If you are new to the blogging industry, you may have difficulty checking your audience’s visit to your blog. With the most recommended official, Google's tool called Google Analytics, and you can easily monitor your website traffic.
This post will learn how to install Google Analytics on WordPress blogs within 10 minutes.
What is Google Analytics?
As said above, Google Analytics is a straightforward and free-to-use tool offered by Google. You can easily monitor what’s happening with your website or blog regarding audience visits.
With the tool Google Analytics, you can know how your site performs and efficiently, and you will decide what improvements your site needs.
Why do You need to install it on Your WordPress Blog?
There are four critical things that you can monitor your website with the help of Google Analytics:
- Number of People who visit your blog or website in a day, week, or month.
- Which sources the visitors are coming from, such as Google Search Results, Social Media Channels, or Direct Visits.
- How much time your audience spends on your blog.
- And finally, which pages or posts on your blog get high visits.
By using a code snippet inserted into the header of each of your site’s pages, Google Analytics gathers a wide variety of information, which can be divided into five categories:
- Realtime: Displays what’s happening on your site at the moment you view the report.
- Audience: Includes information about who is visiting your site, including demographics.
- Acquisition: Explains how your site acquires traffic.
- Behaviour: Shows what visitors do on your site, including button clicks and which pages are the most popular.
- Conversions: An advanced report to be used with Google Analytics Goals to track activity such as email list subscriptions or e-commerce sales.
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How to Create a Free Account in Google Analytics?
First, you need to create a free Google Analytics account to install Google Analytics on WordPress. For that, you need a Gmail account. If you already own a Gmail account, you can use it or create one free of cost.
Here is the step-by-step process of creating a free Google Analytics account with your already created Gmail account.
Open a Web Browser on your PC or Laptop and Type Google Analytics. Click on the first result from your search.
In step 2, click ‘Set up for Free.’ And in the next window, enter your Google Analytics Account Name. The name can be anything you wish, and you can add multiple blogs or websites later under your one Google Analytics main account. Once you are done entering your name, scroll down, and click ‘Next.’
In the Next Step, the setup page wants you to confirm what you want to measure with your Google Analytics account: website, apps, website, and apps.
As we set up Google Analytics for WordPress blogs, click ‘Web’ and then click ‘Next.’
On this third and final setup, called Property Set up option, you need to input your website details such as your Website, URL, and time zone. While entering your URL, Do not type as you may make some spelling mistakes.
So, the proper way to enter your website URL is to head to your Website and Copy the URL without HTTPS:// and www there and Paste it on the URL section of the Google Analytics Property Set Up Page to install Google Analytics on WordPress.
Click ‘Create,’ and you are good to go with creating your Free Google Analytics account.
How to Connect your Google Analytics Account With WordPress Blog?
Using simple steps, you can instantly connect to your Google Analytics account with your WordPress blog to install Google Analytics on WordPress and now monitor your website traffic.
Install Google Analytics on WordPress Without a Plugin
There are two ways you can connect Google Analytics to your blog
- you can add it directly to your website or
- use a plugin to do it for you
We will show you how to add it with both methods to decide which one you prefer.
How to Install It Without a Plugin
To add Google Analytics directly to your blog, you will add a tracking code to <head> of your blog.
To do this, go to your Google Analytics dashboard > admin > tracking info > tracking code and copy the “Global Site Tag” code.
Now go to your WordPress dashboard and go to appearance > theme editor.
From there, search for “header.php” under “Theme Files.” Click on the “header.php” and paste the code after the <head> and click Update File to save your changes and that’s it.
Pros and Cons of Installing Google Analytics Directly to Your Website:
Without directly messing with your theme, you could do another thing, installing a header and footer plugin. And then, add the tracking code to the header section of your theme through the plugin.
Google Analytics for WordPress by MonsterInsights
We’ll use a plugin to set up your tracking information for the first method. The best Google Analytics plugin for WordPress is MonsterInsights. MonsterInisghts is the best and easiest way to install Google Analytics on WordPress for beginners and experts.
