Adding Google Analytics to a WashU Site

Set up Google Analytics as soon as your site launches to start collecting data right away.

Google Analytics provides valuable insights into how people use your site. It must be added to your site for data to be tracked. There is no way to track data retroactively!

FOR MED SCHOOL WEBSITES

If you’re at the School of Medicine, please contact sites@wustl.edu prior to setting up a Google Analytics account on your site.

If you’re transferring Google Analytics from an existing website to a new site that’s replacing it, skip to step 2.

How to add Google Analytics to your site

1. Create a Google Analytics account

A single Google Analytics account  can track up to 100 websites (called “properties” in Analytics-speak), so if you already have a Google Analytics account, you can skip this step.

First you need to create a Google account, if your office doesn’t already have one. We recommend using a shared @wustl.edu email — like myoffice@wustl.edu — to create this account, rather than an individual or a personal email address. You can give others access once the account created, and since it isn’t tied to an individual, your office will always have access, even if the person who created the account is out of office.

Once you have a Google account, you can sign up for Google Analytics.

Set up a Google Analytics account

Giving your team access

Now that your Google Analytics account is set up, you can add more users. In most cases, we recommend adding users at the account level, rather than the property level.

In addition to colleagues and collaborators, you can add your friendly, local marketing and communications office as a user! That way we can more easily provide support when you need it.

  • University Marketing & Communications:
    wustlweb@gmail.com
  • WashU Medicine Marketing & Communications:
    mpa@wusm.wustl.edu

2. Set up a property for your site in Google Analytics

Within your Google Analytics account, a property is what tracks metrics on a specific website. In 2019, Google announced that its standard property type, called Universal Analytics, would be replaced with a new type, called Google Analytics 4. Standard Universal Analytics properties stopped tracking new data on July 1, 2023.

For a new site:
Log into your Google Analytics account and create a new web property.

If transferring Analytics from an existing website to a new site:
Log into your Google Analytics account and update the property URL. If the URL for the existing site and new site are the same, skip this step.

For a site that has an existing Universal Analytics property:
Use the GA4 setup assistant provided by Google. If you have both types of properties — Universal Analytics (old) and Google Analytics 4 (new) — they will exist in parallel. When you log into Google Analytics, use the property selector to view either version.

3. Connect your site to Google

  1. In the left menu of your site’s dashboard, go to Statistics + GTM > Google Analytics.
  2. Go to the Account tab.
  3. At the top of the page, makes sure Google Analytics 4 is selected in the dropdown.
  4. Enter your Measurement ID (G-XXXXXXXXXX), which Google may also refer to as the Google tag ID.
  5. Click the Save Changes button at the bottom.
  6. Within a day or so, log in to your Google Analytics account to confirm that data is being collected. Going forward, you can log into Google Analytics any time to see how your site is performing.

Want to improve how your site ranks in Google search? Read tips to optimize your website for search engines.

More launch critical guides

Adding Google Analytics to a WashU Site

Set up Google Analytics as soon as your site launches to start collecting data right away.

Archiving or Decommissioning a Site

Remove your site from public view without permanently deleting the content.

Making a Site Visible to Search Engines

To publicly “launch” a site, change the visibility settings so search engines can find it. 

Moving or Replacing an Existing Website

If your new WashU Site is replacing an existing website, you’ll need to take a few additional steps to get ready for launch.

Planning Redirects When Replacing a Site

If you already have a website, launching a new site will break many or all of the links and bookmarks to the pages on your old site.

Setting Redirects

A redirect automatically forwards a website’s visitors from one URL (web address) to another.

Website Checklist

Check through these high-level best practices and content needs to prepare, launch or audit your site.

Working with Google Apps

Use a shared @wustl.edu email address for Analytics, Maps and YouTube.