Google Analytics

What it does

Google Analytics measures website and app traffic, user behaviour, conversions and revenue through event-based tracking. It shows where visitors come from, which pages they view and whether they complete the goals you define, such as a form submission, a purchase or a download. It is free, with an enterprise tier, Analytics 360, that adds higher limits and support.

Why you would need it

You cannot improve what you cannot see. Without analytics you do not know which channel brings the visitors that convert, which pages lose them, or whether last month's campaign did anything. Decisions about ad spend and content become opinions.

Analytics gives you the numbers to argue with. You can see the paid campaign brought traffic that left immediately, and the blog post nobody promoted brought the demo requests.

Where it fits

Analytics sits on your website and app, fed by a tracking code or Google Tag Manager. It receives traffic from Google Ads and organic search and shows which of it converts. It reports on behaviour on your site. It does not follow a visitor into your sales process, so connecting it to your CRM is a separate job.

What stands out

• It is free, with an enterprise tier for higher limits.
• It connects with Google Ads, Search Console and Tag Manager.
• It has a public API and a read-only official MCP server.
• It works for beginners and still gives experienced users room to grow.

My take

As a head of growth and founder of two agencies, I have used Google Analytics since 2010, back when it was Universal Analytics. I have seen the good and the frustrating sides. It is still the cornerstone of most marketing set-ups I have built, mainly because the integration with the other Google tools lets you see how channels contribute to one goal.

The shift to event-based tracking in GA4 is more flexible but has a learning curve. As data grows you hit throttling and sampling, which can distort the picture on large datasets. Funnels are basic compared with a product analytics tool such as Amplitude or Mixpanel, which makes complex B2B journeys harder to follow.

Verdict

Pick Google Analytics if you want free, broad measurement and you run Google Ads or content marketing. Skip it as your only tool if you need deep product analytics or detailed funnels.