Quick answer
Most small businesses only need to track a handful of things: where visitors come from, which pages they view, and how many take a valuable action such as a call, form submission, booking or purchase. Set up Google Analytics or a simpler privacy-focused tool, define those key actions as conversions, connect Google Search Console, and review the numbers monthly.
Analytics dashboards can show hundreds of numbers. A small business needs about five of them. The trick is deciding which five before you log in, so you don't spend Monday morning staring at charts.
The questions analytics should answer
- How many people visited this month, and is it going up?
- Where did they come from (Google, social, ads, email, other sites)?
- Which pages do they look at most?
- How many took a valuable action?
- Which sources bring people who take that action?
If your setup answers those five, it's doing its job.
Step 1: Pick your tools
| Tool | What it's for |
|---|---|
| Google Analytics | Free, detailed traffic and conversion reporting |
| Google Search Console | How you appear in Google Search, before the click |
| Microsoft Clarity / Hotjar | Session recordings and heatmaps to see behaviour |
| Plausible | Lightweight, privacy-focused alternative with a simple dashboard |
Google Analytics plus Search Console covers most small businesses. Add a heatmap tool when you're working on improving a specific page.
Step 2: Define your conversions
This is the step most people skip. Decide what counts as success and set it up as a conversion (Google Analytics calls these key events):
- Contact form submitted (track the thank-you page or the form event)
- Phone number clicked on mobile
- Booking completed
- Purchase made
- Newsletter signup
Step 3: Tag your marketing links
Add UTM parameters to links in emails, social bios and ads so your analytics shows exactly which campaign brought each visitor. Google offers a free Campaign URL Builder.
Step 4: Build a one-page monthly report
Track the same numbers each month in a simple table: visitors, top five pages, visitors by source, conversions and conversions by source. Comparing month on month is far more useful than any single number.
Numbers not to obsess over
- Bounce or engagement rate in isolation: a visitor who finds your phone number and calls you "bounced"
- Daily fluctuations: look at weekly and monthly trends
- Total pageviews: ten visitors who book beat a thousand who don't
Privacy and consent
Be transparent in your privacy policy about what you measure. In the UK and EU, cookie-based analytics generally needs visitor consent, so you may need a consent banner. Cookie-free tools like Plausible are one way to simplify this. Check the requirements for your markets.
Where to go next
Once tracking is in place, use keyword research to grow the traffic and improve the pages that convert. Browse all analytics tools.
Frequently asked questions
Is Google Analytics free?
The standard version of Google Analytics is free to use. Google also offers a paid enterprise edition for large organisations.
What is the difference between Google Analytics and Google Search Console?
Google Analytics measures what visitors do on your site once they arrive. Google Search Console shows how your site appears in Google Search before the click, including search queries, impressions and indexing issues. Use both.
What is a conversion?
A conversion is any action that matters to your business, such as submitting a contact form, booking an appointment, calling from your site or buying a product. Defining these is the most important step in setting up analytics.
Do I need a cookie banner for analytics?
It depends on where your visitors are and which tool you use. In the UK and EU, analytics cookies generally require consent. Some privacy-focused tools are designed to work without cookies. Check the rules for your markets.