E-commerce has exploded in the last decade. This is particularly true since the coronavirus pandemic in the first half of 2020 forced many people to stay home. Businesses such as Instacart and Delivery Dash, among many others, filled a need left empty by the pandemic. In a matter of weeks, retail stores and restaurants closed down, leaving most to scramble to get adequate delivery times for goods they used to buy in person. While the pandemic gives many retailers the online opportunity to sell products they would have sold in their brick and mortar stores, they need to have their websites streamlined to handle increased web traffic. 

Google Analytics (GA) is a powerful tool for increasing website traffic. GA code runs alongside HTML, giving web site owners valuable marketing data. Consequently, there are two instances where you might want to check for Google analytics code. The first is a website you visit and don’t own. The second is a website you own. 

A Website You Visit and Don’t Own

1. Open a webpage in the Chrome browser. 
2. Then right-click anywhere on the page, then pick “Page Source”. You will see a page with lots of letters and symbols. 
3. Click the Google Chrome menu (far upper right corner with three horizontal dots). 
4. Click the “Find” button. 
5. In the search box type: gtag. js or analytics. js (for Universal Analytics) or ga. js (for Classic Analytics).

If the site you visited has that code anywhere on the page, it will show up in the search. In some instances, however, you may not be able to see the Google Analytics code. For example, if the website uses Google Tag Manager. This lets non-web developers add tags to their websites without damaging the code. 

A Website You Own

If you own a website and need to know how many people visit, chances are you have some sort of web analytics tools. The best thing about Google Analytics (GA) is the price tag—it’s free!

1. The first thing to do is to install the GA tools. You do this by setting up an account on their landing page. Once you enter your account name, click “next” 
2. On the next screen, you will see three choices, Web, Apps, and Web and Apps. Because we want to check a website, select “Web”, then click “next.”
3. On this screen, you fill in the website’s name, the URL, the industry, and the time zone. Then click create.

Once GA is installed, you will have access to the GA dashboard. 

1. After logging in, click the “admin” but on the left side of the screen
2. Select the “property” pane. This shows your website. Make sure it is there
3. Then select “Real-Time>Overview”

There are numerous tools at your disposal from the dashboard, all of which need the GA code to utilize. If you are new to using GA, take some time to explore and familiarize yourself with the features.