Google Analytics (GA) is a tool that is a must for every website. Not only it does it show the statistics (number, frequency etc) of visitors, but also helps the SEO (search engine optimisation) of any website. Below is explained how to install Google Analytics in WordPress
When a website has installed GA, Google notices that this website exists, tracking its performance, and using the information as one of the factors for its search ranking.
Some people get a bit obsessed about numbers and how many people is viewing the website. In my opinion, the right audience is far more important than the number people visiting a website. Even though with GA it is not possible to get detailed information of the audience, its statistics can be useful for analysing time habits, countries/regions of your visitors etc, thus helping to form a better understanding of the readership’s profile.
Here is a guide step by step to install GA
1 – Sign in with your email account in Google Analytics
Sign in here (https://analytics.google.com › analytics › web) using an account that is already registered with Google. Or if you have your own domain mail account (for ex. [email protected]) first you need to register it with Google here
2- Create an account
Once you are logged in to GA, you must create an account for your website. Click on Admin, in the bottom left of the screen, and then in the “Create an account” option.
- Account details: enter the name of your account (e.g. the name of your website)
- Keep enabled all the recommended options and click “next”
- In the What do you want to measure select “Web” and click “Next”
- Complete property details, and check that reporting zone match with the country website. Click “Create”
- Tick in the boxes to accept the data protection terms, measurement controller protection terms and click “I Accept” (Bellow is explained how to make your website complaint with these terms).
3- Install Google Analytics in the WordPress
The tag is a code that connects a website with GA. This code must be inserted in the header or footer of a website, because they are part of all web pages.
The easiest way to do it is to install the GA plugin, copy the GA tracking ID, and paste it in the plugin settings. Then “Save changes” and all done!
Important: Make websites GDPR complaint
All the websites that are tracking some information need to have the “cookies pop up”. This can be a bit annoying, but you may have noticed that almost all the websites have it. I usually use Cookie Notice for GDPR, but there are many options when you search for “cookie WP plugins”.
Press “install”, then press “Activate”, and it’s all done!
The pop up by default is not very aesthetic, but it has some options to give it a bit of style. In the left menu of the dashboard the Settings options are Cookie Notice. It is possible to customise the design and the text.
Reading the website Analytics
The most relevance figures are the in the Audience > Overview
Sessions: Total number of Sessions within the date range. A session is the period time a user is actively engaged with the website. All usage data (Screen Views, Events, Ecommerce, etc.) is associated with a session.
Pageviews: is the total number of pages viewed. Repeated views of a single page are counted.
Bounce Rate: This is important to check how engaged have been the users with the website.
The bounce rate is the percentage of visitors who navigate away from the site after viewing only one page. A low bounce rate means a good interaction in the website.
Exclude yourself from the analytics
The administrators or editors of the website probable are the ones who spend more time in the website. So, to get real stats it is recommended to create a view excluding those persons’ IP.
Let’s back to GA Admin
In the right column click on filter > Add filter
Choose a name for the filter (I call this “Real Traffic”) and select the predefined options “exclude” “traffic from the IP addresses” “that are equal to”
You can check the IP address you are using here.
Remember that if you connect from another internet or place the IP would be different, so if you usually work from a coffee shop you should exclude that IP too.
This is a basic guide of GA. If you want to continue exploring you can link with Google Tag Manager and check some of the users’ behaviour.
If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment or drop me an email below.