MonsterInsights is not only the easiest solution to install Google Analytics on WordPress, but it also has heaps of advantages over manual methods, which are:
- WordPress analytics reporting: The WordPress dashboard provides actionable data.
- eCommerce tracking: With one click, track WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads, LifterLMS, and MemberPress.
- Affiliate tracking: Use Google Analytics reports in MonsterInsights to determine which affiliate links get the most clicks to maximize your revenue.
- Download monitoring: See how many downloads your files get with custom reports.
- Author stats: Find traffic and engagement statistics for each author on your blog.
- Advanced Tracking: with optional Addons.
Best WordPress Analytics Plugin
You can install Google Analytics on WordPress without knowing or understanding how to code, which can be tricky for small business owners.
To set up analytics with MonsterInsights, follow these simple step-by-step instructions.
Step 1: Download and Install MonsterInsights
If you haven’t already done so, you can get the Google Analytics for WordPress by MonsterInsights download here to install Google Analytics on WordPress. Then save it to your computer and install and activate the plugin.
You can install the MonsterInsights plugin by navigating to Plugins » Add New from your WordPress dashboard. Then click Choose Now to find the plugin .zip file on your computer and click Install Now.
When you purchase your copy, you will have received a license key that you can view in your MonsterInsights account area.
Copy that key and add it to the blank License Key area in WordPress. Then click Verify.
Step 2: Connect MonsterInsights
Once your license is verified, scroll further down the page where you’ll see 2 options labelled:
- Connect MonsterInsights
- Launch Setup Wizard
You’ll need to click the Connect MonsterInsights option to install Google Analytics on WordPress for this step.
After this, you’ll go to another page where you can authenticate your Google account. Then you’ll see a message from MonsterInsights asking permission to access your account.
To provide access, go ahead and click the Allow button.
You can select the website for which you want to collect data on the next page.
To complete the process, click on the Complete Connection button, and that’s it.
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Installing the Site Kit by Google WordPress Plugin
You must install the Site Kit by Google WordPress plugin straight from your WordPress dashboard to install Google Analytics on WordPress. Log in to your WordPress dashboard; click on Plugins and click’ Add Plugins’ on the right side menu. Type’ Site Kit by Google’ on the search column. You will get a plugin. Click ‘Install Now’ and then ‘Activate’ to let the plugin work.
Setting up Site Kit Plugin
On the Site Kit Plugin Page, you will see an option called ‘Start Set Up’ click on that, and it will take you to Google Sign In page to install Google Analytics on WordPress. Click on Sign In and Choose the Google Account you used for Google Analytics Sign Up. Click ‘Allow’ to confirm your access to the plugin with your Google Analytics account.
On this Site Kit Plugin Set Up Page, you must manually confirm three steps after signing into your Google Account straight from the Plugin Page via WordPress Dashboard to install Google Analytics on WordPress.
Firstly, you need to verify your site ownership. So, Click on ‘ Proceed’ under the verify site ownership option. Once you click Proceed, it will be confirmed as you have already added your website to Google Analytics.
Secondly, Click ‘Allow’ to let the website you added to your Google Analytics account access Google Account data and show the metrics on your Site Kit Plugin dashboard.
On this Final Set up Step, ‘Set up Search Console,’ you have to click ‘Add Site’ to add your site to Google Search Console. Google Search Console is a similar tool to Analytics in which you can monitor how people can find your WordPress blog on search results.
Now you’re done with setting up your Site Kit by Google Plugin. Click ‘Go to your Dashboard’ to the Site Kit Plugin on the WordPress dashboard.
On the Plugin Header Message, You will see’ Congratulations on Completing the Setup for Site Kit.’ That’s it, and you successfully set up the Plugin to install Google Analytics on WordPress.
Now it’s time to learn how to connect your Google Analytics account with the help of the Plugin.
