| Plugin | Key Features | Direct Link |
|---|---|---|
| MonsterInsights | ✓ Real-time traffic reports in the dashboard ✓ Outbound link and form conversion tracking ✓ Analytics and user behavior report |
Download |
| Conversion Bridge | ✓Track Conversions from 49 WordPress Plugins in Google Analytics | Download |
| Analyze | ✓ Track site metrics from the dashboard ✓ Universal tracking & page level analytics ✓ Automated email reports |
Download |
| GA Google Analytics | ✓ Lightweight plugin with easy tracking code setup ✓ Option to exclude Admin users from tracking ✓ Includes tracking code in header or footer |
Download |
| GADWP | ✓ Quickly setup all Google Analytics features ✓ Google Analytics dashboard with real-time stats ✓ Oubond link and custom dimensions tracking |
Download |
If you want to make your blog better, it’s essential to have a deep understanding of your readers so you can understand their favorite content, where your traffic is coming from, and whether your blog is trending in the right direction.
But to get all this data, you need an analytics tool like Google Analytics. In addition to Google Analytics on your website, you also need a way to easily find specific data and reports that actually provide useful information.
To help you do that, I’m going to share some of the best Google Analytics plugins for WordPress. Most of these plugins not only help you add the Google Analytics tracking code to WordPress, but also let you view important analytics reports right on your WordPress dashboard.
When you can easily access actionable analytics data without leaving WordPress, you’re more likely to use it. That’s a good thing!
You Don’t Need a Google Analytics WordPress Plugin
Before we get started, I want to point out that you don’t need any of these plugins to use Google Analytics on your website. These plugins are simply:
- Make the process simpler
- Lets you view reports on your WordPress dashboard ( most reports )
- Gives you additional options for more advanced tracking types, including useful data like outbound link tracking
However, there are also two easy ways to add Google Analytics to WordPress without using a plugin.
First, you can always paste the Google Analytics tracking code into your child theme’s header.php file or a plugin like Insert Headers and Footers.
Alternatively, another way is to use Google Tag Manager to add the Google Analytics tracking code. The advantage of using Google Tag Manager is that you can also use it to manage all the other scripts you add to your website.
If you decide to use plugins (whether to streamline the process or access more advanced features and dashboard reporting), here are some of the best plugins.
- MonsterInsights
- Analyze
- GA Google Analytics
- Google Analytics Dashboard for WP (GADWP)
- Analytics Counter
- Google Analytics WD
1. MonsterInsights
MonsterInsights is one of the most popular Google Analytics plugins listed in the WordPress.org plugin directory.
It’s popular because in addition to helping you add the Google Analytics tracking code to your WordPress site, it also allows you to view traffic reports within your WordPress dashboard and helps you take advantage of some deeper Google Analytics features.
But I'll start from the beginning:
MonsterInsights provides you with two easy ways to add the Google Analytics tracking code to your website:
- You can authenticate using your Google account ( this is basically like using social login )
- You can manually paste your Google Analytics ID
Using the first method is usually the best option, as it allows MonsterInsights to display actual traffic reports within your WordPress dashboard:
MonsterInsights also offers other features that allow you to:
- Track outbound link clicks : This is useful so that you can see what external content your visitors are most interested in.
- Create custom dimensions ( Pro ): This allows you to track specific subgroups of users - such as a separate analytics segment for logged-in users.
- Ecommerce Tracking ( Pro ): This is helpful if you’re running any kind of ecommerce store on WordPress.
- Form Tracking (Pro) : Lets you track how people interact with your forms.
The free version is good enough for most bloggers, but if you want custom sizes, e-commerce tracking, or other features, the pro version starts at $39.
2. Analyze
Analytify is a freemium plugin that helps you add the Google Analytics tracking code and makes all of your analytics data accessible in WordPress at a level beyond what many other plugins can do.
One of the great things about this plugin is that it gives you a quick view of your site’s most important metrics, and how they compare to past periods:
Not only does this plugin provide you with a comprehensive stats dashboard. You can also view stats for specific posts/pages in the Posts or Pages menu of your WordPress dashboard.
