Glossary
Also called: GA, GA4, Google Analytics 4, web analytics.
Google Analytics works by adding a small piece of tracking code to your website. It then reports visitors, where they came from (Google, Facebook, adverts, typing your address), which pages they looked at and what they did.
The current version is Google Analytics 4, often shortened to GA4. It replaced the older Universal Analytics, which stopped collecting data in 2023, so older reports and advice may not match what you see.
Because it uses cookies, UK sites generally need to ask visitors for consent before running it, unless configured in a way that current ICO guidance treats as exempt. It is also separate from Google Search Console, which reports what happens inside Google's search results.
Analytics tells you which parts of your marketing actually bring enquiries, so you can stop paying for the ones that do not. Make sure the account is in your name; if an agency owns it, your history leaves with them.
Example. A cleaner sees in GA4 that most enquiries come from people who found the ‘End of tenancy cleaning’ page via Google, and very few from a paid directory listing she is renewing every year.
Google Search Console · Bounce rate · Conversion rate · GDPR and cookie consent
A plain-English guide to Google Analytics 4 for small businesses: the handful of reports worth checking, how to track form and call enquiries, and the UK cookie questions to ask.
Read →What Google’s AI Overviews and AI Mode are, how they choose sources, what they do to your clicks, and what a small business should actually change.
Read →A grounded look at whether ChatGPT and other AI assistants will replace Google for finding local businesses, what is actually changing, and how to prepare without panicking.
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