We all know that our future is digital! Nowadays, almost every business has a website to establish its digital presence. However, how do we figure out the internal structure of a website, track and analyze website traffic, or evaluate the performance of a digital marketing campaign? In such cases, you can rely on Google Analytics. Google Analytics is a tool that digital marketers use all around the world to track and analyze their online marketing activities.
What Is Google Analytics?
Google Analytics is a free tool offered by Google that allows you to track and analyze website visitors. It provides us information such as the number of visitors to our website, their locations, the devices they use, and much more.
However, you can't master Google Analytics that easily! Many newcomers find it extremely difficult and confusing.
Here are some pro tips and tricks you can use to master the art of Google Analytics.
Why do you need Google Analytics for your business?
Google Analytics provides valuable insights about your website, which helps you develop a successful business strategy. Google Analytics also offers around 200 different metrics and customizable dimensions to determine the performance of your website.
Here we'll look at the reasons why you need Google Analytics for your business:
1. Helps to identify the Source Traffic
Visitor tracking is crucial for the proper and successful function of your business. It assists you in identifying the device that your visitors are using. For example, if you discover that you have a lot of mobile traffic, you can optimize your website to make it mobile-friendly.
2. It identifies the social media platforms you should pay attention to
Social media platforms are an excellent way to connect with customers.
Google Analytics can easily connect with social platforms and can help you identify the platforms that drive the most traffic. Once you identify the platform with the highest traffic, you can run more ads and post more content on that particular one.
3. Determine the cause of the high bounce rate
Many businesses struggle with a high bounce rate; even though their website receives a large quantity of traffic, no meaningful conversions occur.
A high bounce rate could be caused by a poorly optimized website or a landing page that fails to entice visitors to sign up, etc. However, bounce rate is a metric that needs to be addressed immediately.
Google Analytics provides a detailed report on bounce rate, allowing you to identify strategies to lower your website's bounce rate.
4. To figure out the Age, Gender, Interest, and Geography of Your Audience
Google Analytics provides valuable demographic information on visitors. Demographic data helps to determine your target audience and optimize your website accordingly. Google Analytics provides us useful demographic information about visitors, such as their age, gender, location, and hobbies.
The best ways to learn and master Google Analytics
Here's a collection of well-structured and effective strategies to help you become a Google Analytics expert.
Google Academy Courses
The Google Analytics Academy provides free online training on each of Google's measuring tools. Don't miss the courses listed below if you want to become a Google Analytics expert.
One of the most common mistakes people make while learning Google Analytics is to dive straight into advanced courses without understanding the fundamentals. The Google Analytics for Beginners course is the best option if you want to learn Google Analytics from scratch.
This course will teach you how to navigate Google Analytics reports and interface, create dashboards, evaluate audience and behavior reports, etc.
If you are confident with the beginner course, you can register for Advanced Google Analytics.
This advanced course walks students through the Google Analytics settings that allow them to track, gather, and interpret data that is useful to their organizations. Also, it will enable you to custom dimensions and metrics.
By this time, you'll be familiar with the features of Google analytics, and now it's time to put what you've learned into practice. With Google Analytics for power users, we'll get a deeper understanding of our users, customize channels for high-value traffic, and improve site engagement and performance.
Google Analytics 360 provides enterprises the tools and assistance they need to turn data into meaningful information. Google Analytics 360 assists marketers in planning, buying, measuring, and optimizing digital advertising and customer experiences. Here we deploy tools like BigQuery, Google Marketing Platform products, and Google Ad Manager to gather information.
YouTube Channels to Follow to Become Analytics Expert
Sometimes people find Google Analytics difficult to understand. We all know that visual learning aids in the comprehension of difficult concepts. If we learn Google Analytics through videos, it will be much easier to visualize analytics and other features. Where can you find high-quality videos to help you learn Google Analytics? YouTube is here to help you!
There's an Analytic channel on Youtube with a lot of informative videos. If you're someone who relies on videos to learn things, why wait? Subscribe Google Analytics YouTube channel and start learning!
Julius Fedorovicius is the founder of Analytics Mania.Through Analytics Mania, he educates thousands of digital marketers and digital analysts about Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics and their applications in various fields.
Julian Juenemann is a digital analyst, YouTuber, and founder of Measureschool. MeasureSchool offers the most comprehensive step-by-step video tutorials on GTM, Google Analytics, Data Studio, and other topics. His tutorials such as Google Analytics Essentials, Google Analytics 4, and Google Analytics Tutorial for Beginners are quite useful.
