What Is Google Analytics?
Author: Domeny.ForSale editorial team Published
In brief: Google Analytics is Google’s tool for analysing how people use websites and apps. It helps you see where visitors come from, what actions they take and whether they fulfil business goals, such as making a purchase or submitting an enquiry. The current generation, Google Analytics 4 (GA4), bases its measurement on events, meaning recorded interactions. However, the results are not a complete record of all visits — they depend on factors including configuration, user consent and script blocking.
What can you check in Google Analytics?
Google Analytics lets you connect information about audience acquisition with visitors’ behaviour on your site. This allows you to assess not just the number of visits, but also whether individual traffic sources help achieve a specific goal.
With measurement configured correctly, you can find out, among other things:
- Where traffic comes from — for example, organic search results, ads, newsletters or other websites.
- Which content is viewed — which pages attract attention and are visited before an important action.
- What users do — whether they click particular elements, download files or progress through the stages of a purchase.
- What results the website delivers — how many enquiries, purchases and how much revenue have been recorded, if the appropriate measurement has been implemented.
GA4 can also show aggregate information about visitors’ devices and approximate locations. However, it is not designed to reveal visitors’ names or play back a recording of their visit. Some data may be unavailable or limited because of privacy considerations and the way information is collected.
How does GA4 work, and what do the basic terms mean?
On a website, measurement is usually enabled through the Google tag, a piece of code that sends information about interactions. It can be implemented directly, through an ecommerce platform integration or using Google Tag Manager — a separate tool for managing tags. Apps require the appropriate software integration.
GA4 is based on events, such as a page view, the start of a session or a purchase. Some events are collected automatically or after enhanced measurement is enabled, while others need to be configured. Enhanced measurement is a set of built-in features that track selected interactions; it does not replace a full implementation of ecommerce analytics.
You will encounter several terms in reports that should not be used interchangeably:
| Term | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| User | A visitor recognised through available identifiers; this does not always correspond to one real person. |
| Session | A group of interactions within a given period — in simple terms, one visit. |
| View | A recorded view of a page or screen; one person can generate multiple views. |
| Key event | An event marked as particularly important to a business goal. |
For example, a user may view three pages and submit a form during one session. This means several different events, not several customers. The same person using a phone and a computer may be recognised as different users if there is not enough data to link their activity.
How does the data help you make decisions?
Suppose you run an installation business and promote your website through ads and a newsletter. The ads generate more sessions, but the newsletter brings more successfully submitted forms. Visit numbers alone would suggest that ads perform better; measuring enquiries provides a basis for a more accurate comparison.
For this comparison to be meaningful, you need to measure confirmed form submissions, not just clicks on the “Submit” button. A click may result in a validation error and does not necessarily mean you have gained a contact. Newsletter links can be tagged with UTM parameters — additions to the URL that identify the source and campaign.
GA4 will not independently assess the quality of an enquiry or the profitability of a job. Form submission data should be compared with promotional costs and information about actual sales. A report provides a signal to investigate, not an automatic answer about where to increase your budget.
How do you start using Google Analytics?
The standard version of GA4 is free, but implementation, maintenance and additional services may incur costs. There is also a paid offering, Analytics 360. Check Google’s official documentation for the current limits and terms of each version.
The simplest practical implementation plan consists of five steps:
- Define your measurement goal. Choose a specific action, such as a purchase or an enquiry submission.
- Create an account and a GA4 property. A property is where data is collected; add a data stream for your website or app.
- Implement measurement together with consent management. Check whether your platform already sends the same events to avoid double counting.
- Configure important events. For an online store, this includes correctly sending information about transactions, their value and currency.
- Test that it works. Use the Realtime report and the DebugView diagnostic view, then check the data in standard reports.
As a rule, GA4 will not reconstruct traffic from before measurement was enabled. Record the implementation date and any major configuration changes so you do not confuse a change in counting methods with a change in customer behaviour.
Data limitations and privacy obligations
GA4 results may differ from the data in your ecommerce system or advertising platform. Possible reasons include consent refusals, script blocking, implementation errors and different rules for assigning results to traffic sources, known as attribution. Not every report is updated immediately, either.
When assessing sales, your order management system should be the reference point for the number of actual transactions. GA4 helps analyse the path to purchase, but does not replace order records or accounting. Simply installing the tool does not improve your website’s ranking in Google.
Implementation requires consideration of regulations concerning privacy and tracking technologies. This is general information, not individual legal advice: requirements depend on the market and configuration. Verify the rules for obtaining consent and your obligation to provide information; do not send GA4 data that enables Google to identify a person directly, such as an email address or phone number. Also check that such data does not end up in URLs or event parameters.
Start by choosing one action that matters to your business and checking that it is counted correctly. Only then expand your reports — a more elaborate dashboard will not fix faulty measurement.
See also: What Is a CDN?
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