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Congratulations! You’ve successfully used the GoDaddy website builder to create a killer site. And now you need to know how to install Google Analytics on your site. Follow our easy step-by-step guide and we’ll get you there in no time. ‍ Photo by OVAN Why add Google Analytics to your GoDaddy website? Google Analytics is a free platform that enables you to check how your website is doing. Google Analytics reports give you insight into who your visitors are, what brought them to your site and how much time they spend there. Based on these reports, you can determine which of your paid marketing campaigns have been successful, if your content is engaging enough and if you’re targeting the right customers. How to install Google Analytics on a Godaddy Website? ‍ Step 1 ‍ Go to www.godaddy.com, login to your GoDaddy account and navigate to your Product Page ‍ Step 2 ‍ Open your site by scrolling to Websites & Marketing, and select Manage ‍ Step 3 ‍ Select Edit Website ‍ Step 4 ‍ Select Settings ‍ Step 5 ‍ Select  Google Analytics ‍ Step 5 ‍ If you haven’t already created a Google Analytics account, now is the time to do so. Then copy your unique Tracking I.D. (or Visitor Analytics tracking code) from your analytics Google Analytics account and paste it into the Tracking I.D. field. Need help finding your Tracking I.D? Follow the step-by-step instructions here. ‍ Step 6 ‍ That’s it! All that’s left is for you to publish your site and your Google Analytics tracking code will be activated. How soon can I start reviewing Analytics reports? ‍ Wait at least 24 hours for Google to gather enough data to compile a report. The longer the period it’s up and running, the more comprehensive the reports will become.  Your website will now be referred to as a Google Analytics property. ‍ If you’re a newbie and only just signed up for a Google Analytics account, check out our article on What is a metric? And see how they help you measure the success of your site. ‍ P.s for instant reports without the delay, try Abralytics, the simpler alternative that displays your website data instantly – no need to wait 24 hours! ‍ What is a Google Analytics Tracking ID? A Tracking ID is a unique code created by Google Analytics for your website. Once inserted into each of the web pages, it allows Google to track the activity on those pages and compile reports. Your Google Analytics code should look similar to this: ‍ Tracking ID UA-54516992-1 Feeling overwhelmed by the complexity of Google Analytics? Abralytics is an alternative website analytic tool that gives you all the best bits of Google Analytics in simple, jargon-free reports. Sign up for a 30-day free trial here. ‍ Happy Tracking! ‍

Google Analytics helps you track your website traffic. The Google Analytics dashboard helps you see all your data in one place. Important metrics such as page visits, page views, and the average duration of visits to a page can all be determined by the software. It goes without saying then, that it is super important for all this traffic data to be up to date to reflect the latest site statistics, also known as data freshness. What is real-time data? Real-time data basically refers to what is currently happening on your website or app. Real-time reports show you where the traffic to your site is from and what path they followed to get there, like following links. However, Google Analytics can’t automatically retrieve information from your web browser. First of all, the data needs to be structured, grouped, and retrieved for viewing. This is a lengthy process and may delay updates. To resolve the problem, Google introduced Realtime Reporting technology. Real-time event tracking will update your statistics whenever users interact with one of your sites. It also helps you check how much time a site takes to load and which pages perform best. For real-time analysis of Google Data, you need to specifically state that you want the feature. To do this, click on Google Analytics, go through the “Report” tab then click on “Reality Time” and “Review.” How can real-time tracking help you? Source: Pexels ‍ Here are a few examples of what real-time tracking can be used for: Track the effectiveness of your content shared on social networks by tracking the ‘hits per’ rate. Follow up on e-mail campaigns and see the click rate. View new visitors to your site and which pages they visited. Monitor whether changes made to a site are reaching their expected goals. Ensure that a tracking code is working correctly. These are just a few of the advantages of having your Google Analytics update at the very least every 24 hours. Does Google Analytics support real-time alerts? No, Google Analytics does not support real-time alerts at the time of writing this article (May 2022) Google does however enable the user to set alerts to daily, weekly, and monthly. Is Google Analytics in real-time? According to Google, data is processed and analytics accounts are updated every 24-48 hours. Google has also reported that some standard accounts that send more than 200,000 sessions per day to analytics will only be refreshed once a day. But they have not specifically stated how long it takes to update other information that may be associated with your Google Analytics account such as commerce data. This would mean that reports could be delayed up to two days at most as data collected by your Google Analytics account first needs to be processed. So even though you might be viewing the latest site statistics update, your Google Analytics dashboard lags behind a day or two. The intra-day processing of Google accounts can however be toggled by reducing the number of hits your Google account sends to less than 200,000. By doing this you will track only the most recent data in your account and receive reports based on the last 24 hours. Pro tip: Abralytics is a Google Analytics alternative that shows your data instantly and in real time. ‍ Source Pexels‍ A final thought Anyone running a small business or company will know that missing out on the smallest opportunity can be detrimental to your success. Using Google Analytics or a similar analytics tool such as Abralytics is key to your success. So stay on top of your analytics data and make sure that every analytics update reflects current-day data collection. ‍

