In this article, we will discuss integrating Google Analytics with WordPress sites. We’ll also look into what Google Analytics is, why you need it, and its alternatives.
Google Analytics is a free and powerful tool. It tracks website performance and user behavior. Later use this information to make informed decisions to improve it.
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What is Google Analytics?
It’s a platform by Google that collects website data. It later provides reports and insights that you can use to grow your site.
Millions use it as it provides credible data. The process involves adding some JavaScript code to your page.
It enables Google to monitor visitors’ behavior on your website. Your Google Analytics account will gather and show these activities as statistics.
Some key features of Google Analytics:
- Audience insights- learn more about your website visitors, such as their age, location, interests, and devices they use to access your website.
- Conversion tracking- track specific user actions on your website, such as completing a buy, filling out a form, or enrolling for a newsletter.
- Acquisition insight- track your website traffic sources, such as search engines, social media, or referral sites, and see which channels drive the most visitors.
- Real-time monitoring- see how many people are on your website, where they are located, and what pages they view in real-time.
- Behavior insights- see how users interact with your website, such as how long they stay, which pages they visit, and which actions they take.
Integrating Google Analytics with WordPress will offer your site these and more. Also, get good yields as you monitor your site performance.
Five reasons why you need it?
- Measure website performance- Google Analytics provides data and insights to understand your website’s performance. Tells about what works and what needs improvement.
- Improve user experience- by analyzing user behavior, you can identify areas of your website that are causing frustration or confusion. Later improve the overall user experience.
- Increase website traffic- attract more visitors by tracking acquisition channels and optimizing your website for search engines and social media.
- Measure marketing campaigns- tracking conversions and attribution will measure your marketing campaign’s effectiveness and optimize your advertising spend.
- Make data-driven decisions- using data and insights, you can make informed decisions that lead to better outcomes for your business.
Steps to Integrating Google Analytics with WordPress:
Step 1: Create a Google Analytics account
To get started, you need to create a Google Analytics account. If you already have a Google account, you can use that to sign up for Google Analytics.
If not, create a new account specifically for Google Analytics. After creating your account, you will be requested to set up a new property.
The property represents your website, and you must provide some basic information about it.
Step 2: Get your Tracking Code
After creating your property, you will be given a tracking code. A tracking code is a snippet typically implemented as JavaScript in a website’s HTML source code.
These lines of code enable advertisers, web admins, and marketers to analyze the flow of website visitors and user activities.
This code is unique to your website and is used to collect data about your website visitors.
To get your tracking code:
- Go to the Admin section of your Google Analytics account.
- Select the property you created.
- Click on Tracking Info.
- Then, click on Tracking Code, and you will see your tracking code.
Step 3: Install a Google Analytics Plugin
Integrating Google Analytics with WordPress is easy, as several Google Analytics plugins are available.
One of the most popular plugins is MonsterInsights. It’s a freemium and powerful tool many uses to learn their website’s performance.
Connect your WordPress site with your Google Analytics account in just a few clicks. To install MonsterInsights, go to Plugins:
- Add New in your WordPress dashboard.
- Search for MonsterInsights,
- Install
- Activate the plugin.
Step 4: Connect MonsterInsights with Google Analytics
Once you have installed and activated MonsterInsights, connect it to your Google Analytics account.
To do this, go to the:
- Insights settings in your WordPress dashboard.
- Click on the Authenticate with your Google account button.
- Follow the on-screen instructions to authorize MonsterInsights to access your Google Analytics account.
Step 5: Configure Your Google Analytics Settings
After connecting MonsterInsights with your Google Analytics account, you can configure your settings to track your desired data.
For example, you can set up goals to track certain actions on your website, such as purchases or form submissions.
You can also set up custom dimensions to track additional information about your website visitors, such as age, gender, or interests.
That was easy, right? Integrating Google Analytics with WordPress will have you monitoring your site live.
The best part is it’s also available on mobile.
The five best alternatives to Google Analytics:
1. Matomo
It’s an open-source analytics platform that offers real-time tracking, customizable dashboards, and a range of plugins and integrations.
