Using Google Analytics for Real-Time Website Traffic Analysis

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) provides a Realtime report that allows you to monitor website traffic as it happens, giving immediate insights into user activity, traffic sources, and user behaviour on your site or app.

To use Google Analytics for real-time website traffic analysis:

1. Access the Realtime report by signing into Google Analytics, navigating to Reports, and selecting Realtime from the left menu.
2. The Realtime report displays interactive cards showing:
   • How users enter your conversion funnel.
   • Traffic sources and locations.
   • User engagement with content and events.
3. You can monitor the immediate impact of marketing campaigns, social media posts, or site changes on traffic.
4. The report includes a User snapshot feature that lets you view detailed activity for individual users, including device, app version, and triggered events.
5. You can apply comparisons to evaluate subsets of your traffic side by side, such as comparing different age groups or campaigns.

Key points to consider:

• The Realtime report is designed for timely data delivery but may occasionally experience slight delays or disruptions.
• GA4’s Realtime report consolidates what was multiple sections in Universal Analytics into a single, more interactive interface.
• For accurate location data in Realtime and other reports, GA4 relies on IP addresses; use of VPNs or proxies may affect location accuracy.
• To improve tracking accuracy, especially for traffic sources, use URL tagging to reduce “Direct/None” or “(not set)” values in reports.

This real-time monitoring capability is valuable for quickly assessing the effectiveness of short-term campaigns, verifying tracking setup, and understanding immediate user behaviour on your website.