The word ‘Analytics’ when talking about websites, has become almost synonymous with Google Analytics. The things is, for most small businesses and service based websites, GA is overkill.
This article explains why you probably shouldn’t be using Google Analytics for your service-based website, and what you should be using instead.
Reasons not to use GA:
Unnecessarily complex
Yeah, GA gives you a tonne of data. And 95% of it will be absolutely irrelevant to you. Their user interface is definitely not beginner friendly, and trying to sift through all the different metrics and reports to find the stats that are relevant to you is just a job you don’t need or want to be doing.
It slows down your website
GA requires a comprehensive tracking script which you need to integrate into your website. This script is loaded every time anyone opens a new website page, which means more work for the server, and a slower website. While it’s not a huge cause for concern, there are much more lightweight tracking scripts you can use, belonging to different analytics software (more on that below).
Could put you in breach of GDPR (if you're in the EU)
Google Analytics has come under a lot of scrutiny in the last few years, as it transfers its data across to its servers in the US for storage. The US has weaker data protection laws than the EU, and GDPR rules that transferring personal data outside of the EU is illegal. This is the case even if your website visitors opt in to having their data tracked.
Austria, France and Italy have already banned Google Analytics in its current form (source).There has been no official ruling against GA in the UK, but businesses should be prepared for it to happen - meaning reliance on Google Analytics is risky.
The thing is, you can get great data and statistics without tracking IP addresses (the personally identifying info that is of concern here), and there are plenty of privacy-focused analytics software that you can use instead (scroll down for some options).
Reasons to use GA:
You have a large ecommerce site and you want to track hundreds of products
Google Analytics is a fantastic marketing tool if you’re selling a lot of products online and you want to keep track of what’s going on. If you’re a small, service-based business, you don’t need it.
You’re a large enterprise with complex marketing funnels and a lot of traffic
Again, if you’re spending a lot of time and/or money setting up complex marketing funnels, GA is a great tool for testing and tracking to see what’s working.
You have a contract with an SEO company that produces custom reports through GA
Many SEO agencies use GA to set up dashboards for their clients, so that everyone can see the results and measure the return on investment.
Alternatives to Google Analytics
Just because I don’t recommend GA to most small, service based businesses, doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be using analytics at all!
In fact, you definitely should be taking notice of your website traffic stats and using them to make strategic tweaks and improvements to your site. You just don’t need anything overly complicated.
Here are some very good alternatives that give you everything you need:
Wix and Squarespace analytics (free with your website plan)
If you have a website built with Wix or Squarespace, both of these come with in-built analytics. They’re relatively basic, but honestly, you don’t need the crazy amounts of data that you get with stand-alone analytics software.
Most all-in-one website building platforms have some form of analytics included - take this opportunity to check out what’s available to you now.
Plausible Analytics (very affordable, definitely worth it)
Plausible Analytics is my absolute favourite analytics software. It’s privacy focused, extremely user friendly, and gives you a super simple dashboard where you can see all the most relevant information at a glance.
If you want to, you have the option of getting deep and granular (ooh er) with the data, but Plausible makes everything so easy and intuitive compared to Google Analytics.
- It connects to Google Search Console so that you can see what people are typing into Google to find you
- It integrates with WordPress, Wix, Squarespace and most of the major website building platforms
- It has a lightweight tracking code that won’t slow down your site
- It doesn’t collect IP addresses, so you won’t be breaching any privacy laws
I’m not an affiliate of Plausible Analytics but I do fully support them. At Pie Heart Studio, every client who opts into our Website Growth Plan gets Plausible Analytics included in the price of their plan.
Independent Analytics (for WordPress users, free)
If you use WordPress user and you’re looking for a free, user-friendly Google Analytics alternative, check out Independent Analytics.
They’re also privacy focused, with a lightweight tracking code, and you’ll get all the basic data you need to start making informed decisions.
Google Search Console (free, important to use)
Not quite the same as general website analytics, but definitely very important to have. Google Search Console will tell you the words and phrases that people are typing into Google to find your website, as well as some basic stats about your search traffic.
If you’re getting serious about organic SEO, you definitely need to get this set up! Take a look at our guide to getting found on Google while you're at it!
Seriously, make sure you're using some kind of analytics!
Folks, if you want to be improving your websites to generate more leads and enquiries, you need to be making informed decisions based on the analytics.
It doesn't have to be super complicated, in fact, focusing on the basics is the best way to get started. Take a look at the 4 most valuable analytics metrics I'd recommend checking first.
Not using analytics means you’re essentially guessing about what’s working and what’s not. You don’t need the crazy amount of data GA gives you, just a basic overview of your traffic stats.
So before you start investing time and energy into tweaking your website and trying to get better results, please, please get your analytics set up!