Top 5 Things to Do When Setting Up Google Analytics

In today’s digital world, understanding your website’s performance is key to growing your business online. Google Analytics is one of the most powerful (and free) tools to help you track how people find and use your website. But setting it up correctly from the start is crucial — otherwise, you risk collecting inaccurate or incomplete data.

Here are the top 5 things you should do when setting up Google Analytics for your website.

1. Set Up Your Google Analytics Account Properly

Before diving into data, make sure your Google Analytics (GA) account is set up the right way.

• Go to analytics.google.com and sign in with your Google account.

• Click Admin → Create Account → Create Property.

• Enter your website name, URL, and business details accurately.

Make sure to select the correct time zone and currency, as this will affect how your data and reports are displayed.

💡 Pro Tip: Use your business email for the account so other team members can access it later without sharing personal credentials.

2. Connect Google Analytics with Google Tag Manager

Using Google Tag Manager (GTM) makes tracking easier, cleaner, and more flexible. Instead of adding multiple tracking codes directly into your website, GTM allows you to manage all tags from one place.

Steps:

• Go to tagmanager.google.com.

• Create a new container for your website.

• Install the GTM code on your site.

• Add the Google Analytics tracking tag inside GTM.

This setup makes it much easier to add new tags — like Facebook Pixel, conversion tracking, or custom event tracking — without needing developer help.

3. Set Up Key Goals and Conversions

Tracking page views alone isn’t enough. You need to measure the actions that matter — such as:

• Contact form submissions

• Newsletter sign-ups

• Purchases or checkouts

• Phone clicks or downloads

In Google Analytics, these are known as Goals or Conversions.Head to Admin → Goals → New Goal, then select a template or create a custom one.

This helps you understand what’s working — and what’s not — in driving results for your business.

4. Connect Google Analytics with Google Search Console

Search Console tells you how people are finding your website on Google Search, and integrating it with Analytics gives you even more insight.

Once linked, you can view data like:

• Top-performing keywords

• Impressions and click-through rates

• Landing pages that attract the most organic traffic

To connect:Go to Admin → Property Settings → Adjust Search Console → Add.

💡 Pro Tip: Check the Landing Pages report under “Acquisition → Search Console” regularly to optimize your SEO strategy.

5. Create Custom Dashboards and Reports

Default Analytics reports are useful, but custom dashboards let you focus on what’s important to your business.

You can create dashboards to monitor:

• Traffic sources (Organic, Social, Paid, Referral)

• User behavior and engagement

• Conversion rates and revenue

• Device and location performance

Go to Customization → Dashboards → Create New Dashboard, and set it up with widgets that show your most valuable metrics at a glance.

💡 Pro Tip: Schedule automatic email reports so you can keep track of performance weekly or monthly without logging in every time.

Final Thoughts

Setting up Google Analytics correctly takes time, but it’s worth it. With the right setup, you’ll have clear insights into how your website performs, who your visitors are, and what actions drive results.

Once your data starts flowing in, don’t just collect it — analyze, test, and optimize. The more you understand your audience’s behavior, the smarter your business decisions will be.