Google Analytics is a powerful, powerful tool
I love it because:
- It allows you to see where the visitors to your website are coming from
- It shows you which visitors are coming back
- It gives you the information and insights you need to improve your website
There are three things, however, that annoy me about it. They are:
- It’s hard to add the Google Analytics tracking code to your WordPress site.
- It is tricky to stop Google Analytics from recording your own visits to your own blog.
- Sometimes you just want a quick view of how your blog is doing rather than going through the entire analytics site.
But no longer am I annoyed. I’ve found a plugin – Google Analyticator – which solves all of these problems. Google Analyticator:
- Adds the tracking code for you,
- Stops your visits from being tracked on your own site, and
- Gives you a simple dashboard within WordPress.
How to install Google Analyticator on your WordPress blog
First of all you’ll need to set up a Google Analytics Account .
Then, to install Google Analyticator, go to your WordPress site and the Add New Plugins page that’s found in the left navigation.
Type Google Analyticator into the text box and click the Search Plugins button.
Google Analyticator should appear in the search results. Install it with the Install Now link.
Then activate it with the Activate Plugin link.
You’re now ready to connect it up to your Google Analytics account.
To do so, go to the Google Analytics page (under Settings), and click the Click Here link.
A pop up window should appear asking you to give permission for the plugin to access your Google Analytics account. Allow it to by clicking the Allow Access button and a long, long code will appear. Simply copy and paste the code into the text box on the (still open) WordPress page, press Save & Continue and you’ll have your WordPress site and Google Analytics talking to each other.
The last thing you need to do is adjust the settings page, which should now be visible. To finish setting up Google Analyticator:
- Set the first dropdown to enabled
- Select your site from the second dropdown, and
- Scroll down the page and click the Save Changes button.
Congratulations! You’ve just added Google Analytics to your WordPress blog using Google Analyticator.
If you don’t want to track users when they are logged in, under “Tracking Settings”, “Track all logged in WordPress users”, select “No”. Also select the user roles not to track.
Then be sure to check out the summary which now appears on your WordPress dashboard.
