How to setup Google Analytics & Google Tag Manager

The first step is to check if you have it installed already… 🤣

It’s probable that somewhere down the line, someone has already installed Google Analytics on your website. The way to check is easy:

1. Install the ‘Tag Assistant’ Google Chrome extension:

2. Once installed, launch the Chrome extension whilst on your website, and you will be met with a screen similar to:

If anything with the three orange bars appears with a ’G-’ code, you already have Google Analytics installed on your website - example below:

The next step would be to identify the email address with access to this account.

Unfortunately, there’s no easy way to do this; it’s purely trial and error and asking around. 

Simply log in to https://analytics.google.com/ under various likely email addresses to see if an account with the ID that matches the one on your site appears.

If you’re confident that no one in your team has access, ask the people who built your website or a previous external marketing source if they were the ones to create it and if so, could they give your email admin access.

If all else fails, you’ll need to create a new account and link it to your website. And if you have just never had Google Analytics set up before, follow the instructions below.

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The setup is separated into 2 different stages:

i. Platform setup

ii. Conversion setup

In marketing speak, a conversion is each time somebody enquires to use the services your firm offers.

Whether that’s a form submission, a meeting booking system, a phone call or a WhatsApp message.

Each one of these should be counted as a ‘conversion’

Unfortunately, Google isn’t quite smart enough (yet) to set all of this up for us, so it has to be done manually.

But first, you need the platform set up and linked to your website ↓

i. Platform setup

There are a few ways to set Google Analytics up, and they are all very simple.

All will require a Google Analytics account to be made first.

To do so, simply head to: https://analytics.google.com/ and click ‘create account’

Fill in all necessary information (which should take around 60 seconds):

Then, once you have reached the ‘Data collection’ phase, select ‘Web’:

And paste in your website URL:

Brilliant, this is your Google Analytics account created. Now you just need to link it to your website.

Instantly, you’ll be prompted by Google to upload your ‘Google Tag’ directly to the code of your website manually (this is linking your account with your website):

Simply follow the instructions on the screen, and this will link your Google Analytics account to your website data. 

This is the most direct way of adding the Google Analytics tracking code to your website. 

It’s handy to have a developer who can help you with this, but it is by no means a necessity. 

There are countless YouTube videos out there breaking down the exact process for all website platforms.

If you don’t feel comfortable adding the code manually, there are two alternative ways to link your Google Analytics account to your website:

1. Via a plugin or website app.

The easiest and quickest way is via a plug-in directly to your website.

WordPress is by far the most common website platform law firms use in the UK, so I will use that platform as an example, but if your website is not built with WordPress, fear not. 

A YouTube search will reveal how Google Analytics is integrated with a plugin (or app) through the platform your website has been built with.

For WordPress, simply log into your WordPress backend and scroll down to ‘Plugins’ on the left-hand side of the screen:

Once here, select ‘Add Plugin’ and search for ‘Google Analytics’ and you will find ‘Site Kit by Google – Analytics, Search Console, AdSense, Speed’

This is Google’s official plugin tool for WordPress from Google, so it’s best to use this one 🙂 (It’s totally free)

Once installed, please activate and start the setup.

After the first page, you are met with:

Please ensure you ‘Sign in with Google’ using the same email address you used to create your Google Analytics account, and allow the site to access all.

Once back on WordPress, you will be prompted a little further down the screen to ‘complete setup’. This is the completion and final linking of your Google Analytics account to your website:

Simply select the Google Analytics account and property you created earlier:

And ‘complete setup’, then your new Google Analytics account will be up and running and recording data within 24 hours:

Here’s the second way to install it:

2. Via Google Tag Manager

Google Tag Manager is used to easily add, manage, and update tracking tags and marketing scripts on your website or app without needing to modify the code directly. 

It is also a requirement during the ‘conversion tracking’ phase of the setup, so it does make sense to also use it to link your Google Analytics account with your site.

Much like Google Analytics, it’s also likely that someone over the years has already installed GTM onto your website.

The way to check is the same as Google Analytics; run the ‘Tag Assistant Companion’ Chrome extension on your website to reveal whether a Google Tag Manager is linked to your website:

If you already have Google Tag Manager linked, you will see the GTM (Google Tag Manager) account ID on your screen:

It will share the same logo and have ‘GTM’ [Google Tag Manager] at the beginning:

More trial and error with emails logging into: https://tagmanager.google.com/ and asking around for access, and you should have an account with or be granted admin access for Google Tag Manager too. Looking like this:

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If you do not have Google Tag Manager installed on your website at all, here’s how to do it:

Like Google Analytics, you will need to create an account first. Please navigate to https://tagmanager.google.com/ and create your account by filling out the necessary information:

Once complete, you are invited to add the tracking code to your website:

Again, you do not need to be a developer to do this. It’s straightforward and takes no longer than 5 minutes.

Alternatively, like Google Analytics, you can use the same Site Kit by Google website plugin to link your new account with your website.

Once this has been completed, use the Tag Assistant extension to confirm it has worked.

Once Google Tag Manager is up and running, using it to get Google Analytics installed on your site is just a few clicks away.

Simply create a new Tag inside of Tag Manager:

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For the first box, ‘Tag configuration’, select ‘Google Tag’

Retrieve your Google Analytics ‘Tag ID’ from your Google Analytics account: 

Under ‘Admin’ and then ‘Data streams’:

Click through to your data stream:

It is called ‘Measurement ID’ in the top right:

Copy this and paste it back into your Tag:

Select the trigger as ‘All pages’:

Name your Tag, then click ‘save’:

IMPORTANT - You must then submit your changes; otherwise, nothing will change:

Once this has been submitted, you will have a functioning Google Analytics account!

ii. Conversion tracking

As mentioned, a ‘conversion’ in the marketing world is an enquiry.

Primarily, people who have submitted a web form and called you from the website.

There are also WhatsApp clicks and email clicks that are conversions as well.

It’s important to have these set up because Google Analytics enables you to break up your website data per channel, landing page, location, time, and anything you can think of.

You'll be able to identify the areas where you are creating the most value through your marketing. You can then hone in on that and make adjustments to prioritise them to make your marketing work even better.

None of which is possible without conversion tracking set up.

Unfortunately, for this article, we’d be unable to showcase exactly how to do this for you due to the nuance of each conversion tracking setup.

Each website is different, uses different web form types and is set up in a variety of ways, which need bespoke tracking solutions which often involve pretty advanced code.

If you’re unsure whether your conversion tracking has been set up correctly, feel free to reach out to us and we will be able to offer you the tracking solutions you need.