What Is Google Analytics? A Complete Look at Its Advantages and Disadvantages

Imagine you own a small shop. Every day you open the doors, but you never know how many people walk in, what they buy, or why some of them just look around and leave. Naturally, you would have no idea what needs to improve or how to increase your sales.

A website works in exactly the same way.

If you don’t know how many people visit your site, where they come from, what they click on, and why they leave, you are essentially working in the dark. This is where Google Analytics steps in and shows you what is really happening behind the scenes of your website.

Google Analytics is like a smart, invisible camera that quietly observes user behavior without disturbing anyone. It shows you which pages are more popular, when your traffic peaks, how many users come from mobile and how many from desktop. You can even see which cities your visitors come from and how quickly they leave a page.

These simple-looking numbers, when put together, turn into a precise map of your website’s growth path.

If you run an online store, Google Analytics helps you understand which products sell better, from which pages users enter the checkout process, and why some of them abandon their purchase halfway through.
If you are a blogger, you can see which articles attract more readers and which topics simply do not interest your audience.

In simple terms, Google Analytics is a tool for smart decision-making. It tells you exactly where to invest your time and energy to get real results.

But what many people don’t realize is that Analytics is not just a basic statistics tool. It is far more than that.

This service acts like a digital consultant. It analyzes user behavior and shows you what works well on your site and what needs improvement. From bounce rate to time spent on each page, everything is measured with remarkable precision.

That is why Google Analytics has become an essential tool for every type of business — from a small personal blog to a large online store.

Of course, entering the world of Google Analytics can feel confusing at first, especially for those who are new to the web. It is full of charts, numbers, and technical terms.
But once you learn how to use it, it feels like you have been given a golden key that unlocks the true analysis of your website.

From that point on, your decisions are no longer based on guesswork — they are based on real data.

In the rest of this article, we will explore step by step how Google Analytics works, what its advantages and disadvantages are, why some people have stopped using it, and what alternatives exist for Iranian websites.

So if you want to know whether you really need Google Analytics or not, stay with me until the end of this article — because we are going to talk about everything, openly and honestly.

How Does Google Analytics Work, and What Data Does It Actually Provide?

When people hear the name Google Analytics, many imagine a complicated tool full of code and technical jargon. In reality, it is much simpler than it seems.

Google Analytics uses a small tracking code that you place on your website. This single piece of code works like an invisible sensor on every page and immediately starts collecting data about your visitors.

This data includes things such as the user’s country and city, their device type, the browser they use, how long they stay on your site, and which pages they open.

The interesting part is that Google Analytics does not just show you raw numbers. It turns those numbers into meaningful reports. For example, if you see that most visitors leave from a specific page, you know that page has a problem — maybe the content is weak, or the loading speed is slow.
Or imagine you have another page where users stay for several minutes after entering. This tells you that the page is engaging, and you should optimize other pages in a similar way.

Google Analytics assigns a unique identifier to each visitor. This allows you to understand how many times a person returns to your site, how much time passes between visits, and which channels they use to enter. A user might first come from Google search, the second time from social media, and the third time by typing your address directly. With this information, you can see which acquisition channels are more effective and where you should focus your efforts.

All of this data is displayed in the dashboard using visual charts and tables, so even without technical knowledge, you can easily understand the trends.

When you suddenly see traffic rising on a specific page, it likely means that page has ranked on Google or gone viral on social media. Or if product sales drop, you can check whether users are leaving during the payment step. This is why Google Analytics is not just a statistics tool — it is a roadmap for growing your business. Of course, all of this is accurate only if the tracking code is installed correctly and pages load properly. For this reason, developers usually check the Real-Time section after setup.

This section shows, moment by moment, how many users are currently on the site, which pages they are on, and where they came from. Watching this part is genuinely exciting, because you can feel that your website is alive and interacting with real people in real time. At its core, the philosophy of Google Analytics is simple: every user action is valuable data.
When you learn how to read these numbers correctly, each one becomes a message that helps you make smarter decisions.

The Advantages of Using Google Analytics for Websites and Businesses

If you want to choose just one tool to understand user behavior on your website, Google Analytics is without doubt one of the best options. It gives you exactly what every site owner and business manager needs: a clear picture of how users behave, why some pages perform well, and why others do not.

Imagine opening your Analytics dashboard one day and seeing that most of today’s visitors came from mobile, from a specific city, and clicked mostly on one product.
This simple insight immediately tells you where real sales are happening and where you should focus your marketing efforts.

High Accuracy

One of Google Analytics’ greatest strengths is its extraordinary level of detail.

It does not just tell you how many people visited your site. It shows you where they came from, how long they stayed, which page they left from, and whether they completed a purchase. You can even follow the user’s path from entry to exit, see where they paused, and where they gave up. This gives you a live, realistic picture of user behavior — with no guessing involved.

