The best Google Analytics plugins can help businesses using WordPress improve their online presence, which is a critical ingredient in converting all of their digital marketing efforts into profits. And there are a couple of good options out there. From basic to advanced metrics, there’s a right analytic plugin for WordPress you can use to help you with your bottom line.
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What is an Analytics Tool?
Google is simply the most used search engine today. Every day, billions of web goers rely on Google when researching a product or service. And Google doesn’t disappoint.
It can instantly gather millions of results for a single query. For a business owner, this means rigorous measuring of 1their marketing efforts as they need to go against millions of competitors.
But thanks to analytics tools, businesses don’t have to make guesses where they are in the race or manually measure their efforts. Moreover, a Google Analytics tool uses Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Customer Behavior technologies to collect data about a website’s traffic, bounce rate, conversions, sales, losses, problematic areas, and so much more.
It’s like the ultimate VA that monitors the activities made on a website while comparing it with competitors. That way, businesses can make better decisions when determining which strategies truly work for them. Overall, the information you get from Google Analytics will lead you to make higher profits.
Why Do You Need a Google Analytics Plugin?
As we mentioned above, an analytics tool is important for anyone who owns a WordPress-based website. It gets into the details of your web visitors to help you make data-based and logical decisions about your business.
While Google Analytics is a seemingly indispensable tool for any website owner, it isn’t the most user-friendly software out there. Non-techy users may get a hard time getting the gist of using it. But thanks to WordPress, website owners now have an easier way to get the information they need through analytics plugins for WordPress.
Best Google Analytics Plugins for WordPress to Try
Countless Google analytics plugins are compatible with WordPress. They are quick to install and easy to use. Although much simpler than the real Google Analytics software, these plugins can do a great job at measuring your traffic, knowing where they’re from, segmenting your visitors to demographics, tracking your campaigns, creating conversion goals, analyzing your content, and so much more.
Indeed, they are valuable assets to website owners who want to track their digital marketing efforts and continuously come up with data-driven campaigns that are likely to make conversions. So, today, to help you start a more guided digital marketing campaign, we’re giving you a rundown of our top picks of Google Analytics plugins for WordPress.
1. MonsterInsights
MonsterInsights is probably the most in-demand Google Analytics WordPress plugin. It lets you connect your WP-based website with Google Analytics for easier and faster tracking of site traffic. And the best part? There’s no coding needed!
Features:
- Generates detailed reports about website visitors and breaks them down to different demographics such as country origin, gender, age, the device used, and more.
- It jots down how visitors found your website and what keywords they used in their search, who referred them, and what activities they did on your website.
- Forms add-on available for tracking views, submissions, and conversion rate from forms.
- EU Compliance add-on available for compliance to GDPR and other EU privacy regulations.
- Universal event tracking available to gather data from all kinds of devices used to connect to your site.
- Download tracking feature records number file download from your website.
- Capability to connect Google Analytics eCommerce tracking with WooCommerce, MemberPress, or Easy Digital Downloads to analyze your conversion rate, average order value, number of daily transactions, and so much more.
- Website status is shown in your WordPress dashboard, saving you time from visiting Google Analytics to audit your site.
Price: Basic is free but the premium plan starts at $99.50/year.
2. ExactMetrics
Another widely used Google Analytics plugin for WordPress is ExactMetrics, formerly known as Google Analytics Dashboard for WordPress (GADWP). It has over a million active users because of its free basic usage that proves competitive in tracking activities on a hobby or startup website.
Features:
- Tracking ability to monitor website visitors.
- Easily get analytics reports inside WordPress dashboard.
- Records important metrics showing web traffic, bounce rate, page views, organic search, bounce rate, social media traffic, mobile analytics stats, and much more.
- Real-time statistics of web visitors, traffic sources, visitor location, and much more.
- In-depth reports on posts and pages to help in the optimization.
- Full event tracking of affiliate links, downloads, emails, and more for website and Accelerated Mobile Pages.
Price: Free basic usage but premium plans start at $99.50/year.
3. Analytify
Analytify is one of the free premium Google Analytics plugins out there. Its ease of use and affordable pro version made it a popular choice among startups and non-techy web owners.
Features:
- Displays analytics reports inside WordPress dashboard.
- Complete statistics of individual posts and pages.
- Comes with numerous add-ons for more functionality like tracking campaigns with UTM parameters.
- eCommerce tracking for sales, transactions, and revenue on WooCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads.
- Automated email reports containing general web stats as well as post and page stats
Price: Free usage but the Pro version is at $59/year.
4. Enhanced Ecommerce Google Analytics Plugin
If you just started an eCommerce shop and you’re using WooCommerce to power it, then the Enhanced Ecommerce Google Analytics Plugin is a free plugin that will help you make data-driven decisions.
However, this plugin comes with certain limitations like supporting simple products only and incompatibility with some WordPress themes, it still does a good job at collecting the important web stats you need to help you in your bottom line. And it’s already proven helpful for startups who aren’t loaded for investing in different website technologies all at the same time.
