“Yes we all know, Google Analytics is free, easy to implement, and an important step in understanding what’s happening on my website. I know I’m making some sales because I am shipping products! But what about the data? I’m not sure how to read it. And I don’t even know if what’s in there is even accurate! How would I even know if something is broken?”
We hear this a lot from our clients, and nearly every Google Analytics audit we’ve ever conducted came alongside a website refresh or redesign. So if you’re going through that with your own business, know that it’s a good time to do an audit. However, even the most insignificant page edits can break your Analytics tracking or alter it in a way that renders the data not 100% reliable. No important business decisions can be made on unreliable data.Â
Finding a digital marketing agency for a Google Analytics audit is about more than finding an agency that knows how to read Google Analytics. An agency with in-depth knowledge across all digital and advertising channels, as well as one that has a diversified portfolio of clients and knows how to make sure all campaign roads end up in Google Analytics, are all critical pieces of the puzzle.Â
When choosing an agency to do an audit of your Google Analytics, essentially you’re saying “I need an expert to analyze the configuration and see if this thing is set up right.” Here are some of the questions you should be asking yourself:Â
- How much experience does this agency have with Google Analytics?Â
- How much does the agency know about Google Tag Manager?Â
- What does the agency know about Google Webmaster Tools?
- Does the agency run Google Ads and Microsoft Ads campaigns?
- What does the agency know about UTM tagging?
- How much experience does the agency have with social media campaigns?
- What does the agency know about call tracking?
- Is this agency doing any SEO work?
- Does this agency have examples of how they’ve successfully helped other clients with Google Analytics audits?Â
Digital marketing agencies with a well-versed resume of past and present work are a safer bet than a stand-alone analytics consultant who can analyze your reports and data but may not be in campaign trenches on a daily basis.  Â
When campaigns are set up, linked, and tagged correctly prior to sending any campaign data to Analytics, then it is likely Google Analytics data will be accurate. It only takes one product manager not tagging one link in an email blast to 100K customers for the traffic to end up in the Direct channel instead of the Email channel. Will sales be lost if data is in the wrong channel? Not really, but in order to know an email coupon worked effectively, the eCommerce data needs to be in the right channel in Analytics.
An agency is measured on performance. Performance is measured by what’s in analytics. The agency has a vested interest in being certain that analytics is configured correctly. The digital advertising agency with a client list from multiple verticals and offers a robust list of digital advertising services should be strongly considered when selecting a company to handle your Google Analytics audit.
Want to make sure your data is accurate so you can make the best marketing decisions? We can help. Call us at (443) 475-0787 today.Â
