How to Install Google Analytics in WordPress (Step-by-Step Guide)

As an experienced webmaster, I know that truly understanding your website visitors is crucial for growth.

Google Analytics allows you to unlock this understanding by tracking key metrics like pageviews, bounce rate, traffic sources, and much more. Best of all – it‘s completely free to use.

In this comprehensive guide, I‘ll show you how to set up Google Analytics for your WordPress site.

We‘ll cover:

• Why Google Analytics is a must-have tool for understanding your audience
• Signing up for a Google Analytics account
• 3 methods to connect Google Analytics to WordPress
• Viewing reports and making sense of your website analytics
• Tips to get the most value from Google Analytics

Let‘s get started!

Why Is Google Analytics Essential for WordPress Users?

In my 15 years of experience managing websites, I‘ve seen firsthand how Google Analytics provides website owners with vital user and traffic insights that are near impossible to obtain otherwise.

Here are some key statistics that highlight the popularity and benefits of Google Analytics:

• Over 60% of all websites use Google Analytics, with over 1 billion total active users as per BuiltWith.

• Websites that use Google Analytics have an average of 13% higher conversion rates according to MonsterInsights.

• Users that view their analytics data experience 3x higher revenue growth versus non-users as per Bambu.

With Google Analytics, you gain the ability to understand:

• Where your traffic is coming from (traffic sources and referrals)
• Your users‘ interests and needs (through content engagement and on-site behavior)
• How users navigate through your website (using funnel and pathing reports)
• What actions users take on your site (setting up event tracking)
• Who visits your website (location, technology, language, etc)

For example, you can:

• See which blog topics get the most traffic to create more of that content.
• Identify paid ads or campaigns that provide the highest ROI.
• Reduce bounce rates by improving page experience and navigation.
• Drive conversions by understanding exactly how visitors interact with your site.

Without Google Analytics, you are essentially flying blind, making website decisions based on guesses instead of data-driven insights.

So for any website owner who is serious about growth and success, I consider Google Analytics to be an essential tool.

Next, let me guide you through getting set up with your free Google Analytics account.

Step 1: Sign Up for a Free Google Analytics Account

Signing up for Google Analytics is simple and completely free for anyone with a Google account.

Here are the steps:

1. Go to the Google Analytics website and click on ‘Start measuring‘ to get started.

2. Sign in with your Google account credentials. If you don‘t have an account, you can quickly create one for free.

3. Read and accept the Google Analytics terms of service.

4. Enter an account name. This is for your internal reference so choose any name.

5. Select your reporting time zone and currency preference. I recommend setting it as per your target audience.

6. Choose your website‘s industry category and business size to see customized reports.

7. Select your business objectives for using Google Analytics. Choose all that apply.

8. Click ‘Create account‘ and your Analytics account is ready!

Once created, you will be taken to your Google Analytics dashboard. This is where you can navigate through all your analytics reports.

Now we need to set up a property to start tracking your WordPress site‘s data.

Step 2: Add a Website Property in Google Analytics

Within your Google Analytics account, you need to add a property for each website you want to track data for.

Here is how to create a website property:

1. In your Analytics account, click on ‘Create Property‘ in the Admin section.

2. Enter an identifiable name for your property. E.g. MyWebsite.com

3. Under data collection, select ‘Website‘ as your platform.

4. Enter your full website URL starting with https://

5. Enable or disable data collection options. I recommend keeping enhanced measurement enabled for optimal tracking.

6. Click ‘Next‘ and your website property is ready!

Once created, you will find your unique Measurement ID for this property (format – G-XXXXXXXXXX).

Save this ID as we‘ll need it to connect Analytics to your WordPress site next.

3 Methods to Install Google Analytics Tracking on a WordPress Website

Now that you have a Google Analytics account and website property, we need to connect them to start collecting and visualizing data for your WordPress site.

Based on my experience, here are the three best ways to add Google Analytics tracking to a WordPress website, ordered from my highest to lowest recommendation:

Method 1: MonsterInsights Plugin (Easiest & Most Powerful)

The easiest way to use Google Analytics on any WordPress site is by installing the MonsterInsights plugin.

This plugin quickly connects Google Analytics, allows you to view reports directly within your WordPress dashboard, and has advanced tracking capabilities.

I‘ve used it on dozens of websites because of these benefits:

• Easy setup – Takes just minutes to connect and requires zero coding.

• Powerful tracking – Extensive analytics tracking with 80+ different event types.

• Insights dashboard – See analytics overview right inside your WordPress admin.

• Custom dimensions – Track authors, campaigns, documents, and more.

• Ecommerce tracking – Full WooCommerce analytics integration.

• Popular post tracking – See your top-performing content.

• Customizable – Fine-tune tracking as per your specific needs.

Over 3 million websites use MonsterInsights, including big brands like Microsoft, Sony, and Zillow.

It is available in a free version that works great for most websites, along with affordable paid "Pro" plans for advanced users.

To set it up:

1. Install and activate the MonsterInsights plugin on your WordPress site.

2. In the plugin settings, click on ‘Get started with MonsterInsights‘.

3. Connect your Analytics account by signing in and allowing access.

4. Select the website property you want to track.

5. Done! MonsterInsights will now start collecting all your website analytics.

Because of its powerful tracking and customization options, I recommend MonsterInsights to all my clients. It is the best way to leverage Google Analytics on WordPress.

