Set up Google Analytics on your website (2026)

5 min read

What you’ll have at the end

Before you start

Steps

1. 1. Open Google Analytics

   On a computer, go to analytics.google.com and sign in with your Google Account.

2. 2. Click Start Measuring

   If this is your first time using Google Analytics, click Start Measuring.

   If you already have an Analytics account and would like a new one, go to Admin, click Create, then select Account. To add a website to an account you already have, select Property instead, and go to step 4.

3. 3. Name your account

   Enter a name for your account. Below it, choose the data-sharing settings you're comfortable with. These control which data you share with Google. Then click Next.

4. 4. Name your property

   Enter a name for the property, such as your business name followed by "website". Select your reporting time zone and currency, and click Next.

5. 5. Describe your business

   Select your industry category and business size, and click Next.

6. 6. Choose how you'll use Analytics

   Select how you intend to use Analytics. Google uses this to choose your default reports. Click Create.

7. 7. Accept the terms

   If you're setting up a new account, Google asks you to accept the Analytics Terms of Service and the Data Processing Amendment. Please read them, and accept if you agree.

8. 8. Click Web

   Google asks which platform you'd like to collect data from. Click Web.

9. 9. Enter your website and a stream name

   Enter your website's address, such as example.com, and a Stream name, such as your business name followed by "web stream".

   You can turn enhanced measurement on or off here. Google says it collects page views and other events automatically.

10. 10. Click Create stream

    Click Create stream.

11. 11. Copy your Measurement ID

    Open your new web stream's details and find your Measurement ID. Google's help says it's in the first row of the stream details. It starts with "G-", followed by letters and numbers. Please copy it.

    If you can't see the stream details, go to Admin, then Data streams, then click your web stream.

    Now please follow step 12 if your site is on a website builder or CMS, or steps 13 to 15 if you're adding the tag to your site's code.

12. 12. Website builder or CMS: paste the ID into your platform

    Open your website builder or CMS in a new tab. Find its Google Analytics field, paste your Measurement ID, and save. If your platform asks you to publish changes, please publish. Every platform's screens are different. Google's CMS help has instructions for each platform it lists. Then go to step 16.

13. 13. Site code: click View tag instructions

    Back on your stream details in Analytics, under Google tag, click View tag instructions.

14. 14. Select Install manually

    On the installation instructions page, select Install manually. Analytics shows a code snippet, your Google tag. Click the copy icon next to it.

15. 15. Paste the tag into every page

    Paste the entire snippet into the code of every page of your website, immediately after the <head> element. Save and publish your site as you normally do.

    Google asks that you don't add more than one Google tag to each page. If your site already has one, please check with whoever set it up before adding another.

16. 16. Visit your site and open the Realtime report

    Open your website in a browser. Then, in Analytics, select Reports from the left menu, and click Realtime. Google's Realtime help says this report shows activity during the last 30 minutes.

    Google's setup help says data collection may take up to 30 minutes to begin, and suggests the Realtime report to check that data is arriving. This guide ends here, at the wait.

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