At the time of writing this article, there were 1.96 billion websites on the internet (1) ‍ As the number fluctuates constantly, it’s difficult to agree on exactly how many websites there are at any given moment. ‍ Above is the total number of websites at the beginning of writing. (1) The number is constantly changing. Stick around to see how much it changes while writing this article. ‍ Let’s delve deeper into the web and find some fascinating statistics! ‍ In this post, we’ll look at: ‍ Where did the Worldwide web start? Which sites are the most popular? What languages are the most common? Origins of the WWW In 1989 Tim Berners-Lee, a computer scientist from London, United Kingdom, invented the World Wide Web. (2) Tim, along with his work colleagues, also created the first web server and browser. ‍ While working at CERN, Berners-Lee noticed that scientists who came from across the world to use their accelerators had trouble sharing their information. (3) ‍ Tim saw a problem and developed the answer. ‍ On August 6, 1991, the first website went live. He published the World Wide Web Project, describing what the Web is and how to use it. ‍ And so, the World Wide Web was born. ‍ Feeling nostalgic? Check out the first webpage here. How many active websites are there? Even though there are nearly two billion websites, not all are active. According to some of the latest statistics, less than 200 million sites are active. (4) ‍ An active domain is one that has an HTTP server responding on port 80/443 (including 404s) secondly any open ports, and thirdly, an MX record. Inactive Websites ‍ Currently, 1.6 Billion websites are deemed inactive. (5) There are several reasons for this, such as Technical Issues, Server Problems, or unpaid Registrar bills. Websites Added Daily Approximately 252 000 new websites are created everyday. (5) That means that each minute of the day, there are about 175 new Websites created. (5) ‍ It’s really difficult to pin this to an absolutely accurate number. That’s because as new websites are created, old ones are deleted. ‍ What are the most popular Domains in 2022? The most popular is still .com with 53.3%, followed by .org (4.4%), .ru (4.4%) and .net (3.1%). Most Popular Websites Source:Pexels.com ‍ There are many different types of websites out there. Some provide information, some entertain and yet others offer a platform for trade. ‍ Here’s a look at the most popular website categories (9) E-Commerce sites These are websites that offer an online platform where buyers and sellers meet and money is exchanged for goods purchased. It’s understandable why these are amongst the most visited websites. Think Amazon.com Blogs and Vlogs Millions of people today choose to share a part of their personal lives with the digital world. They choose to document their travels and personal thoughts in blogs and vlogs. This trend has become extremely popular in recent years. Think Casey Neistat Vlog Information Looking for information or stats? People no longer visit libraries and manually look up info in a book or brochure. The World Wide Web contains many pages that offer information to users. Think Wikipedia Online Community Websites These are websites that help people connect. They offer users the opportunity to keep in touch with existing friends and allow them to grow their community. Think Facebook.com Photo Sharing Websites Some websites allow you to upload good quality, high resolution pictures. These pictures are then cataloged and sold to other users of the web. Think Pexels.com Resume No better way of getting noticed than by putting yourself out there for the world to take note of. These websites allow job seekers to be seen by potential employers. Think LinkedIn Portfolio Artists need a place where they can showcase their abilities, and many websites cater to just that. Portfolio-focused websites give up-and-coming artists a place to keep all their work in one place. Think Portfoliobox ‍ Catalog and Brochure Companies that have awesome products that don’t need to be purchased online will make use of this type of website. An online catalog or brochure is often just what is needed to let the world know what you’re selling. ‍ But general information available to the public can also be stored in online catalogs. Think The British Library ‍ Business Directory Businesses don’t advertise their services in printed books anymore. They all make use of an online business directory that lists their services. Think AboutUs ‍  Bio Many authors and writers will use a Bio website to display who they are and the work they have produced. This has become increasingly popular in recent years as the world is going more digital. ‍ Undoubtedly, Google is by far the most popular Search Engine in the world.  ‍ Google controls well over 70% of the market share and captures over 85% of mobile search traffic. (7) ‍ ‍ 2021 delivered a fascinating statistic. ‍ The top 3 most visited websites in the world were Google.com at 92.5 Billion visits per month, YouTube with 34.6 Billion visits per month, and Facebook with 25.5 Billion visits per month. ‍ What makes this even more impressive is that their combined visits per month were 152 Billion, more than the combined total of the remaining 47 websites that were in the top 50 for the year. (8) ‍ What is the world’s most popular Content Management System? (CMS) According to websitesetup.org, WordPress is the market leader with more than 30 million live websites. Wix takes second place with 7+ million, followed by Squarespace with 2.7+ users. (13) The Web is Mobile-Friendly In 2021 it was estimated that 4.32 Billion people browse the internet on mobile devices. (12) That means that over 90% of all internet users are mobile traffic! ‍ What language does the Internet speak? ‍ Statistics show that English is the most widely used language on the Web. Approximately 1,186,451,052 people speak English, that’s

Choosing an analytics software for your marketing efforts can be an uphill battle, let’s be honest. You might be stuck between choosing a tool that will give you either: Heat maps or Analytics Video recordings or path exploration, etc Or you might simply want to know which tool has more powerful analytics features. So if you’ve filtered down to Hotjar vs Google Analytics, and you’re looking for a detailed comparison of these two tools, then read on. In this article, we have covered the differences between these two analytics platforms; their pros and cons, pricing models, FAQs, alternatives and how to use both tools for better analysis. Now, let’s get started by answering the most basic question; What are Hotjar and google analytics? What Is Hotjar? Source: Hotjar Dashboard Hotjar is both a heat map service and analytics software that is used to track user behaviour on web pages. The tool provides a visual report consolidated from heatmaps, session recordings, and user surveys so that you can make sense of how users behave on your web pages, perform A/B split testing, improve user experience and optimize your conversion funnels. It’s easy to read the analysis of your web