Advantages of Matomo over Google Analytics:
- Data ownership and privacy- Matomo allows you to host and store your data on your servers. In contrast, Google Analytics stores your data on Google’s servers. Additionally, Matomo offers privacy features like IP address anonymization and Do Not Track support, making it easier to comply with privacy regulations such as GDPR and CCPA.
- Customization and flexibility- it’s highly customizable and flexible, making it ideal for businesses with unique tracking requirements. This flexibility is not available in Google Analytics, which has some limitations regarding customization and flexibility.
- Open-source and community-driven- the platform is freely available for anyone to use, modify, and distribute. Matomo stays updated with the latest trends and technologies, and the platform always improves. In contrast, Google Analytics is a proprietary platform, and users have limited control over the platform’s development and evolution.
2. Clicky
Clicky is another popular web analytics tool that offers real-time tracking and a user-friendly interface.
Its advantages over Google analytics are:
- Real-time analytics- provides real-time analytics, which means you can see visitor behavior on your website as it happens. Google Analytics has a delay of several hours before data is available.
- User-friendly interface- the interface is more user-friendly and easier to navigate than Google Analytics. Additionally, Clicky offers more visualizations and graphs, making understanding your data and identifying trends easier.
- Focus on individual visitors-it has a strong emphasis on individual visitors, providing a wealth of data on each visitor’s behavior. Google Analytics focuses more on aggregate data. Clicky lets you personalize your website experience and improve visitor engagement by focusing on individual visitors.
3. Heap Analytics
It’s a customer analytics platform that allows you to track user behavior and events across your website.
It provides both qualitative and quantitative results. Heap advantages over Google analytics are:
- Retroactive analysis- analyze user behavior, even for past events you did not track. Heap automatically captures all user interactions and makes them available for analysis, even if you did not specify them as important events when they occurred.
- Intuitive interface- has a modern, intuitive interface that makes finding the information you need easy. In contrast, Google Analytics can be overwhelming for beginners, with a complex interface requiring extensive training and experience.
- Customer support- it provides excellent customer support, with a dedicated customer success team available to help you with any questions or issues. Google Analytics support is primarily limited to online forums and community resources.
4. Mixpanel
Mixpanel is a product analytics tool that analyzes conversions, app usage, and retention rate. It allows you to create custom analytics dashboards.
Also, create reports to analyze product adoption, segment conversion rates, and other key metrics.
These are its advantages over Google Analytics:
- User-centric analytics provides detailed information about individual users and their behavior on your website or mobile app. Create targeted campaigns and personalized experiences. In contrast, Google Analytics focuses more on aggregate data and website performance.
- Advanced segmentation- these tools allow you to group users based on various factors, including behavior, demographics, and geolocation. It allows you to create targeted campaigns for specific user segments. Google Analytics also provides segmentation, but Mixpanel is more powerful and customizable.
- Customizable dashboards- create customizable dashboards that display the data and metrics that matter most to your business. Google Analytics also allows customization, but Mixpanel’s dashboards are more intuitive and user-friendly.
5. FoxMetrics
It’s another alternative to Google Analytics. Its basic quantitative analytics feature, FoxMetrics, is notable for its restaurant-specific solution.
FoxMetrics advantages over Google Analytics:
- Real-time data- FoxMetrics provides real-time data. See user behavior and trends as they happen. Google Analytics has a delay of up to 24 hours before data is available.
- Customer Segmentation provides powerful tools that allow you to group users based on various factors, including behavior, demographics, and geolocation. Google Analytics also provides segmentation, but FoxMetrics’ is more powerful and customizable.
- Automated marketing campaigns- create automated marketing campaigns that trigger based on user behavior. For example, you can send personalized emails to users who abandon their cart or offer a discount code to users who last visited your website a while ago. Google Analytics does not provide this level of automation and personalization.
Integrating Google Analytics with WordPress is significant, but many alternatives offer similar or better functionality.
When choosing a web analytics tool, it’s important to consider your specific needs and goals. Explore these alternatives, and find a tool that works best.
Final say;
Integrating Google Analytics with WordPress is crucial. Get to understand your website’s performance and make data-driven decisions to improve it.
With these steps, easily add your tracking code to your site and start collecting valuable data about your website visitors.
This information allows you to optimize your site for better user experience, increased engagement, and higher conversions.
Get your website to the next level using Google Analytics. Get started today and reap great yields from your website.