Introduction
Throw yourself in this situation – you’ve got a new website, maybe you whipped it up yourself in Wix or Squarespace, or you hired an agency to create a professional one for you – cool right?
But how do you know it’s doing anything? Sure maybe you get a few leads through it each month – but how are they finding your website? And what on your site prompted them to reach out?
Having a website without tracking… is sort of like driving a truck blindfolded – you know you’re moving, but you’ve got no idea how fast you’re going, which direction you’re heading, or whether you’re about to hit a wall. You might feel like you’re making progress, but without being able to see the car’s dashboard, including measurements of speed, fuel levels, and engine health, and see where you are going, you’re just guessing.
Terrible example, I know – but this also applies to websites (somewhat). A new website can look awesome, be industry-compliant, have a bunch of people look at it, and not yield any worthwhile results. Or maybe it drives some results – but where are those users coming from and how can we capitalise on this and get more users coming from that source, or… even more of those users converting into paying customers?
This is where tracking comes in, and in this article we will unpack the 3 main tools Google gives you to put in your arsenal to track analytics, users, conversions, and ad performance on your website:
- Google Analytics 4 (GA4);
- Google Search Console (GSC);
- Google Tag Manager (GTM)
We will touch on which are relevant to you, what each do, when you should implement them and how.
Google Analytics: Your Website’s Performance Dashboard
What is Google Analytics?
Put simply, Google Analytics is a free website tracking platform that collects and processes your website’s data. It works by adding a small piece of code to your website that monitors user interactions.
What can it do?
We’ve thrown a few key features below into bullet point form.
User Behavior Tracking:
- Shows how users navigate through your website
- Reveals which pages users spend the most time on
- Identifies where users commonly exit your site
- Maps out typical user journeys from entry to exit
- Shows which buttons and links users click most
Traffic Sources Analysis:
- Breaks down where your visitors come from (organic search, paid ads, social media, etc.)
- Shows which search terms people use to find you
- Identifies which marketing channels perform best
- Reveals geographical data about your traffic
- Tracks referral sources that send visitors your way
Conversion Tracking:
- Monitors important actions like form submissions, purchases, or downloads
- Calculates conversion rates for different traffic sources
- Shows the path users take before converting
- Values different conversion types
- Identifies abandonment points in your conversion funnel
Audience Demographics:
- Age ranges of your visitors
- Gender distribution
- Geographic locations
- Interest categories
- Device types used to access your site
How do I set it up?
You can set it up by following this guide here – https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/9304153?hl=en, or asking your web developer to set it up for you.
Essentially, you have 3 options:
Option 1 (Manual): Copy the GA4 tag and paste it in the <head> section of every page
Option 2 (CMS): Use your platform’s built-in settings:
- WordPress: Use a plugin like MonsterInsights
- Shopify: Enter your Measurement ID in analytics settings
- Wix: Connect through the Marketing & Analytics menu
- Squarespace: Add in the Analytics panel
Option 3 (Tag Manager): Deploy through Google Tag Manager – we will touch on why you might do this later.
Ok, it is set up – what should I be looking at?
Page views and unique visitors
How many people look at your site, and what pages they are going to.
Average session duration
How long are people staying or how quickly are they leaving?
Bounce rate
The percentage of people who land on your site and just leave without checking anything else out.
Goal completion rates
When you want someone to do something specific (like fill out a form), this tells you how many actually follow through.
Top performing pages
Which pages are pulling their weight and which ones are just taking up space on your server.
Traffic source effectiveness
Find out if your Social Media Manager is nailing it, or if those expensive Google Ads are worth the coin.
User engagement metrics
See who’s actually interested in your content versus who’s just scrolling mindlessly – i.e. do they play videos? How far down the page do they scroll? Are they clicking buttons?
Mobile vs desktop usage
This one is seriously important, too many people design with only desktop in mind, when in reality the majority of their users could be mobile.
Peak traffic times and days
Know exactly when your audience is most active, so you can time releases at peak and maintenance when everyone’s asleep.
Google Search Console: Your SEO Command Center
Ok so we have covered Google Analytics, now let’s take a look at Google Search Console.
What is Google Search Console
A good way to think of this one is GSC being a direct line to Google – it’s like having a spy telling you exactly how Google sees your website and what it thinks about it.
While Analytics tells you what happens once people are on your site, Search Console shows you what’s happening before they even click.