Benjamin Mangold is the Co-Founder of Loves Data. He is a world-renowned expert in digital analytics and online marketing who integrates strategy and tactics with advanced technologies.Loves data offers a step-by-step course for learning Google Analytics to learn everything about analytics, from the fundamentals to advanced strategies. His tutorial regarding Google Analytics 4 (GA4) has gained a lot of attention.
Udemy Courses on Google Analytics
Udemy is a video-based learning platform with over 100,000+ video courses taught by experts in various fields. They offer a wide range of courses from software engineering to creative writing.
Udemy also serves as an excellent platform for learning Google analytics for both new and experienced users. Here are some of the best Google Analytics courses offered by Udemy.
Do you want to ace the Google Analytics Certification exam on the first attempt? Then this course is for you! It will boost your confidence and help you pass the exam with flying colors.
The course includes 25 lectures and 7 sections, with a total duration of 2 hours and 18 minutes. Also, 200+ Google analytics certification exam questions are available here. This course is led by Darah Walsh, a top-rated Udemy instructor.
If you're a Google Analytics user who wants to learn advanced Google Analytics concepts, this course is for you.
You can enroll in the Advanced Google Analytics Course + 77 Practical Questions course and have instant access to 46 lectures compacted into 4 hours of on-demand video.
Google Analytics Blogs to Follow
To become an expert in Analytics, you have to keep yourself up to date with the latest trends. The easiest way to achieve this is to read various blogs and websites that share good tips, techniques, and recent updates on several aspects of Google Analytics. Here we'll share the best Google Analytics blogs to follow in 2022.
Avinash Kaushik's Occam's Razor offers a plethora of blog postings on Google Analytics. Here you can find detailed guides and information on a wide range of topics such as qualitative data analysis, analytics tips, and digital marketing.
Justin Cutroni is a blogger, author, and Analytics Advocate for Google.
He is also the founder of the blog analytics talk. Even though he doesn’t update his blog regularly, the blog contains helpful resources to learn Google and digital analytics for beginners.
Benjamin Mangold's Loves Data is jam-packed with practical tips on how to use Google Analytics for marketing and SEO. Readers will never be disappointed after reading this blog because everything is discussed in detail.
Get Google Analytics Certification
If you're new to Google Analytics, doing the certification will provide you with a complete overview of the functioning of this tool.
- To begin, go to Google Skillshop and select "Get Certified" from the top navigation menu.
- Now click "Analytics Academy" and choose Google Analytics Individual Qualification
- A new window will appear now and below the “Certification requirements” click “Google Analytics Individual Qualification Exam” now the exam will begin.
The exam consists of 70 questions and you have 1.5 hours to complete it. To pass the examination, you have to score 80% or higher; if you fail, you’ll have to wait seven days before attempting it again.
Google Analytics Browser Extensions / Plugins
Google Analytics provides you with a lot of information about your website's visitors. Analyzing so much information can be challenging. To make analysis more efficient various Google Analytics add-ons, plugins, and custom tools are available. Also, they help to troubleshoot various analytics tracking issues. In short, they will help you save time and effort while bringing you closer to being a Google Analytics expert. Some of the most popular Google Analytics add-ons and plugins are listed below.
Chrome Extensions for Google Analytics
- Google Tag Assistant
- Google Analytics Debugger
- Da Vinci Tools
- Enhanced Google Analytics Annotations
- Page Analytics (by Google)
Firefox Extensions for Google Analytics
Debug and test tag management (Google Tag Manager, Adobe Launch / DTM, Tealium) and analytics (Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics) implementations from within Developer Tools.
Google Analytics Plugins in CMS (Content Management System)
- Google Analytics by Yoast
- Google Universal Analytics
- Google Analytics
- Easy Google Analytics
- Innovative Google Analytics – Asynchronous Version
Knowledge about GTM and AdWords
GTM and Google AdWords are closely connected with Google Analytics and you should be familiar with both the platforms in order to claim yourself as an expert web Analytics professional. GTM is comparatively easy to learn whereas AdWords is a vast topic. Learn the basics of AdWords so that you know the major configurations and how it links with Analytics.
One bite at a time. Go through the Analytics lessons, then GTM and then go for AdWords.
