Why Learn Google Analytics?

Our world runs on data, and web analytics helps to make sense of it. Programs like Google Analytics help Data Analysts to collect, analyze, and interpret data. Have you ever explored all of the things Google Analytics can do? People working with data must be multi-taskers with the patience to learn and work with powerful tools, as well as storytellers to share their findings so that strategies can be successful. Here, you’ll learn more about the careers that benefit from Google Analytics and how it can enhance your professional life. Regardless of your goals, learning Google Analytics is a valuable and impressive skill to add to your resume.

What is Google Analytics?

Google Analytics (or GA) is a tool within the Google Marketing Platform that collects and tracks user data, compiles it into reports, and helps you develop strategies to improve your website or app’s performance. To use GA, you will install a tracking code onto each page of your website. Google collects information about the visitors to your website and what they do there. Google Analytics can help you understand what’s working and what isn’t when it comes to digital marketing strategy, and the best part is that it is free to use.

Google Analytics can be useful simply for yourself if you’re a business owner, or you can use it as part of a marketing team within a larger company. Google Analytics allows you to tailor the data you choose to track depending on your goals. Because digital marketing depends upon identifying a highly targeted audience, GA is the foundation of a successful digital marketing campaign.

Read more about what Google Analytics is and why you should learn it.

What Can You Do with Google Analytics?

Google Analytics is a highly customizable, in-depth tool that offers insights to help your business thrive, and you can use it for free. Although it can initially feel overwhelming and complicated, the information GA provides is worth the effort.

The data that GA collects, stores, and reports on can help marketers learn what strategies are working and what aren’t. It can measure marketing efforts, both on and offline. It can help you make better, more savvy business decisions. The information Google Analytics provides can also identify specific problems or shortcomings on your website. The data you’ll get is specific, targeted information.

You can use Google Analytics to measure the customer experience from when they enter your website or app to when they leave. You can track valuable information such as how they found your site, who purchased something, what pages your visitors looked at, how they moved through the site, and so much more. And while it’s important to know where your website and business are thriving, it’s also critical to understand where you’re falling short and losing customers. Using Google Analytics can help with that, too.

Common Professional Uses for Google Analytics

Once you have mastered Google Analytics, you can move in several different directions. You can start a website of your own and use GA to meet your personal goals, or you can apply for jobs that require knowledge of GA. Some common job titles in this area might be Data Analyst, Digital Marketing Analyst, or Customer Engineer.

Data Analyst

Data Analysts use tools like Google Analytics to ​​assist companies with their marketing initiatives by providing analytical support, developing strategies, working on finding the right audiences, performing competitive analyses, and optimizing channels. The primary responsibilities of Data Analysts are researching trends, collecting data, analyzing statistics, developing marketing strategies based on the data collected, and presenting the results to clients and co-workers.

Data Analysts work in many fields, from healthcare and education to finance and entertainment. Data Analysts tend to be detail-oriented and good with numbers. They are typically well-organized multi-taskers with solid presentation skills, which allows them to regularly share their findings in a visually engaging manner.

Digital Marketing Analyst

A Digital Marketing Analyst is a Data Analyst who specializes in digital marketing. This usually involves working with companies using ecommerce to promote products or ideas. Digital Marketing Analysts work as part of a team, and it is their job to set up Google Analytics, collect and analyze data, and report their findings to the rest of the team.

Data Scientist

Data Scientists analyze extensive collections of data or content, making them understandable and useful. They need to know the difference between public and private data to keep the company they work for from breaking the law. Data science is a combination of statistics and mathematics and relies on many coding languages and analytics tools to transform raw data into a form people can use.

Customer Engineer

This is a job title that is gaining traction. It started with IBM and has spread to other companies and industries. A Customer Engineer works with agencies that contract with software companies to help customers understand how to use products and what they can do with them. Many companies like Google that create data analytics software hire Customer Engineers to help customers get the most out of their products like Google Analytics.

Build an Analytics Foundation

Web analytics is a foundational tool across different disciplines and industries. When you know how to use Google Analytics, you can work in web analytics in any area, from marketing and sales to communications and web development. Learning GA helps you pinpoint where your website or app is succeeding and where it needs improvement. You can also keep track of mentions on social media, in the news, in email marketing, and in blog posts using GA. And web analytics helps you pinpoint your target audience, saving you time and money.

Improve Soft Skills

In addition to an affinity for numbers and technology, making an effort to learn Google Analytics can help you improve upon soft skills or personality traits you already possess, such as:

• Good communication - Once Data Analysts have collected, analyzed, and organized the data, they need to communicate their findings to the marketing team and stakeholders. They need to interpret the reports and make sure everyone understands the insights.

• Critical thinking and problem-solving abilities - Identifying trends and patterns in data is an essential ability for Data Analysts, as is knowing what to do with that information.

• Working well with others. Although Data Analysts often work alone, they are usually a part of a team and need to get along and work well with others.

• Persistence. Web analytics can be complicated and time-consuming, so the ability to stick with tasks until you see results is an important skill for a Data Analyst.

Improve Marketable Skills

Knowing how to use Google Analytics is a highly marketable skill that can put you in an excellent position to land a job in several industries. Hiring managers react favorably when they see Google Analytics on a resume, which can increase your chances of getting a good job.

One way to demonstrate knowledge is to take a Google Analytics bootcamp or certificate course. This shows other professionals that you are accomplished and motivated to learn competitive skills.

How to Start Learning Google Analytics

You can learn Google Analytics in a number of ways. The choice is yours, from free video tutorials like Noble Desktop’s Intro to Google Analytics, to in-person, live online, or on-demand classes. Find a session in a brick-and-mortar classroom or a live online course with a similar set-up to in-person classes where a remote instructor can answer questions and take control of your monitor—with permission—to answer questions and demonstrate techniques. You can choose part or full-time classes on weekdays, weeknights, or weekends.

You can also sign up for asynchronous online classes that fit your schedule. You can watch the videos from anywhere and go at your own pace. Skillshare offers many Google Analytics courses, as does Udemy. Of course, you can also try Google Academy. One advantage to asynchronous video classes is that you can go back and watch the material as often as you need to. If a multi-day class feels like too much right now, you can try Noble’s Google Analytics in a Day and move on to a Google Analytics Bootcamp later.

Read the full guide on how to learn Google Analytics.

Learn Google Analytics with Hands-on Training at Noble Desktop

If you want to change careers and become a Digital Marketing Data Analyst, you can sign up for Google Analytics Bootcamp. This two-part class will teach you how to set up an account, know which metrics to track, and understand the Google Analytics reports. The classes also cover upcoming changes to Google Analytics when GA4 replaces GA Universal in July 2024.

Another way to prepare for a career as a Data Analyst is a digital marketing certificate course. Noble’s Digital Marketing Certificate includes the digital marketing, SEO, and Google Analytics bootcamps, plus Google Ads and classes on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok, and Twitter marketing, as well as content marketing with blogs.

Key Insights

• Google Analytics (GA) is a powerful free tool that collects data and offers insights into how to improve your online business.
• It can also help you see what your competition is doing right and wrong so that you can alter your strategy.
• Google Analytics can help you build a foundation in web analytics that you can use in several careers and industries.
• Learning GA can help you improve soft skills like communication, critical thinking, problem-solving, teamwork, and persistence.
• Knowing how to use GA makes your resume more attractive to hiring managers.
• You can receive comprehensive Google Analytics training through an in-person or live online course with Noble Desktop.