Google Analytics - A tutorial series by KamikStudio that will teach you how to navigate the tool with confidence.

Update (August 2026): The tutorial series below covers Universal Analytics, the old version of Google Analytics that Google shut down in 2023 (with access to historical data closed in 2024). The current standard is Google Analytics 4, with a completely different interface and reporting model, so the screens and menu paths shown do not match the current tool. I am keeping this post as archival material.

Google Analytics is a tool underappreciated by many marketers. A pity. Many people ask a lot of questions: is Google Analytics worth using, how many people use Google Analytics and how often should you check Google Analytics. The answer is simple - it is a very important Google tool and should be part of your daily work. Google Analytics is your best free analyst. You could say it's a free employee who analyzes your entire website as soon as you implement the tracking code.

An introduction to Google Analytics - what it gives you and what it is

In the first episode of the GA series I explain what the tool gives us and what it is. I know you might think - "okay, but there are tons of tutorials like this". My answer: are they all really detailed? I created a series where, step by step, I walk through every report category in GA and more.

The GA Dashboard
Real-time - report category
Audience - report category
Acquisition - report category, plus how to build URLs with UTM parameters
Behavior - report category
Conversions - report category

And even more episodes, diving into creating audiences, conversions, goals etc. All episodes reflect the March 2019 version of Analytics.

Google Analytics - Tutorial - Episode 1 - Watch on YouTube

Adding the GA tracking code to a website - how to implement the GA tracking code on your site

In the second episode of the GA tutorial series I talk about how to add the tracking code to your website. There are several ways. We can do it the developer's way - coding it directly into the <head> element of our website

Tracking code placement template

<html>
 <head>
  This is where we place our tracking code(s)
 </head>
 <body>
   This is always the content of our page - what the user sees
 </body>
</html>

Of course, the code can also be placed right before </head> or anywhere in the <head> element. Naturally, you may have a dozen tracking codes, e.g. from other tools like Hotjar or Google Tag Manager etc. And everyone will tell you to place them right after <head>

In the head section we only put tags such as

<meta>
<script>
<link>
<style>

Another way to add tracking codes is through plugins in your CMS (content management system). Whether it's WordPress, phpBB3, IP.Board, Joomla, PrestaShop, Magento, or even any dedicated SaaS platform such as Shoper, IAI or i-systems.

Recommended plugins for WordPress

HFCM, or a typical GA plugin. HFCM is a plugin that places code in a specific spot on the page. Just add a snippet with the code and choose where it should go.

Google Tag Manager

The last method, which I will also cover and record a video about, is Google Tag Manager. In general, it is best to connect a newly built site to Google Tag Manager right away. You get full control over your site and your code. GTM will get its own post and episodes on my YouTube

Google Analytics - Tutorial - Episode 2 - Watch on YouTube

The Analytics dashboard - a quick snapshot of your website's data

If you want quick information about what is happening on your site right now or in a given period, the Google Analytics Dashboard comes to the rescue. The information we can get from it includes:

Users, revenue, conversion rate, sessions from the last X selected days. We can also go to the Audience Overview tab and see real-time site activity on the right (whether someone is on our site right now).
How we acquire our users - from which traffic channel, source/medium or referrals. When it comes to acquisition, we need to know one important thing: building URLs with UTM tags
Where your users are located - in which locations etc.
When and at what time users visit your site
Which pages your users visit on your site. A useful tool when you want to measure, for example, how many people visited your article about "Google Analytics tips". You don't need any extra plugins, because you can monitor this through GA.
What trend prevails on your site
Which devices users visit your site from
How well we retain our users, based on cohort analysis. Did the person who visited in week 1 also visit in week 3?
Which products sell best

Additionally

We can improve our dashboard even further with extra widgets. If you want to know more and keep building your knowledge, be sure to check out all the videos in the Google Analytics series. Additionally, for each of the above "categories" you can select how many days of data you want. Another option introduced by Google Analytics is TRENDS. They show, for example, whether January had more users than February.

Google Analytics - Tutorial - Episode 3 - Watch on YouTube

Real-time in GA - how to read the data from the first report category of your Analytics

In the third episode of the series I start going through the first report category that Analytics gives us. It is Real-time. It is really useful only when a lot of users are visiting your site - right now. We can check their locations, which page they are currently on, which keyword brought them in. We will also learn whether they came from an external link or from social media (e.g. Facebook). As I mentioned, the Real-time report category is useful when you consistently have 5 - 10 users on the site.

Google Analytics - Tutorial - Episode 4 - Watch on YouTube

Audience - which group of users is browsing my website. The second report category in GA

In my daily work I am inseparable from Audience and Acquisition in Analytics. In Audience I observe who my users are and how to target my Ads campaigns. In Acquisition, I see how my ad campaigns are performing. I tried to cover this in detail in the video. But remember that I record every video live - there is no room for retakes. So always read the descriptions carefully. In the Audience category we can check active users over a given time period.

Segmenting audiences / customers

Additionally, you can create segments, which I discuss in the video. You can select all users, but also e.g. only those who buy on your site. You can segment e.g. users who visited only from mobile, or from desktop and tablet. There are many options. There are default segments, but you can also create your own. Segmenting users is very important. We can reach exactly the people we are looking for, through what they search for. And through what they want.

Demographics, location, behavior and technology data

You will learn not only how many people visited and which audience segment was on your site. Google Analytics gives you full capabilities. See how many women and how many men you have. Which locations they come from. What their on-site behavior looks like. What technology they use. Skillful use of GA allows for perfect audience targeting in Ads (AdWords or Facebook Business).

Benchmarking, cohort analysis, user flow

If your boss asks you - what is the user flow on the site - you answer: Analytics will tell me! It is in GA that you can check all the page paths a user visits. In the cohort table you can also check whether a user who visited in week 1 came back in week 3. You can isolate paths and compare them with other data. Example: how many transactions came from page A. How many exits were there from page B. Did the user who was on page A move on to page B. How many interactions happened in place A and did they carry over to B.

Google Analytics - Tutorial - Episode 5 - Watch on YouTube

The GA tutorial series - YouTube playlist. Want more?

You can watch the entire playlist with all the GA tutorials at this link: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL17P6dOFuiXFfAVuTWv16jnWDpfiYNBQU
If you like it, comment, give it a thumbs up, subscribe, share! It really helps 🙂

This post will be expanded when the next 5 episodes are released.

Copyright

A reminder that all articles on kamikstudio.com, its subpages and subdomains are mine and mine alone. If you copy, at least credit the source or me as the author. Especially with long posts like the one you are reading right now. Thank you.

Google Analytics - Tutorial Series

Google Analytics - A tutorial series by KamikStudio that will teach you how to navigate the tool with confidence.

An introduction to Google Analytics - what it gives you and what it is

Google Analytics - Tutorial - Episode 1 - Watch on YouTube