Connect Your WordPress Blog with Google Analytics Account Through Site Kit
Under your Google Site Kit Plugin, you will see an option called ‘Google Analytics.’ Under this, you have to click ‘Connect Service.’ Then, it will ask you to sign in to your Google Account. Make sure to click your Google Account and sign in. Click ‘Allow’ on to the next step to install Google Analytics on WordPress.
Now, it’s time to connect the service between the plugin and your Google Analytics account. Click ‘Configure Analytics,’ You are directly linked with your WordPress website.
You have fully completed the process, and it will now track your WordPress blog performance in your Google Analytics account.
You can check whether the process you handled yourself to install Google Analytics on WordPress is working fine or not.
Install Google Analytics on WordPress With GA Google Analytics
It is the simplest solution for adding Google Analytics to WordPress. Just install, add your tracking ID, choose the tracking method, place the code in your header or footer, save, and done.
It has more optional settings like adding custom markup, disabling tracking admin-level users, and using Google Analytics to track behaviour in the WordPress back end.
However, this is as no-frills as it gets, which explains the 4.9-star rating at more than half a million installs. For a similarly simple solution, check Analytics Cat.
Install Google Analytics on WordPress With Functions PHP
To add Google Analytics to your site using the functions file, add the following code to your theme’s functions.php file, inserting your tracking code to install Google Analytics on WordPress.
<?php
add_action(‘wp_head’, ‘wpb_add_googleanalytics’);
function wpb_add_googleanalytics() { ?>
// Paste your Google Analytics tracking code here
<?php } ?>Add Google Analytics on WordPress With Google Tag Manager
Google Analytics and WordPress have other methods. You can use Google’s Tag Manager. You can use this to increase your agility. You can update your tags for conversion tracking, look at site analytics, and more.
Easily add or change your tags as you please, or include third-party tags for web and mobile apps. The best part is updating or adding more scripts from the Tag Manager user interface instead of WordPress.
After signing up, download the Tag Manager WordPress plugin. On your WordPress site, go to Plugins -> Add New -> search for Google Tag Manager -> Activate.
Once complete, you need to enter your Google Tag ID into the plugin to install Google Analytics on WordPress. Go to your Tag Manager site and click on Admin to do this. Here you will find an ID starting with GTM. Copy it for now.
Then on your WordPress site, go to Settings -> Google Tag Manager, and paste it into the Google Tag Manager ID box.
How to Check Whether Google Analytics Working fine or not?
Open your Google Analytics account. Click ‘Real Time’ and click ‘Overview’ to monitor your real-time traffic. If no one is on your site, the overview seems ‘Zero.’ In this case, open a new window in your browser and type your WordPress blog URL. You will see the change in Real-Time Overview on your Google Analytics account as it will change from Zero to One user. That means your Google Analytics account is working fine.
Once you find your Google Analytics is working fine, you never need to open your analytics account whenever you want to monitor your blog performance. You can get all the traffic insights straight from your WordPress dashboard.
FAQs About Install Google Analytics on WordPress
-
Do I need to put Google Analytics code on every page?
No, you are not supposed to put Google Analytics code on every page of your website. All you need to do is place the code between your website's opening <head> and closing </head> tag.
We advise you to place it as soon as the head tag opens to ensure precise data tracking. -
Is Google Analytics a plugin?
Google Analytics is a free web and app analytics tool available to anyone provided by google. It's not a WordPress plugin. However, you can easily install Google Analytics in WordPress using a plugin or manually.
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Can I set up Google Analytics for multiple websites with the same Google account?
You can set up Google Analytics for multiple websites by going to the Google Analytics Admin section. There is an option to add a new account for your new site.
Conclusion – Install Google Analytics on WordPress
Installing Google Analytics on WordPress blogs is straightforward and free, as you can do it within 10 minutes on your WordPress blog following the above quick steps. All you have to do is, follow the abovementioned steps without missing anything.
Remember, after setting up your blog with WordPress and a theme installation, the next big thing you should handle is installing Google Analytics on your WordPress blog, which helps you understand your site’s performance.
