GOOGLE ANALYTICS

The What:
Google Analytics is the Big Brother of the internet—if installed on your website, it tracks data and shows you things like your website’s number of page views, how exactly people have accessed your site, what they typed to search for your page, where they are searching from, how long they are staying on certain pages on your site, what are the most popular pages on your site and so on.

The data from Google Analytics is invaluable to your marketing plan—for example, if the veterinary surgery section of your website has a lot more views than the pet boarding section, this indicates that you may not have put as much of a marketing emphasis on boarding as you could have.

Every single website should have Google Analytics installed, but what we have uncovered is that only 78 percent are utilizing this vital—and free—tool. Without GA, your marketing plan is aimless, wandering and left to chance.

The How:
How to check if you have Google Analytics on your website: There are a number of ways to check this.

Option one: visit https://analytics.google.com and log into your Google account.
You’ll see domains which you control Google Analytics for. However, if your website was built by a third party, they will most likely have access.

Option two: while on your website, the keyboard shortcut is Command + U. For Chrome, navigate to 'View' and then click on 'Developer' and then 'View Source.' While reviewing the code, search for 'UA' on the page. If you see something along the lines of 'UA-45947023-1' then you’re set. If nothing comes up, you’re probably not tracking website visitors.

How to fix this: Google provides a step-by-step guide here.