Written by, Dimitar F
Updated April, 17, 2022
Every online business needs to track its website performance to ensure it gets noticed, increases its search engine visibility, and brings in more conversion. To do all that, you need to learn how to add Google Analytics to WordPress.
It may seem quite technical, but with this tool, you can easily measure and boost the performance of your website. We’ll guide you through the process, so you can track essential metrics, even if you’re not a tech Whiz. Here’s what we’ll cover:
Now let’s dig deeper to learn how you can use Analytics to boost your site performance and ensure search engine optimization. We’ll explore the whole process with WordPress since it’s the most popular website builder for non-coders. It’s easy and functional, just like Google Analytics.
If you have a reliable web hosting service provider and a website, all you have to do is install Google Analytics on your site to start tracking performance. Your web hosting provider will ensure that your site is up and running round the clock. But what do you need Analytics for?
Did you know that:
Before you install Google Analytics on the WordPress website, you should understand why you need it. In short, it’s more than a web analytic tool. And it can help you spear through the competition and rank high in the SERPs (search engine page results). Plus, Google Analytics provides free tools to analyze crucial data that helps in various ways.
You have access to everything needed to check the performance of your site content, products, and marketing campaigns. When you’re aware of the results, you can strategize and change your SEO and digital marketing tactics accordingly.
Once you add Google Analytics to the WordPress site, you can receive in-depth data that will help you understand your customers. Here’s how:
The website visits show how many people come to your page daily, weekly, and monthly. These analytics help you keep up with the rise and falls so that you can ensure your site grows in popularity.
Analytics displays the location of your website visitors. Also, you can learn about their age, language, gender, and the devices they use to access your page. All this will help fine-tune your marketing message and convert the visitors into customers.
Uncovering your most profitable traffic sources is the ultimate lead generation for your business. Whether it’s email, social media, or SEO, you’ll want to know where to focus your efforts. And that’s another reason why setting up Google Analytics on WordPress is essential for your success.
No site owner wants a high bounce rate. That shows that you’re generating leads, but they’re not converting. If that’s an issue, know that user experience is crucial for your success. You can’t overlook the importance of UX. Poor user experience and high bounce rate might occur for many reasons, including:
You can use Google Analytics to assess your site’s bounce rate quickly. Based on that, you can improve your content strategy, carry out A/B testing to see what works and what doesn’t or tweak the website layout to ensure a better conversion rate.
Other important metrics that you can gauge from Analytics include:
Now that you know the benefits of this tool and why you need it, let’s sign you up and see how to add Google Analytics to WordPress.
Here is a quick guide to help you sign up and start receiving full reports on your website performance:
Analytics is a free tool, so anyone can sign up. All you have to do is visit the Google Analytics website and log in with your Gmail account.
Then, you’ll be prompted to provide an account name and some details.
Here, you need to pick where you’ll use the Google Analytics scripts — on your website, application, or both. Make sure to choose “web” for your site. Then, you’ll have to enter all the website details like its name, URL, time zone, and country.
It’s good to read them carefully, so you understand what you’re getting into. But we doubt you’ll listen to this recommendation. When you’re ready, click on the “I agree” button.
Now, it’s time to receive your Google Analytics tracking code. Copy the code as you’ll have to use it later in your WordPress website to connect your Analytics.
You can choose to do that in different ways. We’ll explain the easiest options, so read through them and pick the one that sounds suitable for you.
It’s one of the more common plugins you can use to set up Google Analytics as it’s the easiest. Beginners prefer this option as the plugin has a free version. Keep in mind that if you don’t upgrade to premium, you’ll miss out on some fantastic features like:
You can consider the paid version when your business scales. In any case, here’s how to add Google Analytics to WordPress with the plugin:
Choose your website category.
Use the license key for connecting the plugin to your website.
Connect your Google account with the MonsterInsights account. Select the same one you used for Google Analytics.
Finally, allow MonsterInsights to connect with Google Analytics. That will finalize the authentication. You’ll receive some default recommendations for events tracking, enhanced link attribution, download tracking, and Monster Insight reports. Choose whatever you need and save.
Thanks to this plugin, you can view your Google Analytics data directly in the WordPress dashboard.
If you’re familiar with coding and have some technical expertise, you’ll be better off going with this method. The drawback is that Google Analytics may disappear if you update the WordPress theme.
You simply have to copy and paste the tracking code into the header.php file and save your changes. Alternatively, you can add the code via the functions file. That will add it automatically to all of your website pages.
The tag management system lets you update tags fast and code snippets to your site for marketing optimization and traffic analysis. Sites make use of Google Tag Manager to incorporate Google Analytics scripts for various purposes.
Simply download and activate the Tag Manager plugin to your site. First, you’ll need to make a Google Tag Manager account and create your container. Copy the container ID and paste it on the WordPress ID in the Plugin settings page. Any tag you set up in Google Tag Manager, such as Google Analytics, will begin to work.
After setting up Google Analytics on WordPress, you can use the data to improve your business. Pay attention to the following data on the dashboard:
That will give you a quick snapshot of your website performance. But you can adjust the dashboard overview to show the metrics that you’re targeting.
The data won’t appear right away. So, if you see Google Analytics not showing data, know that it takes 24–48 hours to show web traffic and collect data.
But to ensure that Google Analytics is set up correctly, check the real-time reports. If you installed the MonsterInsights plugin, go to the dashboard and click “Insights and Reports.” Then, go to the real-time tab. If you can spot active users on the website, Google Analytics is working, and the data will be available soon.
With billions of websites crawling the internet, it’s not easy to get noticed. But tools like Google Analytics can truly help business owners to manage, monitor, and optimize their websites. The data can help you identify loopholes and redefine marketing strategies and SEO tactics to boost your online performance and improve your conversion rate.
So, now you know how to add Google Analytics to WordPress and get started. Analyze your website for success. Good Luck!