- SEO
- Analytics and reporting
Google Analytics: measure your website’s traffic and conversions for free
Reference
Google Analytics is the web analytics tool you install on a website to find out where visitors come from, what they do there and which of them end up buying, filling out a form or signing up. Organic search, ads, social media, email and now AI assistants: every visit is tied to its source, so you can judge what each channel actually brings in. Free in its standard version and natively connected to Search Console and Google Ads, it is by far the most widely used solution on the web, and the starting point for most SEO analysis.
What is Google Analytics?
It all starts with a small script, the Google tag, added to the site’s pages either directly or through Google Tag Manager. With every page view, click or purchase, it sends an “event” to Google’s servers, which aggregate them into reports: number of users, landing pages, acquisition channels, user journeys, revenue. Since GA4, the current version, everything is an event, and you decide which ones matter by marking them as “key events” (purchase, quote request, sign-up) to track your conversions. Unlike SEO tools that estimate traffic for any website, Google Analytics only measures the sites it is installed on, but it measures their real traffic, at least for the visitors it manages to track.
The service grew out of Google’s acquisition of the American company Urchin in April 2005, and opened to the public in November of that year. Its fourth generation, GA4, came out in October 2020 and forcibly replaced the previous version, Universal Analytics, which stopped collecting data on July 1, 2023. Alongside the free version, Google sells Analytics 360, an enterprise edition that is part of the Google Marketing Platform, with higher limits and service-level commitments. In 2026, the tool added dedicated tracking for traffic coming from AI assistants, automatic summaries of changes and customizable dashboards.
Google Analytics at a glance
- Type
- Web analytics (JavaScript tag)
- Launched
- 2005 (GA4 since 2020)
- Origin
- Urchin, acquired by Google
- Nationality
- American
- Publisher
- Google (Alphabet), Mountain View
- Data retention
- 14 months max (50 months on 360)
- Free plan
- Yes, complete for most websites
- Starting price
- Free; Analytics 360 by quote
What is Google Analytics used for?
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Measure your real traffic
visitors, page views, landing pages, devices and countries, based on the visits actually recorded on your site.
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Track your conversions
purchases, forms or sign-ups set up as key events, tied to the channel that brought them in.
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Connect organic traffic and search queries
once Search Console is linked, the Google queries and landing pages behind your organic traffic, with their clicks and positions.
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Manage your Google Ads campaigns
import your conversions into Google Ads and build remarketing audiences based on how your visitors behave.
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Spot traffic from AI assistants
visits sent by assistants such as ChatGPT or Gemini, grouped in a dedicated channel since 2026.
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Build your own reports
explorations, funnels, dashboards and export to BigQuery or Data Studio when you need to go further.
Google Analytics review
Reference
Google Analytics is still the default choice for web analytics. Free, installed in minutes, connected to Search Console and Google Ads, it remains the most direct way to answer the two questions that matter in SEO: how many visits does organic search bring in, and how many of them turn into customers? For the vast majority of websites, the free version does the job, with no limits that get in the way.
The switch to GA4 left its mark, though, and it is by far the most common complaint. The interface looks clean, but that simplicity is misleading: the out-of-the-box reports tell you less than they used to, customization is limited in the free version, and you often have to build your own explorations to get a simple answer. Plan on spending time, or hiring a consultant, to set up key events properly: a poorly configured GA4 counts visits, not results.
You also have to accept that the numbers are incomplete. In Europe, some visitors decline cookies, and the script is increasingly blocked by privacy-focused browsers and anti-tracking extensions. Google fills part of the gap with modeling only under two conditions, Consent Mode set up on the site and enough traffic, and the modeled share isn’t always easy to see in the reports. Trends remain reliable, totals much less so: don’t be surprised if they differ from your online store’s or from Search Console’s. GDPR, which earned the tool a formal notice from France’s data protection authority, the CNIL, in 2022 before the 2023 transatlantic agreement, also requires a properly configured consent banner for European visitors.