pages and discover your most effective marketing channels, the geolocation of your traffic, how they navigate your website, where they drop off, etc. But there’s one problem… You will be left to second-guess the “why” in all these analyses. Why do they drop off? Why did they scroll down the page? Why did they spend time on this part of this page? User feedback about how they feel about your page Without features like heat map, recordings, direct feedback and survey, you can’t understand the “why” in the report. Source: Hotjar Dashboard Advantages Of Hotjar Hotjar has competitive features that knock off Google Analytics. While Google Analytics does analysis pretty well, Hotjar is packed with both analytical advantage and user behaviour intuitiveness. Let’s break this down. Heat Map For User Behavior The unique Heatmap software takes the analytics bar so high that it can show you: Source: Hotjar Dashboard ‍ Source: Hotjar Dashboard The elements on your website layout that users interact with the most. Parts of your website that your visitors completely ignore. Pre/post changes on your website so that you can see where users click the most. Comparison between mobile and desktop devices. Features that are absent on Google Analytics Visitor Recordings Source: Hotjar Dashboard Visitor recording is playback recordings of your visitors’ scrolling, u-turning, rage clicking on any landing page, from the entry point to exit. Again, this is another competitive feature that puts Hotjar ahead of Google Analytics. You can use visitor recordings to: Discover if certain pages take time to load. Learn conversion patterns of your web visitors. Find out how they navigate your page. Collect Instant Feedback From Users Source: Hotjar Website You can discover how a user feels about a certain page, features or your services in general. The data you collect at this point has high authenticity because users react to how they feel at the moment as opposed to asking for feedback when emotions might have been watered down. Disadvantages Of Hotjar While there are top-tier features that Hotjar leverages to drive user acquisition, there are obvious drawbacks that turn Digital Marketers off from the software. Pricing Just like Google Analytics, Hotjar has a paid version and a free version, however, Google Analytics’ free version provides more than enough insights that are required to scale any marketing strategy. Complex User Interface Hotjar shares a similar user interface with Google Analytics and this is challenging for users without any analytics background or users who are putting their foot forward into analytics for the first time. This is unlike Abralytics, an alternative to Google Analytics and Hotjar, you can track and read all metrics and reports from your dashboard, and discover optimization opportunities without any prior background in web analytics. Source: Abralytics Dashboard What’s more, all the basic data that you need to make the most effective decisions are reported in simple terms, right from the dashboard. Hotjar Pricing Source: Hotjar Pricing Page ‍ Just like Google Analytics, Hotjar has a free and paid version. However, Google Analytics’ free version will give you more analyses of your website, with depth insights and optimization opportunities. According to Enlyft, there are only 14,694 companies that use Google Analytics 360 when compared to its free version. This tells how much benefit the free version is to millions of other companies that use Google Analytics. For Hotjar, you only get 35 sessions per day on their Basic plan which costs 0$. A session according to Hotjar equals a visitor’s full journey across every page. Additionally, you will get automatic data capture, an unlimited number of heat maps, and 1,050 sessions per month. Source: Hotjar Pricing Page ‍ What Is Google Analytics? Source: Google Analytics Dashboard ‍ Google Analytics is a website analytic tool from Google that is used to analyze traffic on web pages, track marketing ROI, and identify gaps in the quality of website visitors from different referrers to determine how to optimize any conversion funnel. Advantages Of Google Analytics Here are the main advantages of Google Analytics that puts it ahead of other core analytics tools. Google Analytics Vs. Google Analytics 360 One of the main advantages of Google Analytics in the pool of other tools is the amount of data that can be analyzed using its free version. What’s more noteworthy is that the FREE version can be used for life, and if your business is relatively small, you have no reason to upgrade to Google Analytics 360. Wide Range Of Active Users If you’re going to choose a tool for your marketing goals, you should look out for tools with a large number of users. This can come as an advantage if you’re a marketer who relies on getting help from users in mutual communities, so the more pro-users you can get help from,

Google Analytics has been around for quite a while. It has been helping clients analyze websites and improve their usability since 2005. There are, however, analytics tool alternatives out there that offer similar features. These competitors could be more appealing to small businesses. Take Webtrends, for example. Their software has helped numerous businesses analyze their web traffic since its conception in 1993. In this article, we will show an in-depth comparison of Google Analytics vs. WebTrends to help you decide which platform would best suit your business development. We’ll cover the most important aspects you might be asking yourself as a business owner, such as: How are these analytics platforms currently faring in the market? What are the key features of Google Analytics and Webtrends? Do these platforms offer any support to their users? What are the limitations I need to be aware of? What is the basic pricing structure of Google Analytics and Webtrends? We’ll also identify a third, viable option called Abralytics, and see how it matches these two analytics platforms. A quick look at Google Analytics and Webtrends Google Analytics offers an analysis of website traffic, but its tools have different uses. Google is the market leader for Web analytics and is particularly attractive to smaller businesses. Although most users of Google Analytics will only ever need the free version for their web analytics, some companies require the capability offered by the paid version, Analytics 360. On the other hand, Webtrends is a beneficial tool for online businesses such as e-commerce websites and marketers. They focus on delivering data analytics for SharePoint and various Web apps either as a SAAS or on-premises product. Usage trends Source: Pexels ‍ Google Analytics has become increasingly popular in recent