Google Analytics Demo Account
If you have a website of your own, you can go to it and implement the tools and techniques you have learned so far there. In case you don't have your website, Google Analytics offers a Free Demo Account to anyone who wants to practice and explore the interface.
Final Advice - Practical Experience
Practice, practice, practice! You can become a Google Analytics Expert only through Practice.
Even though we have a lot of theoretical knowledge, we can only acquire a comprehensive insight into anything when we put it into practice. What is the best way to accomplish this? By using the platform, of course.
One thing you have to keep in mind is that each website will have its own set of Google Analytics requirements. The analytics requirements of an e-commerce website will not be the same as that of a blog site. If you’re a beginner, you should primarily focus on learning the basic functioning of Google Analytics and the essential features that are relevant to your website.
Conclusion
Learning Google Analytics is a must because it's crucial for the growth and development of your business.
To become an expert in Google Analytics, you must put in a lot of time and effort.There are many free online courses and resources available on the internet for learning and exploring Google Analytics. So start learning Google Analytics without wasting time!
We hope that reading this blog inspires you to pursue your goal of becoming a Google Analytics expert. Good luck!
FAQs
Is Google Analytics easy to learn?
Google Analytics is not easy to learn because it deals with large amounts of complex data that is difficult to interpret and understand. However, if you devote enough time to learning it, you can undoubtedly conquer it.
How long does it take to complete Google Analytics certification?
It mainly depends on your level of familiarity with the content; Google Analytics. However, if you go through all the course content sequentially, you can complete the course within 4-6 hours.
Is obtaining a Google Analytics certification worthwhile?
Of course yes! It is certainly worth your time to pursue the Google Analytics Individual Qualification certification. It will help you understand Google Analytics better and help you land your dream job or establish your skills in website traffic research.
How to set up a Google Analytics Account?
- To begin, log into your Google account and go to com/analytics, then click on add a new account and create your account.
- Now, click the sign-up button and fill in all the required information, and you will be directed to a new web page.
- In the new tab that appeared, you can accept the terms and conditions by checking the box.
- Click on the create a new account and now the registration process is finished. On the following page, a java code will appear, you need to copy it.
- Now you can view your account's overview and paste the copied java code just before the body tag.
Now you've completed the process of setting up a Google Analytics account. After 24 hours, you'll be able to track the progress of your activity.
on
Thanks for sharing valuable content about Google Analytics.
on
Thanks for this very insightful write up. Much appreciated!
on
Very interesting article, I`ll save it, and come back later, as now I`m too busy with my term paper, and need some help with it. I hope I`ll have more time for learning analytics soon.
on
Great insights on Google analytics. Thank you for this blog.
We will definitely incorporate this in our company for after school programs for kids at
curio
on
Good tips. From my experience, I think that practical experience and online courses (either from Youtube or Udemy as the author mentioned) are the best ways of becoming an expert. Reading posts from the expert in this field is also a good way of staying up to date with the latest changes.
on
Fine way of telling, and pleasant post. Nice info! Thanks a lot for sharing it, that’s truly has added a lot to our knowledge about this topic. Have a more successful day. Amazing write-up, always find something interesting.
on
Hi,
I was looking for some great stuff like that. You gave a great content about google analytics.
I will try to learn by your ways suggested which will help in building my blog.
on
Hi Sreelal,
Thanks for gathering all the useful resources that will definitely help web analyst master in Google Analytics.As you said Google analytics is a vital part of the business and make it easy to make data-driven decisions that can lead to boost your profitability. I would also wish to read on overall web analytics in your future post.
on
Hi Sreelal, Thanks for this from the UK. Didn’t realise there was a Google Analytics blog, that’ll be going straight on my phone. I’ve been doing some analytics courses on Google, hard to get my head around. Can you reassure me it gets easier as you go along lol
on
You are welcome Chris. All the best, analytics will come handy for you.
on
[…] After struggling for months, I found my mistake – I was jumping into the advanced Analytics lessons before understanding the basics and was not following a proper learning process. This is a common mistake that many newbies make when learning Analytics. […]
on
It is highly comprehensive and elaborated. Thanks for sharing! These sources will surely help me alot to know the analytics in deep.
Going to invest 60 days and hope i will become an expert in google analytics. Thanks for this valuable post.
Regards
Jiya
on
Glad to know that, Jia. All the best!