Each website should have a tracking system. Monitoring interactions on the site, and knowing how to read data, can highlight the strategy aspects, or the marketing mix that need to be optimized. Satisfying the needs of the client/user can lead to a considerable increase in conversions.
The most common tool for recording your site’s performance is Google Analytics. For its setup, it is advisable to define a tracking strategy and follow the guidelines on the Analytics panel.
Before the Analytics setup: define the strategy
Supposedly, website creation is part of a larger business plan. This plan will be the guide for the setup of Google Analytics, defining:
- Market: BtoB / BtoC
- Geographical scope: regional, national, European, global.
- Commercial sector: consulting, publishing, services, consumer goods, etc.
- Objectives: reputation, sales, contacts, traffic, etc.
- Target: people to whom the website or company is addressed.
- Competition: communication activities carried out both online and offline.
- Professionals involved.
These elements will be the base of different setup choices and tracking system effort to be set. You will realize that this information is fundamental for any marketing strategy; in fact, they must be taken into account for SEO and CRO optimizations.
Basic Google Analytics setup
Once the Google Analytics tracking code is enabled, you can put into practice what was established in the tracking strategy, starting from the structure definition: account, property, views.
For each “organization” (Gmail user) we can have a maximum of 100 Google Analytics accounts> for each one of them, up to 50 properties (corresponds to an Analytics tracking ID)> for each property we can create a maximum of 25 views. (Limits may increase in the case of Google 360 Suite, paid version).
The first property and the first view will be generated automatically as soon as a new Google Analytics account is created. The creation of new properties and views will depend on the specific case.
To correctly manage properties and views, it is sufficient to analyze the individual voices available in the Analytics panel, follow them step by step, and make sure they reflect our site’s features. We suggest to use clear names and always guarantee a backup view without specific settings.
Google Analytics Setup: tips
Below, we suggest some elements to consider in the initial Analytics setup.
- Attention to the domains (websites) involved in tracking: in the case of multi-country sites (or with multiple domains) it would be appropriate to create an overall property, and many Google Analytics properties for each country or domain to be analyzed. In some cases, the division by view is the only one that can be evaluated.
- It is important to consider who should view the data: based on our trust in the user and his needs, we can provide read-only or modification permissions. The minimum degree of authorization is the read-only feature (the user can only view the data without making changes); the maximum degree is the permission to modify and manage users at the account level.
- Add filters to views: the most common filter is the exclusion of internal IPs; other filters should be considered case by case. For example, you could choose to create a specific filtered view showing the data of a group of pages.
- Always remember to leave a view without filters.
- Create business goals: they must be identified based on the ultimate purpose of the website. Examples: an e-commerce site will have transactions; an editorial site will display pages; a personal site will have a contact form to be sent.
- Link other Google tools (if applicable): Ads, Search Console, Exchange, AdSense (property column of the Google Analytics panel).
Now that you have defined the basic setup, you can move forward to the advanced Google Analytics setup.