years. One study suggests that they enjoy approximately 86% market share in writing. ‍ Webtrends growth compared with Google Analytics has risen since August 2018. However, this growth hasn’t translated into much gain as far as market share is concerned. Research suggests as little as 0.1% market share. Capabilities Google Analytics and the Webtrends Analytics software have attractive capabilities, but they are not exclusive, depending on the user’s needs. Have a look at the different platform’s noteworthy features. Google Analytics’ most appealing features The most valuable feature Google Analytics provides is its easy use and versatile free software application. For most users, the free version of Google Analytics will be sufficient and provide the insights and feedback needed by the user. The paid version of Google Analytics is Analytics 360, and businesses that need more sophisticated analytics tools can utilize this. Analytics 360 software allows integration with various software. Google provides training courses to teach users how to use GA 360. Webtrends most appealing features Webtrends is very focused on its target market. There is no limit to data collection with their interface. Webtrends allow companies to collect data on a large scale. It can track visitors’ behaviors across various platforms such as social media, websites, and mobile apps. This feature is significant for any business trying to gain new customers. Reports based on these traffic sources help customers gain insights that are very useful when boosting a site’s performance. New businesses are focused on expansion and growth and don’t want their reports to be stifled by a cap on data analytics. For them, Webtrends unlimited data collection might be more appealing. ‍ Source: Pexels.com ‍ There are also many customization options available on the Webtrends dashboard. You can integrate many different metrics into reports. What kind of support can I expect? One drawback of using the free version of Google Analytics is virtually no support. However, clients willing to purchase Google Analytics 360 and vendors can expect technical support via e-mail, a call center, and training. Webtrends offers support in the form of a support portal that allows you to log and track queries with their support team. They also make training videos, webinars, and tutorials available for free to help users. Limitations Let’s now discuss some of the limitations of using Webtrends and Google Analytics. Free versions of Google Analytics show user data only retrieved from Google. Therefore, it is impossible to see everything the Google Analytics site collects, but it allows users to view data to determine the outcome of a particular decision. Google Analytics limits data export to 5000 rows. When clients are required to export information, they must split it up into several parts. Aside from no support for a mobile or internet site, Google will need users to be resourceful in solving problems by themselves or in collaboration. There are also some limitations to consider with Webtrends, but the learning curve is steep. Although their support through videos and tutorials is high quality, users might struggle to understand all the software’s features fully. Another potential issue is the pricing structure. As we’ll discuss in just a bit, Webtrends does not provide a free trial. This issue has limited their audience to companies willing to pay for their services. (P.s You might be interested to read our in-depth guide to the pros and cons of Google Analytics in general) Pricing Google Analytics is free, but user resources are sampled, and the export limit is capped. The paid version, or Google Analytics 360, will appeal to large companies, and the pricing differs depending on which tier you choose. The higher the level, the more access to features you have. ‍ However, these features come at a price. Annually, Analytics 360 will set you back northwards of $ 150 000. This price increases if you surpass 500 million hits per month. ‍ Source: Pexels.com ‍ Webtrends doesn’t offer a free trial or free version for their analytics tool. Instead, they try to base their pricing on the specific needs of each company. They need to be contacted directly for pricing solutions. Still looking for the Analytics platform of your dreams? Source: Abralytics.com ‍ Analytics 360 and Webtrends analytics tools have numerous advantages and disadvantages. Any business with

  How does Google Analytics work? Google Analytics is a popular web analytics service. It collects website data and turns it into valuable reports that tell you how your website is performing, such as who your visitors are, how they got there, and how they engage with your site.  ‍ Although many google analytics alternatives like Abralytics that are available, Google Analytics is the most popular. ‍ Like anything else in life, it has both pros and cons. This article will discuss what we love about Google analytics and what we feel are the cons, especially for the small business owner or entrepreneur. Google Analytics Pros 1. An excellent free tool While you can purchase a monthly subscription to Google Analytics 360, the freemium version known as Universal Analytics is entirely free. ‍ There’s not much you can get for free these days, and the fact that Google has provided such powerful analytics software without charge is pretty incredible.  ‍ How many website or blog owners will find themselves in the dark without a free analytics option? We’d have no idea what our customers look like or how they discovered us. At best, our online marketing efforts would be a shot in the dark. ‍ Let’s all take a moment to say, Thank you, Google, for the freebie. ‍   Photo by Andrea Piacquadio – Pexels ‍ 2. Simple to set up Assuming you’ve successfully created and set up a blog or website for your business, connecting Google analytics should be a walk in the park. This perk is especially true if you’ve used a website builder like Wix or WordPress.  ‍ Once you’ve signed up for a Google Analytics account, copy and paste your unique tracking code into your website, and you’re good to go. ‍ 3. Provides out of the box reports and web analytics If you’re too busy to spend hours researching and setting up custom reports, Google Analytics has default reports that provide a simple analysis of your site. ‍ The four main reports are Audience, Acquisition, Behavior, and Conversion. You can find these on the left side of your dashboard. For the simplest version, you can click to see the overview of each. ‍ The audience overview report will tell you the number of page views, average session duration, and the percentage of new versus returning visitors.  ‍ The acquisition report helps you determine where your traffic is coming from. Is most of your traffic from organic search, social media platforms, or paid advertisements? The Behavior report tells you more about what a user does while on your site.  ‍ Lastly, the Conversion report shows stats like goal conversion rates and E-commerce revenue. ‍ There’s also the option to create custom reports or edit existing ones to suit your business goals for more advanced users. .   Photo by fauxels – Pexels ‍ 4. Manages multiple properties (that’s websites to most of us) under the same account ‍ If you’re managing analytics for multiple clients or personal websites, there’s no need to set up a Google Analytics account for each site. Google Analytics makes it possible to keep all properties under one account and even view metrics for different areas on one dashboard.  ‍ Each analytics account can have up to a whopping 100 properties. That’s a generous amount for a completely free platform! 5. Ability to dive deeper into website data if you’re interested ‍ Universal analytics provides a massive amount of data collection if you have the time and know-how to access it. This feature makes it great for both novices who want simplified data and advanced users. ‍ An example of an advanced feature is event tracking. Although it’s helpful to know how long a user spends on a page, wouldn’t it be nice to know what they do?  ‍ Event tracking allows you to track and collect data like video engagement (when the video plays, pauses, stops, etc.), how far down the page they scrolled, and PDF downloads, to name a few.  ‍ Do you want to know another cool advanced feature? Enhanced e-commerce. Here, the product takes center stage, and reports are generated based on which products people view. Then, they are added or removed from carts, product revenue, etc. .   Photo by Karolina Grabowska – Pexel‍ 6. Regularly updates with new features Google Analytics is constantly updating and adding new features. Although for those who aren’t so tech-savvy, this could be considered a negative. A prime example of this is the introduction of Google Analytics 4. By 1st of July 2023, GA4 will replace Universal Analytics completely.  Will the replacement be an improvement? No doubt, but it does mean you’ll be spending a good few hours exporting accurate data and getting comfortable with the new features. 7. Tells you how people found your site    Photo by Canva Studio – Pexel‍ ‍ Knowing where your web traffic originates means you can concentrate your resources where they work best.  ‍ Direct traffic tells you how many visitors landed on your site by directly typing your URL into their browser.  ‍ A customer, for example, could have heard about your website over the radio, read an ad, or see a sign. This type of traffic is a good indication of how well your more traditional marketing methods work.  ‍ Organic traffic refers to visitors who found your site by typing a search query into a search engine. A high percentage of organic traffic means your SEO efforts, such as optimizing content with well-chosen keywords, are paying off. ‍ Paid traffic is another way, where the percentage of visitors who land on your site after clicking on an ad. Measuring performance becomes increasingly crucial as more resources pour into adverts and inbound marketing.  ‍ This type of traffic is an excellent indication of how well your ad marketing campaign performs and how you should focus your resources. ‍ “Google Analytics was too complicated. I save 2 hours every week with

As a Digital Marketer or business owner, there is no better feeling than having a website that functions at optimal speed. ‍ Site speed affects the user’s experience and your website’s key metrics – bounce rate, goal conversion rate, average time on page, etc. ‍ Many things can slow your site down, including large media files, the site’s CSS not being optimized, caching issues, and bulky site codes. ‍ But does Google Analytics slow down websites? ‍ Keep reading this article as we get you through everything you should know, including: ‍ How does Google Analytics work? How to test your website speed How to test script size Does Google Analytics slow down websites? Why you should care about your website speed. How can you improve site speed? How Does Google Analytics Work? ‍ Source: Google Analytics Dashboard‍ ‍ Google Analytics is a web analytics tool that collects user data from each website using page tags. Each page has a JavaScript page tag inserted into its code. ‍ This tag runs in each visitor’s browser while it collects data and sends it to one of Google’s data collection servers. ‍ Then, Google Analytics can create personalized reports to track and present web data such as bounce rates, goal conversion rates, number of users, average session duration, etc. ‍ Meanwhile, the page-tag collects visitor information by acting as a web bug or web beacon. However, because the system relies on cookies, it cannot collect data from users who have disabled them. ‍ What Is A Cookie? ‍ A cookie is a small .txt file that Google Analytics saves to a user’s browser cache, allowing it to identify your computer. ‍ Since the cookie’s value is different for every user, Google Analytics can use this cookie to identify a user who has previously visited your website. ‍ But how do I use Google Analytics for my website? ‍ So, to use Google Analytics for your website, you need to have a Google Analytics account and add a tracking code. ‍ What Is A Google Analytics Tracking Code? ‍ A tracking code tells Google Analytics that it needs to track your website visitors and any actions they take. It is built on a JavaScript program. ‍ Moreover, the tracking code will look at three vital sources of data and information. It uses: ‍ First-party cookies User’s web browsers and system information The browser’s HTTP request ‍ Hence, the Google Analytics tracking code gathers specific information about your website’s visitors from these data sources. ‍ Is Google Analytics Code Cached In The Browser? ‍ The straightforward answer to this question is YES. However, Google Analytics code is cached temporarily on the browser. ‍ So, what does this mean? ‍ Google Analytics cannot be cached in the browser for more than one hour by default. Hence, it must be loaded on each page rather than once when a new user visits a website. ‍ Moreover, Google Analytics scripts need updates from time to time, so Google does not offer long-term caching. ‍ Ultimately, this makes Google Analytics slow down your website – page load time. ‍ Meanwhile, if you want a perfect score on a Google page speed test tool like PageSpeed Insights or GTMetrics, you need to host google analytics locally – for long-term caching. How to test