How to Add Google Analytics to Your WordPress Site

How to Add Google Analytics to Your WordPress Site

Learn how to add Google analytics in WordPress site with and without plugin. First phase includes inserting Google Analytics with Monster Insights and then we will dicuss how you can insert analytics code without using any plugins.

Are you a WordPress user?

If yes, then you just need to add Google Analytics to your WordPress Site.

To get high achievements from your WordPress site you must have to know how your audience interacts with your WordPress site, where your audience comes from, and what they exactly do on your website.

Your website traffic statistics will help you to know your audience. And Google provides analytics for your WordPress site.

Here, in this article, we’ll discuss what the Google analytics is, why Google analytics is important, how to install Google analytics to your WordPress site, how to access the Google analytics code and what the best Google analytics WordPress plugins are.

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What is Google Analytics?

Google Analytics is a powerful tool offered by the Google and it is a free analytics tool which measures, tracks, and reports website audience.

Generally, Google Analytics is used for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and other digital marketing purposes.

Google Analytics brings many advanced features and tools for effective SEO and marketing.

With a Google account, any Internet user can install the Google Analytics for his/her WordPress site.

Why is Google Analytics Important for WordPress Users?




Now Google Analytics has become an industry standard for all WordPress sites because it brings powerful and advanced features to trace the site audience.

If you install Google Analytics to your WordPress sites you’ll be able to measure your site traffic, conversions and ad performance.

Tracking website traffic is favorable in many cases such as you can make further decisions after knowing the location of your site traffic.

If you are a WordPress User, there are many other conditions where Google Analytics will help you, these are:

  • You can use the data visualization tools which show you all the website traffic statistics in the form of charts. You can observe and visualize all the changing in the data easily. In the case of one or more data terms in a single chart, the data terms will be shown in different colors so that you can read all the data terms separately.
  • In Google Analytics, there is segmentation used so that you can completely analyze all subsets of the given statistics.
  • You can easily customize the reports according to your requirements.
  • You can also share all your Google Analytics reports and statistics via email with your boss or concerned persons.
  • The most important is that Google Analytics has full integration with other Google products such as Google AdWords, Public Data Explorer, and Website Optimizer.

The Importance of Google Analytics for Bloggers:

If you are a WordPress user and a professional blogger you must need to raise the numbers of your audience and subscribers.

You can also easily make the data-driven decisions by observing all the statistics for your website traffic.

With Google Analytics, you can know about:

Who Visits Your Site?

In Google Analytics you can know about the geographical location of your audience. You can also know about the Internet browser which is used by the visitor to visit your website.

There are many more things that you can know about your audiences such as screen resolution, JavaScript support, Flash support, language and many more.

All this information is very important and helpful for you. For example, you can make your website compatible with your audience with help of user’s data.

If most of the users are using the high-resolution screen when they visit your website then you must make your website design compatible with high-resolution screens so that your audience can easily access your website.

What do users do when they visit your website?

You can note down which page of your website is searched by most of the users and where users go when they are at your website.

You can also observe the bounce rate of your website. If the analytics shows a high bounce rate then you need to work for your Website page loading speed.

Take decisions to make your website able that engages the users for maximum time duration. This step will decrease the bounce rate for your website which is useful.

In which time users visit your website?

Google Analytics provides you the facility to note down the time duration when maximum users visit your website so that you can take steps to publish your post on that particular hot time.

How the users find out your website?

Google Analytics will show you from where your audience is found out your website. For example, your audience can come from Search Engines, Direct Links, or from Referral links that are provided on another site.

Google Analytics will show the percentage of visitors for each source.

If you find that most of the users are coming from Twitter then you must have to work for the Facebook audience to come.

How users interact with your website content?

Google Analytics also shows you what percent of audience clicked on which link and much more.

By observing the interactivity of the audience with your content you can take more decisions for the betterment of your content.

For example, you are working on a fashion blog and you found that people are more searching for latest fashion so you have to work perfectly to provide the latest fashion to your audience also you can divert your same audience from latest fashion content to any other fashion that is available on your website.

All this shows that you should eliminate the guesswork for your website you must work according to the statistics that are provided by the analytics tool so that you can get healthy earnings from your blog.

What is the Sign-Up Procedure for Google Analytics?

To get the service of Google Analytics, first of all, you have to go to the Google signup page where you can make your Google account.

add google analytics to wordpress without plugin

If you already have a Google account then you can directly sign in for Google Analytics.

After signing in you will see a window like below where you have to make click on “Sign up” button that will be presented at the right side of the window:

google analytics yoast

Now a new window will be prompted in front of you where you’ll be given choice for Website or Mobile App. You make sure that you have selected “Website” and then go to provide further information:

best google analytics wordpress plugin

After providing all required information, scroll down make a click on “Get Tracking ID” button:

wordpress analytics dashboard

A sub-window will appear in front of you where you have to click on “I Accept” button. It actually tells about the Google terms and conditions:

google analytics access code

After this, you’ll see a Google Analytics dashboard for WP that is given in a below image:

google analytics dashboard for wp

Now take this Google Analytics tracking code and install it to setup Google Analytics to your WordPress site.

 How to Add Google Analytics to your WordPress site?

Basically, there are several ways to set up Google Analytics in WordPress site.

Here, we’ll discuss some the ways to set up Google Analytics in WordPress site some of them are very easy and some are bit hard.

