The majority of people with websites who use Google Analytics are just taking the tracking code and adding it to their pages. And this is where the implementation ends. You go and check the big metrics on your standard reports, set up a goal or two and that’s all. Here I’ll try to show you the wide range of possibilities to implement GA tracking correctly on your sites and prepare for an effective analysis.
This guide is not only for a new website. You can also make some or all of the changes described below on your existing website, but a best practice to have in mind is to make the changes on the 1st of the month. This way you’ll have whole months of data without a lot of discrepancies. Also, it’s useful to add an annotation in GA interface, so you know when these have been made.
1. Google Tag Manager
It’s a bit strange to start with Google’s recently-launched free service – Google Tag Manager. But especially if you have a larger website, managed by a complex CMS, this is a huge time-saver for a lot of people.
Google Tag Manager allows you to implement just one script (container) on every page of your website and through an easy to use interface to manage all your tags – web analytics, AdWords remarketing and conversion tracking, other vendors scripts and any custom tags. Here’s how easy it is to sign up, install your container and set up Google Analytics with it.
1. Sign up – you can use your existing Google account.
2. Create your account and container
Creating your first account in Google Tag Manager
3. Get the code and add it to all your pages – it’s recommended to add the code right after the opening <body> tag on all your pages. If you’re using a CMS, you should insert it in the template that serves all pages.
4. Create the Google Analytics tag
Creating a Google Analytics tag in Google Tag Manager
If you go with the basic GA tracking code you can take advantage of the GA tag option in GTM. Just fill in your Web Property ID and select “Page View” as the track type. Add a rule to fire the tag on all pages. There are also additional settings you can setup in basic configuration, campaign tracking, custom variables, domains and directories, etc.
As all of my recommendations below require customizing the GA tracking code, we’ll have to use the Custom HTML Tag option. When you select your type of customization you just need to take your modified GA tracking code and paste it into the text box. Our rule is the same – fire the tag on all pages.
Using Custom HTML for Google Analytics script in Google Tag Manager
5. Create a new version, test it and publish.
Now it’s time to preview the site, make sure it works as expected and the tag is firing correctly. From the Tags page, click Create Version. A page appears that summarizes all the tags, rules, and macros in the container. Click Save and Preview. When you’ve checked your site go back and click Publish.
Go to the next chapters of the guide:
2. Tracking code
3. Check the implementation
4. Profiles and filters
5. Settings
6. Goals setup
7. Virtual pageviews and events
8. Campaign tracking
9. Advanced segments and custom reports. Dashboards.
10. Custom alerts
Or jump to the whole thing: Google Analytics Implementation Guide.
Still have questions? You can ask them as comments below and I’ll try to answer.
Margarita Evtimova
Margarita Evtimova is a Google Analytics fan, who also loves SEO, conversion optimization, online marketing and social media. You can follow her on Twitter and LinkedIn.