Beginner’s Guide to Google Analytics (GA4)

Why Google Analytics matters

Installing Google Analytics is like putting a smart speed camera on your website. It tells you:

• How many people visit your site and where they come from
• Which pages keep visitors and which lose them
• Which marketing activities (social, search, email) bring the best value
• How many visitors complete important actions (sales, contact forms, signups)

With those answers you can focus your time and budget on what actually works.

GA4 vs the old Universal Analytics — quick note

Google switched to GA4 to give more flexible measurement across devices and apps. If you’re starting now, you should use GA4. If you previously used Universal Analytics, GA4 collects data differently (events-based rather than pageview/session focused). That’s fine — this guide focuses on practical things you can do with GA4.

How to set up Google Analytics (GA4) — the easy way

1. Create or sign in to a Google account: Use a business Google account if possible.
2. Go to Google Analytics: Visit analytics.google.com and click “Start measuring.”
3. Create a property: Give it your website name and choose GA4 property (default for new setups).
4. Add the measurement tag to your site: You’ll get a Measurement ID (starts with G-). Add this to your site — most CMS platforms (WordPress, Shopify, Wix) have a simple field for GA4 ID or plugins to insert the tag.
5. Verify data is coming in: Use the Realtime report in GA4 to confirm visits.

If you’d rather not touch code, ask your developer or hosting provider to add the GA4 tag. At Janric Limited we can set this up for you and make sure it’s tracking correctly.

Set up the basics you’ll actually use

Before you dive into reports, do these three simple things:

• Link Google Search Console: This shows the search queries that bring people to your site. (See our Beginner’s Guide to Google Search Console.)
• Enable Google Signals (optional): This allows cross-device reporting and demographics if you agree to the data-sharing prompt.
• Create an events & conversions plan: Decide 3–5 things you want people to do (contact form, phone click, newsletter signup, purchase) and mark them as conversions in GA4.

Key GA4 reports & what they tell you

1. Realtime

Shows who is on your site right now and which pages they’re viewing. Useful for checking changes after you publish or when you run a campaign.

2. Acquisition

Tells you how visitors find your site: Organic Search, Social, Direct, or Paid. Use this to see which marketing channels are bringing people who actually engage.

3. Engagement (Pages and Screens)

Shows which pages users view, how long they stay, and engagement rate. Look for pages with lots of views but low engagement — those might need better content or calls-to-action.

4. Conversions

Your defined goals live here. Track form submissions, purchases or phone clicks. If a conversion goal drops suddenly, you’ll know something broke.

5. Events

GA4 records many user actions as events (clicks, video plays, downloads). You can create custom events for specific behaviours you care about.

6. User demographics and tech

See the countries, languages and devices visitors use. This helps you prioritise localization and mobile optimisation.

Simple events & conversions to track (practical examples)

Start with these easy-to-track items that matter for small businesses:

• Contact form submission — mark it as a conversion so you can measure how many visitors reach out.
• Phone number click (tel: link) — useful for mobile-heavy businesses.
• Newsletter signups — track as a conversion to test which pages convert best.
• Product purchases — if you run a shop, e-commerce events (purchases, add-to-cart) are essential.

Most CMS platforms or plugins can send these events to GA4 without coding. If not, tag managers or small developer tweaks will do it.

Using reports to make decisions — three examples

1. Not enough contact form submissions? Look at page engagement for your contact page. If time on page is low, rewrite copy or simplify the form. Run an A/B test (two versions) and compare conversion rate in GA4.
2. Lots of organic traffic but few sales? Check acquisition and pages with high drop-off. Perhaps you’re attracting the wrong keyword intent. Adjust content to match user intent (informational vs commercial).
3. Social campaign brought traffic but little engagement? Compare acquisition > Social and engagement. If users leave quickly, the campaign creative may promise more than the page delivers — tweak the landing page to match the ad.

Reports & dashboards you should set up

Create a simple custom report or dashboard that shows:

• Sessions by source (Organic / Social / Direct)
• Top 10 pages by views and engagement
• Conversions (last 30 days)
• Top-performing landing pages

Check this dashboard weekly. Small, regular tweaks beat a big, infrequent overhaul.

Common beginner mistakes (and how to avoid them)

• Not verifying data: Use Realtime after setup to confirm your site is sending hits.
• Tracking too little: If you only look at pageviews, you miss what users actually do. Track conversions and key events.
• Overcomplicating reports: Start with a few simple metrics (users, sessions, conversions) before exploring advanced funnels.
• Not using UTM tags: Add UTM parameters to links in emails or campaigns so GA4 reports the source correctly.

Privacy, cookies and consent

Make sure you follow privacy rules. GA4 offers features to respect user consent and anonymise IPs. If your visitors are in the UK or EU, include a cookie notice that allows users to accept or decline analytics cookies. If in doubt, get simple legal advice or ask Janric for help setting up consent tools correctly.

When to ask for help

If you want accurate data, reliable events and dashboards, but don’t have the time, it’s worth getting help. Janric Limited can set up GA4 properly, create conversion tracking and teach you how to use the reports that matter for your business.

Final checklist — GA4 setup & first 30 days

1. Install GA4 tag and confirm Realtime data.
2. Link Google Search Console and Google Ads if you use ads.
3. Create and mark 3–5 conversions (contact form, phone click, signup).
4. Build a simple dashboard: acquisition, top pages, conversions.
5. Use UTM tags on campaigns and check results weekly.

Follow these steps and in a month you’ll have real insights to improve your site — not guesswork.