How to add Google Analytics to your WordPress website

…And actually get it working!

Does the phrase “Google Analytics” make you go a bit cross-eyed? Need a little bit of help understanding what this is, what it means to your website, and how to set it all up?

Google Analytics:

Google Analytics is NOT a new thing. Infact it’s been around for more than a decade. In its lifetime Google Analytics has become so well known for its value to business’ that it is now the most widely used web analytics service on the Internet. Here’s another stat, Google Analytics is currently used by almost 50% of the world’s top 1,000,000 websites.

The Basics:

This service tracks and reports website traffic. To run through the basics without your eyes glazing over, Google Analytics is activated by Page Tags i.e the Google Analytics Tracking Code, which might look a little something like this:

<script>
(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){
(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),
m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)
})(window,document,'script','https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js','ga');

ga('create', 'UA-1234567-8', 'auto');
ga('send', 'pageview');

</script>

So what do you do with this magic code? You will add this code to the header of your website – which ensures it appears on every single page of your website. This code will collect data that will track your clients’ behaviours on your site, how they got there, and whether they are a repeat or first time visitor.

Don’t Leave Traffic Behind!

By understanding more about your website, and your visitors, you can mould your blog or site to enhance the user experience and help convert potentials into actuals.

Here’s what Google Analytics can tell you:

How many visitors has my site had?
When is my site attracting the most traffic?
How are people finding me? Ie. Search engines, referral sites, social media etc
What elements of my marketing are actually working for me?
Is my advertising worth the investment?
What are the hot spots/ most popular pages?
Which pages are cold/ least popular pages?
What is the most common pattern taken by my visitors on my page?
Who is my audience? Where do they live?

The information you can retrieve from Google Analytics is truly priceless, and it can also indicate whether you need to invest in a mobile-friendly site or not. You will be able to see if this factor is hindering your conversion rate and time on site.

Let’s Get Started

First thing’s first. Set-up an Analytics account. Here’s the link: www.google.com/analytics
Click on the Sign-in To Analytics button and follow the on-screen instructions.
Set up a property within this account.
This part is fairly easy, but may take some time. Simply follow the instructions and prompts to fill in the details required to set-up Web Tracking/ Mobile App Tracking.
Once you’ve got your tracking code, you’ll need to add it to your site. Your theme may have a section for this, or a place to insert scripts in the <header> section of your website. If not, install a plugin like Google Analytics Dashboard for WP
Wait 24 hours and check that you’re receiving stats in your Google Analytics account.
Following the install of Google Analytics, you should also submit your site to Google Search Console to make sure you’re indexing your best offering to Google.
Both of these steps are covered in the video at the top of the page.