Google Analytics is digital analytics software that enables users to gather data about the performance and overall usage of their websites and apps. Google Analytics is one of the top digital analytics tools available, used by millions across the globe. Learn more about Google Analytics and its capabilities in this guide.
What Is Google Analytics?
Google Analytics is a digital analytics platform developed by Google and found within the Google Marketing Platform. It’s most commonly used to track website and app metrics, ranging from audience behavior and website traffic to the performance of Google Ads campaigns.
Google Analytics is often the platform of choice for marketing and sales teams tasked with understanding how visitors are using a website, which web components are generating the most leads, which web elements are causing friction within the sales funnel, and other insights.
This analytics solution is also used for search engine optimization (SEO). Analytics can help users determine what changes must be made to a website to boost its rank in search. In addition to SEO, teams may use Google Analytics to gain important information about their audiences, including their demographics.
While Google Analytics is one of the best platforms for sales and marketing activities, anyone with a Google account can access Google Analytics to dive into detailed web data.
What Is Google Analytics 4?
Google Analytics 4 is the newest version of Google Analytics, designed by Google to be the next generation of their analytics platform. In Google Analytics 4, users find additional features like the usage of events instead of traditional session-based data; additional privacy controls, such as cookieless measurement; and predictive analytics.
Google Analytics 4 will fully replace the previous standard platform, Universal Analytics, on July 1, 2023.
How Does Google Analytics Work?
Google Analytics gathers data from websites and apps through the use of a JavaScript tracking code. This code can be placed on each page of a website. When website visitors access a website page, data is gathered about the user session or event, including the visitor’s demographics, the content they accessed, and any goal conversions that were completed during their session.
After the data is collected, it is sent to Google Analytics and compiled into numerous reports. Users can access all collected data and the accompanying reports using their online Google Analytics accounts.
Key Features of Google Analytics
Reporting
All website and app data is collected and compiled into pre-built reports within Google Analytics. Pre-built reports include acquisition reports, engagement reports, monetization reports, user demographic reports, and more. In addition to pre-built reports, users can build custom reports based on the information they wish to view.
Data visualization
Google Analytics simplifies data analysis by providing dashboards for data visualization. Users can utilize widgets to develop their own dashboards, enabling them to see the data they care about all in one place.
Automation
Built-in automation features enable users to quickly uncover data insights. Using Google’s Proactive Insights, the analytics platform automatically detects and showcases trends and opportunities within datasets. Other automation tools include predictive analytics and machine learning modeling based on user behavior.
Integrations
Google Analytics integrates with a wide range of Google-specific platforms and other apps, enabling users to access and utilize their data across their tech stack. For example, Google Analytics integrates with services such as Google Ads and Salesforce.
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