Web Analytics for Builders
Analytics tells you what is actually happening on your product — who is visiting, where they come from, what they do, and where they leave. This course covers the three tools that matter most in 2026: GA4 (the Google standard), Plausible (privacy-first, no cookie banner), and PostHog (product analytics — funnels, cohorts, session replays). You leave knowing how to install, configure, and actually read the data.
What you'll learn
Course outline
Free — no account needed
What Analytics Actually Tells You
The difference between vanity metrics and decisions — and which numbers actually matter
Plausible — Privacy-First Analytics in 5 Minutes
Cookie-free, GDPR-compliant, no consent banner needed — and the cleanest dashboard in the market
Google Analytics 4 — Setup and Key Reports
The standard, free option — how to install it, configure it properly, and read the reports that actually matter
Full course — $49 one-time
PostHog — Product Analytics for SaaS
Funnels, cohorts, session replays, and feature flags — open source, self-hostable, generous free tier
Building Conversion Funnels
Find exactly where users drop off — from landing page to paid customer
SEO Analytics — Google Search Console
The free tool that shows you exactly which Google searches drive your traffic — and what to fix
Using Data to Make Product Decisions
Cohort analysis, A/B testing, and knowing when your data is telling you something real
Building Your Analytics Stack
The right combination of tools for your stage — from landing page to production SaaS
Get the full course
8 lessons — from understanding what metrics matter to running A/B tests and building your weekly analytics review process.
Written by the RadarTrek editorial team · Reviewed June 2026
About this course
Web analytics is the practice of measuring, collecting, and analysing data about how users find and interact with your website or application. Without analytics, product decisions are guesses. With analytics, you can see which pages drive conversions, where users drop off in your funnel, which acquisition channels deliver valuable users, and whether your changes are actually improving outcomes. This web analytics tutorial covers the tools, metrics, and mindset that help builders and marketers make data-informed decisions.
Analytics skills are valuable for developers, product managers, founders, and marketers alike. Understanding how to set up event tracking, read a funnel report, and interpret traffic source data is the difference between shipping features and shipping features that matter. This course covers Google Analytics 4 (GA4), event tracking, conversion goals, and privacy-conscious alternatives like PostHog and Plausible — so you understand both the dominant tools and the modern privacy-first options.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between GA4 and Universal Analytics?
Universal Analytics was Google's analytics platform until it was sunset in 2023. GA4 is its replacement, built on a completely different data model — everything is an event rather than pageviews and sessions being separate concepts. GA4 also has better privacy controls, improved cross-device tracking, and direct BigQuery integration for advanced analysis. If you are setting up analytics for the first time, GA4 is what you should use.
Do I need to be a developer to use analytics?
Basic analytics — traffic reports, pageview data, source attribution — requires no development knowledge. Setting up custom event tracking (button clicks, form submissions, video plays) requires adding small code snippets to your site, accessible to anyone with basic JavaScript knowledge. Advanced analytics — server-side tracking, custom dimensions, BigQuery analysis — requires more technical depth. This course covers all levels so you can take it as far as you need.
What metrics should I track on my website?
The most important metrics depend on your goals, but almost every website benefits from tracking: sessions and users (volume), bounce rate and engagement time (content quality), conversion rate and goal completions (business outcomes), traffic sources (acquisition), and top pages by traffic and exit rate (content performance). Tracking everything generates noise — tracking the 5–10 metrics tied to your actual business questions generates insight.
What are privacy-friendly alternatives to Google Analytics?
Plausible and Fathom are cookieless, GDPR-compliant alternatives to GA4 that provide clean traffic dashboards without requiring a cookie consent banner. PostHog is an open-source product analytics platform with session recording, funnels, and feature flags — excellent for SaaS products that want depth beyond traffic counting. This course covers when to choose each and how to set them up.
How do I track conversions in Google Analytics 4?
In GA4, conversions are specific events you mark as important. You first need to track the event — a form submission, a signup completion, a purchase — and then mark that event as a conversion in your GA4 property settings. GA4 automatically tracks some events (page views, scrolls, outbound clicks) but for custom conversions you either add gtag() tracking code or use Google Tag Manager. This course covers both approaches.