Google Analytics (GA4) + Squarespace Analytics: Creating a Symbiotic Relationship in Customer Insights and Behavior
Anytime I work with a client who uses Squarespace as their CMS or e-commerce platform. I always set-up Google Analytics in conjunction with their website. With the recent introduction of Google Analytics 4 (GA4), the relevance of integrating Google Analytics with Squarespace has become even more pronounced.
In this article, I'll dive deep into the differences between Squarespace Analytics and Google Analytics, why you need to use Google Analytics with Squarespace, and the distinctions in reporting and tracking between the two platforms.
An Overview of Google Analytics
Google Analytics is a comprehensive web analytics tool that provides insights into website traffic, user behavior, and conversion metrics. It's become the industry standard for web analytics due to its robust feature set and easy integration with various platforms, including Squarespace.
Introduction to Google Analytics 4 (GA4)
Google Analytics 4, often abbreviated as GA4, is the latest iteration of Google Analytics. It emphasizes privacy, artificial intelligence (AI), and seamless tracking across various platforms and devices. The AI-driven insights generated by GA4 can predict user behavior, thereby enabling businesses to optimize their marketing strategies based on data-driven insights.
Squarespace Analytics: An In-Built Tool for Squarespace Users
Squarespace Analytics is an integrated analytics tool available to users of the popular website builder, Squarespace. It offers a variety of pre-configured reports, making it an excellent starting point for businesses new to analytics. While it may not offer the same level of flexibility as Google Analytics, it does provide a simplified, user-friendly way to track key website metrics.
The Symbiotic Relationship Between GA4 and Squarespace Analytics
While both Google Analytics and Squarespace Analytics offer valuable insights, they complement each other rather than compete. Squarespace Analytics is perfect for beginners, providing simple, easy-to-understand reports.
On the other hand, Google Analytics, with its advanced features and customization options, is ideal for more in-depth analysis. Using both platforms in tandem allows for a more comprehensive understanding of your website's performance.
Why You Need to Use Google Analytics with Squarespace
While Squarespace Analytics is a powerful tool, there are several reasons why you should also use Google Analytics:
Comprehensive Data: Google Analytics provides more extensive data, offering numerous reports, segments, and dimensions that you can customize according to your needs.
Predictive Analytics: GA4 uses machine learning to predict future user behavior, something that Squarespace Analytics does not offer.
Integration with Other Tools: Google Analytics integrates seamlessly with various other platforms and tools, enhancing its analytical capabilities.
Data Retention: If you decide to move away from Squarespace in the future, you'll lose access to Squarespace Analytics data. However, since Google Analytics is platform-independent, you'll retain all your data.
Understanding the Differences: Squarespace Analytics vs. Google Analytics
While both platforms offer valuable insights, their methodologies for data calculation differ significantly, leading to discrepancies in reported data. Here are a few key differences:
Traffic Referrals: Squarespace defines a site referral as a visitor's last click. Google Analytics, however, employs various attribution models, leading to potentially different referral data.
Internal Traffic: Squarespace excludes your site visits while you're logged in. Google Analytics, on the other hand, requires a filter to exclude your IP address.
Non-Human Traffic: Both platforms have measures to filter non-human traffic such as bots and crawlers, but their methods differ.
Visitor Activity: Squarespace reports full site visitor activity, while Google Analytics may use sampled data for some reports.
E-commerce: Google Analytics may occasionally miss e-commerce orders, while Squarespace's server-side tracking offers more reliable conversion data.
Location: Both platforms track IP addresses for location, but their methods differ, leading to potential discrepancies in geographic data.
You Need Both in Order to Dimensionalize and Understand Behavior
Using Google Analytics, especially the move to GA4, with Squarespace Analytics results in a comprehensive understanding of what people want from you, and also what they don’t. While Squarespace Analytics offers a user-friendly interface and easy-to-understand reports, Google Analytics provides more extensive and customizable data, predictive analytics, and seamless integrations with other tools. Bottom line, you need both.
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