Discover The Best Google Analytics Plugins For WordPress

Looking for the best Google Analytics plugin for your WordPress site?

Even if you don’t like stats and analytics, you know that analytics is always important — with the right report, you can grow your site most effectively. 

Google Analytics may be the most popular analytics plugin in the market but do you know that it is also one of the most complicated ones, especially for beginners and business owners who don’t have time?

This MonsterInsights review will show you how this plugin can give you the actionable data you need.Insert Image

What is Google Analytics and why is Google Analytics important?

If you are reading this, I’m sure you have used Google Analytics before and you know upright (and first hand) how powerful it is.

But there’s a little problem with Google Analytics.

It is completely overwhelming and if you are not an analytics expert, it can be very difficult to know where to start, or how to put that data to use.

So, what’s the point of using an analytics tool if you are not able to use the data to improve your website?

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For most website users (bloggers and business owners), you are looking for an analytics tool that shows you the most important data at a glance, in an easy to understand format.

In this case, you are looking for data that you can use to use almost instantly in improving your website.

What are the features of a good analytics tool for WordPress?

• Understand what topics and formats your audience likes best, so you can create more of it
• See how people find your site, so you can focus your efforts on the marketing tactics that work
• Set and track your conversion goals, so you know how to improve and optimize your site

Here’s the thing.

If you are an expert in Google Analytics, you don’t need an analytics tool for your WordPress site.

So, why should you still use a tool like MonsterInsights?

WordPress analytics tools such as MonsterInsights will give you all that information at a glance, making analytics easy even if you’re a beginner.

More importantly, 

MonsterInsights is also much easier to set up than Google Analytics. A beginner to WordPress may not know how or where to place the tracking code.

But setup with MonsterInsights is much easier — you don’t have to edit any code on your site.

MonsterInsights was once known as Google Analytics by Yoast

If you’re looking for a Google Analytics by Yoast review, you’re in the right place!

Wait, what?

It’s so bloody confusing (you thought) …

MonsterInsights was originally developed by Joost de Valk, the developer behind Yoast SEO.

As Yoast grew they decided to focus on SEO products exclusively, and the Google Analytics by Yoast plugin found a new home in 2016 with Syed Balkhi and was rebranded as MonsterInsights.

Thanks to Yoast and Syed Balkhi, MonsterInsights now has a single goal: to make analytics easy for beginners.

Now, MonsterInsights is brought to you by the same team that’s behind WPBeginner, OptinMonster, and WPForms.

How To Setup MonsterInsights Properly?

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Before you install MonsterInsights, you need to have a Google Analytics account set up. Click here if you don’t have one.

Once that is done, download, install and activate the MonsterInsights plugin.

Click on Authenticate with your Google account to get started.

In the popup that appears, click Next » Click To Get Google Code.

Next, log in to your Google Account and click on the Allow button to grant MonsterInsights access to your website analytics data.

Lastly, you need to select an analytics profile from the dropdown, and then click Next.

Important note: There are a few advanced MonsterInsights features worth considering (turning on or off).

• Track outbound click and downloads: This will keep track of all clicks and downloads as Events in your Google Analytics account.
• Allow tracking of anonymous data: This will send information anonymously to the developer on how you use MonsterInsights, allowing them to know what configurations, themes, and plugins to test.
• Anonymize IPs: This will help to anonymize the IP addresses of visitors.
• Ignore users: You can set your analytics to not tracks the actions of the Administrator, Editor, and other user roles.
• Disable analytics dashboard: This disables the dashboard and stops all data collection as long as it’s checked off.

Once you are comfortable with all the features and options, click the Save Changes button at the bottom.

Give yourself a nice pat on the back as you has successfully install and setup MonsterInsights in just 5 minutes or less!

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MonsterInsights Analytics Reports Dashboard

Click on the Insights >> Dashboard and you will see all your traffic (pulled from Google Analytics) under one roof.

How Good Is MonsterInsights As A Google Analytics WordPress Plugin?

Do you have reservations on MonsterInsights?

I bet you still do.

Below are a few reasons your website needs MonsterInsights.

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1. Easy Google Analytics Setup

MonsterInsights is created to help website owners (like you) to setup Google Analytics accurately.

Instead of messing your head and hand with the codes in the <head> or <body> tag, you can connect your website with Google Analytics without having to touch a single line of code.

2. Advanced Analytics Tracking Features (That Are Beginner Friendly)

MonsterInsights lets you easily enable dozens of Analytics tracking features on your website that you might have otherwise missed.

