Guides

Plausible, Matomo, Fathom, PostHog and Mixpanel compared with Google Analytics 4 by the job each one does, with honest reasons to stay on GA4.

The difference between web analytics (sessions and sources) and product analytics (users and events over time), with examples of the questions each answers.

What the five UTM parameters do, naming rules that keep reports clean, common mistakes, and a free in-browser UTM builder.

First-click, last-click, linear, time-decay, position-based and data-driven attribution, explained with one worked example and how to pick one.

How to run an A/B test on a small site, how much traffic you need, how to read statistical significance, and when not to test. With a free calculator.

GA4 event tracking step by step: automatic, enhanced measurement, recommended and custom events, key events, custom dimensions, and how to test them.

What Consent Mode v2 is, the four consent signals, basic versus advanced mode, when it is required, and what modelled data can and cannot recover.

How server-side Google Tag Manager works, what it improves (control, cookie life, page speed), what it does not change (consent), and what it costs to run.

The usual reasons GA4 disagrees with Google Ads, Shopify, Search Console and your CRM: consent, ad blockers, attribution, dates, thresholds and definitions.

What medical, dental and therapy practices need to know about GA4, ad pixels and call tracking under HIPAA, the HHS tracking bulletin and the FTC.

Google Tag Manager set-up step by step: account and container, the two snippets, the Google tag for GA4, preview with Tag Assistant, and publishing versions.

Three reliable ways to track form submissions in GTM and send them to GA4 as generate_lead: the Form Submission trigger, a thank-you page, and a data layer push.

Build a GA4 funnel exploration step by step: open vs closed funnels, directly vs indirectly followed by, elapsed time, next action and breakdowns, with a lead-gen example.

GA4 cross-domain measurement step by step: where the setting lives, the _gl parameter, how to test it, self-referrals, and the redirects and scripts that break it.

Exclude your own team's visits from GA4: define internal traffic by IP, create the data filter, test before activating, and handle remote staff and developer traffic.

How the free GA4 to BigQuery export works: daily vs streaming export, the 1 million events a day limit on standard properties, table names, sandbox, and what it costs.

Self-hosted analytics compared: Matomo On-Premise vs Plausible Community Edition, server requirements and sizing, what you give up, and where to host them.

What a cohort retention table shows, how to read the triangle, standard vs rolling vs cumulative retention, and how to build a cohort exploration in GA4.

Three ways to track calls from Google Ads (call assets, website call conversions and a call tracking platform), what each one misses, and how to set them up.

What call tracking is, how dynamic number insertion works, which businesses benefit, and what to check before you buy a platform.

How to record the source, campaign and keyword of every form lead, in GA4 and in your CRM, and when a lead tracking platform is worth it.

A measurement setup for plumbers, HVAC, roofers, cleaners and other local services: Business Profile, calls, forms, booked jobs and cost per job.

How a law firm can measure which marketing produces signed cases: intake calls, forms and chats, call recording consent, and confidentiality.

How B2B visitor identification works, what match rates to expect, the privacy rules to know, and how to turn a list of companies into sales conversations.

What a good monthly client report contains, which parts to automate with a dashboard, and how to choose between Looker Studio and a dedicated platform.

Connect GA4 to Looker Studio, build a one-page marketing dashboard, avoid GA4 API quota errors, and know when a reporting tool beats a home-made dashboard.

How to ask the NPS question, calculate the score, choose when and where to survey, and turn the follow-up comments into decisions.

NPS, CSAT and CES compared: the question each asks, how to calculate it, and when each one is the right measure of customer experience.

How interactive content (calculators, quizzes, assessments) captures leads and first-party data, which formats suit which businesses, and how to measure it.

What social listening is, the keywords to track, how to read sentiment and reach, and a weekly routine a small team can keep up.

Free and paid ways to find every mention of your brand on the web, social media, news, forums and reviews, and what to do with them.

A practical method for social media ROI: what to count as return, UTM tagging, GA4 channel reports, platform metrics that matter, link-in-bio tracking and the ROI formula.

Which Amazon metrics matter (profit per SKU, TACoS, organic rank, buy box, stock cover), where Seller Central falls short, and when a platform helps.

Shopify analytics versus GA4, setting up the Google and YouTube app and customer events, the store metrics that matter, and when to add surveys or quizzes.

GA4 ecommerce tracking: the recommended events from view_item to purchase and refund, the items array, transaction_id deduplication, and how to check revenue against your store.

Predictive analytics in plain terms: what it predicts (churn, lifetime value, lead score, demand), the data you need, and how a smaller business starts.

When a no-code predictive analytics platform makes sense, when to build your own model, and what training your own model costs in people and compute.

How to calculate customer lifetime value, customer acquisition cost, CAC payback and churn for a SaaS or subscription business, and what the ratios mean.

How to find out whether ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Copilot and Google AI Overviews mention your brand, which sources they cite, and what to measure over time.

The SEO numbers worth watching (clicks, impressions, queries, landing-page conversions), where to find them free, and which popular metrics to ignore.

Data enrichment explained: what it fills in, how waterfall enrichment works, accuracy and decay, privacy rules, and when to enrich at the form or in the CRM.

How import and export shipment records work, what they reveal about buyers and suppliers, their limits, and how to use them for prospecting and sourcing.

What click, scroll and move heatmaps and session recordings show, what they cannot tell you, how much traffic you need, privacy and masking, and free options.

Open rate after Apple Mail Privacy Protection, click rate, click-to-open, bounces, unsubscribes and spam complaints, with Gmail's 0.3% spam-rate line and how to measure revenue per email.