By connecting to Google account data, Analytics can also estimate age, gender, interests, and device usage. For marketing, this information is extremely valuable. It allows you to design content and campaigns for the exact audience that actually visits your site.

Powerful Tools for Analyzing User Behavior

Google Analytics offers a very useful feature called Behavior Flow, which works like a visual map of user journeys.

It shows where users enter, which pages they visit, and where they finally leave.
If you notice that many users leave when they reach the shopping cart page, you immediately know where the problem is — maybe the design is weak or the checkout process is too long. With a single chart, you can make dozens of smart decisions and significantly improve your conversion rate.

Comprehensive Reports

Another major advantage is the Real-Time reporting section. Here you can see how many users are on your site right now, where they came from, which page they are on, and how long they have stayed. It gives you the feeling that your website is alive and that you are watching your audience’s pulse in real time.

This is especially useful when running advertising campaigns, because you can measure their impact instantly.

Free to Use

Perhaps one of the most important points is that Google Analytics is completely free. Despite all these powerful features, you do not have to pay anything to use it. You only need a Google account and a correctly installed tracking code.

Of course, proper setup is critical. A small mistake in installation can lead to inaccurate data.

Overall, the advantages of Google Analytics are so significant that almost no professional website operates without it. From online stores to news sites and educational platforms, everyone relies on this tool to understand what drives growth and what parts of their site need improvement.

Google Analytics or WordPress Analytics Plugins? Which One Is Better?

This is a question many people eventually ask: after all these explanations, is Google Analytics really better, or are plugins like WP Statistics and Matomo a smarter choice?

The honest answer is that it depends on your website and your goals. Each of these tools has its own strengths and limitations. So let’s look at this in a simple, realistic way and see which option makes more sense, especially for Iranian websites.

If we compare Google Analytics in terms of accuracy and depth, it is almost unmatched. There is no WordPress plugin that can truly compete with the level of detail Google provides. From real-time data to full user journeys between pages, conversion rates, traffic from search engines, and even behavior across different devices — Google Analytics covers all of it.

The problem is that for Iranian users, things are rarely that simple. Because of sanctions and filtering, data is often incomplete, dashboards may fail to load, and access is not always reliable.

On the other hand, analytics plugins such as WP Statistics or Matomo may not offer the same analytical depth, but they are far more stable and accessible in practice. For example, WP Statistics stores all data inside your own website. This means that even if the internet is unstable or certain services are blocked, your statistics continue to work normally. With a single click, you can see daily visits, user browsers, popular pages, and traffic sources — all without depending on external servers. another important difference is the style of use.

Google Analytics is ideal for those who need deep analysis of user behavior and serious advertising campaigns. For example, a large online store that wants to know which banner generates more sales, or which path causes customers to leave.

But if your main goal is simply to know how many people visited your site, where they came from, and how long they stayed, WordPress analytics plugins are more than enough. You should also consider website performance.

Because Google Analytics runs on Google’s own servers, it puts almost no pressure on your hosting.
Plugins like WP Statistics, however, store data in your own database. If your traffic grows significantly, this can slightly slow down the WordPress dashboard. That said, with good hosting and regular database cleanup, this issue is usually easy to manage.

In the end, if your audience is mainly Iranian and you cannot always access Google Analytics because of filtering or national internet limitations, using a reliable plugin like WP Statistics or Matomo is the safer choice.

But if your website is international and you need deep, precise analytical data, Google Analytics is still the best option available.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

If you have read this article carefully so far, you probably now have a clear picture of Google Analytics and alternative analytics tools. The truth is simple: no tool is perfect.What matters most is choosing the right tool based on your own conditions.

Google Analytics is an extremely powerful platform that provides deep and detailed data. But for those who deal with local internet limitations, access is not always easy. Sometimes the dashboard does not load at all, and sometimes data is incomplete — which makes decision-making difficult.

On the other hand, WordPress analytics plugins like WP Statistics and tools like Matomo may not offer the same level of detail, but they have one major advantage: they are always accessible. You can check your statistics anytime, without worrying about sanctions, filtering, or slow connections. Your data is stored on your own server, and you remain fully in control of it.

So if your website is mainly for Iranian users and your hosting is inside Iran, using a reliable analytics plugin is the most logical and stable choice. But if your website targets an international audience or you run international advertising campaigns, Google Analytics is still the most accurate and professional option available.

In reality, the choice depends on one key question: do you need maximum analytical depth, or do you need permanent access and stability?

One final point is worth remembering. Analytics tools are not just for curiosity. Every number you see carries a message. If a page has a high number of visits, it means the topic is attractive and you should create more content like it. If a page has a high exit rate, it means something is wrong there. The most important skill is not installing an analytics tool — it is learning how to use data to improve your website, day by day.

In the end, it does not matter whether you use Google Analytics or a local analytics plugin. What truly matters is living with data. Because when you take numbers seriously, your decisions are no longer based on guesses — they are based on reality and that is where real growth begins.

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