To use Google Analytics, users must first create an Analytics account. This is different from a Google (Gmail) account. Having the latter does not automatically provide access to the former. A separate, one-time registration process is required.
For Google Analytics to work on the business user’s website (meaning, to capture and display useful analytics), the user must add a small piece of JavaScript measurement code to each page on their site. This tracking code will collect pseudonymous information such as the following:
- How a site visitor interacted with the page.
- Which browser the visitor used.
- The browser’s language setting.
- Which device and operating system the browser is running on.
- Which traffic source (search engine, online ad, email marketing campaign, etc.) brought the user to the site.
Google Analytics will not collect data for any page lacking the tracking code. All collected data is aggregated and stored in a database. It is also organized and processed. Google Analytics creates reports that can help users better understand their customers and marketing results. Once processed data is stored in a database, it cannot be modified, so it’s important for users to be careful about excluding data. These exclusions usually happen when users (mistakenly) assume they won’t need some types of data for analysis and, on that basis, add Filters to exclude it from analysis in Google Analytics.