There are many ways to view Google Analytics (GA) when using WordPress (WP), and there are many plugins to help.
Analytics tools enable users to learn about visitors to their websites. They show the number of site visitors, what they do, where they came from, and other statistics that will help you understand the behavior of your site’s users.
This article will show you some of the most popular WordPress plugins for Google Analytics, as well as their strengths and weaknesses, to help you choose the best solution for your needs.
Analysis
Analytify is a free Google Analytics plugin for WordPress that helps you understand your audience in an easy way by combining data and statistics from GA and putting them into your WP dashboard.
Start by installing and activating Analytify. Then view your overall stats in the WP dashboard.
Other features of the free version of Analytify include:
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- Add GA code to your website with one click
- General statistics such as views pages, unique visitors, sessions, bounce rate, and average time spent on the site.
- Social media statistics.
- To the top are the keywords by which visitors find your site.
- Mobile device statistics.
- Internet referrals and statistics for the most popular cities and counties.
What sets Analytify apart from other WP plugins is that it allows you to view customized statistics for pages, posts and custom post types.
This is especially useful for older posts that don’t get a lot of organic traffic. View traffic statistics for these blog posts in your dashboard and improve each one with better SEO optimization.
If you need real-time statistics, campaign tracking, email notifications, shortcode builder interface, e-commerce add-ons, and other advanced features, upgrade to the premium version.
 Powerful MonsterInsights
Easily install GA on your WordPress site with MonsterInsights and view helpful reports in your WP dashboard.
The free version of the Google Analytics plugin for WordPress allows users to see statistics such as:
- Percentage of new and returning website visitors
- Most popular pages and posts on your site
- Graphs of page views by total and average.
- Breakdown by device.
- Sites that have redirected users to your site.
- The ten most popular countries from which users visited your site
For those looking for more advanced features, MonsterInsights has a pro version with features such as:
- Advanced reporting for e-commerce, search console, sizes, shapes, and publishers.
- File uploads
- Improved link tracking.
- Interaction Tracking
- EU Compliance Add-in
- Date Range History.
- SEO score, category / tags, logged in user tracking
For WP beginners who may not know where to place their GA tracking code, MonsterInsights makes things easy with quick setup and a simple user interface.
Other benefits of using MonsterInsights include customization options, no need to connect to a third-party account, and the ability to import and export reports.
However, the free version is limited and the pro version is expensive, starting at $ 199 per site.
Analytics Cat
Use Analytics Cat to easily and quickly add GA (Universal GA) code to your WP site.
There are not many features in Analytics Cat. Instead, it’s a lightweight and simple plugin that allows you to add GA code to WP in minutes without slowing down your site.
However, it has another useful feature. Analytics Cat offers an easy way to exclude authorized users from Google Analytics tracking.
You can also exclude any other roles you want by going to Settings> Google Analytics Manager.
If you’re looking for more advanced features and functionality of a WordPress plugin for Google Analytics, Analytics Cat is not for you.
WP Statistics
WP Statistics is a GA alternative for webmasters who care about their online privacy. WP Statistics creates a database to store site statistics and data related to your site. It displays tracking statistics in your WP admin area as simple graphs.
Track visitor data for metrics such as:
- referring sites
- IP addresses
- Countries
- Operating Systems
- Browsers
Find out how many people visit your website, where they are from, and what content, tags, and categories they visit most often. Other WP Statistics features include:
- Tracking redirects from search engines such as Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo and Yahoo.
- Support for WP roles to set access levels for managing and viewing analysts
- Access site statistics without sending user data anywhere.
- Export analytic data to CSV, TSV or XML files.
- Generate email reports for any statistics with custom text
Since WP Statistics stores its data on your WP site, this will increase the size of your backup
GA Google Analytics
If you’re looking for a lightweight and simple WordPress Google Analytics plugin that does one thing – add GA code to every page on your website, GA Google Analytics is the place to go.
This simple plugin is perfect for large websites with hundreds of pages. Your Google Analytics won’t show up in your WP dashboard, but the plugin makes sure there is a tracking code on every page on your site.
Other benefits of this plugin:
- Simple and easy to use
- High performance
- Relevant with the latest tracking code
- Regularly updated
- Includes tracking code in the header or footer.
- GDPR Compliant
There is also a premium version with advanced features and functionality such as custom encoding, opt-out for visitors, and disable tracking for logged-in users.
ExactMetrics
For users who have difficulty understanding GA reporting, ExactMetrics helps you view key statistics in your WP dashboard.
This plugin includes features such as:
- Demographic reports;
- Real-time statistics;
- Sessions and Pageviews;
- Traffic Channels
- Bounce Rates
- Traffic by Authors
ExactMetrics helps you grow your business by making data-driven decisions based on the tracking features and statistics provided by the plugin.
This plugin does not put your WP analytics dashboard on the WP home page. Instead, you can access the new Insights tab dashboard in the ExactMetrics sidebar settings.
If you want more customizable features like ecommerce, custom options, events, form conversion, and affiliate link tracking, you’ll have to pay for the pro version.
Which Google Analytics WordPress Plugin Should You Use?
Many analytics plugins are designed for different purposes. If it’s critical for you to see your stats in your WP dashboard, choose a plugin like Analytify, WP Statistics, or MonsterInsights.
If you’re only looking for a plugin that will allow you to quickly set up the GA code associated with your site, Analytics Cat and GA Google Analytics are the best options. It may also be wise to remove any plugins you no longer need after you have settled on a particular plugin.
One of the many benefits of WP plugins is that you can install the free versions to see if they work for you without spending money on the professional or premium version.
The bottom line is to choose the plugin that best suits your needs. You may find that using more than one is useful for all databases.
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