Google Analytics Change Domain – Instructions

I received another computer request. This one did NOT deal with troubleshooting. Here is the original initial request:

“I set up Google Analytics on my web site a couple of weeks ago. I decided to change the domain name last week and I don’t know how to switch over the Google Analytics account to my new domain name. I just changed the domain name last week.

I have tried looking up how to assign a new domain name to my google analytics account since making the change. Could not find it.”

Here is my initial original response:

You can change the domain name of your web property in Google Analytics. Log in to Google Analytics. Click on “Admin”.

Browse to the web property that you want to edit. In the “Property” column click on “Default URL”. Type in your new domain URL.

Finally, click on “Save”. This should change your domain in Google Analytics. This individual was able to successfully change their Google Analytics domain with these instructions.

Google Analytics is a free tool that allows you to track your website visitors. I have NOT used this tool in almost a decade. I am NOT a big fan of Google Corporation and attempt to reduce my reliance on them.

However, at times it can by quite difficult to avoid their services. In order to use Google Analytics, you must create a Google account. Then you must login and obtain some code that you will inject into any web page and or website that you have control over.

There are some free plugins available for content management systems like WordPress. These plugins will inject this Google Analytics code into every WordPress post and page for you. Google Analytics can slow down your website.

Besides what other data does Google actually track from your website that they do NOT tell you about? If you are a beginner hosting websites you may want to use Google Analytics so that you learn how to properly track website visitors. I will say this about Google Analytics, for a free tool, you receive quite a bit of data regarding your web traffic.

Currently, I do NOT obsess over reviewing my web traffic reports. However, reviewing web traffic reports, like Google Analytics can help you with your search engine optimization campaigns. You can find out this type of information about your web visitors:

* visitors per day
* unique visitors per day
* repeat visitors
* visitor time on your website
* keyword searches
* organic traffic
* referral traffic
* referring website
* visitor activity
* bounce percentage
* pages per session
* average session time
* type of device used

The list goes on and on and on. You may find some of this data valuable. I am more concerned with creating content and attracting visitors then obviously worrying about my website statistics.

However, with a free tool like Google Analytics you can learn how to track your website visitors. There may be some data that helps you attract more traffic. You might be able to find out what is working on your website and vice versa.

This could be useful to find out what is NOT working on your website. Once you have mastered Google Analytics, perhaps you may want to use a tool that will help you convert those website visitors.