Add Google Analytics in WordPress by MonsterInsights

MonsterInsights is one of the best Google Analytics WordPress plugins that is widely being used by many bloggers.

There are more than 1 million websites that are using MonsterInsights to watch out their analytics.

To add Google Analytics to your WordPress site by MonsterINshights is an easiest and simplest way.

MonsterInsights offers both free and pro versions. Here, in this article, we’ll discuss the free version.

If you are a professional blogger then you must use the pro version of MonsterInshights so that you can experience advanced features of it.

Now, let’s move to our main discussion on how to install Google Analytics for WordPress users:

First of all, download, install and activate a free version of MonsterInsights WordPress plugin.

After the activation of a new menu “Insights” will be automatically added to your WordPress admin menu.

You can configure the plugin settings by going to “Insights” menu and then to “Settings”.

After this, make a click on “Authenticate with your Google account” button as shown in the below image:

monsterinsights free

It will connect your Google Analytics to your WordPress site.

A pop-up will appear in front of you where you have to authenticate with your Google account.

google analytics dashboard for wp (gadwp)

Now, make a click on the “NEXT” button to continue the further process.

After this, a window will appear on which you have to make click on the button which is labeled as “Click to get Google code”:

how to add google analytics to your website

Another pop-up will appear which shows you a message “MonsterInsights would like access to your Google Analytics data”.

You have to click on “Allow” button to continue the process.

how to add google analytics through MonsterInsights

In another window a code will be appear which you have to copy.

monsterinsights free plugin

Now paste this code to MonsterInsights pop-up and make a click on “NEXT” to continue the further process.

monsterinsights review

In the last, you have to select a profile which you want to track. Actually, select your own website here and then click on “NEXT” button to continue the procedure.

monsterinsights vs google analytics

That’s it.

You have successfully installed Google Analytics to your WordPress site.

NOTE: Google analytics will take some time to show you the actual statistics.

MonsterInsights is the only WordPress plugin that shows the stats in your WordPress dashboard. That is amazing for you.

Simply, go to “Insights” and then “Reports” to see the statistics of your website.

google analytics by monsterinsights ecommerce tracking addon

If you want to customize the tracking settings go to the “Tracking” tab where you can make the settings according to your own requirements.

monsterinsights vs yoast

Insert Headers and Footers WordPress Plugin:

If you find any difficulty with MonsterInsights WordPress plugin then there is the second option for you to use Insert Headers and Footers WordPress plugin so that you can get access to the Google Analytics.

Insert Headers and Footers WordPress plugin also make you able to configure more advanced features then MonsterInsights plugin.

First of all, download, install and activate Insert Headers and Footers plugin.

After activation, you need to go to the “Settings > Insert Headers and footers” page. Paste the copied Google analytics access code (Tracking ID) here in the “Scripts in Header” section of the plugin.

how to insert Google analytics in wordpress

Then, click on the “Save Changes” button to save all the changes that you have made.

Add Google Analytics to WordPress without plugin:

If you want to add Google Analytics to your WordPress site without a WordPress plugin then you have to directly involve the theme’s PHP code of your WordPress site for which you must have some technical knowledge or otherwise PHP code will be corrupted and your website will not perform well.

So be careful and knowledgeable before messing with theme’s code. I personally never recommend you to follow this method to add Google Analytics to your WordPress site.

Here two methods to add Google Analytics:

  1. Direct Paste Method

This method is also known as Google analytics php method.

If you want to add Google Analytics to your WordPress site without plugins, first of all go to edit your WordPress theme.

Then go to edit “Header.php” file and paste the copied Google analytics access code (Tracking ID) right after the <body>tag.

And save the changes you have made in the file. And don’t forget to upload the file back to the server.

  1. php File Method

Here is the second method in which you can add Google Analytics to your WordPress site via WordPress functions file.

You have to paste the Google analytics access code (Tracking ID) for once in a functions.php file and then the code will be automatically added to all the pages of your website for Google tracking.

Simply, paste the Google analytics code (Tracking ID) that you have copied in the functions.php file as follows:



[php]

 <?php

 add_action(‘wp_footer’, ‘add_googleanalyticstrackingcode’);

 function add_googleanalyticstrackingocde()

 {

 // paste the Google Analytics access code (Tracking ID) that you have copied earilier

 }

?>

 [/php]

Don’t forget to save the changes you have made in the functions.php file.

NOTE: Remember that after adding the Google Analytics code to the functions.php file you have to wait for 24 hours to see the statistics of the audience of your website.

Conclusion:

When you go for statistics of the audience your websites then there is no match of Google Analytics that can help you in all 360 angles.

The main point is that which method should be used to add Google Analytics to WordPress site. If you are a beginner then I will recommend you the free version of MonsterInsight WordPress plugin because for this plugin you don’t need any technical skills and MonsterIsights also provides you the facility getting stats direct from WordPress dashboard.

This WordPress analytics dashboard will help you to easily go for Google tracking.

To be a professional, you can use the Insert Headers and Footers WordPress plugin which claims to provide many advanced features.

I’ll not recommend you to add Google Analytics to WordPress without plugin because messing with php files can bring many serious issues to your website performance.

If you are using any other analytical tool that is performing better then Google Analytics or you are using any other method to add Google analytics, share with us via our comments section. We’ll highly appreciate your assessments.

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