your website speed ‍ A great tool to measure your website performance is Google PageSpeed Insights. (1) ‍ To use the tool to test your site speed, here are the steps to take: ‍ First, enter your website URL on PageSpeed Insights’ website. Next, click on Analyze and wait for PSI to do the analysis. During the report generation process, the tool tracks the webpage field data in the CrUX – Chrome User Experience report. Then, it assesses the webpage performance with Lighthouse API. After reviewing the report, remove parameters that slow down the speed and lower the rankings. ‍ Also, note the color code for PSI reports below: ‍ Red shows poor website performance. Yellow means your website requires some level of improvement. Green indicates a good website performance. . ‍ What Is A Cache In Google Analytics? ‍ A cache enables faster access to often-used data without reloading each time it is accessed. Because caching is a background process, users are rarely aware of it. ‍ In Google Analytics, a cache contains a snapshot or saved copy of a website that Google servers and clients can access. When Google’s crawler analyzes a web page for indexing, it generates this copy. ‍ Pros Of Caching in Google Analytics ‍ First, it enables a fast response to search queries. Caching lessens users’ waiting time, eliminating their frustration and ultimately the bounce rate. ‍ Another vital role caching plays is allowing users to access locally unavailable documents. For example, if a website owner deletes their site, Google Cache saves it in Google’s server and provides backups of the latest version and the requested content. ‍ Cons Of Caching in Google Analytics ‍ The main drawback with caching is that when a web page is re-indexed, Google may fail to create a new snapshot. ‍ Similarly, the script size of your analytics solution impacts your website speed. The larger the script size, the slower your website. ‍ So, you need to know where your site speed stands with a Google page speed, too – fast or slow. ‍ How To Test The Script Size of Your Analytics Provider ‍ To test the script size of your analytics provider, you can use GTMetrics. (2) ‍ GTMetrics is a tool that tells you how well your website is performing. Besides, it has a feature called Waterfall Chart. ‍ Source: GTMetrics Waterfall Chart‍ ‍ The Waterfall Chart displays a request-based visualization of your website’s page load. Each element that loads on your site is highlighted, along with its size and timeline. ‍ You’ll see your CSS, images, other media elements, and JavaScript. So, you can determine which scripts from your

‍ ‍”Free” is an enticing word, especially when it comes to tools that promise to enhance your business insights. But when we peel back the layers of Google Analytics, is it really as cost-free as it appears? Many users find themselves grappling with hidden expenses of Google Analytics 4—not just in monetary terms but also in time and complexity. The real cost of using Google Analytics often goes unnoticed until you’re deep into its setup and ongoing maintenance. From the hours spent learning its intricate system to the potential need for paid add-ons to reach deeper insights, what starts as a free tool can evolve into a significant investment. These hidden costs can take a toll, making you wonder if the price of “free” is too high. ‍ Exploring the Cost of Google Analytics and the Value of GA4 Alternatives While the allure of a “free” tool like Google Analytics can be strong, understanding what you actually get—and what you don’t—is crucial for making informed decisions about the analytics tools you choose to deploy. This post aims to peel back the layers of Google Analytics, revealing both its strengths and limitations, and introduce why a straightforward GA4 alternative like Abralytics might be the smarter choice for your needs. In this exploration, we will cover several key topics: What is Google Analytics? – A brief introduction to the tool and its core functionalities. Why do you need an analytics tool? – Discussing the importance of analytics in modern digital marketing. How does Google Analytics work? – Diving into the mechanics of how Google Analytics gathers and processes data. Pricing – Is Google Analytics free to use? – Unpacking the real costs associated with using Google Analytics. Is the Free version sufficient? – Evaluating whether the free version of Google Analytics meets the typical business’s needs. Key differences – Highlighting the major differences between the free and paid version of Google Analytics. Understanding data in GA4 – Explaining how data is handled in the latest iteration, Google Analytics 4. Why Abralytics is a good GA4 alternative – Introducing Abralytics and its benefits over GA4. Each of these sections will equip you with the knowledge to critically assess whether Google Analytics is the right tool for your business or whether a simpler, more transparent solution like Abralytics could better serve your needs. Stay tuned as we delve into these topics, starting with a comprehensive look at what Google Analytics is and why an analytics tool is indispensable in today’s digital landscape. ‍ What is Google Analytics? Google Analytics is a tool which allows you to track and monitor website traffic, as well as determine how well your website is performing. Once analyzed, it creates easy-to-read reports that you can use to make key decisions related to your digital marketing campaign. What information is provided in a report? Number of visitors to your site or your mobile apps Better insights into who your visitors are Which Google Ad directed them to your website Conversion rates, such as an online purchase or a sign-up to a newsletter User behavior such as session duration and pages per session. Track sales activity and performance on e-commerce sites Overall site performance, such as page-loading times Insight into which marketing channels are most effective, and much more Source: Photo by Timur Saglambilek from Pexels ‍ Why do you need an analytics tool? In the past, business owners were able to physically see their customers. Valuable information was gained by that simple meet and greet. You could tell what age group they fall into, their background, their likes and dislikes. Heck, you could tell how likely they were to return to your shop by the way they shut the door behind them. Source: Amina Filkins · Photography – Pexels ‍ But times have changed. Each day, more people are trading their shopping trolleys for mousepads. Familiar faces have become anonymous shoppers. Google Analytics is a tool that helps you understand who your digital customers are and provides deeper insights into how they behave. The reporting tools help you to assess