Decide what counts as a result first
Analytics without a question turns into a pile of charts. Before touching any settings, write down what a successful visit means for your business. For an online shop that might be a payment through Payme or Click. For a clinic or training centre it is a booking request. For a service company it could be a phone call or a click through to Telegram.
Next, decide who owns the account. Create it under a company Google account, not the personal email of an employee or a contractor. When that person leaves or you change agencies, your data history should not leave with them.
Google Analytics setup: account, property and data stream
The current version is Google Analytics 4. Its structure is simple: the account represents your company, the property represents a website, and inside the property you create a web data stream. The stream gives you a measurement ID that starts with G-.
When creating the property, pay attention to three settings:
- Time zone: Tashkent, so daily reports match your working days
- Currency: Uzbekistani sum, if the site sends order values
- Property name: something the whole team understands, such as the domain
Installing the tag without doubling your data
There are three ways to install the tag: paste the code into the head of every page, enter the measurement ID in your CMS or plugin settings, or deploy it through Google Tag Manager if a container is already on the site. If the site will grow and need more tracked events, Tag Manager is the most flexible choice.
The key rule is to pick one method. The most common mistake is a tag hard-coded in the theme and then added again through a plugin. Every visit is counted twice and the results look better than reality.
Other traps include code present only on the homepage, an old Universal Analytics snippet left in place without the new one, and a staging copy of the site sending data to the live property.
Testing and key events
Open your site on a phone or another browser and look for your own visit in the real-time report. Then use DebugView or Tag Assistant to see every event the site sends. Check more than the homepage: try the catalogue, a product page, the cart and the thank-you page, since they often use different templates. Standard reports lag behind real time, which is normal.
Then set up key events. Without them you only see traffic, not leads. GA4 collects some events automatically, but form submissions, taps on a phone number and clicks to Telegram or WhatsApp usually need to be configured separately, through the interface or Tag Manager. Once they arrive, mark the important ones as key events.
Settings people usually forget
None of these are visible on day one, yet they shape data quality for months:
- Data retention: the default is shorter than the maximum, so extend it
- Internal traffic: exclude your office IP addresses so staff visits are not counted
- Unwanted referrals: add payment systems so a return from Payme or Click does not overwrite the real traffic source
- Search Console link for search query reports
- Google Ads link if you run ads
UTM tags, access and privacy
Tag links from your Telegram channel, email campaigns, Instagram profile and QR codes on printed materials with UTM parameters. Otherwise those visits land in direct traffic and you never learn which channel brings customers. Agree on one naming format for the whole team so the same channel is not written three different ways.
Grant access through user roles rather than sharing a password, and make sure at least two people in the company have administrator rights. State in your privacy policy that the site uses analytics, and never send personal data from forms, such as names, phone numbers or emails, into analytics.
What to review after the first week
Once data has gathered, look at the sources. Is the share of direct traffic suspiciously high? Are key events being recorded? Is internal traffic filtered out? A mistake found in the first week is far cheaper to fix than one discovered months later.
If you need more than a working counter, such as linking the website to ad platforms, a CRM and leads from Telegram, that is end-to-end analytics. The markdev team can help build that connection and the reporting around it for your business. Describe your task and we will suggest where to start.
FAQ
Can I set up Google Analytics without a developer?
Often yes. Many website builders and CMS platforms have a field for the measurement ID. If you need events for forms, buttons and payments, Google Tag Manager is more convenient, and that is where a specialist helps.
Why is there no data right after setup?
Your visit shows up in the real-time report immediately, while standard reports update with a delay. If they are still empty after a day, check the measurement ID and confirm the tag is on every page.
Why does analytics show twice as many visitors as I expect?
The tag is most likely installed twice, for example in the theme and through a plugin or Tag Manager. Keep one method and use DebugView to confirm each event is sent once.
Whose account should own Google Analytics?
A company-owned Google account. Give contractors access through roles instead of a password, and keep at least two administrators inside the company.
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