How to Install Google Analytics on a WordPress Site
Google Analytics is a powerful tool that allows users to monitor their WordPress website traffic and gain valuable business insights.
As such, many new website administrators—as well as those looking to improve their online performance—will want to pair Google Analytics with their WordPress website before conducting any further online operations.
Manually Install Google Analytics onto WordPress
In case you don’t have a Google Analytics account with your website’s information setup , you’ll need to sign-up first. To do so, simply click “sign-up” on this webpage and follow the instructions.
Once logged into your Analytics account, select your website and then navigate to the Admin gearbox in the left taskbar of your page.
Next, go to the Property Settings column, select Tracking Info from the drop-down list, and then select Tracking Code. Once done your website’s tracking code should appear in a textbox below, and you can easily copy it from there.
Enter the Tracking Code into your WordPress Website’s header.php file
With your tracking code copied to your clipboard, log back into your WordPress dashboard.
Once there, navigate to Appearance on the left side of your dashboard and select Editor from the list. Then, under the Templates menu on the right side of the screen, click the Theme Header “header.php” to bring up another box of code.
Now just paste the Google Analytics tracking code you copied in the previous step before the </head> closing at the end of the code box—and save your changes by clicking Update File.
Afterward, Google Analytics should successfully run with your WordPress website, and all without requiring the added use of a plugin.
Setup Google Analytics for WordPress by MonsterInsights Plugin
MonsterInsights is the most popular Google Analytics plugin for WordPress. Over 1 million websites use it including the likes of Bloomberg, PlayStation, Zillow, and more.
The first thing you need to do is install and activate the MonsterInsights plugin.
Upon activation, the plugin will add a new menu item labeled ‘Insights’ to your WordPress admin menu. Clicking on it will bring the MonsterInsights setup wizard.
First, you will be asked to choose a category for your website (a business website, blog, or online store). Select one and then click on ‘Save and Continue’ button.
Next, you need to click on the ‘Connect MonsterInsights’ button.
This will bring up a popup that will take you Google accounts where you will be asked to sign in or select a Google account if you are already signed in.
Next, you will be asked to allow MonsterInsights to access your Google Analytics account.
Click on the ‘Allow’ button to continue.
The final step is to select the profile you want to track. You need to select your website here and then click on the ‘Complete authentication’ button to continue.
MonsterInsights will now install Google Analytics on your website. After that you will be asked to select the recommended settings for your website.
The default settings would work for most websites. If you use an affiliate link plugin, then you need to add the path you use to cloak affiliate links. This will allow you to track your affiliate links in Google Analytics.
Click on the Save and Continue button to save your settings.
That’s all you have successfully installed and setup Google Analytics on your WordPress site. Remember, it will take Google Analytics sometime before showing your stats.
