Why Google Analytics is not showing data

Open the website in one tab and the Realtime report in another. Your own visit should appear within minutes. If it does, the tag works, and missing figures elsewhere are a matter of processing or of settings. If it does not, the tag is not reaching this property.

Three causes cover almost every case.

• The tag is not on the site. A new theme, a redesign or a removed plugin often takes it away. View a page’s source and search for G-.
• The tag carries a different ID. Compare the ID in the page with the Measurement ID in the property’s data stream.
• A consent banner is blocking it. Many banners hold Analytics back until a visitor accepts. Accept the banner and test again.

Google also notes that a newly added tag can take up to 30 minutes to begin collecting.

The standard reports lag behind. Google’s figure is 24 to 48 hours for processing. Check the date range as well: a report set to last week shows nothing for a tag added yesterday.

Low figures usually mean some visits are not counted.

• Visitors who decline the cookie banner are not recorded.
• Browsers and extensions that block trackers remove the tag.
• The tag is missing from some pages, often landing pages built separately.

Two tags on the same page count each visit twice. It happens when an ID is added in the platform’s settings and again by a plugin or in the theme. Search the page source: the ID should appear once.

A rebuild is the commonest moment for the tag to vanish. Add “confirm Analytics is recording” to the launch list, as our website launch checklist does. A real fall in visitors is a different matter, covered in why website traffic is dropping, and setting the tag up from the start in how to add Google Analytics to your website.