Google Analytics is one of the most effective tools that can help businesses analyze and monitor the performance of their website. Nevertheless, even experienced marketers and business managers are capable of making critical mistakes that can lead to incorrect data analysis, wrong decisions, and missed opportunities. Incorrect settings, wrong tracking and not paying attention to certain features may lead to incorrect reports, which will make it hard to evaluate the efficiency of the marketing strategies being used.
A Google Analytics specialist knows the ins and forgets, how small mistakes in the data tracking can lead to rather drastic errors in reporting. Whether you are a business owner, a digital marketing expert, or an SEO specialist, it is crucial to get your Google Analytics set up right in order to make the right decisions. In this article, we’ll look at the most frequent Google Analytics errors and how you can prevent them from happening.
1. Not Defining Goals in Google Analytics Properly
This is probably one of the greatest mistakes that businesses make regarding Google Analytics. As a result, they will not be able to track conversions, whether it is a sale, a lead, or even a sign up.
How to Fix It
Log in to your Google Analytics account and navigate to the Admin area, then to View and Goals and create a new goal.
Choose the right goal type: It could be Destination URL (e.g. a thank you page), Duration (the time spent on the site), Pages per session, or Event (e.g. a button click).
Set up goal values for the purpose of accurately tracking revenue.
Make sure to test goal tracking by reproducing the action on your end and then checking the reports under Conversions > Goals.
2. Excluding Internal Traffic and Bot Filtering
Most people do not take into consideration the internal traffic from employees, developers or even the marketing teams, which can greatly affect the results. Likewise, the traffic from bots can increase the number of visits to the website, which can be quite misleading when it comes to analytics.
How to Fix It
To exclude internal traffic, log into your Google Analytics and navigate to Admin > View > Filters > Add Filter and select “Exclude” traffic from a certain IP address.
Make sure that bot filtering is enabled under Admin > View Settings > Uncheck the “Include hits from known bots and spiders”.
Use Google Tag Manager to make the advanced filtering for internal users.
3. Not Connecting Google Analytics with Google Ads and Search Console
When used together with other Google tools, Google Analytics becomes a more effective tool. However, many businesses have not linked their GA account with their Google Ads and Google Search Console, and hence they miss out on valuable information from the paid and organic traffic.
How to Fix It
First, navigate to Admin > Property Settings and then click on Google Ads Linking and associate your Ads account.
To link Search Console, go to Admin > Property Settings and then Search Console Linking and follow the instructions to connect it.
These integrations will enable you to see the performance of keywords, the effectiveness of paid campaigns and the organic search visibility.
4. Using the Wrong Attribution Model
Attribution models define the way by which the contributions to the goal are assigned to different touch points in the customer journey. However, many businesses are still using the Last Click Attribution model to measure the performance of all the channels.
To hire digital marketing expert professionals who grasp the concept of multi-touch attribution and how it affects revenue distribution, an advanced strategy is required.
How to Fix It
Check out the various attribution models under Conversions > Multi-Channel Funnels > Assisted Conversions.
Try the Data-Driven Attribution Model in Google Analytics 4 (GA4) to assign credit more accurately than other models.
Use the Model Comparison Tool to compare models and see how different approaches affect conversion tracking.
5. Focusing on Page Views rather than Engagement Metrics
Many marketers still pay a lot of attention to page views rather than to other metrics that can help to understand how engaged the audience is.
High pageviews are not always a good indicator of success; if visitors leave the site quickly without making a purchase or even clicking on other pages, these numbers are not very helpful.
How to Fix It
Bounce Rate, Session Duration, and Engagement Rate give a more accurate picture of what users are actually interested in.
Set up Event Tracking for key interactions like button clicks, downloads, and video plays. With the help of Google Tag Manager, it is easy to track the scroll depth of important pages and how far down the page users have scrolled.
6. Incorrect UTM Tracking on Campaigns
UTM parameters are very useful in tracking the effectiveness of the marketing campaigns. Most companies use different UTM naming conventions which make it difficult to produce clean reports and accurate data.
How to Fix It
Always use a structured UTM format: UTM source, UTM medium, UTM campaign, UTM term and UTM content. It is recommended to use Google’s Campaign URL Builder tool to create consistent UTM tags.
It is important to check on the UTM tracking under Acquisition > Campaigns > All Campaigns.
7. Overlooking GA4 Custom Event Tracking
As more businesses are migrating to Google Analytics 4 (GA4), many of them still stick to basic tracking and don’t explore custom event tracking to the fullest.
GA4 offers more flexibility in defining user interactions, but neglecting to set up custom events means missing vital information on user engagement.
How to Fix It
Use Google Tag Manager to define and manage custom event tracking.
Define event parameters for button clicks, downloads, form submissions etc.
Check for custom events under Reports > Engagement > Events in GA4.
8. Not Using Custom Dashboards and Reports
The standard reports in Google Analytics are important and useful but they may not necessarily be the reports that are most important to the business. This is because many users do not create their own dashboards that are relevant to their business goals.
How to Fix It
To create a new dashboard go to Customization > Dashboards > Create Dashboard and add widgets for the key metrics. You can create more detailed and interactive reports with Google Data Studio (Looker Studio).
Set up Automated Email Reports for stakeholders under Admin > Scheduled Emails.
9. Not Setting Up E-Commerce Tracking Correctly
For e-commerce companies, not having e-commerce tracking is a critical mistake. You get to lose important information such as the revenue, product information, and customer behavior.
How to Fix It
Enable Enhanced E-Commerce Tracking under Admin > View Settings > E-commerce Settings. Track through Google Tag Manager and Google Merchant Center.
Find the reports under Conversions > E-commerce to analyze product performance.
10. Ignoring GA Privacy and GDPR Compliance
With more privacy laws being put in place such as GDPR and CCPA, businesses must make sure that their Google Analytics account is compliant with the data protection laws. This is because non-compliance can result in legal consequences as well as the loss of customer confidence.
How to Fix It
Anonymize IP addresses under Admin > Tracking Info > Data Collection. Use Consent Mode in Google Tag Manager for user data collection. Google Analytics Data Retention Settings can be found under Admin > Data Settings and should be checked regularly.
Final Thoughts
Google Analytics is a great tool, but it is only great when used the right way. A good account can give you detailed information on what your users are doing, what they are converting into and how your marketing efforts are doing. However, small mistakes can lead to wrong conclusions and wastage of resources.
These are the common GA mistakes that businesses should avoid when they want to get accurate data collection in order to make better decisions and gain better marketing results. No matter if you are optimizing e-commerce sites, running paid campaigns, or refining SEO strategies, you can’t do without Google Analytics.