Google Analytics is a great tool for keeping track of your website traffic and activity. The first thing to do if you want to setup Google Analytics is to create an Analytics property. Each property generates a tracking ID and a JavaScript tracking code snippet for the website you enter. You can choose to add this code snippet to individual pages you want to track, or to your entire site.
How to setup Google Analytics from start to finish
Once you’ve created a property on Google Analytics, you’re ready to set it up to track your website. To find the tracking ID and code snippet, sign in to your Analytics account, enter the admin zone, and select the correct account and property you want to track. Your tracking ID and property number are displayed at the top of the page in the tracking info section.
- For a static website, based on HTML that doesn’t change dynamically, and isn’t generated using a programming language: copy the entire tracking code snippet and paste it into the HTML of each page on your site that you want to track, right after the opening <head>
- For a dynamic website: copy and paste the entire tracking code snippet into its own include file, and then add the include statement to your page header so that the snippet appears right after the opening <head> tag.
- Using PHP: copy the JavaScript tracking code snippet and add it to a file called php. Include this php file on each php template page, by adding the following code to each template page immediately after the opening <body> tag: <?php include_once(“analyticstracking.php”) ?>
- For a web-hosting service such as WordPress: copy and paste the tracking ID into the correct field in the Analytics or Admin section of your web hosting or use a relevant plugin and follow their directions.
Finish off your Google Analytics setup
Once you have successfully setup Google Analytics following the instructions above, it can take up to 24 hours for data to show. However, you can immediately verify that your setup is working. Simply use the Google Analytics tracking code setup troubleshooter to find and solve any issues that might arise. For help on how to setup Google Analytics, contact Studio Licious Group.
