See what your website is actually doing

Sign in with the Google account you want to own this permanently. A personal Gmail is fine. Just do not use one you might lose access to.

1. Click Start measuring. If you already have an account, click the cog at the bottom left, then Create, then Account.
2. Account name: your business name.
3. Property name: your business name again. Set the time zone to United Kingdom and the currency to British Pound.
4. Answer the couple of questions about industry and business size. Nothing here is binding, pick the closest.
5. When it asks what you want to measure, choose Web.
6. Enter your full website address and give the stream a name. "Website" is fine.

Google now shows you a code starting with G-. That is the only thing you need out of this whole screen. Paste it in the box below and the rest of this page fills itself in for you.

This is the bit that puts people off, so pick what your site is built on and follow only that. If you have no idea, choose the last one.

<!-- Google tag (gtag.js) -->
<script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-XXXXXXXXXX"></script>
<script>
  window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];
  function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);}
  gtag('js', new Date());
  gtag('config', 'G-XXXXXXXXXX');
</script>

Do not take Google's word for it. Prove it in thirty seconds.

1. Open your website on your phone, on mobile data rather than the office wifi.
2. On the laptop, go back into Analytics and click Reports, then Realtime.
3. Within about half a minute you should see 1 user in the last 30 minutes. That is you.

This is the point of the exercise. We read the numbers and tell you what they mean, instead of you screenshotting charts at ten at night.

1. Click the cog at the bottom left of Analytics.
2. Under the Property column, click Property access management.
3. Blue + at the top right, then Add users.
4. Enter the email below, choose Administrator, then Add.

Analytics tells you what people do once they land. Search Console tells you what they typed into Google to find you in the first place. You want both, and the second one is nearly free now the tag is live.

1. Sign in with the same Google account.
2. Click Add property, choose the URL prefix box on the right, and paste your full address including the https://.
3. For the verification method choose Google Analytics. It passes in one click because your tag is already on the site.
4. Back in Analytics: cog, Product links, Search Console links, then Link.