With Google Analytics, you'll be able to browse and analyze lots of data: number of visitors, pages viewed, time spent on your marketplace, traffic sources, etc. Sharetribe Go has built-in support for Google Analytics. Google Analytics is free to use.
In Sharetribe Go, both Google Universal Analytics and Google Analytics 4 are supported. We strongly advise using GA4, as Universal Analytics' end-of-life has been announced by Google.
How to create a Google Analytics account
Log in with a Google account or create a new one.
Go to "Admin" from the bottom left corner and select "+ Create Account" from the top of the first column.
Input an account name and review the data-sharing settings. Then click "Next".
Name your property and review the details (country, report timezone, ...).
If you want to, answer some business questions. Then click "Create".
Accept Google's Terms of Service and Data Processing Terms.
Choose "Web" as the platform to collect data from.
Add your marketplace website URL and name this data stream. You can leave "Enhanced measurement" but you may want to review the defaults to adjust to your unique case and track only what you need, no more. Then click "Create stream".
On the "Web stream details", from the "Stream details" section, copy the "Measurement ID". It should be in the format "G-XXXXXX".
If another layer/screen named "Installation instructions" with details on how to "Install your Google tag" opened, you can close it.
Your Google Analytics account is now created, and you have your tracking ID. Next up, add it to your marketplace to track traffic.
How to configure your Google Analytics Tracking ID in your Sharetribe Go marketplace
Now, you'll have to copy some information about your Google Analytics account to use it within your marketplace.
Get the "Tracking ID" or "Measurement ID" of your Google Analytics account related to your marketplace (see the instructions above). It should look something like "G-XXXXXX". If your Tracking ID is in the format "UA-XXXXX-XX", that works too and you may want to consider switching to Google Analytics 4 by following Google's instructions.
Log in to your Sharetribe marketplace. You must be logged in as an administrator.
Open your Admin panel.
Select "Analytics / Google Analytics" from the left-hand menu.
Add your "Tracking ID" to the "Google Analytics tracking ID" field.
Click on "Save settings".
That's it! Google Analytics is now active and set!
Traffic from your marketplace will start to appear within 24 hours in your Google Analytics account, and you should already be able to view some from the Realtime report in your Google Analytics account.
How to use Google Analytics
Google Analytics is easy to use but can also be quite an overwhelming tool. You can learn more about Google Analytics from the official Help and Support channels at Google and browse tons of resources online!
What about events in Google Analytics
Right now, it isn't possible to add new events as this would require access to the back-end and code, which isn't available in the hosted version of Sharetribe Go.
GA4 has some on-the-fly event capabilities, so you may want to research these possibilities. Finally, you could possibly use your own Google Tag Manager setup for managing your own events.
If you're still using Google Universal Analytics, you may be able to use the (now deprecated and no longer maintained) built-in events. You can learn more in this article.
What to do next
You can filter spam bots in Google Analytics and track searches in your marketplace. You can also set up your Google Tag Manager and handle some more analytics and events there.