Having made a substantial investment in your website, you’ll want to know how well it’s performing. This is where analytics and tracking come into play.
At a minimum, your site should be connected to Google Analytics 4 (GA4) — the current standard for website analytics. GA4 tracks not just page views, but user behavior, conversion events, traffic sources, and more. Basic reporting should include:
- Number of site visitors and sessions
- Source of those visitors (organic search, social, referral, direct)
- Which pages they land on and how long they stay
- When and where they leave
- Goal completions — form submissions, phone clicks, purchases
Beyond GA4, ask whether the designer sets up Google Search Console (which shows how your site appears in search results) and whether conversion tracking is configured — so you know which marketing channels are actually generating leads.
A site without analytics is a site you’re flying blind. For my own clients, I always install Google tracking tools and configure GA4 from day one.
