Many people launch a website and never learn what happens on it: how many people visit, where from, and what they do. Two free tools answer those questions: Google Analytics and Google Search Console.
What is the difference
- Search Console. Shows how the site appears in Google: which searches find it, how many impressions and clicks it gets, whether pages are indexed and whether there are errors.
- Google Analytics 4. Shows what happens once people are on the site: where visitors came from, which pages they opened and what they did.
Put simply, Search Console answers "how do people find us", and Analytics answers "what do they do next".
How to set them up
- Search Console. Add the site and verify ownership (with a DNS record or an HTML tag). Then submit the sitemap, sitemap.xml.
- Analytics 4. Create an account and a property, and add the measurement code to every page.
- Link the two tools so the data complements each other.
Remember that data is collected only from the moment you switch it on. There is no going back, so it is best to do it on launch day.
Which numbers to watch
- Visitors and sources — search, social media, direct, ads.
- Queries in Search Console — which words find you and which pages get the clicks.
- The most popular pages — what interests people; write more about it.
- Indexing errors — pages Google cannot see.
- Goal actions — a form submission, a call, a purchase.
What matters most: goals
The number of visitors says little by itself. What matters is how many got in touch, so set up events in Analytics for form submissions and phone taps. Then you can see whether a source really brings customers.
If you need it, we can set up the statistics for your site and explain what to look at. Keep in mind too that collecting visitor data has to be reflected in your privacy policy.
