In today’s world, we live in a digital environment where everyone is trying to get their products to people digitally using social networking platforms and so on; be it in the form of written content, videos, images or even an animation.
What is Google Analytics used for?
Google Analytics is one of the numerous services rendered by Google amongst others, it’s basically a web analytics tool that tracks website traffic, in other terms the amount of people visiting a website; this helps one to know if the website per say is receiving the needed amount of engagement and helps the web host to re-strategize better if at all, the number of clicks on the site isn’t up to the required expectations. Overtime, this has been one of the most widely used web analytic tools by users worldwide.
What is Google Analytics with examples?
Google Analytics was birthed in 2005, after they bought Urchin, a software corporation who stopped operations in the year 2012.
Another new release of Google Analytics, dubbed Universal Analytics, was released in October 2012. Cross-platform tracking, flexible tracking code to collect data from any device, and the addition of custom dimensions and custom metrics were the main differences from the previous iterations.
Google Insights 360, a software suite that offers analytics on return on investment and other marketing metrics, was published in March 2016 by Google. Analytics, Tag Manager, Optimize, Data Studio, Surveys, Attribution, and Audience Center are the seven primary components of Google Analytics 360.
Global Site Tag is a new technique for gathering data for Google Analytics that was announced in October 2017. Its stated goal was to standardize the tagging system and make deployment easier. As an alternative to the existing tag type,
Google launched Google Marketing Platform, a brand for online advertising and analytics, in June 2018.It consists of Google Analytics 360 and DoubleClick Digital Marketing, two former Google companies.
Google launched a new version of Google Analytics, which can be known as GA4. This is “event-based” as opposed to Universal Analytics’ “hit-based” approach.
Google stated in March 2022 that regular Universal Analytics properties would stop processing new hits as of July 1, 2023. The GA4 upgrade will be required of users.
How do I access Google Analytics?
It’s easy, all you have to do is google search “Google Analytics” on the world wide web or input this link.
Technology
One might often wonder, on what technology does the Google Analytics tool operate on;
The Google Analytics Tracking Code, a little piece of JavaScript code that the website owner puts to each page of the website, is used to integrate Google Analytics. If JavaScript is enabled in the browser, the tracking code will run when the client browser is used to access the page. It will gather visitor information and send it to a Google data collecting server along with a request for a web beacon. The tracking code sets variables with the user’s account number after loading a larger JavaScript file from the Google web server.
However, browser caching normally prevents the file from needing to be loaded. Ga.js only needs to be downloaded once at the beginning of a visit, presuming caching is enabled in the browser. A browser that has previously visited any other website running Google Analytics will already have the file cached on their computer because all websites that implement Google Analytics with the ga.js code utilize the same master file from Google.
If cookies are enabled in the browser, the tracking code also creates a first-party cookie on each visitor’s computer in addition to sending data to a Google server. The ClientID, a piece of anonymous data, is stored in this cookie. Prior to the introduction of Universal Analytics, there were a number of cookies that contained data like the visitor’s browser type.
Concerns on Privacy
They have been some concerns raised up in recent times about the privacy of its user, due to the fact that if a visitor opens a web page, the IP address is collected which can adeptly track down the exact location of the visitor, this has called for concerns as no one would want to face such a breach in privacy. Due to this factor, Google launched a new version of Google Analytics in the autumn of 2022, in which the noticeable trait that can be observed was the discontinuing of the collection of the IP address of the person using the tool. This has to be a game changer, one which is expected looking at the backlash they received overtime.
Can I use Google Analytics for free?
Google analytics has been generous in their services as they offer free IQ lessons, a certification test among a host of others. Looking at the several perks Google analytics have to offer, it’s no surprise it is the most commonly used web analytic tool.
In Conclusion, this is one of the many services our team of experts have to render, you can contact us today for this service.