which of your marketing campaigns are having the most impact. You can better understand which platforms are most popular with your customers and which ads are generating the most leads. This understanding helps you to put your money where your clicks are, so to speak. How does Google Analytics work? The first step is to create a Google Analytics account on google.com/analytics. Then, to get any data from your website into Google Analytics, you must place a global site tag on your site. This is known as your Google Analytics tracking code. The program will then start collecting data and compile reports made up of metrics and dimensions. Anything that can be measured with a number is a metric. For example, the number of visitors and the average time spent on the site. A dimension breaks the numbers into smaller segments, like the number of visitors directed to the site via Google ads or time spent on a specific page. ‍Source: Pixabay Pexel Pricing – Is Google Analytics free to use? Google Analytics (GA) comes both as a free and paid version, called Google Analytics 360 (GA360).  Small businesses can use the free service without paying a monthly charge, but if you want more advanced features, you will need to subscribe to Google 360 and pay a recurring fee. Is the Free version sufficient? For most companies, yes. The free version of Google Analytics is made for individuals, as well as small and medium companies. It provides the most important metrics which help you to make key decisions related to your digital marketing campaign. You’ll have just about everything you need to know about who your customers are and how they behave. At which point will you need to move to the paid version? The truth is, unless you’re a large enterprise using multiple tools to track your website activity, it’s unlikely you’ll ever need to upgrade. Photo by

Staring at data sheets can be overwhelming to some. Even blurry at times. ‍ We’re not all cut out to sit and stare at a screen, trying to figure out what the most important metrics are and what it all means in the greater scope of things. Thats why I created a simple, GA4 alternative. ‍ But page views by URL is an essential metric that you want to stay on top of. It allows you to see how many views specific pages have received. And the higher your website traffic, the more potential business you’re generating. ‍ Before we get into how you check page views with your Google Analytics account, let’s discuss the difference between page views and unique page views. What is a Page View in Google Analytics? Google defines it as “a view of a page on your site that is being tracked by the Analytics tracking code.” (1) That means that each time a website visitor refreshes or reloads after arriving at the site, the visit is counted as an additional view. A new pageview is also recorded if the user navigates away from the site and then returns later during the same session. In simple terms, although your analytics report will show you the number of page views, that won’t necessarily tell you how many individual users have visited your site. Many of these page views could be from one user browsing the internet. Ok, but how is a Unique Page view different? “A unique pageview, as seen in the Content Overview report, aggregates pageviews that are generated by the same user during the same session.” (2) That means if one person views a certain page multiple times during a single session, navigating away and back to that site, Google Analytics will continue to count it as one view in your Analytics Report. Thus, this is a more accurate way of tracking how many individual visitors have arrived on a particular page. Why is it important to understand the difference? As a business or website owner, you want to know how many users navigate your website’s pages. It’ll give you a clear indication if people are happy with your content or if you need to improve your site content to have better user engagement. To illustrate: A single user might be loading the same page over and over again, let’s say ten times. This means that he will generate a page view report of 10. But that doesn’t mean you have ten different visitors to your site. Unique page views are calculated in a completely different way. This means that even if that one user loaded a specific page 10 times, only one unique pageview would be counted. For this reason, page views will always outnumber unique page views. It’s important to keep in mind that your page views report in Google Analytics has more to do with measuring internal user behavior on your website than marketing or traffic acquisition. Understanding visitor behavior, especially with your landing pages, will help you make the needed changes to your website to bring success. There is also often a direct correlation between user interaction and revenue generated by your business. We can mainly categorize pages into two different categories, content and money. Content Pages Source: Pexels.com‍ As the name suggests, content pages lend users information about topics they are interested in. These are the types of pages visitors land on when researching a subject. An example of this could be a blog post or a product description on your website. Money Pages Source: Pexels.com‍ Money pages are the kind of website pages you can use to sell your product. They have call-to-action tabs embedded and ultimately bring you revenue. Examples of these are Product, Portfolio, and Service Pages. Show me how to check page views by URL Firstly, log in to your Google Analytics Account. ‍ On your Analytics Dashboard, navigate to Audience > Overview report From the Behaviour dropdown bar, select Site Content ‍ Here you’ll have the option of viewing the pages report of a Specific page, a Top-performing page, or All pages on your site. ‍ Select the desired pageviews report and it will pop up. As mentioned at the outset, data can be very complex and leave you scratching your head rather than leaping for joy. ‍ If so, you should consider creating a custom dashboard to display your data and metrics in an easy-to-understand way. ‍ “Google Analytics was too complicated. I save 2 hours every week with Abralytics.” Ryan McK – Founder of Subversive Design Agency Start your 30-day free trial No credit card required Cancel anytime ‍ Create a dashboard Although tables are helpful, they are often hard to understand in Google Analytics. Simple visualization helps us gain better insight. Set up a dashboard according to the information you want to understand most from your report in Google Analytics. If you set it up correctly, the data can be viewable in a single window or historical – Week by week, month by month, and so on. Too much going on? It’s often said that there is beauty in simplicity. ‍ Most people don’t want to sit and figure out how to view their own website traffic in complicated reports, let alone create a custom dashboard themselves. ‍ So, here’s a top tip: ‍ Abralytics has always been keen on simplifying things for the everyday user. And their approach to page views is no different. ‍ Apart from giving you a custom report, they set it up in an easy-to-understand way that displays Total page Views / Unique Visitors and Average Session Length, as seen below. ‍ Screenshot: Abralytics.com/demo‍ ‍ If you’re interested in slightly more in-depth reporting, showing on which days you generated the most traffic, you’ll have this custom dashboard available for viewing: ‍Screenshot: Abralytics.com/demo‍ So why not look at Abralytics as a real alternative to Google Analytics. Affordability and simplicity are perfectly balanced to give you the