Finally, Analytics 360 only makes sense for very large websites: fresher data, longer retention, unsampled explorations, service-level commitments. Its price, available only by quote, puts it squarely in enterprise territory.
Strengths
- Free, with no limits that matter for the vast majority of websites.
- Real traffic data for your own site, not estimates.
- Native integration with Search Console and Google Ads, valuable for both SEO and advertising.
- Conversion tracking by channel, from organic search to AI assistants.
- BigQuery export and an API for teams that want to go further.
Weaknesses
- A steep learning curve since GA4: a deceptively simple interface and standard reports that say little.
- Numbers cut down by declined cookies and by browsers and extensions that block the script, partly modeled.
- GDPR compliance that requires a carefully configured consent banner.
- Limited customization, and detailed data kept for 14 months at most for explorations, with only standard reports keeping the full history.
- A 360 edition with unpublished pricing, effectively reserved for large enterprises.
Is Google Analytics worth it?
Yes, if you have a website and want to know what your organic search, your campaigns and your newsletters bring in. Paired with Search Console, which is also free, it gives you the full picture, from the queries typed into Google all the way to sales. That is even more true if you invest in Google Ads, since it feeds conversions and audiences into your campaigns.
Not necessarily, if above all you want simple numbers and hassle-free GDPR compliance. Matomo, Plausible or Piwik PRO offer more straightforward dashboards and settings designed for European law, at the cost of less integration with the Google ecosystem. Matomo and Piano Analytics have one more advantage: configured according to the CNIL’s recommendations, they can measure traffic without a consent banner, and therefore without losing the visitors who decline cookies, something Google Analytics can’t do. For a very large site that hits the limits of the free version, Analytics 360 competes with Adobe Analytics or Piano Analytics, other solutions sold by quote.
How much does Google Analytics cost?
Google Analytics costs nothing in its standard version, with no subscription and no credit card: a Google account is all you need. Analytics 360, the enterprise edition, has no public pricing: Google refers you to its sales team or to its certified partners.
| Plan | Per month | Included | Who it's for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Analytics | $0 | Detailed data kept for 14 months (explorations), unlimited standard reports, 30 key events, BigQuery export of 1 million events a day | Business websites, blogs, online stores, small businesses |
| Analytics 360 | Custom pricing | 50 months of history, 50 key events, intraday data within an hour, unsampled explorations, SLA | Large, high-volume websites and groups |
Source: official Google Analytics pricing page, checked on October 31, 2026.
- No price is published for Analytics 360: it is negotiated with Google or with a Google Marketing Platform partner.
- In the free version, explorations are sampled above 10 million events per query, and intraday data arrives within two to six hours.
- Indirect costs come from elsewhere: a consent management platform, BigQuery storage beyond Google Cloud’s free quotas, and help with the setup.
FAQ
Answers to questions about Google Analytics
Is Google Analytics really free?
Yes. The standard version is free, with no time limit and no traffic cap that matters for most websites. Only the Analytics 360 edition, aimed at large enterprises, is paid, by quote.
What is the difference between Google Analytics and Search Console?
Search Console shows how your site appears in Google: queries, impressions, clicks, positions. Google Analytics measures what visitors do once they arrive, wherever they come from, and whether they convert. The two can be linked and complement each other.
Why don’t my Google Analytics numbers match my online store’s?
Visitors who decline cookies or block the script are not measured, or only partly, and Google fills part of the gap with modeling. Your sales software, on the other hand, records every order. Trends match; totals rarely do.
Is Google Analytics GDPR compliant?
It can be, provided you collect visitors’ consent before setting analytics cookies. In 2022, France’s CNIL ruled that data transfers to the United States were unlawful; the transatlantic agreement adopted by the European Commission in 2023 has since lifted that objection, but the consent banner is still essential.
How do you install Google Analytics on your site?
You create a GA4 property in your Google account, then add the Google tag to your pages: directly in the code, through Google Tag Manager or through the field provided by most CMSs and website builders. The first visits show up in the real-time report a few minutes later; key events still have to be set up.
Information checked on October 31, 2026