In order for Google Analytics to track your Web site data, the tracking code must be correctly installed on each page you want tracked. You can find this code at any time inside your Analytics Profile Settings page. After you install this code, you can capture a wide variety of data about your Web site visitors.
Among other statistics, Google Analytics tracks and reports the number of visitors, the average time users spend on your Web site, the paths users take to navigate your content, and the points at which the visitor completely exits your site.
To avoid receiving inaccurate data, you should install the tracking code on every page of your site. This ensures that your reports are not skewed by visitors navigating to a page on your site that is not tracked. The optimal place for the Google Analytics tracking code is right before the </head> tag on each page. If you have a design that is template based, you may only have to paste the code in once to your template file. However, in some cases, a Webmaster must manually insert the tracking into each page.
Be cautious when installing your tracking code: If you do not correctly insert the entire code, Google Analytics cannot receive any data from your site. For this reason, the tracking code is presented inside a text box. This allows you to simply highlight the code and copy it to the Clipboard. After you paste the tracking code into your pages, double-check that you have inserted correctly.
Google Analytics provides a simple tool to check the proper installation of tracking code. At your Google Analytics home page, click Edit under the Settings column of the Web site profile you want to check. You are then taken to that site’s Settings page. In the upper-right corner, above the Main Website Profile Information box, there is a link named Check Status. Click the Check Status link, and you are then taken to a page that displays whether your Google Analytics tracking code has been correctly installed. The response “Receiving Data” means your code has been installed successfully.
After you have correctly installed your code, you can begin fully reporting data in approximately 24 hours. The statistics that Google Analytics reports are not real-time, and reports are generally updated every 24 hours. Delayed reporting is why the default date range in your reports does not include the current date, ending instead with the previous day’s statistics. This allows for a more accurate report because partial data from the current day is excluded.
