Add Google Analytics to WordPress website

Google Analytics allows you to get information about your websites visitors such as the devices or OS they were using and their location. Such information can be very useful for deciding how best to deliver content. Below, I’ll explain how to set up a Google Analytics on the WordPress website.

Let’s begin

Now, step by step guide.

Sign up for Google Analytics

First of all, you need a Google Analytics account. If you have a primary Google account that you use for other services like Gmail, Google Drive, Google+, or YouTube, then you should set up your Google Analytics using that Google account. Or you will need to create a new one. Sign up for Google Analytics using the following link: Google Analytics

Create an account for website

To generate your analytics tracking code you first need to create the account (inside your Google Analytics account) for website. You can do this on the Admin tab in your Analytics account.

Note: You must to create new one account for every website you want to tracking.

Get the tracking code

Tracking code - is a snippet of JavaScript that collects and sends data to Analytics from a website. It’s automatically generated for every web property.

Once you are finished to create an account for website, you will click the Get Tracking ID button.

Your tracking code (in this example is Universal Analytics) will be similar to the following one:

<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', 'XXXXXXXXXXXX', 'auto');
  ga('send', 'pageview');

</script>

Note: The code above is only an example (just as a demonstration) of a Tracking Code, don’t use it on your own website. Please use the copy of the tracking code provided within your Google Analytics account since each website’s copy is unique.

Install plugin for adding a tracking code

Next, let’s install the Head and Footer Scripts Inserter plugin, through which we will add the Google Analytics tracking code to our website. We can install it just as you would any other WordPress Plugin.

1. Log in to Admin Area of your WordPress website.
2. Go to Plugins ⇨ Add New.
3. Find this plugin and click install.
4. Activate this plugin through the Plugins tab.

After installation, a Head and Footer Scripts Inserter menu item will appear in the Settings section. Click on this in order to view plugin administration page.

Add the Google Analytics tracking code to plugin

Go to the “Head and Footer Scripts Inserter” plugin administration page and insert your tracking code to the first top field. This will ensure that the code snippet will be added to every page so you can keep track of your whole website.

Conclusion

That’s it, you’re done. Now the Google Analytics tracking code is added to your WordPress website. So simple isn’t it?

Once tracking is set up, Google Analytics will start collecting data immediately. After a few days, you can start reviewing the reports.

I hope this article has helped you learn how to set up a Google Analytics on the WordPress website. If this article has helped you then please leave a comment

Thanks for reading!