How to setup Google Analytics tracking

To track your visitors in Google Analytics you first need to make sure you have your Google Analytics code installed on your website. Then you have to enable Google Analytics tracking on Simple Traffic.

You can enable Google Analytics tracking when you sign up by enabling "Track your visitors in Google Analytics"

Or you can enable it on any active trial or subscription in the dashboard:

Log into the dashboard
Click on Details next to the subscription you want to modify
Click on Change URL
Check Track visitors in Google Analytics
The Google Analytics Tracking ID may be detected automatically, if not then you will need to enter it in manually.
Click Save

Once Google Analytics is set up on your website and enabled on Simple Traffic you will be able to track all visitors in Google Analytics from that point in time.

Google Analytics Reporting

Once Google Analytics tracking is enabled in our dashboard you will be able to find your visitors under

Acquisition -> All Traffic -> Source/Medium

There you will see visitors from Simple Traffic.

You will also be able to see exactly which subscription is sending you traffic by going to

Acquisition -> Campaigns -> All Campaigns

There you will find which subscription number is forwarding traffic to your site.

If you do not see visitors in these two reports please scroll up and read our Common issues using Google Analytics, if that does not help then just contact us so we can help you fix the problem.

Common issues using Google Analytics

To track your visitors in Google Analytics our system sends visitor data to your Analytics while the visitor is being forwarded to your website. This allows all visitors to be found in your Google Analytics report. But there are a few reasons why our visitors are not showing in your GA reports.

1. Checking the wrong report

If you have multiple Google Analytics properties or accounts it can easily get confusing and cause you to check the wrong reports. You should always make sure the Google Analytics report that you are checking matches the Google Analytics property connected to your website. Once you confirm you are checking the correct reports you then need to make sure you are reporting for the correct dates. I recommend selecting an extra day before and after the period you are reporting for. This will make sure that there are no inconsistencies caused by different timezones.

2. Missing tracking ID

Our system takes the first Google Analytics Tracking ID it finds installed on your website. But if you have multiple tracking IDs or a unique integration our system can have trouble finding your tracking ID preventing all of your visitors from being accurately counted. In this case, you will see the error message "Google Analytics Tracking ID Not Found" in your dashboard. To fix this you just need to send us your tracking ID so we can input it into our system manually. Here is how to find your tracking ID.

3. Tracking lag and incorrect dates

Google Analytics may take up to 24 hours to update your reports. So if you do not see visitors in your reports for the current date you may just need to wait 24 hours and check again.

If you have checked off all the above and you are still having issues tracking your visitors in Google Analytics please contact us so we can help you fix this issue.

Best practices for tracking visitors in Google Analytics

Here are the best practices for tracking visitors using Google Analytics. Following this guide will ensure that Google Analytics tracks all your visitors regardless of where they come from.

Correct Google Analytics Code Installation

You should always have your Google Analytics code installed in between the <head></head> tags of your webpages HTML, and before any other javascript or stylesheets are loaded. This will ensure it is the first thing loaded and that it does not have to wait until everything else on your page is loaded.

This practice is also recommended by Google:

Often the tracking code is installed at the end of the <body> tags which means it's only ever loaded and fired after the entire webpage is loaded. This means that visitors who leave your website before the entire page is loaded will not be accounted for in Google Analytics.

But it is better to have it at the top of the head tags so that it is the first thing loaded. This won't slow down your website's loading speed because the Google Analytics code does not prevent other things from loading at the same time, it's asynchronous.

Website Loading Speed

To prevent people from leaving your website before your Google Analytics code is triggered you should make sure that your website loads fast.

It's especially important to have a fast server response time. The response time is how long it takes your server to start sending the webpage to the visitor's browser. It's also known as the "time till first byte" (TTFB).

If your server takes a long time to start sending a webpage to your visitor they may leave before even having the chance to load your Google Analytics tracking.

A great gauge of your website's loading speed is Google PageSpeed. You can see how long your website takes to load on both mobile and desktop devices. If your Google PageSpeed Score is less than 90 on either mobile or desktop then you may be losing a lot of your traffic due to slow loading times.

If your Server Response Time / Time Till First Byte (TTFB) is longer than 600 ms then you could lose a lot of visitors due to slow server response times.

To improve your loading and response times you can just implement the recommendations that Google PageSpeed offers for your website. But in general, it also helps a lot to use a Content Delivery Network (CDN) like Cloud Flare to speed up server response times, and optimize your website and content for faster loading times.