Are you new to WordPress, and trying to set up Google Analytics? Then, follow the steps below to connect your blog to Google Analytics. The screenshots and detailed instructions will help you finish the setup in no time at all!
Why Do you Need Google Analytics?
Google Analytics can help you with so many things. From finding out how many people visit your website to understanding where your readers are coming from to what content they like to read. By having a good overview of all these, you will be able to create better content for your blog and attract more readers.
How to Set Up Google Analytics?
It is very easy to set up Google Analytics on your website. Simply follow the screenshots below to connect your site to the tool and start gathering useful data.
Prerequisites:
- Download the Insert Headers and Footers plugin to your WordPress blog.
- Log in to Google using your Google account. If you don’t have one, then I strongly advise you to sign up. You will not only need it for accessing analytics but also many other tools.
Part A: Fill in your details
STEP 1: Visit https://analytics.google.com/analytics/web/.
STEP 2: Click “Set up for free”.
STEP 3: Fill in your Account details.
Step 4: Fill in your Property details (i.e. your website information).
STEP 5: Fill in your business information. If you are not a company, select the closest match to what you are doing.
STEP 6: Set up your email communication preferences. I suggest you select the “Performance Suggestions and Updates”.
Part B: Connect your Blog to Google Analytics
STEP 7: Connect your website to Google Analytics by setting up a Web data stream.
STEP 8: Enter your website URL and name. Leave the enhanced measurements on.
STEP 9: Import the Google Analytics tag on your website. There are two ways to do that. The first one is amending the HTML of your website directly, and the other is via Google Tag Manager. I suggest you use the first option, so to do that click on “Global site tag (gtag.js)”.
STEP 10: Copy the piece of code shown. To ensure that you copy all the important pieces, you can click the copy icon to the right of the box.
STEP 11: Open the WordPress Dashboard of your site and navigate to the Insert Header and Footers Plugin (you can find it inside the Settings tab in the toolbar on the left-hand side of the screen).
STEP 12: Paste the code you copied earlier under Scripts in the Header area.
Make sure that you don’t have an under-construction page turned on from a third party as the meta tag may not be verified.
Part C: Get Started with your Google Analytics Dashboard
STEP 13: After that, your website should be connected to Google Analytics. Return to Google Analytics and navigate to the Home section. This is the main dashboard and where you will be automatically redirected when you log in. From here, you can find an overview of your visitors and general traffic to your site. If your stats look a lot like the above, don’t worry it’s normal as you literally just started your website. As you start creating content and promote it to the world, the numbers should start increasing too.
Conclusion
We hope you found the instructions useful and easy to follow. We always strive to provide you with the best possible advice, so leave us a comment (or drop us an email) and let us know how we can improve.
If you are reading this guide because you are following the How to Start a Blog guide, then the next step is to set up Google Search Console for your blog.
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