Google Analytics is Google's free web analytics platform, tracking who visits a site, where they came from, what they do once they're there, and whether they complete the actions that actually matter to the business. Installing a tracking snippet (directly, or through Google Tag Manager) is what connects a site to the platform and starts the data flowing.
The current version, GA4, replaced the older Universal Analytics in 2023 and works differently under the hood: it's built around individual events rather than sessions and pageviews as the primary unit, which changes how metrics like bounce rate are calculated and reported compared to the older version. In practice, most sites use it to answer a small set of recurring questions: which channels bring the most valuable traffic, which pages and content perform best, where visitors drop off before converting, and how changes to a site or campaign actually move those numbers. It pairs closely with Google Search Console, which covers organic search performance specifically in more depth than Analytics does on its own.
