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Do you want to know who is visiting your website?
Of course you do!
Analyzing website traffic is one of the most important roles of a website owner. There are a lot of website reporting tools and services found online, however since the year 2005, Google Analytics has been the de facto method of analyzing website traffic.
Part of Google’s Marketing Platform, Google Analytics may be a free hosted analytical service that provides you an in depth overview of who is visiting your website, what pages they’re visiting, where they’re coming from, and more.
This information is important when making decisions about your website, whether it’s deciding what content to supply or what products to sell.
Google Analytics Tracking Code
To track your website’s traffic, you would need to add the Google Analytics Global Site Tag (gtag.js) tracking code into the area of every page you would like to track.
You could do that by modifying your theme’s header.php template, however this is often not practical, because the tracking code would be overwritten whenever your theme is updated.
Thankfully, latest WordPress themes have a field for adding your website’s Google Analytics tracking code to your website header. If your WordPress theme doesn’t have this, you’ll use a WordPress plugin like Insert Headers and Footers or Woody Ad Snippets to feature the code.
In this article, i will share with you the simplest Google Analytics plugins available for WordPress.
These solutions do more than just adding the Google Analytics tracking code to your website.
They allow you to access statistics directly from the WordPress admin area and supply a deeper integration with the Google Analytics service in order to track custom post types and conversions better.
1) Site Kit by Google
Site Kit is the official Google WordPress plugin. It allows you to attach your website to 6 Google services: Search Console, Adsense, Analytics, PageSpeed Insights, Optimize, and Tag Manager.
Once you’ve given Google permission to access your website, you’ll see a replacement “Site Kit” admin menu within the WordPress admin area and a fanatical page for every module you’ve got activated.
There are no many settings to configure beyond connecting your website. Site Kit will automatically add the Google Analytics tracking code to your site and knows not to add the code if it’s been added elsewhere.
From Google Analytics point of view, Site Kit may be a simple solution that adds your tracking code and provides you a fast one-page overview of your website’s traffic. You need to visit the main Google Analytics website to see full traffic stats.
Whilst it doesn’t add much functionality to your website, you’ll find Site Kit useful, as its main dashboard groups together information from many various Google services.
2) Analytify
Analytify may be a user-friendly Google Analytics solution that shows general statistics, top pages by views, demographics, top referrers, system stats, and more.
All reports are displayed in one main dashboard, however you’ll also see your stats within the WordPress dashboard via the Analytify widget add-on.
Once you’ve authorized Analytify, you’ll choose whether the plugin installs the Google Analytics tracking code for you and choose which Google Analytics profile you would like to draw stats from. There are dozens of additional settings that allow you to change what’s tracked on your website.
This includes removing user groups from tracking, anonymizing IP addresses, forcing analytics traffic over SSL, 404 error tracking, and scroll depth tracking.
Analytify Pro retails from about $39 for a one-website license. The premium version provides many additional statistics, but you’re also required to upgrade to the professional version to use any of the five premium add-ons that are available.
Retailing between $19 and $49 for a one-website license, there are add-ons for tracking goals and conversions, enhanced tracking for WooCommerce, enhanced tracking for straightforward Digital Downloads, tracking campaigns, and delivering analytical reports to clients via email.
3) GA Google Analytics
If you don’t want to see reports on your website but simply define what’s tracked, you’ll want to think about GA Google Analytics.
Created by WordPress veteran Jeff Starr, the plugin allows users to integrate Google Analytics into their website by simply stating your GA tracking ID.
GA Google Analytics also allows you to add support for display advertising, enhanced link attribution, IP anonymization, and forcing SSL. There’s an option for adding custom code too.
GA Google Analytics Plugin Settings
The pro version of the plugin is out there from only $15 for a one-website license. It expands what Google Analytics tracks on your website.
They also added options that include tracking opt-out boxes, disabling tracking of all logged-in users, and disabling tracking of search results and post archives.
4) MonsterInsights
With over two million active installations, MonsterInsights is far the most popular Google Analytics WordPress plugin on the market.
It allows you to see detailed statistics directly from the WordPress admin area and add additional tracking for popular eCommerce WordPress plugins like WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads, and MemberPress. you’ll also add tracking for affiliate links and advertisements, and see statistics at a post and page level.