You can also view more details about a post or page in the edit screen:
Other useful features include:
- Easy-to-use social media statistics
- E-commerce Tracking ( Premium )
- Front-end statistics display ( advanced )
If you want to have access to your Google Analytics data from anywhere in your WordPress dashboard, Analytify is a great choice.
3. Conversion Bridge – Track conversions in Google Analytics with 49 WordPress plugins
Conversion Bridge simplifies the often complex and time-consuming task of setting up conversion tracking for WordPress website owners. It integrates with over 45 plugins covering everything from e-commerce to forms, and lets you track conversions in over 10 analytics platforms, including Google Analytics (your favorite privacy-focused alternative) and paid advertising platforms. In just 1 minute, you can track important business key indicators of your website performance, without any coding knowledge.
Quick highlights of the Conversion Bridge:
- Adds primary tracking tags for Google Analytics and 10+ privacy-focused platforms like Plausible, Fathom, and more
- One-click, code-free conversion tracking for 45+ WordPress plugins and WordPress core blocks and functions
- Send conversion data to advertising platforms such as Google Ads, Meta, Pinterest, TikTok, etc.
- Track accurate, detailed product and revenue data across all connected platforms
- Create custom event tracking for any element on the page, including clicks, scrolling, and time on page
- The conversion journey shows the page-by-page interaction on your site for each conversion, helping you understand what content leads to conversions
Conversion tracking is a vital component of any digital marketing effort. Conversion Bridge eliminates the technical challenges and time-consuming steps required to implement conversion tracking. With its user-friendly interface, powerful features, and rich integration options, Conversion Bridge can help any WordPress website owner achieve online growth and success.
4. GA Google Analytics
GA Google Analytics is much more lightweight than MonsterInsights. Rather than offering in-dashboard reporting and other advanced features, GA Google Analytics focuses on making it easy for you to add the Google Analytics tracking code to your WordPress website.
First, it will give you a simple box where all you need to do is paste your Google Analytics property ID to enable tracking.
However, you can also enable other core Google Analytics features, such as:
- General Analysis
- Display ads
- Link attribution
- IP anonymization
One great feature here is the option to exclude admin users from tracking. This helps ensure that you don’t skew the accuracy of your data by adding your own actions.
Use this if you don't care about in-dashboard reporting and just want a lightweight solution to adding the actual tracking code.
Get the Google Analytics plugin
5. ExactMetrics – Google Analytics Dashboard for WordPress (Website Statistics Plugin)
Exact Metrics , commonly known as GADWP, is ranked alongside MonsterInsights as the “most popular Google Analytics plugin on WordPress.org.”
It has over 1 million active installations. The amazing thing about this plugin is that it is completely free — all features are available without the paid version.
Like many other plugins, Google Analytics Dashboard for WP makes it easy to add the Google Analytics tracking code to WordPress. It also:
- Provide you with overall statistics for the entire site
- Lets you click a button in a list of posts or **pages to bring up basic analytics for that specific post ( **see below )
In addition to this useful report, Google Analytics Dashboard for WP (GADWP) also includes the following features:
- Enable outbound link tracking
- Exclude certain user roles from tracking
- Create a custom size
- If you use AMP, include Google Analytics in your AMP pages.
- Add the Google Tag Manager code
The interface of Google Analytics Dashboard for WP (GADWP) isn’t as pretty or user-friendly as MonsterInsights, but the plugin is 100% free, while MonsterInsights locks some of its more advanced features behind the pro version.
Which Google Analytics plugin for WordPress should you choose?
If you just want the simplest way to add Google Analytics to WordPress and don’t really care about in-dashboard reporting or advanced features, I recommend using Google Tag Manager or the simple GA Google Analytics plugin .
If you need these features, I recommend MonsterInsights for most bloggers because it’s the easiest plugin to use and has the best interface. Google Analytics Dashboard for WP is also a good option because it offers most features for free—it’s just not as user-friendly.
Finally, if you want to view stats for individual content, Analytify offers the most detailed in-dashboard reporting.
Have you used any of these Google Analytics plugins? Or do you usually add the tracking code manually? Let me know in the comments!
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