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Updated: 07/01/2020
( 6 minutes reading )
Google Analytics is a free web analytics tool that allows you to track and analyze your site data and user activity. It collects a wide range of information systemized in the form of statistic reposts, including your page views, link clicks, traffic origin and volumes, user information, and more. All this data is extremely valuable in terms of improving your marketing strategies, website design, content, and functionalities. If you learn how to analyze these statistics and put them in good use, you will be able to enhance some of the most critical aspects of your website.
Google Analytics is integrable with a JavaScript code snippet inserted into the header of all website pages. The GA Google Analytics plugin developed by Jeff Starr, which we are going to review in this tutorial, allows you to add it to your WordPress-based website without the need of editing the code. This is extremely convenient for beginners who do not feel comfortable performing custom code changes.
The GA Google Analytics plugin is among the most popular WordPress plugins for integrating Google Analytics with over 400,000 active installations and a rating of 5 stars. It is available as a free edition, as well as a commercial distribution with some advanced features. Among its significant advantages are its lightweight, GDPR compliance, and the fact it does not collect any data.
Note that compared to the other plugins, GA Google Analytics does NOT allow you to monitor the statistics through your WordPress Administrative Dashboard. Its primary purpose is to simplify the connection process between WordPress and Google Analytics by eliminating the need to make code changes.
We have also reviewed the process of integrating the other two most popular Google Analytics plugins for WordPress:
In case you would like to stick to the manual Google Analytics integration, we have prepared a comprehensive guide on the topic - How to manually integrate Google Analytics into WordPress.
Before you step into the actual configuration, you first need to set up your Google Analytics account. This is a free service, and all you need is a Google account. If you have not done that yet, please find detailed instructions in our guide on How to set up your Google Analytics account.
The GA Google Analytics plugin can be installed like any standard plugin from your WordPress Admin Dashboard. In case, you need further instructions on that matter, please refer to our guide on What is a WordPress Plugin and how to install a new Plugin.
In order to add Google Analytics to WordPress, you will need the Tracking ID presented during the setup of your account. In case you have not saved it, please log in to your Google Analytics account and click on the "Admin" option at the bottom of the left menu.
Afterward, please click on "Tracking Info" positioned in the middle "Property" column. Upon doing that, you will be presented with a dropdown with additional options - please select "Tracking Code".
Once this is done, you will be provided with your Tracking ID. Please either keep the page open or copy the code.
After you install and activate the GA Google Analytics plugin through your WordPress Admin Dashboard, you will be automatically redirected to the "Installed Plugins" section. Please locate the plugin and click on the "Settings" link beneath.
Within the next page, please scroll down and expand the "Plugin Settings" section.
You have to insert your Tracking ID within the first "GA Tracking ID" field.
If need, you can customize the tracking method uses, the force SSL option, control whether the code to be added in the header or the footer of the pages, configure custom tracking and include your WordPress Admin area for Google Analytics tracking.
When you alter the settings as desired, please make sure to click on the "Save Changes" button to apply them.
With this done, you have successfully added Google Analytics to your WordPress-based website. As we previously pointed, the GA Google Analytics plugin does not integrate Dashboard into your WordPress Backend. You need to monitor your website statistics through the Google Analytics Dashboard.
Congratulations! In this tutorial, you have learned how to integrate Google Analytics into your WordPress-based website with the GA Google Analytics plugin. Now you can easily monitor your traffic and use the reports to improve your website. We hope this information was useful to you, and our guide helped you to complete this task with ease. In case you have experienced any difficulties with the plugin installation, please do not hesitate to contact our Technical Support team.
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Learn more about Wordpress in the other tutorials that we have:
