How to Set Up Author Tracking in WordPress with Google Analytics and MonsterInsights
How to Set Up Author Tracking in WordPress with Google Analytics and MonsterInsights
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Do you want to track your blog authors with Google Analytics? If you are running a multi author WordPress blog, it is common to understand who is performing better and how you can optimize your authors to be the best performer.
In this article, I'll share simple ways you can take to setup author tracking in WordPress with Google Analytics and MonsterInsights.
Installing MonsterInsights for Author Tracking in Google Analytics
Generally, Google Analytics do not provide a direct setup to monitor your blog authors. In order to have author tracking in Google Analytics, you need to create custom settings but this can be really complicated for newbies.
This is where MonsterInsights comes into play.
Using MonsterInsights plugin, you can easily enable author tracking on your WordPress website.
As a matter of fact, MonsterInsights is one of the best addons to understanding the complicated Google Analytics dashboard.
Integrating both MonsterInsights and Google Analytics will give you detailed reports about pageviews, bounce rate and even popular authors of your blog. Of course, you can add other custom dimensions to track the authors in WordPress.
How To Setup Author Tracking In WordPress With Google Analytics?
To enable author tracking with Google Analytics, head over to Insights » Addons » Activate Dimensions addon.
The next step is to connect Google Analytics to your WordPress (which is actually very straightforward). This can be done by entering the license key in MonsterInsights and click on Verify Key button.
Once that is done, the next step is to click the Tracking tab from the top bar. Next, head over to Custom Dimensions which is found on the left hand side of the menu or screen.
The next step involves clicking on Add new custom dimensions link and it will automatically display a dropdown list. You are required to select Author as your custom dimension—since you are installing MonsterInsights to track authors in Google Analytics.
The next step involves heading over to your Google Analytics backend. Head over to Admin » Custom Dimensions.
Create a new custom dimension with several fields.
In the Name field, you need to add Author and click on the create button. It is recommended to leave the other settings as default.
You need to match the index number of Google Analytics with Custom Dimension ID that’s available in your WordPress MonsterInsights settings.
If done correctly, here's what you will see. Take note of the index number.
Now, visit the Insights » Settings page in your WordPress admin area. Under the Tracking tab, you’ll need to go to Custom Dimensions from the left-hand menu.
If the Custom Dimension ID is same as the index number in Google Analytics, then you don’t need to do anything. If the ID is different, then make sure to enter the same number you noted from Google Analytics’ index column for the Author dimension and click on the ‘Save Changes’ button.
The next step is to create a custom report within your Google Analytics dashboard to start tracking the authors properly.
In order to achieve this, you need to go to Customization » Custom Reports which is found on the left hand side of the menu or screen.
Look for Report Content field and define the metrics.
In this case, you need to add Author in the option to start tracking authors.
Finally, you should complete the entire process by adding a custom author report.
Go to Behavior » Site Content » All Pages. Therefore, choose any primary dimension (for example: Page Title) and go to the Secondary Dimension dropdown option below it.
Finally, head over to Custom Dimensions and click on the Author option.
Once the setup of WordPress authorship, Google Analytics and MonsterInsights are done correctly, this is what you will see.
I hope you find this article useful and if you haven't get your hands on MonsterInsights, I highly recommend you to do that right now!
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