How to set up and create a Google Analytics account

TAGS: Analytics | Google Analytics

You have heard about Google Analytics and love the sound of it, but you have no idea how to create an account and add it to your website? Follow Neil M Hancock’s step-by-step walk through on how to set up and create a Google Analytics account.

Welcome to the first installment of Neil M Hancock’s ‘Google Analytics, How to…’ series, ‘How to set up and create a Google Analytics account’. In this installment I will be showing you how to set up and create a simple Google Analytics account. Throughout the series I will be introducing more advanced features which you implement if and when you are ready.

Creating a Google account

The first thing you need to do is create a Google account. If you already have a standard Google Account then please skip this section and go straight to ‘Adding Google Analytics to your Google Account’.

Creating a Google account is simple and easy to do, and you can even use your personal hotmail or works email address.

If you browse to www.google.co.uk you should see the option in the top right-hand corner to ‘Sign In’. Select this link and you should be prompted to ‘Sign in with your Google Account’. As you do not already have an account you need to click on ‘Create an account now’ below the login form. You need to follow the on screen instructions and fill in the require information.

Adding Google Analytics to your Google Account

Once you have received your confirmation email from Google, you are ready to log in and add Google Analytics to your Google Account. Browse to www.google.co.uk and if you are already signed in, you should see your email address followed by the links ‘iGoogle’, ‘My Account’ and ‘Sign out’ in the top right hand corner, if that is the case then remain logged in. If you just see ‘Sign In’ then you need to click on the link and enter your email address and password in the ‘Sign in with your Google Account’ form. You should then be redirected back to the Google homepage but you should now see the links mentioned above.

Once you are logged in you need to browse to www.google.com/analytics/. On the right hand side of the page you should see a blue button surrounded by a blue border, the button says ‘Access Analytics’, click on that link and on the subsequent page click on the grey button ‘Sign Up >>’

You should now be viewing the ‘Analytics: New Account Signup’ page, from this point you need to add your website that you want Google Analytics to track.

Adding your Website to your Google Analytics Account

Once you have clicked on the ‘Sign Up >>’ button you will be taken to a page where you are required to enter your website details. The websites URL needs to be in the format www.silverbean.co.uk, you do not need the http://. Your Account Name should be a sensible account name, so your company name would make sense. Then make sure you change your time zone country to the United Kingdom and click on the ‘Continue >>’ button, don’t worry if you make a mistake all of these can be changed at a later date.

The second section of the sign-up form you need to enter your personal details, your first name, surname, phone number and your country again. You can leave these blank if required, however you do need to enter your country. The personal information is used only by Google to contact you if required. Once you have entered the desired level of information click on ‘Continue >>’. Finally you need to select that you agree to the Google Terms and Conditions by ticking the box and then select the ‘Create New Account’ button.

Success you have now created your first Google Analytics account.

How to start tracking your site visitors

The final section is to insert the Google Analytics code onto your website so the platform can accurately track your data. After you have selected ‘Create New Account’ you need to click on the tracking code and you should notice that the whole text has been selected. Copy this code and email it to your web design agency and ask them to add the copy to every page on your site. The code needs to be added immediately before the </body> tag.

Depending on the structure of the site this should be a very simple and straightforward task for your web developer. Once you have sent the code to your developer, click ‘Finish’ and your website will start tracking your data as soon as the developer has successfully added the code.

Congratulations! You now have successfully completed the installation of Google Analytics on your website. Please return regularly for more instalments in the ‘Google Analytics, How to Series…’ including information on how to understand and view your data, how to give colleagues access to view the account and much much more.

Neil Hancock is the Search Marketing Manager at Silverbean. If you have any questions or would like to discuss how Silverbean can help you better understand website traffic analysis, please contact Neil using one of the following.

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