Google Analytics is one of the most powerful website analytics platforms on the planet. It currently tracks over 10 million websites, 99.9% of them for FREE.

Yep, that’s right. Zip. Zilch. Zero dollars. So what gives? If Google is one of the most valuable companies in the world then how do they make so much money by giving away one of their flagship products absolutely free?

Data.

Think about the Google Analytics tracking snippet as a crystal ball that can predict the future by observing the past. Google’s original goal was to organize all of the content on the internet and make it easily searchable and accessible to everyone. In the process of doing so, they have categorized every page on the internet and track your every move. You are constantly creating your profile based on the types of websites you visit, when you visit them and how often. Google uses this data to help its advertisers more effectively target ads at consumers.

But what does this mean for you? If you can use Google Analytics for free, how do you get value out of it? The most important aspect is ensuring that your data is accurate.

There are a couple intricacies the majority of people do not know about the default settings in Google Analytics. First off, if you or your employees a good deal of time on website then it will skew your data and not give you a clear picture of how your customers are using your website. Second, by default Google analytics does not track eCommerce sales. You have to enable that manually as well as make some slight changes to your website code to ensure the data is passed.

There are countless other ways that you can gain valuable insights from Google Analytics and we are very glad Google lets everyone use it for free. If you’re just starting out and thinking of installing the snippet it on your website then give us a call and we’ll give you a free on audit to make sure you set everything up correctly.

If you want to learn some more cool tips and tricks about Google Analytics then check out our other blog articles. We live and breathe Google Analytics.