wix, follow its step 1 as well.

WordPress

Google's official plugin, Site Kit by Google, is free and does the work for you (Google's Site Kit instructions):

1. Make sure your site is public (not in maintenance mode or behind a password).
2. In WordPress, go to Plugins, add a new plugin, and search for "Site Kit."
3. Install and activate Site Kit by Google.
4. Open Site Kit, tick the box to connect Google Analytics as part of your setup, and sign in with Google.
5. Follow the steps and choose your Analytics property. Site Kit also adds your site to Search Console along the way.

If your WordPress plan doesn't let you install plugins, Google has separate instructions for adding the tag with the WordPress editor.

A custom-built site (or any builder without a Google Analytics box)

1. In Analytics, open your data stream. Under Google tag, select View tag instructions.
2. Choose Install manually. You'll see a block of code that begins with a comment reading "Google tag (gtag.js)."
3. Paste the whole block right after the opening head tag on every page of your site, or into your builder's custom code area for the site header.

If you're not comfortable editing code, send the block to your web person. It's a quick job for them.

1. Open your website on your phone or in another browser tab and click around a little.
2. In Analytics, open Reports, then Realtime.
3. You should show up as an active user in the last 30 minutes.

Google says data can take up to 30 minutes to start flowing, so if the report is empty at first, give it a little time.

Still nothing after half an hour?

• Check the Measurement ID. It should start with G-, with no extra spaces.
• Check you saved and published the change on your website.
• Accept the cookie banner on your test visit, if your site has one. Wix notes that with a cookie banner, Google Analytics only collects data once a visitor agrees.
• On Wix, confirm you have a Premium plan and a connected domain.
• Give it a day. Some builders take longer to start sending data.

Google Analytics has several roles. The two ends:

• Administrator: full control, including adding and removing people.
• Viewer: can see your reports, data and settings, and explore reports, without changing how Analytics is set up.

In between, Editor, Marketer and Analyst can change more. For someone who only needs to look, choose Viewer.

1. Open Admin. Under Property, select Access Management.
2. Select the + button, then Add users.
3. Enter the email address of their Google Account, and tick Notify new users by email so they get a message.
4. Choose Viewer and select Add.

Adding someone under Property gives them access to just this website's data. Adding them under Account would give the same access to every property in the account.

With Analytics and Search Console both running, you can see how people find you on Google and what they do once they arrive. If you haven't claimed it yet, your Google Business Profile is next.

This guide is free for everyone. It's also one of the step-by-step setup guides included with our SEO and AI-search audit, so every fix in your report comes with instructions you can follow.