“It lives in GA” is not an archival strategy.
What to export
- Monthly aggregates of leads, revenue proxies, and channel mix.
- Definitions: event list, UTM conventions, conversion mapping.
- BigQuery or warehouse if you operate at that scale.
Storage hygiene
Put exports in an access-controlled drive with retention aligned to policy—do not email CSVs of personal data around.
Use owned history in strategy
Long baselines show seasonality honestly, improving forecasting and SEO content planning.
Frequently asked questions
How far back should we keep?
Business-dependent; many SMEs keep 2–3 years of monthly rollups minimum.
Is screen-shotting enough?
No—machine-readable data lets you re-analyse; screenshots rot.
Putting this into practice on your NZ website
This guide sits in our Analytics & measurement collection. The goal is practical advice you can act on without a computer science degree. Start with one change, measure whether enquiries or usability improve, then tackle the next item. Small businesses across Auckland, Wellington, Hamilton, Christchurch, and regional New Zealand face the same constraints: limited time, real customers, and a website that must earn its keep.
For Exporting and owning your analytics history, the highest-leverage move is usually to align your live site with what the guide recommends, then fix anything that blocks Google from crawling pages or stops visitors from contacting you. If your site runs on WordPress, many of these tasks are configuration and content work rather than custom development.
Document your starting point: note current enquiry volume, average page speed from PageSpeed Insights, and any errors showing in Google Search Console. Without a baseline, improvements are guesswork. Revisit the same metrics after 90 days—SEO and UX changes rarely produce overnight miracles, but sustained progress should be visible in leads and user behaviour.
Share this guide with whoever maintains your site—an employee, a contractor, or your hosting support desk—so terminology and priorities align. The FAQ section on our main site answers common project questions if you are weighing a rebuild versus incremental fixes.
When to involve a web partner
Some tasks—migrations, checkout changes, security incidents, or a full redesign—benefit from experienced help. If you are comparing providers, look for clear scoping, realistic timelines, and measurement tied to business outcomes rather than vanity metrics. Our team builds and maintains business websites nationwide; explore relevant services below or request a quote when you are ready.
A good partner will ask about your customers, geography, and capacity to publish content—not only colour preferences. Review our recent website projects for examples of brochure, WordPress, and ecommerce work across New Zealand.
Related NZDH services
More guides in this topic
- Choosing metrics that match your business model (not vanity charts)
- Google Analytics 4 vs alternatives for NZ SMEs (decision framing)
- Event tracking for calls, forms, and brochure downloads
- UTM hygiene: campaign naming conventions that survive reality
- Attribution limits: why last-click is not the whole story
Browse the full Analytics & measurement guide hub or return to the guides home.
Explore on NZDH.co.nz
- All practical guides
- Website design services
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- Recent website projects
- Frequently asked questions
Authoritative further reading
These independent resources complement this guide. Search engines and customers both reward accurate, helpful information—we link out where official documentation or regulators explain the topic better than a generic blog post could.