If your church has a website — and in 2026 every church should — there is one question you need to be able to answer: is anyone actually visiting it?

Without Google Analytics, you're essentially flying blind. You might be getting 5 visitors a week or 500. You might have a page that everyone bounces off immediately, or a page that converts visitors into enquiries at a remarkable rate. You simply don't know — and what you don't know, you can't improve.

Google Analytics is a free tool that tells you exactly who is visiting your church website, where they came from, what pages they looked at, how long they stayed, and what actions they took. For a church that wants to understand whether its digital presence is actually reaching people, it is an essential foundation.

In this post I'm going to walk you through exactly how to set it up — step by step, in plain language, without assuming any technical knowledge.

Why Google Analytics Matters for Your Church

Before we get into the how, let me explain why this matters specifically for a church — because I think it's easy to dismiss analytics as a "business" tool that doesn't apply to ministry.

Here's the reality. If your church is running Google Ads — or planning to apply for the Google Ad Grant — Google requires that you have conversion tracking set up before your account will be approved. That tracking is done through Google Analytics. Without it, you cannot access the grant.

Beyond the grant, analytics tells you something genuinely useful for your ministry. It tells you which pages people visit when they're exploring your church for the first time. It tells you whether people are finding your sermons, your location information, or your newcomer welcome page. It tells you how many people visit your site after you publish a blog post or share a sermon clip on social media.

This is not data for data's sake. It is information that helps you understand how people are encountering your church online — and how to make that encounter as welcoming and effective as possible.

What You Need Before You Start

Before setting up Google Analytics you'll need two things:

• A Google account — ideally your church's professional Google Workspace account rather than a personal Gmail. This keeps your church's analytics separate from personal accounts and ensures continuity if staff members change.
• Access to your church website's backend — you'll need to be able to add a small piece of code (called a tracking tag) to your website. If your website is on WordPress, Squarespace, Wix, or Kajabi, this is straightforward and I'll explain how for each platform.

Step by Step — Setting Up Google Analytics 4

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is the current version of Google Analytics. If your church already has an older Universal Analytics account, note that Google has retired Universal Analytics — you need GA4.

Step 1 — Create a Google Analytics Account

Go to analytics.google.com and sign in with your church Google account. Click "Start measuring" and follow the prompts to create a new account. Name the account after your church (e.g. "St Andrews Baptist Church") and click Next.

Step 2 — Create a Property

A "property" in Google Analytics represents your website. Name it something clear like "Church Website" and set your timezone to Australia/Sydney (or whichever Australian timezone applies to you). Set your currency to Australian Dollar. Click Next.

Step 3 — Describe Your Business

Select "Other" as your industry category — church or religious organisation is not listed. Select "Examine user behaviour" as your primary goal. Click Create and accept the terms of service.

Step 4 — Set Up a Data Stream

A data stream is the connection between your website and your Google Analytics account. Select "Web" as your platform, enter your church website URL, and give the stream a name. Click "Create stream." You'll then see your Measurement ID — a code that looks like G-XXXXXXXXXX. Copy this — you'll need it in the next step.

Step 5 — Add the Tracking Code to Your Website

This is the step that varies depending on your website platform. Here's how to do it on the most common church website platforms:

• WordPress: Install the free "Site Kit by Google" plugin. It connects Google Analytics directly to your WordPress site without needing to touch any code.
• Squarespace: Go to Settings → Advanced → External API Keys and paste your Measurement ID into the Google Analytics field.
• Wix: Go to Settings → Tracking and Analytics → New Tool → Google Analytics and paste your Measurement ID.
• Kajabi: Go to Settings → Site Details → Tracking Codes and paste your full Google tag code into the Head Tracking Code field.

How to Verify It's Working

Once you've added the tracking code, visit your church website in a browser and then go back to Google Analytics. Click on "Reports" and then "Realtime." If the setup is working correctly you should see yourself listed as an active user on your website within a minute or two.

If you don't see yourself appearing in real-time, the most common causes are an incorrectly pasted Measurement ID, a caching plugin blocking the tag on WordPress, or a browser extension like an ad blocker preventing the tag from firing.

Setting Up Conversion Tracking

Once your basic analytics is working, the next step is setting up conversions. A conversion is a specific action on your website that you want to track — because it represents someone taking a meaningful step toward your church.

For most Australian churches the most valuable conversions to track are:

• A contact form submission — someone reaching out to connect
• A click on your giving button — someone choosing to support your church financially
• A click on your "Plan a Visit" or "New Here" button — someone seriously considering attending
• An event registration — someone signing up for Alpha, a community event, or a course

Setting up these conversions in Google Analytics 4 involves marking specific events as "key events" within your Analytics property. If this feels overwhelming, it's worth getting help — because without conversion tracking, your Google Ad Grant application will not be approved.

What to Look at in Google Analytics

Once your analytics is set up and running, here are the reports I check most regularly for the churches I work with:

A Note on Privacy

Google Analytics collects anonymised data about your website visitors — it does not identify individuals by name or email address. However as an Australian church collecting data through your website you are required under the Privacy Act 1988 to disclose your use of Google Analytics in your Privacy Policy.

If you haven't updated your Privacy Policy to mention Google Analytics, I've written a complete Privacy Policy template for Australian churches that covers this and everything else you need — including the Google Ad Grant, Meta Pixel, and overseas data storage.

Need Help Getting This Set Up?

Setting up Google Analytics correctly — including the conversion tracking required for the Google Ad Grant — is part of every DEO Ministry Seed Package. We handle the full technical setup, verify it's working correctly, and connect it to your Google Ads account so your grant application can proceed without delay.

If you'd like help getting Google Analytics set up for your church website, book a free 30-minute strategy call. We'll look at your current website setup and walk you through exactly what's needed.

Book Your Free Strategy Call →

Written by Daniel Jackson — The founder of DEO Ministry and a commissioned elder at Soma Blue Mountains. He holds a Master of Divinity from Christ College Sydney and a Master of Arts in Theology from SMBC. He has helped scale businesses to over $1,000,000 in annual turnover and is passionate about helping Australian churches use digital tools to reach more people with the gospel.