Method 2: Google Analytics Plugin

If you don‘t want to use MonsterInsights, a few other plugins allow you to connect Google Analytics tracking code in WordPress easily.

Some popular options include:

• Insert Headers and Footers (free)
• Analytify (free and paid plans)
• ExactMetrics (free and paid plans)

The overall process is quite similar irrespective of plugin:

1. Install and activate the analytics plugin.

2. Find the plugin setting to enter your Google Analytics Tracking ID.

3. Copy the Measurement ID from your Analytics property.

4. Paste it into the plugin and save changes.

These plugins enable basic website tracking with Google Analytics and are free to use. However, you miss out on more advanced tracking abilities and there is no custom reporting within your WordPress dashboard.

So while they work, I recommend MonsterInsights for the best experience.

Method 3: Manually Adding Tracking Code

You can also directly add the Google Analytics tracking code to your WordPress site, without needing a dedicated plugin.

This approach requires manually entering the code snippet, but can be useful in certain cases where plugin installation is not possible.

There are two ways to manually add the code:

A) Via Theme Header File

Add the Analytics tracking code in header.php file of your theme, right after the opening <body> tag:

<body>

  <!-- Global site tag (gtag.js) - Google Analytics -->
  <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=GA_MEASUREMENT_ID"></script>
  <script>
    window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];
    function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);}
    gtag(‘js‘, new Date());  

    gtag(‘config‘, ‘GA_MEASUREMENT_ID‘);
  </script>

</body> 

B) Using a Code Snippets Plugin

If unable to edit theme files, use a plugin like Code Snippets to add tracking code:

1. Install and activate Code Snippets.

2. Go to Snippets » Add New.

3. Add the Analytics tracking code in the snippet editor.

4. Select <head> as location and enable site-wide.

5. Save the snippet and Google Analytics will start collecting data.

The downside of manually adding the code is you miss out on advanced tracking abilities that plugins like MonsterInsights provide.

However, it can be useful for basic analytics on simpler websites or if unable to use plugins.

Viewing Google Analytics Reports for Your WordPress Site

Once connected to WordPress, you can start analyzing reports to gain valuable traffic and visitor insights.

With MonsterInsights, you get a dashboard summary directly within your WordPress admin.

For the full analytics experience, head over to the Google Analytics platform.

Log in and navigate to your website property.

Some key reports you should look at:

• Real-time – Get a live view of current visitors on your site. See location, pages visited, time spent, and more.

• Audience – Visitor details like new vs returning, location, technology used, interests, and behavior.

• Acquisition – Your traffic sources sending visitors like organic search, referrals, social media, email, paid, etc.

• Behavior – Pageviews, landing pages, site speed, technology, navigation paths, and exit pages.

• Events – Trackable custom actions like video views, downloads, email list signups, purchases, etc.

• Conversions – Your most important goals like sales, lead generation, subscriptions. Set these up and track performance.

I recommend starting by exploring all reports to get a broad view. Over time, identify the most valuable reports to check regularly.

For example, eCommerce owners may closely track sales and revenue reports daily. Bloggers may analyze content analytics weekly to guide their content strategy.

Actionable Tips to Improve Your Google Analytics Tracking

Here are some pro tips I‘ve learned over the years for getting maximum value out of Google Analytics:

• Set up conversion tracking for important user actions like signups, downloads, purchases, etc. Events allow you to track engagement beyond just pageviews.

• Integrate Google Analytics with other relevant tools like Google Search Console, Optimize, and Data Studio for deeper insights.

• Build custom Analytics dashboards tailored to your most important reports and metrics. Add shortcuts to quickly access them.

• Compare user segments (like new vs returning visitors, traffic source, country) to identify performance trends.

• If you have an online store, enable eCommerce tracking to see revenue, conversion funnel, top products, etc.

• Use custom annotations within Analytics to document important changes you make on your site. Then monitor the impact on reports.

• Take the free Google Analytics Academy courses to better navigate the platform and optimize your usage. Understanding the full capabilities is key.

• Get in the habit of checking Analytics reports regularly, ideally daily or weekly depending on your business. Many opportunities are identified from monitoring the numbers.

Properly implementing Google Analytics provides the data you need to attract, engage, and ultimately convert more visitors. Following these tips will help you maximize the value of Google Analytics.

Wrapping Up

I hope this detailed guide helped explain the immense value of Google Analytics and how to properly set it up on your WordPress website.

Here‘s a quick recap of what we covered:

• Google Analytics should be a part of every website‘s toolkit to unlock visitor insights. Sign up for a free account.

• Add your WordPress site as a website property within Google Analytics.

• MonsterInsights is the best plugin for connecting Analytics and enabling powerful WordPress tracking.

• Regularly analyze Google Analytics reports to monitor traffic and engagement.

• Follow the pro tips shared to get the most value from Google Analytics.

Start seeing detailed insights into who is visiting your WordPress site and how they are interacting with your content. This data is crucial for making smart decisions that attract, engage, and convert your audience.

I hope you found this guide helpful! Let me know if you have any other questions in the comments section below.