Google Analytics & Reporting: The Key to Accountability and Success

When it comes to running a business or managing marketing campaigns, owning and understanding your marketing data is crucial. Many business owners unknowingly put their success at risk by relying entirely on marketing agencies to manage their analytics. This approach can lead to poor accountability, lack of transparency, and loss of historical data.

Google Analytics and related tools offer actionable insights that allow businesses to track performance, make data-driven decisions, and hold marketing efforts accountable. At Digital Harvest, we emphasize a simple philosophy: data ownership is empowerment.

This blog will explore how Google Analytics and other tracking tools can keep your marketing on the right track. You’ll also learn the critical steps to ensure full control of your data and uncover ways to layer advanced tracking for maximum insights.

What Is Google Analytics & Why Does It Matter?

Did you know that Google Analytics, one of the most important tools, is used by approximately 44 million websites worldwide? This highlights its dominance in web analytics and its value for tracking performance.

Google Analytics is a robust tool that helps you track and analyze website performance, user behavior, and marketing results. It provides actionable insights, such as where traffic comes from, how users interact with your website, and which campaigns deliver the best ROI.

Why is this important? Simply put, data visibility keeps your business accountable by replacing gut decisions with measurable actions.

For example:

• Identify Strengths: Pinpoint which marketing channels drive traffic most efficiently.
• Uncover Weaknesses: Detect underperforming campaigns or high-bounce-rate pages that disrupt your customer’s buying process.
• Optimize Conversions: Track what turns website visitors into paying customers.

Avram Gonzales, CEO of Digital Harvest, sums it up best:

“If you don’t own your analytics, you’re giving away the keys to understanding your business.”

When businesses relinquish ownership to agencies or fail to set up the right tools, they risk losing valuable data and actionable insights—which can be catastrophic for sustained marketing success.

The Five Key Data Properties You Must Own

To fully control and monitor your marketing success, you need ownership of these five essential tools:

1. Google Analytics

Google Analytics tracks website traffic and measures critical behaviors like bounce rate, conversion events (e.g., form submissions), and session duration.

Without it, you’re driving blind. You can’t evaluate campaign performance, conversion rates, or user behavior without robust analytics. 

Relying on an agency to manage your account can create significant challenges:

• Fragmented setups that result in poor data quality.
• Loss of access to historical data if you decide to switch agencies.

To avoid these issues, consider maintaining ownership of your account for better control and long-term insights.

2. Google Search Console

Google Search Console provides essential insights into how your website performs in organic search. It allows you to:

• View keyword rankings, clicks, and impressions.
• Diagnose SEO problems like crawl errors or broken links.

Many SEO companies fail to integrate it properly, leaving clients unaware of their site’s search visibility.

3. Google Business Profile

For local businesses, your Google Business Profile is a key source of insights for customer interactions and search visibility. It allows you to track:

• Reviews
• Photos
• Search maps
• Metrics like calls and direction requests

Establishing a strong local presence fosters trust within your community and generates valuable leads.

4. Google Tag Manager

Google Tag Manager simplifies the management of tracking codes (or “tags”) on your website, ensuring seamless integration for advanced tracking capabilities. It serves as a centralized platform to consolidate all your marketing analytics tags, reducing the need for manual code implementation.

With Google Tag Manager, you can effortlessly track conversion activities like form submissions or button clicks, which are often overlooked in basic setups. This tool provides continuity and ease of use, especially when switching agencies or campaigns, ensuring your tracking remains consistent and accurate.

5. Google Ads (Bonus)

If your business is running paid search campaigns, owning your Google Ads account is non-negotiable.

If an agency controls your account, you risk losing historical campaign data, which impacts your ability to optimize future advertising strategies.

Owning all five of these tools ensures both full transparency and control of your marketing data.

Why Proper Setup Is Critical for Analytics Success

Achieving reliable and actionable analytics starts with centralized access. When businesses fail to manage all properties under a single account, they risk creating silos, inaccurate data, and poor decision-making. Here’s why centralized access matters and how to set it up effectively.

Why Centralized Access Is Crucial

• Uninterrupted Access: Protect critical accounts like Google Analytics, Google Ads, or Search Console from being lost if managed by external agencies or separate accounts.
• Streamlined Insights: Centralized access allows data to flow seamlessly across platforms, enabling comprehensive analysis.
• Historical Data Preservation: Keeping everything in one account protects your ability to retrieve valuable historical data for long-term comparisons.

