- We believe that it’s easy to double your traffic and sales when you know exactly how people find and use your website.
- Do you want to get detailed insights like which country your visitors are coming from, what are they most interested in, which device are they using, their age, gender, and a whole lot more?
- Do you want to be able to access a statistics dashboard such as this one:
Step 1: Set Up a Google Analytics Account
To start to track website traffic in WordPress, the first thing you’ll need to do is sign up for a Google Analytics account.
So to do this, go to the Google Analytics website and click the Start button located in the top right-hand corner.
Sign in to your Google account.
Then, click on Sign up.
Choose the Website option near the top to make sure you’re tracking the right thing.
Then, scroll down and enter your website’s information:
- Name your Google Analytics account
- Enter a website name
- Add your website’s URL
- Choose an Industry Category
- Select your time zone
Lastly, click on Get Tracking ID.
When the modal popup appears, review and accept the terms of service.
Now your Google Analytics account is all set up!
Step 2: Install and Activate MonsterInsights
- The next step is to set up MonsterInsights, one of the most rated analytics plugins on WordPress.
- Of course, you can use Google Analytics alone to track the number of site visitors that come to your website.
- The problem with that is, in order to accurately track the number of site visitors coming to your WordPress website, you’ll have to deal with tracking code on your site, which can be tricky.
- However, if you want to see what that might look like this:
Here you can see the following data:
- Users
- New Users
- Number of Sessions
- Sessions per User
- Pageviews
- Number of Pages/Session
- Average Session Duration
- Bounce Rate
You’ll also see how many site visitors are returning and how many are new.
- That said, with MonsterInsights, you don’t have to deal with any code, and connecting your WordPress website to your Google Analytics is a cinch.
- You also have access to exclusive reports right in your WordPress dashboard that can give you more insight into your site’s traffic, lead generation efforts, and form conversions.
- So, let’s get started.
- After purchasing the MonsterInsights Pro plugin, log into your MonsterInsights account by clicking on the Login link at the top of the page.
Next, go to the Downloads tab on your account page. You’ll see a link where you can download the MonsterInsights Pro plugin.
- Before moving on to the next step, make sure you deactivate and remove any other Google Analytics plugin or tracking code you have on your website.
- Now that you’ve downloaded the plugin, go to your WordPress dashboard to install and activate the plugin on your site.
- Go to Plugins » Add New and click on Upload Plugin, found near the top of the screen.
- On the next screen, select Choose File to select the zip file you just downloaded from your MonsterInsights account.
- Click Install Now to upload the file and install it on your website.
Once uploaded, click the Activate Plugin to activate it on your site.
Lastly, go to your My Account page in your MonsterInsights account to get your license key.
Copy your license key and go to Insights » Settings in your WordPress dashboard. Click on Verify Key, paste your license key, and click Activate Key.
MonsterInsights in now activated.
Step 3: Connect Your Website to Google Analytics
- To use MonsterInsights, you’ll need to connect your WordPress website to your Google Analytics account.
- Again, this is very easy to do because, with MonsterInsights, you don’t have to mess with any tracking code.
- To start, go to Insights » Settings in your WordPress dashboard. Click on the Authenticate with your Google account button.
On the next screen, select your profile.
When prompted, click the Allow button to give MonsterInsights access to your Google Analytics data.
Next, select the website profile you want to authenticate and click Complete Authentication.
Now your WordPress website is connected to your Google Analytics account.
Step 4: View MonsterInsights Reports
- Let’s take a look at the reports MonsterInsights has to help you track your website’s traffic, among other things.
- To get to the reports, go to Insights » Reports.
- Overview Report
- Under the Overview Report tab, you can see a lot of information about the site traffic coming to your WordPress website.
- To start, see a visual graph of the number of sessions and pageviews your site has gotten over a certain period of time. You can set this time range to be 7 days, 30 days, or a custom time range.
- Next, you’ll see a quick view of key metrics such as the number of sessions and page views, the average session duration, and your site’s bounce rate.
- This helps you determine whether the traffic that is coming to your website is sticking around and engaging with your content or not.
- Lastly, you’ll see New vs. Returning Visitors and the Device Breakdown in pie charts.
- And if you keep scrolling, you can check out the top 10 countries where you’re site visitors are located, as well as your top referral sources.
Publishers Report
Under the Publishers Report tab, you’ll find more metrics that can help you learn more about the people that are coming to your website:
- Landing pages
- Exit pages
- Outbound links
- Affiliate links
- Download links
- Demographics and Interest categories
It’s an in-depth way to track website traffic to WordPress. Find out how many visitors are going to your various webpages, how many people are clicking on your outbound and affiliate links, and how many people have clicked a download link on your website.
In addition, see the age ranges, gender, and interests of all site visitors coming to your website.
eCommerce Report
Under the eCommerce Report tab, you’ll see the number of people coming to your online shop, along with specific details related to onsite transactions:
- Conversion rate
- Number of transactions
- Revenue generated
- Average order value
- Top products
With this information, again you can track how many people are coming to your online shop. But you can also identify which products in your online shop are the most popular, so you can continue to promote them and secure more sales.
Search Console Report
Under the Search Console Report tab, you’ll see the top 50 Google search terms your site ranks for.
- This is great for understanding which keywords are driving the most traffic to your website and how effective your SEO efforts are. And helps you go even deeper into tracking website traffic to your WordPress site
- If you want to make improvements, ramp up your keyword research using this data. If you are happy because the trend is moving upwards when it comes to site traffic, keep promoting your top keywords.
- For help with Google Search Console, make sure to check out this helpful tutorial for configuring your website with Google Search Console.
Custom Dimensions Report
Under the Custom Dimensions Report tab, you can track custom data such as the most popular:
- Authors
- Post Types
- Categories
- Tags
- SEO Scores
Though this doesn’t track how much site traffic is coming to your website, it’s still helpful. For instance, now you can see what current site visitors find the most interesting on your site, so you can continue to develop strategies to drive more traffic to your site.
Forms Report
Under the Forms Report tab, you can see some of the most exciting information as it relates to both site traffic and your website’s forms.
Check out how many people view and submit your website’s forms. In addition, get a solid conversion rate for each so you can see which forms are converting the highest on your site, and which ones might need adjustments.
Well done!
