When you log in to your Design Studio, you'll spot a small card in the sidebar of your dashboard called Analytics connected. It's a simple progress bar that tells you, at a glance, how many of your live client websites have Google Analytics connected to their dashboard graph.
It's a small thing, but it's one of the quickest health checks you can do on your whole client list. This guide walks through what the widget is showing you, what the colours mean, and why getting that bar into the green is worth your time.
If you'd like to jump straight into connecting sites, head to our partner guide: How to set up Google Analytics for your clients' websites.
What the widget shows you
The widget counts your live client websites and works out how many of them have a Google Analytics graph connected to their dashboard.
Underneath the bar you'll see a count, like "51 of 60 sites connected". Websites that aren't live yet won't be counted, so you're only ever looking at the sites that are out in the world doing their job.
What the colours mean
The colour of the bar changes depending on how you're tracking
| Connected % | Colour | What it's telling you |
|---|---|---|
| 90% or above | Green | You're in great shape. Almost every live client site is set up and reporting. |
| 60% to 89% | Yellow | You're most of the way there. A handful of sites are missing out. |
| Below 60% | Red | More than four in 10 of your live sites aren't tracking anything. Worth a look. |
| No live sites yet | Grey | There's nothing to measure yet. This is normal for a brand new studio. |
The boundaries are inclusive, so exactly 90% shows green and exactly 60% shows yellow.
How to find the sites that aren't connected
Scroll down your Design Studio dashboard and look through your website cards. Any site that's missing its analytics connection will have a red Analytics not connected label sitting just under the website address.
That label is your to-do list. Work through them one at a time using the partner Google Analytics guide and watch your bar climb.
Why connecting analytics matters, even if you're not an analytics person
Plenty of designers tell us they don't get excited about data, and that's completely fair. But connecting the graph actually unlocks more features for the business you've just built a website for.
Your client gets to see their growth over time
A website is an investment, and most small business owners never find out whether it paid off. Once the graph is connected, they can open their dashboard and see visitors going up month after month. That's proof your work is doing something, and it's the easiest way for a client to feel good about what they spent.
It unlocks benchmarking
With analytics connected, your client's website can be compared against others in the same industry. Suddenly they're not guessing whether 400 visitors a month is good, they can see how they stack up against similar businesses. It's a genuinely powerful tool for a business owner making decisions. You can read more in What is benchmarking? and make sure the site's industry is set correctly using How to update your website's industry for benchmark reporting.
It unlocks personal bests
Personal bests track a website's own record-breaking moments, like its busiest ever month or its best day for enquiries. It turns website performance into something to celebrate rather than something to worry about, and it gives you a lovely reason to send a client a congratulations message. Here's more on what personal bests are.
Monthly reports land in the inbox automatically
Every month, a digestible email report goes out covering the site's traffic, its benchmarking position, and any personal bests achieved. No logging in, no digging around. It just shows up.
It looks after the business long after you've moved on
This is the big one. Design relationships change. Clients move on, businesses get sold, and sometimes you simply finish the project and step away. If analytics was never connected, that business loses years of history it never knew it could have had.
If it was connected from day one, that business keeps its full growth story no matter who's looking after the website. Setting it up at the start is one of the kindest things you can do for a client's future self.
How to connect a client's site
Our step-by-step partner guide covers creating the Google Analytics account, adding the code, and connecting the graph: How to set up Google Analytics for your clients' websites.
If your client already has a Google Analytics account, they can invite you as an admin user and you can skip ahead to the connection steps.
A site says "analytics not connected" but I'm sure it is
This one trips up a lot of partners, and there are usually two reasons for it.
The GA4 code is in, but the graph isn't connected
Pasting the GA4 measurement ID into the Get found SEO / AIO section is only half the job. That code makes Google start collecting data, but it doesn't connect anything to Rocketspark.
To count as connected, you also need to click Connect Google Analytics on the website's dashboard and authorise the Google account, so the graph appears. Until the graph is showing on the dashboard, the widget will treat that site as not connected. Full steps are in How to connect an existing Google Analytics account.
The site is using Google Tag Manager instead of GA4
Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics 4 are two different tools, and a lot of sites have GTM in place without a proper GA4 property behind it. Rocketspark connects to GA4, so a GTM code on its own won't do the trick.
If the site has both, it's worth checking they're correctly linked. Have a read of Both Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics connected to your Rocketspark website.
If you've checked both of these and the site still isn't ticking over, flick us an email and we'll take a look with you.
Choosing who receives the monthly reports
You've got options here, so you can set this up however suits the relationship.
In the client's dashboard, go to My account and scroll down to the email report settings. You can add your own email address, your client's, or both separated by a comma.
Adding yourself alongside your client is what we'd usually suggest. It means you see the same numbers they see, so you can get in touch first if something looks off, or send a quick well done when they hit a personal best. If you'd rather keep the reporting on your side for now, just add your own email address on its own.
More on making the most of these in How to make the most of your monthly website performance report and Partner resource for improving your clients' website metrics
Related guides
- How to set up Google Analytics for your clients' websites
- How to connect an existing Google Analytics account and display a graph through your website dashboard
- How to understand your Google Analytics graph and data on Rocketspark
- What is benchmarking?
- What are personal bests?
- Partner resource for improving your clients' website metrics
Getting every live site connected takes a bit of time up front, but it's one of those jobs you'll be glad you did. If you get stuck on any of them, email support@rocketspark.com and we'll give you a hand.