Common Issues with Decentralized Accounts

• Properties (e.g., Analytics, Ads, Search Console) are spread across multiple Google accounts.
• Access is tied to an agency or third party, leading to restricted permissions.
• Misconfigured integrations due to fragmented setups, resulting in data gaps.

Steps to Establish Centralized Access

1. Assign Ownership to a Single Account: Grant your internal team admin-level access to all tools and use a primary business-owned Google account to manage all properties.
2. Integrate Essential Tools: Link Google Analytics, Google Ads, and Google Search Console under one account to simplify data management. Confirm that all tracking codes and integrations are properly configured for accurate performance monitoring.
3. Conduct Regular Audits: Use tools like Google Tag Assistant to identify and fix configuration issues. Additionally, review outdated or broken connections that may result from website or tool changes.
4. Maintain Consistency: Regularly review permissions to restrict access to authorized users only. Document the structure and hierarchy of linked properties to simplify management and keep things organized.

Benefits of Centralized Access

By adopting a centralized access strategy, you’ll not only streamline your analytics but also protect your data, enabling better insights and smarter decision-making for sustainable growth.

Beyond Analytics: Layering Call and Form Tracking

While Google Analytics provides excellent insights into traffic and user behavior, it doesn’t tell the full story of lead quality. Adding call and form tracking to your analytics stack ensures a more complete view of your marketing performance.

This action allows you to:

• Monitor the quality of inbound calls and forms to identify your most successful channels.
• Spot opportunities for improvement in underperforming campaigns.

Avram Gonzales emphasizes:

“If the phones aren’t ringing, the analytics don’t matter.”

At Digital Harvest, we integrate advanced call tracking solutions with Google Analytics to provide a holistic picture of performance. With this added layer, businesses can confidently attribute leads to specific campaigns, fine-tune their strategies, and get closer to their end goals.

How to Take Control of Your Data Today

To ensure that your analytics accurately reflect your business performance and support informed decision-making, it’s crucial to regain full ownership and control of your data. Follow these steps to take charge of your analytics and maximize their potential:

Step 1: Conduct an Audit

Start by conducting a thorough audit of your Google properties to confirm ownership and access. This includes verifying ownership of your Google Analytics, Google Ads, and other relevant accounts. If necessary, set up new accounts to ensure you have full control and visibility.

Step 2: Assign the Right Roles

Assign administrative access to trusted individuals within your team. Business owners or key team members should have admin access to all relevant accounts. This empowers them to manage and monitor analytics effectively, ensuring accountability and timely decision-making.

Step 3: Partner with the Right Agency

Choose a trusted agency that prioritizes data ownership and transparency, like Digital Harvest. Collaborating with an agency that respects your data and works with you as a partner ensures that your analytics are in capable hands. It allows for seamless integration of advanced tracking solutions and provides expert guidance to optimize your analytics strategy.

Step 4: Monitor Regularly

Schedule regular reviews of your analytics and tracking data to spot trends and issues early. Monthly reviews enable you to monitor performance, identify areas for improvement, and make data-driven decisions to achieve your business goals.

The Power of Accountability: Why Ownership Matters

Protect Your Investment

Securing data ownership is essential to safeguarding your marketing efforts. It provides transparency and prevents data loss when switching agencies or vendors. By maintaining control of your analytics properties, you can rest assured that your valuable data remains secure and accessible.

Build Confidence in Your Marketing Decisions

Owning your analytics means relying on accurate and reliable data. With ownership, you can make informed decisions based on trustworthy insights. This empowers you to:

• Optimize your marketing strategies
• Allocate resources effectively
• Drive better results for your business

The Long-Term Payoff

Owning your analytics enables year-over-year comparisons, giving you the ability to:

• Track progress
• Identify trends
• Make smarter, data-driven decisions

This long-term perspective helps you refine your marketing efforts, ensuring sustained growth and success.

Owning your data is key to successful marketing. Don’t leave your success up to chance—take control of your data and make it work for your business. Accountability can drive real results!

Your Marketing Can’t Afford Blind Spots

When it comes to marketing success, data is your most valuable asset. Owning and properly managing your analytics properties ensures two vital things—accountability and transparency.

By layering call and form tracking, ensuring proper setup, and partnering with the right experts, you’ll have a clear view of where your marketing dollars are going and what results they’re generating.

Ready to regain control of your data? Get in touch with us at Digital Harvest or connect with Avram Gonzales on LinkedIn to take the first step toward smarter, data-driven marketing decisions.