When you first activate MonsterInsights, you’ll be guided through the initial setup with a user-friendly “Launch Wizard”. Once you’ve given permission to MonsterInsights to access your Google Analytics account, you’ll select which website profile you would like to access and what you would like to track. for instance , you’ll be asked whether you would like to enable events tracking, enhanced link attribution, and affiliate tracking.
MonsterInsights Overview Report
MonsterInsights Pro officially retails from $199 for a one-website license, however it’s frequently on sale for as low as $79.99.
It adds support for Google AMP and Facebook Instant Articles, improved compliance with GDPR, detailed page insights, and many more.
5) Lara’s Google Analytics
If you would like to see statistics directly from the WordPress dashboard, you should consider installing Lara’s Google Analytics.
Once you’ve got connected to your Google Analytics account and selected your profile, you’ll see an outsized Google Analytics box at the top of the WordPress dashboard.
The plugin will input your Google Analytics tracking code and show detailed reports for seven categories: Sessions, Pages, Browsers, Languages, Operating Systems, Devices, and Screen Resolutions.
The developers have done an incredible job of curating important website traffic information and displaying it in beautiful graphs and tables.
Lara’s Google Analytics Dashboard Report
For only $14.99, you’ll upgrade to the complete version of the plugin and unlock eCommerce graphs, WordPress Multisite support, and advanced permissions.
This version also allows you to ascertain 12 months of knowledge , not just 30 days.
6) 10WebAnalytics
10WebAnalytics might not be as polished as alternative Google Analytics solutions like MonsterInsights, however underneath its skin, you’ll find many useful options.
The plugin allows you to add your Google Analytics tracking code to your website and enable additional tracking features like IP anonymization, enhanced link attribution, outbound link tracking, and more.
You can also set up alerts, add campaign goals, and adjust what reports WordPress user groups are permitted to access.
10WebAnalytics Tracking Settings
Unfortunately, when it involves reports, the free version of 10WebAnalytics is sort of restrictive and only allows you to look at audience and real-time reports. You can, of course, use the free version of 10WebAnalytics for its additional tracking features and consider all traffic reports on the official Google Analytics website.
If you upgrade to the professional version of the plugin, you’ll see over a dozen new reports for demographics, eCommerce, goals, site speed, and more. you’ll also create custom reports and consider reports about Google Adsense and Google Adwords.
10WebAnalytics Pro retails from $85. additionally to advanced reports, it also includes more settings for enhanced tracking.
7) WP Google Analytics Events
Like GA Google Analytics, the goal of WP Google Analytics Events is to offer you more control over what’s tracked on your website, to not view reports directly within the WordPress admin area.
The plugin allows you to integrate the Google Analytics tracking code into your website by simply entering your GA tracking ID and it allows you to anonymize IP addresses.
Two new event tracking options also are available for tracking clicks and scrolls. this may offer you a far better understanding of how visitors are interacting together with your website.
WP Google Analytics Events
WP Google Analytics Events Pro retails from $79. It adds support for link tracking and placeholder variables and provides you more control over what permissions other users on your website have.
Video tracking for YouTube and Vimeo is additionally available in WP Google Analytics Events Pro.
Final Thoughts
I hope you’ve got to read and enjoy the simplest Google Analytics plugins for WordPress.
As you’ll see, all of the above solutions can automatically add the Google Analytics tracking code to your website. However, they provide different levels of integration and reporting, so it’s important to check each WordPress plugin thoroughly to see if they meet your needs.
Site Kit may be a good option if you only need a simple overview of your website traffic and see your website’s PageSpeed score, search console information, and AdSense revenue.
If you would like to trace additional statistics on your website and don’t care about seeing reports directly on your website, i like to recommend using GA Google Analytics, WP Google Analytics Events, or you can go or the free version of 10WebAnalytics.
Should you wish to see extensive traffic reports directly from the admin area, i like to recommend using Analytify, MonsterInsights, Lara’s Google Analytics, or 10WebAnalytics Pro.
Whilst it can be extremely useful to look at traffic statistics within the WordPress admin area, please remember that you simply can always do a full traffic analysis directly on the official Google Analytics website.
What Google Analytics WordPress plugin do you use?
Please let us to know within the comment area below.
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