Analytics without action is just numbers on a screen. But acting without analytics is just guessing with confidence. The trick isn't tracking more - it's tracking the few things that actually tell you something, and then doing something about them.
Start with Core Web Vitals
This is the baseline, and Google literally rewards you for it. Three numbers worth knowing:
- LCP (loading) - aim under 2.5s
- INP (responsiveness, the metric that replaced FID) - keep it snappy
- CLS (does the layout jump around while loading) - under 0.1
If these are bad, fix them before anything else. A beautiful site that loads slowly still loses.
In GA4, track three things
Not everything - three things. Where people come from (so you know where to invest), how they move through the site (so you find where the funnel leaks), and the actions that actually count as success - form submits, sign-ups, purchases. Set those up as events. If you're not tracking conversions, you're just measuring vanity.
The tools that show you why
Numbers tell you what happened. To see why, watch real sessions. Hotjar or Microsoft Clarity (free) show you where people click, scroll, and hesitate. Watching someone rage-click a button that isn't clickable teaches you more than a bounce-rate chart ever will.
Don't ignore Search Console
It's free and it tells you exactly what people search before they land on you, where you rank, and whether Google's hitting technical errors. I check it on every project.
Put it in one place
Wire GA4, Search Console, and your hosting metrics into a single Looker Studio dashboard (also free), and actually look at it weekly. Set alerts for big drops so you hear about problems before your customers do. A dashboard you never open is just decoration.