The basic setup on Google Analytics isn’t sufficient if you are looking to gather reports related to enhanced tracking matters.

For example, if you need to enable eCommerce tracking without a plugin, then you might want to manually add additional tracking code on your site. The problem with this approach is that even a slight mistake can skew your entire Analytics data.

Using MonsterInsights, you don’t have to worry about skewing your data because you can enable advanced analytics features in just a few clicks (and no coding skills needed).

Here are some enhanced tracking features that you can easily turn on without coding skills (thanks to MonsterInsights).

• Ecommerce tracking: Enable eCommerce tracking for your WooCommerce or Digital Downloads store.
• Ads tracking: Understand which ad slots bring in the most revenue.
• File download tracking: Find out exactly how many times users download your files.
• Custom dimensions: Track authors, categories, tags, searches, logged in users, etc. on your website.
• Google AMP tracking: Enable Google Analytics tracking on your Google AMP enabled pages.
• Facebook Instant Articles tracking: Enable Analytics tracking on your Facebook Instant Articles.
• Forms tracking: Track all your online forms with Google Analytics and gather data like form views, submissions and conversion rates.
• Google Optimize: Enable Google Optimize and start conducting A/B tests on your site.
• EU Compliance: Improve compliance with GDPR and other privacy regulations.

3. Make Accurate And Timely Decision Wisely, Every Time

Google Analytics reports are always comprehensive but they can be very overwhelming.

In other words, you are bound to experience difficulties if you are not a Google Analytics expert.

Analytics is important because it means getting the right stats that matter for your business — at the right time.

One of the best things about MonsterInsights is that it provides you with the most important reports that matter to your business in an easy to understand format.

If you are not an Analytics expert, MonsterInsights is definitely the right tool for you — because it helps you make data driven decision easier that can have a positive impact on your website business.

4. Discover The Right Analytics Reports Right In Your WordPress Dashboard

Using MonsterInsights, your entire website performance is at a glance right under one roof.

If you want to check out how your website is performing, then you’re not necessarily required to log in to your Google Analytics account every day.

Instead, you can easily figure it out by simply logging into your WordPress dashboard.

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MonsterInsights Versus Other Google Analytics Plugins

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Let’s be honest.

There are many different visitor tracking plugins in WordPress repository that allow you to gather statistics and giving insights.

I used many plugins including Google Analytics Dashboard for WP by ExactMetrics (formerly GADWP) and Slimstat Analytics.

Here are a few things I find MonsterInsights rising above the rest of the analytics plugins for WordPress.

1. User Experience

For me, user experience (UX) is the single most important reason why I recommend MonsterInisights.

Not only will you find it extremely easy to set up, but its tracking settings and workflows establish itself as the most beginner-friendly Google Analytics plugin for WordPress.

You can easily setup MonsterInsights and Google Analytics simultaneously without touching a single line of code. 

2. All Tracking Features Under One Roof

Regardless for eCommerce website, a small business website owner or a blogger, MonsterInsights comes with all the tracking options you need in a single product.

As MonsterInsights is a fully featured Analytics plugin, you can track a lot of events on your website that matters to your business. See the full list of MonsterInsights features.

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3. Most Popular Google Analytics Plugin For Websites

At this point of writing, MonsterInsights has over 15 million downloads and over 2 million active installs.

4. Zero Third-Party Account Required

MonsterInsights simply connects your website with Google Analytics — so you don’t have to create another account.

MonsterInsights biggest competitor, Jetpack Stats requires you to connect your site with WordPress.com, in order to start enabling the site tracking feature. 

This is very much hassle and is impossible to use if you are concern about data privacy.

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5. Suitable For Websites of All Sizes and Budgets

MonsterInsights isn’t expensive and as website owner myself, I understand the importance of fitting in the budget.

MonsterInsights come with a free (lite) version and many different add-ons based on your needs.

It goes without saying that MonsterInsights is the best Google Analytics plugin regardless of the size and budget of your online venture.

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6. Help Is Just A Stone Throw Away (Documentation and Support)

The WordPress.org plugin page and the MonsterInsights website have all the tutorials you need to set up the plugin and fix any issues that may arise.

For the free version of the plugin, community support is available in the WordPress.org support forums.

Users of the MonsterInsights Pro version have access to highly-rated support from the developers.

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Is MonsterInsights Worth It?

MonsterInsights is an excellent Google Analytics plugin not only for WordPress but for many other CMS.

It is easy to use and most importantly, not overwhelming but the default Google Analytics.

Try MonsterInsights for free here!