Features and Why It’s Worth It
Search Performance Monitoring
This shows you exactly what search terms you’re showing up for, how many people saw you, and most importantly – if they bothered to click. You can see if you’re popping up for searches you actually want to be found for, or if Google thinks you’re about something completely different.
Technical SEO Issues Detection
Like having a mechanic run diagnostics on your motorbike, GSC scans your site for things that might be stopping Google from properly reading your content. Broken links? Missing pages? Mobile issues? It’ll tell you before they become real problems that tank your rankings.
Mobile Usability Insights
With most people browsing on their phones these days, GSC shows you if your site is actually working well on mobile or if it’s giving users thumb cramps trying to click tiny buttons.
Core Web Vitals Monitoring
This is Google’s way of grading your website’s performance. Think of it like a health check – how fast does it load, how quickly can users interact with it, and does stuff jump around while loading? All these factors affect your Google rankings.
How to set it up?
Follow this guide here https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/10267942?hl=en, or again, ask your website developer to set it up for you.
Practical ways to use Search Console data
- ind out what searches you’re appearing for but rarely getting clicks on (opportunity!)
- Spot when Google suddenly drops your rankings (and why)
- See if Google can actually crawl all your important pages
- Check what pages of yours are indexing
- Monitor how algorithm updates affect your site’s rankings
Google Tag Manager: Your Data Collection Hub
Understanding GTM’s Role
If you’ve made it this far, you’re probably thinking “why do I need another Google tool?” I’ve got one that sort of looks after the SEO side of things, and another that tracks what users do once they are on my site.
Think of Google Tag Manager as the control room for all your tracking needs. Instead of getting your developer to add bits of code every time you want to track something new, GTM lets you do it through a user-friendly interface. It’s like having a universal remote for all your website tracking.
What it can do:
Centralised Tag Management
Remember when we talked about adding that Analytics code to your website? Well, what happens when you want to add Facebook Pixel, LinkedIn tracking, or any other marketing tags? Instead of cluttering your website with different codes, GTM lets you manage all of these in one place. One piece of code on your website controls everything else – pretty neat.
Event Tracking
Want to know when someone clicks that fancy PDF download button? Or track when they watch 50% of your video? GTM lets you set up these custom tracking events without touching your website’s code.
Custom Trigger Creation
This is where GTM gets really powerful. You can create specific rules for when your tracking should fire. Maybe you only want to track users who scroll halfway down your blog posts, or only count form submissions when all fields are filled out. GTM lets you get as specific as you want.
Basic Implementation Steps
- Create a GTM account and container
- Add the GTM code to your website (yes, this is the last piece of code you’ll need to hassle your developer about)
- Start adding your tags (like GA4, Meta Pixel, etc.) through the GTM interface
- Test everything in preview mode before making it live (because nobody likes broken tracking)
Common Use Cases
- Installing Analytics without touching website code
- Tracking form submissions
- Monitoring file downloads
- Tracking video plays
- Setting up conversion tracking for ads
- Adding chatbot scripts
- Loading survey tools
How it works with Analytics and other tools
Remember how we set up Analytics earlier? Well, instead of adding that tracking code directly to your website, you can pop it into GTM instead. The same goes for Search Console verification. Think of GTM as the middleman – it takes all your tracking needs and manages them in one place.
The best part? Once GTM is set up, you can add or remove tracking tools without ever touching your website code again. Want to try a new analytics platform? Add it in GTM. Need to remove that old marketing pixel? Delete it from GTM. No developer needed.
Do You Need All Three Tools?
Here’s the truth – if your website is just an online business card showing your contact details and services, you probably don’t need any of these tools. Your website can exist perfectly fine without them.
But if you want to level up your marketing and use your website as a lead generating tool, here’s what we recommend:
Basic Marketing:
- Google Analytics: Start here to see if anyone’s actually looking at your site and what they’re doing
- Search Console: Add this if you want to improve/monitor your Google rankings
Conclusion
These tools are like scales – they’re not essential to being healthy, but they’re really helpful if you want to measure and improve your performance.
What to do next:
- Decide if you actually need these tools (be honest about your goals)
- If you do, start with Analytics
- Add the others as your digital marketing grows
Need a Hand? This stuff can get technical pretty quickly. If you want help setting these up properly or making sense of the data, give us a shout.