Web analytics is the collection, measurement, and analysis of website data. It helps you understand who visits your site, how they got there, what they do, and whether they're converting. Without analytics, you're making decisions based on guesswork.
What Analytics Tracks
Traffic Sources
Where visitors come from:
- Organic search: Google, Bing
- Paid search: Google Ads, Bing Ads
- Social: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter
- Direct: Typed URL or bookmarks
- Referral: Links from other sites
- Email: Newsletter campaigns
User Behavior
What visitors do:
- Pages viewed
- Time on site
- Scroll depth
- Clicks and interactions
- Navigation paths
- Exit pages
Conversions
Goal completions:
- Purchases
- Form submissions
- Downloads
- Sign-ups
Demographics
Who visitors are:
- Location
- Device type
- Browser
- Language
Key Metrics
Acquisition
- Sessions: Individual visits
- Users: Unique visitors
- Traffic by source: Where they came from
Engagement
- Bounce rate: Single-page visits
- Pages per session: Depth of visit
- Average session duration: Time spent
Conversion
- Conversion rate: Percentage who convert
- Goal completions: Total conversions
- Revenue: For e-commerce
Popular Analytics Tools
Google Analytics 4 (GA4)
- Free, powerful, industry standard
- Event-based tracking
- Machine learning insights
- Integration with Google Ads
Other Tools
- Plausible: Privacy-focused, simple
- Fathom: Privacy-first, clean UI
- Mixpanel: Product analytics
- Amplitude: User journey focus
- Heap: Auto-capture everything
Analytics Implementation
- Install tracking code on all pages
- Set up goals/conversions to track
- Configure events for key interactions
- Filter internal traffic (your own visits)
- Create dashboards for key metrics
- Review regularly and take action
Privacy Considerations
- GDPR and CCPA compliance
- Cookie consent requirements
- IP anonymization
- Data retention policies
- User opt-out options