Start with the right website and dates

Sign in to Google Analytics and check the property selector. A property is the place where Analytics collects and reports data for a website or app. If you manage several sites, make sure you've selected the right one. Creating an account alone doesn't start tracking: your website needs a web data stream, which connects it to the property, and an installed Google tag, the code that sends activity to Analytics.

Choose a complete period, such as the previous Monday through Sunday. Note the property's reporting timezone so you know where each day begins and ends. For a comparison, use another complete week with the same weekdays. Avoid comparing half of today with all of yesterday.

Don't assume the newest figures are final. Google says data processing can take 24–48 hours, and reports may change during that time. If you're checking a recent fall in visits, return after processing before treating it as a lasting change.

Sources: Google Analytics: set up a property, data stream, and tag · Google Analytics: data freshness

Find your visits in Traffic acquisition

Open Reports, then Acquisition > Traffic acquisition. If the report is missing, your navigation may be customized; ask someone with Editor or Administrator access to add it. Clear any report search or filter you don't mean to use, then read the Sessions total.

A session groups activity into a visit. By default, it times out after 30 minutes without activity. One person can have several sessions, so 500 sessions doesn't mean 500 different people.

To see where visits came from, use Session source / medium in the table's first-column menu. In google / organic, google is the source and organic means unpaid search. Use Traffic acquisition for visits; User acquisition groups data by how users first found you.

Sources: Google Analytics: Traffic acquisition report and Sessions · Google Analytics: User acquisition versus Traffic acquisition

Check which pages people viewed

Open Reports, then Engagement > Pages and screens. Keep the same dates. Choose Page path and screen class to read addresses such as /pricing/ instead of page titles. The page path is the part of the address after your domain; / means your homepage.

Views counts page displays, including repeat views. If someone opens your pricing page twice, both views count. This report includes pages seen anywhere in a visit. To find the first page of each visit, use the Landing page report instead.

Try looking up a page you recently shared. Did it receive views during the days you promoted it? That's a useful first check before investigating what readers did next.

Sources: Google Analytics: Pages and screens, Views, and page paths

Why are users, sessions, and views different?

They count different things. Total users counts distinct users who triggered an event, which is a recorded action. Active users counts users who meet GA4's activity criteria, such as having an engaged visit or a recorded first visit. Read the exact column label when writing down a user count; those two totals can differ.

Here's a made-up example. One person uses the same browser, with tracking working throughout. They view three pages on Monday, then return on Wednesday and view two more. Assume GA4 recognizes them as the same user across both visits.

  • Total users: 1.
  • Sessions: 2, one on each day.
  • Views: 5, counting all the page displays.

Sources: Google Analytics: Total users and Active users

Five page views can come from one person. When someone asks how much traffic you get, give the metric name and dates alongside the number.

What if the report is empty or looks wrong?

First check the selected property, dates, and filters. Then check with whoever maintains your website that the Google tag is installed and sending data to that property. If tracking has only just been added, start with dates after installation and allow time for processing.

Visitor consent can leave gaps. Some eligible setups include modeled data, which means estimates based on observed behavior; that isn't a guarantee that every missing visit is recovered. A setup that waits for consent before loading analytics won't record every visitor. Don't change visitors' privacy choices to make a report total larger.

For your first traffic note, write something like: 'GA4 recorded 240 sessions from 12–18 October, using the property timezone and no report filters.' That's a hypothetical example, not this site's traffic. Save the same report settings for your next check so you can compare like with like.

Sources: Google Analytics: setup and collection · Google Analytics: consent gaps and behavioral modeling requirements