Features:
- Uses the eCommerce tracking feature of Google Analytics to study user behavior and help you to optimize your online store.
- Supports 4 types of behavior and performance reports: shopping, checkout, product, and sales.
- Helps you track product clicks, impressions, and add to cart events. These can be tracked on your product page, category page, featured product section, and more.
- Easily link to your Google Ads and Merchant Store to measure campaign conversions.
Price: Free.
5. Google Analytics by 10Web
Free but powerful analytics plugin – this is what Google Analytics by 10Web is all about. For a free and simple tool, Google Analytics by 10Web is one of the best analytics plugins that get the job done.
Features:
- Extract analytics reports conveniently from your WordPress dashboard.
- Set and manage your business goals inside the WordPress admin area.
- Integrate quickly with Google Ads and Google AdSense to track conversions of your paid ad campaigns.
- Automated email reports about important website stats.
- Basic and advanced eCommerce tracking, custom event tracking, and custom notifications for chosen triggers.
Price: Free 14 day trial while Premium version starts at $10/month.
6. GA Google Analytics
“Lightweight and fast with plenty of great features.” That is how GA Google Analytics describes its services. Website owners may try it for free but to enjoy more functionality, one will need to upgrade to the pro plan.
Features:
- Tracks non-admin traffic to get the precise stats of web visitors outside your organization.
- Easy customization of tracking codes.
- Automatically updates.
- Tracking codes for all web pages including header and footer.
Price: Free and Premium versions available with the latter plans starting at $15.
7. WP Google Analytics Events
Basic and easy to understand; WP Google Analytics Events lets you track events without the need of writing codes. It isn’t as comprehensive as others on this list as it only monitors events on your site. So, apart from your web traffic and what your visitors do on your website, you can’t track your ads and other campaigns.
Features:
- Compares the performance of your CTA buttons.
- Quickly tracks links, contact form submissions, and page navigations done by visitors.
- Tracks the number of visitors who finished viewing your content to the end.
- Go for premium and you can track your YouTube and Vimeo stats.
Price: Basic is free while the premium plan starts at $79/year.
8. Site Kit by Google
If you want precise tracking of your website’s performance on Google, Site Kit by Google is the plugin you must use. This WordPress plugin is an official product of Google so it easily integrates with Google Analytics, Google AdSense, Tag Manager, Optimize, and so much more. You will like the fact that it’s easy to use and understand but it delivers all the crucial data you need to succeed online. And the best part? It’s free to use!
Features:
- Up-to-date advice from Google itself on how to stay on top of the competition.
- Seamless integration with other Google services to get the most detailed and accurate metrics and insights about your website and campaigns.
- Get stats on your web traffic and insights on your web visitors.
- Track the performance of individual posts and the entire website.
Price: Free
9. Matomo
Matomo boasts the basic functions of an analytics plugin but its best feature is its dedicated privacy features. It helps web users comply easily with GDPR. Other than that, you can get important reports that you need to keep your website competitive.
Features:
- Detailed report on web traffic including hot keywords, traffic sources, visitor demographics, geo-locations, and so much more.
- Real-time stats of web performance that you can view from your WordPress dashboard.
- Helps you add tracking code to your website.
Price: Free standard version while Pro version starts at $9/month.
10. CAOS | Host Google Analytics Locally
CAOS (Complete Analytics Optimization Suite)isn’t a typical GA plugin. Instead, it helps you optimize GA by hosting it locally on your WordPress. This gives you access to browser caching to improve your website’s load speed and eliminate other issues that the use of Google Analytics can bring to your site.
This plugin is also compatible with MonsterInsights, Analytify, and ExactMetrics.
Features:
- Access to all Google Analytics features without compromising web performance.
- Tracking of engagement and affiliate links
- Ideal to use on WooCommerce websites
- Easy customization of tracking codes and cookies
- Hides IP addresses to disregard web admin traffic from tracking
- And track logged-in administrators
Price: Free
Conclusion
If you want to stay on top of the search results pages on Google as well as other search engines, the use of Google Analytics is a must. If you’re a startup or a newbie on handling a website, Google Analytics can help you boost your presence online.
But if you’re wondering which could be the best for you to try among our top picks, we’d say, it depends on your goals, budget, and website requirements. Trying them all won’t hurt your bottom line and besides, you will really need to do a little trial and error to know which GA plugin for WordPress is easier for you to use and which suits your needs. Most of the standard versions of our picks are free so you can check them one by one.
No matter what you choose, integrating Google Analytics into your WordPress site by using a GA plugin is something you must not skip. Analyze your traffic and track your website performance to determine which of your strategies are working so you won’t have to waste time, effort, and money on the ones that don’t make any conversions.
AUTHOR BIO
Engineer turned Writer. Donna found a deeper interest in expressing her thoughts through words rather than numbers. With four years of experience, she has now mastered different writing styles. Writing Technology Blogs for the computer software shop Softvire Australia is her latest stint. After work, she morphs into an anime and TV series fan