Who’s In The Store? Tips For Using Google Analytics
Brick-and-mortar stores have one obvious advantage over websites. The store owner can look up and see who’s in the building. On the internet, your customers come and go invisibly, unless you’re using the right tools.
Google Analytics is that tool. It’s free, it’s powerful, and if you’re running a business website without it, you’re making decisions in the dark. With a few clicks, you can see who’s visiting your site, where they came from, what they looked at, how long they stayed, and whether they did what you wanted them to do.
Google replaced the old version of Analytics (Universal Analytics) with Google Analytics 4 (GA4) in 2023. If you set up Analytics years ago and haven’t touched it since, your old data stopped collecting. Here’s what you need to know about the current platform.
Getting Started with GA4
If you don’t have Google Analytics set up yet, go to analytics.google.com and create an account. You’ll set up a “property” for your website and add a small piece of tracking code to your site. If you’re on WordPress, plugins like Site Kit by Google or MonsterInsights handle this without touching code.
Give it a few days to collect data, and you’re ready to start learning about your visitors.
What to Look At First
GA4 can feel overwhelming. There are dozens of reports and hundreds of metrics. Don’t get lost in the weeds. Start with these:
- User acquisition. This tells you where your visitors are coming from: organic search, paid ads, social media, direct traffic, or referrals from other sites. If organic search is low, your SEO needs work. If paid traffic is high but conversions are low, your landing pages need attention.
- Engagement rate. GA4 replaced the old “bounce rate” with engagement rate. It measures the percentage of sessions where a user spent at least 10 seconds on your site, viewed 2 or more pages, or triggered a conversion event. Higher is better.
- Pages and screens. Which pages on your site get the most traffic? Which ones keep people engaged? If your services page gets a lot of visits but your contact page doesn’t, something is breaking down between interest and action.
- Conversions (Key Events). In GA4, you define “key events” (formerly called conversions) for actions that matter to your business: form submissions, phone calls, purchases, email signups. If you haven’t set these up, do it now. Traffic numbers mean nothing if you can’t tie them to business outcomes.
Tips for Getting More Out of GA4
Connect it to Google Ads
If you’re running Google Ads, link it to your GA4 property. You’ll see which keywords and campaigns are actually driving conversions, not just clicks. This is how you stop wasting ad budget and start doubling down on what works.
Set up custom reports
GA4 lets you build custom reports focused on exactly the metrics you care about. Instead of digging through menus every time, create a dashboard that shows your key numbers at a glance.
Use the search terms report
If your site has an internal search function, GA4 can track what people are searching for on your site. Whatever they’re looking for, make it easier to find. This is your audience telling you exactly what they want.
Check your mobile vs. desktop breakdown
If 70% of your traffic is mobile (and for most local businesses, it is), your mobile experience better be flawless. Slow load times, tiny text, or buttons too small to tap on a phone are costing you customers.
The Bottom Line
Google Analytics tells you what’s working and what isn’t. Without it, you’re guessing. With it, you’re making decisions based on what your actual visitors are actually doing. The data is free. The only cost is the time it takes to look at it.
If you want help setting up GA4, configuring your key events, or just making sense of what the data is telling you, that’s something we do for our clients every day.
Questions? Ready to Get Started?
If you have questions or would like to get started, please give us a call at (423) 708-2780 or visit our website to request a free quote and consultation.