Adding Google Analytics to WordPress in 5 simple steps
Adding Google Analytics to WordPress in 5 Simple Steps:
Google Analytics is a VERY USEFUL tool for digital marketers around the world. It can tell us many things about our website and the statistical data it provides can’t be disputed. Not all websites have this holy grail of marketing and to be honest it really surprises me. IT IS AN ESSENTIAL.
It’s time to tell you exactly how you can adding Google Analytics to WordPress in 5 simple steps.
Step 1 – Create a Gmail (or sign-in if you already have one)
You’ll need a Gmail account to be able to sign up with Google Analytics.
Go to the url: www.analytics.google.com
If you have an existing Gmail account, it will look like below, so just go ahead and sign into your Gmail.
When you get to the screen above, where it says “sign in with a different account” it will say instead say “create account”. Follow the simple steps and you’ve made your Gmail!
Step 2 – Sign up for Google Analytics
Once you’re done and signed in you’ll reach a page that looks like the one pictured below.
It should take you to this screen.
Step 3 – Fill in the boxes
Once you’ve filled everything in, click the “get tracking ID” button. Then a small pop-up should appear which will present you the terms and conditions.
After reading the T&Cs, click “I agree” and it should take you to the admin panel!
Step 4 – Locate your website tracking code
If you scroll down, you’ll see your website tracking code. It’s time to implement it!
Step 5 – Implement your tracking code
We’re going to focus on 2 ways to implement your tracking code. These are:
- Plug-in method
- Direct paste method
Plug-in method:
There are many plug-ins which make the job of integrating Google Analytics to your WordPress website drop dead easy.
Here’s one, but feel free to search around for yourself!
Direct paste method:
Copy and paste the code you received earlier (step 4) into your header.php.
For those that don’t know how to locate their header.php, follow this mini-guide:
- Log-in to your WordPress admin panel (back-end of your website).
- Navigate to “appearance”, then click editor.
- Locate the Theme Header (header.php) – it’ll be on the right side, you may have to scroll down a bit.
- Lastly, locate the “</head>” tag and insert your code just before it. Like so…
- Once the code has been implemented, click “update file”.
- After a few minutes, go back to where you copied your tracking code from to check if the code is properly placed and that you’re receiving data.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: It normally takes up to 24 hours for Google Analytics traffic data to come through.
Thank you for reading. Get adding Google Analytics to WordPress ASAP because you’re missing out on so much!
