Google Analytics Checklist for a Basic but Efficient Setup

Any business that has a website knows the importance of measuring how users behave when they interact with it. They also know that the best tool to measure all these actions is Google Analytics.

Having confidence in the data displayed by Google Analytics is essential. It is important to take the time to properly configure our Google Analytics account so that our data is as accurate as possible. In this way, we can make the best strategic decisions to help improve the performance of our website.

We have gathered all the points that we must review in order to have a basic but efficient configuration that will help us to have the data clearer and better organized.

Esta es nuestra checklist para una configuración básica de Google Analytics.

1. Structure of properties and views

We must take advantage of the basic structure offered by Google Analytics and make the most of its properties and views. This will allow us to quickly navigate between the different groups of information that we have defined for our business.

The most important points to keep in mind are the following:

1. We must assign a property to each web resource (web page or application mainly).

2. We can create a property that records the activity of all our web resources by enabling the Cross Domain functionality.

A standard view structure can be:

1. RAW view: shows all data without any filtering or data processing.

2. MASTER view: shows the data already filtered and processed as you wish.

3. TEST view: copy of the Master view, where we will test the configuration changes before passing them to the Master view. In this way we avoid errors in our data.

2. Use of filters in the views

Filters are used to restrict or modify the data of a view. A good use of filters will allow us to exclude information that is not relevant to our business or to segment the information according to our needs. 

Some examples of how to use filters can be:

1. Exclude traffic from specific IP addresses, such as our own traffic or traffic from our suppliers, as they do not add any value to our data.

2. Include only data from specific subdomains or directories.

3. Convert URLs of dynamic pages into readable text.

3. Channel grouping

Google Analytics allows us to structure the origin of our traffic in a way that makes sense to us. This structure is based on the "source" and "medium" of our traffic, since the channels are defined by a "source-medium" combination.

Google provides us with a default channel grouping, where it takes into account the most common ones such as "Direct", "Organic", "Referral" or "Social".

Depending on the nature of our traffic, we will be interested in making a customized configuration of the channel grouping, defining new ones or modifying the existing ones.

This will allow us to quickly visualize the performance of each of our channels in the Google Analytics acquisition reports.

4. Events

It is possible to track the actions that users take on our website if we make use of events.

Events allow us to record any action, from clicks on a particular element to interactions with a YouTube video embedded in our page. 

Some considerations we should keep in mind about events are:

1. It is important to measure all events related to our macro-objectives (what we want the user to do on our website) and micro-objectives (all those actions that bring the user closer to the macro-objective). 

2. We should not exceed the number of actions to be measured to avoid exceeding the number of hits that Google Analytics can receive.

3. Define which events should be defined as "non-interaction" to avoid affecting our bounce rate.

5. Objectives

One of the most important parts is to define what are the objectives of our website and configure them in Google Analytics. Having well-defined goals will help us discover what works and what doesn't on our website.

Goals can be defined through:

1. Landing pages (e.g. purchase confirmation page).

2. Session duration

3. Number of pages viewed in a session

4. Events

5. Smart goals

When goals have a value associated with them (such as purchase value), it is important to ensure that we are collecting it well so that we can analyze it properly.

6. Link to Google Ads

Linking our Google Ads account with Google Analytics will allow us to visualize all the performance data of our campaigns in the acquisition reports. This simple step will make it much easier to analyze how users reach our website and the investment in SEM campaigns.

In addition, thanks to this, we will be able to use the audiences we create in Google Analytics in our Google Ads campaigns, which will be much better defined and will have a greater impact.

7. Enhanced Ecommerce

If your website is an ecommerce site, activating Enhanced Ecommerce reports is not an option, it is a must.

This section would take several articles, so I will summarize it in that the most important thing is to understand how they can help us to improve our conversion rate, visualize funnels or see the performance of the products in our website.

8. Demographic and Interest Reporting

Demographic and interest reports provide us with valuable information about the age and gender of our users, along with their interests as expressed by their web browsing and online transactions.

In order to view this information in the Audience section reports, you must first activate them in the property settings.

9. Site Search Tracking

If you have a search engine on your website, it is highly recommended that you configure this feature in Google Analytics. It will give you very valuable information such as:

1. The pages where searches have been performed

2. The searched terms

3. The pages visited after clicking on one of the search results

4. The effectiveness of the search results with respect to sales and conversion.

In addition, these reports help us to identify content gaps and navigation problems.

10. Custom Alerts

Google Analytics allows us to set up alerts tailored to our business, which helps us to track major changes in our web traffic, user interactions and conversions. 

Thanks to these alerts, we can detect any variation immediately and thus take the necessary actions that allow us to solve the problems that have arisen before it is too late.

Conclusion

It is just as important to have a good website as it is to measure everything that happens on it. Without this data, we will not know if users do what we want them to do and what decisions to make when it comes to making changes. A good Google Analytics configuration is key for any business that has a website.

If you would like to discuss with our specialists how they can help you to have a Google Analytics configuration perfectly adapted to your needs, contact us!