Every website talks. Before data analytics, we couldn’t hear the voices of our websites. But how do you know what your website is saying? Simple – Event tracking! Event tracking gives you a picture of how users engage with your website and business. Do you want to know more? Then, read on as we explore everything you need to know, including what it is, why you should track events, how to manage events data, and other relevant FAQs you may have. What Are Events In Google Analytics? Events are specific forms of user interactions with parts of a website that you can track in Google Analytics. For example:‍ Menus Buttons Videos Podcasts Gadgets External links Lightbox Scroll bar Images Forms, etc. ‍ Source: Pexels‍ ‍ Generally, users carry out actions on a website using a mouse, keyboard, form, or frame. So, the four types of events in Google Analytics are: Mouse Events Keyboard Events Form Events Frame Events ‍ Meanwhile, there are two categories of Google Analytics events: Events that result in pageviews when they occur: For example, a user clicks on a link to your blog (or any internal link) from your landing page. ‍ Events that do not result in pageviews when they occur: Examples of this include: File downloads Watching a video Log-ins Clicking an image Scrolling through a web page Loading pop-ups, light boxes, Ajax, JavaScript, and Flash contents What Is Google Analytics Event Tracking?‍ Event tracking in Google Analytics is tracking user interaction with elements of your website. Essentially, it monitors and records key user actions on your website. Google Analytics event tracking data includes: Total events and average events per session on your website Total events relating to events categories and individual events Session data, such as pages per session and session duration, for events and each event category E-commerce data like eCommerce conversion rate and average order value for events and event categories. Examples Of Event Tracking Reports In Google Analytics ‍ Source: Google Analytics Demo Event Overview Report The Overview report compiles vital event data, such as the overall number of events, top event categories, the number of events per session, etc. Top Event Report‍ You can switch between your event categories, actions, and labels in the Top Events report. This report is crucial for digging further into research on a specific event category. Event Pages Report‍ The Event Pages report displays the pages where events are triggered. In this section, we can examine the top pages that drive events. ‍ Events Flow Report The Events Flow Report shows you the order that viewers trigger events on your website. It shows you the path they take as they move from one event to the next and helps you to determine which content engages your audience the most. How Event Tracking Works ‍ Source: GA Sample Event ‍ Events in Google Analytics have four main elements. They are also a part of the event tracking code. Google Analytics uses these codes to track user interactions and group them into event reports. ‍ Here is how each of the four elements of event tracking affects your website: Events Category (mandatory): this is the title given to a group of events, such as videos, call-to-action buttons, e-commerce, etc. Event Action (mandatory): this is the type of user engagement you want to track, such as form button clicks, play button clicks, etc. Event Label (optional): this is a means to include extra details about specific website elements to define a special event, such as a product name, video title, or URL. Event Value (optional): refers to the process of giving an event a numerical value, such as a download time or a monetary amount. Setting Up Event Tracking From Your Google Analytics Account With Google Tag Manager Here is a step-by-step guide on how you can set up event tracking from your GA account so you can collect and analyze event data: Step 1: Choose The Parameters You Want To Track In Google Tag Manager To achieve this, carry out the following set of actions:‍ Go to the dashboard of your Google Tag Manager (GTM). Then, select “Variables” > “Configure”. A list of the parameters you can track on your website is on the right. Under Clicks, Forms, and Videos, double-check each parameter. After checking all necessary fields, you can click “X” to close the window and return to the Overview menu on the left. Step 2: Add A New Tag To Your Google Tag Manager ‍ The next set of actions are necessary to do this: As your tag type, choose Google Analytics: Universal Analytics by clicking on “Add a new tag.” Next, change the track type to Event. Step 3: Add A New Tag To Your Google Tag Manager‍ The components of the event category, action, label, and value play a role in this. By using the “+” button, you can manually fill out these fields or built-in variables. Meanwhile, you can specify whether or not to count a session containing this interaction as a bounce by using the ‘Non-interaction hit’ parameter. Important to note: If you choose “True,” GA will classify a session as a bounce when a visitor lands on a page, triggers the event (for instance, by submitting a contact form), and then leaves. Selecting “False” will prevent that session from being a bounce. If you haven’t done so, you may need to set up a variable in the Google Analytics Settings box. Click “New Variable…” if you can’t find one to choose. ‍ After this, enter your GA tracking ID in the Tracking ID field. Then click “Save.” ‍ Note: By selecting Admin in the bottom left corner, then Tracking Info (under Property) > Tracking Code, you can access your tracking ID in your Google Analytics account. Your ID will be on top of the screen. ‍ Step 4: Set Up Triggering Events To do this, follow the next series of actions: After configuring the fields, select the “Triggering” section.