I used to think my part was finished once I’d added the tracking code. Understanding the numbers was for marketing. Working at Digivizer helped me see why developers need to understand analytics too.
A business owner wants to know whether the website is helping, what needs attention, and what they should do next. Installing Analytics alone doesn’t answer those questions.
A dashboard full of numbers doesn’t answer those questions by itself. I have seen someone become more stressed after getting more data, because they didn’t know which part mattered.
What If We’re Comparing Different Keywords?#
One client had a merchandise store and a Semrush subscription. He was tracking a set of keywords he thought were relevant, and from that view, he thought there was no improvement. Some things even looked worse.
We had another set covering the product types and bands the store actually sold. When we showed him that set, the picture was different. We could see improvements that weren’t visible in the comparison he had been watching.
The tool wasn’t making up numbers. We were looking at different things and treating them as if they answered the same question.
If I didn’t understand which keywords mattered, I could have panicked along with him. Before defending the work or assuming it had failed, I needed to understand what we were comparing.
A Different Client, Too Much Data#
A different client was very focused on Semrush. He kept watching the data, and it became stressful rather than useful.
So I asked a different question. What was happening to the business results?
I introduced him to the Digivizer Platform and focused on the information from Google Analytics 4 and Google Search Console. That gave us a way to talk about the numbers that were relevant to him, instead of treating every movement as the same problem.
He eventually cancelled his Semrush subscription and focused on the actual site data. That wasn’t a verdict that one tool was bad and another was always better.
The point was that he needed to understand the business, not collect another set of numbers. More data wasn’t automatically the missing ingredient.
Why Should Web Developers Understand Analytics?#
We are often the people who connect the site to the tools. We add Google Analytics, install a pixel, or help set up an event when the client asks.
That work matters. But if I stop at “the code is installed,” I am only handling one part of the problem.
The next question is whether the implementation measures what the client actually cares about. After that comes understanding what the results can tell us.
That can also reveal work the site needs. If I understand the business question better, I can have a better conversation about what should be changed, added, or investigated.
I see that as part of delivering value. The opportunity isn’t to make a report look complicated enough to sell more work, but to make the next useful piece of work clearer.
What Should You Measure Beyond Page Views?#
The starting point should be the action that matters to the business. A store and a lead-generation site may both have visitors, but they aren’t necessarily trying to get the same result from those visits.
If you only know that traffic went up, you still haven’t answered whether the right people arrived or did anything useful. Not all traffic is equal.
In Google Analytics 4, important interactions can be measured as events and marked as key events. Google’s key-event documentation explains how those actions can be reported and how channels relate to them.
For example, a completed enquiry and a page view are different actions. Treating them as if they mean the same thing makes the conversation less useful.
Before setting up tracking, I would want to ask:
- What does the business want a visitor to do?
- Which event represents that action?
- Is that event being recorded correctly?
- Which sources or campaigns appear to bring people who take that action?
- What decision would the client make from knowing this?
Before adding an event, ask what you will do with the information. Will it help you decide what to improve on the website? If you can’t explain how you would use the number, reconsider whether you need to track it.
Is Installing Google Tag Manager Enough?#
No. Centralizing tags can make them easier to manage, but it doesn’t remove the need to understand and test them.
You still need to know what should fire, when it should fire, and what information it sends. Otherwise you can end up confidently reading data from an implementation you haven’t checked.
Google Tag Manager’s preview and debug tools let you inspect which tags fire and what triggers them before publishing a container configuration. That is more useful than assuming a pasted snippet means everything is finished.
Google Tag Manager helps organize your tracking code. You still need to check that it records the actions you intended, such as a completed enquiry rather than just a click on the submit button.
Why Doesn’t an Expensive Tool Automatically Give Better Results?#
Think about buying the signature guitar of your favorite artist. Owning it doesn’t mean you can play like that artist.
And if the artist picked up a cheap guitar, you would probably still hear who they are. The understanding and experience are in the person, not only in the instrument.
That is how I look at analytics tools. A good tool can give you useful information, but it can’t make every business question clear just because you pay for access.
I wasn’t telling my client that Semrush was useless. I was helping him see that the numbers he was watching weren’t the whole picture of his business.
Where Would I Start Learning?#
Start close to the work you already understand. If you work with SEO, connect what you know about search visibility with what happens after somebody reaches the website.
If you build forms or stores, understand how their important actions are measured. Then test the implementation and learn how to find those actions in the reports.
You don’t have to become an analyst in every possible area at once. But you should be able to explain what the tracking you installed is meant to tell someone.
This is also why I include tracking in my website checklist. Installing it is a starting point that needs a clear purpose and a check that it works.
For me, the useful change is moving from “I added Analytics” to “we can now look at this question more clearly.” That is something a client can use.
And when the client understands the website better, the conversation changes. You aren’t just the person adding code anymore; you can help connect the code, the information, and the next decision.
