Adding Google Analytics to Blogger or WordPress

Todays post will show you how to instal Google Analytics. It’s a really important part of blogging which is often overlooked, but even if you aren’t interested in stats or monetising your site I recommend setting up Google Analytics asap to start collecting data right away.

I especially love the Real-Time Feature that lets you see whats happening live on your blog. Check out my beginners guide to Google Analytics to learn how to use it and what stats to keep an eye on as well as this post which will give you an overview of the dashboard and different reports available.

If you are having trouble finding code in Blogger, check out this post with instructions on using the new HTML editor.

Step 1: Setting up Google Analytics

1. You’ll need a Google Account for Google Analytics. You can sign up here if you don’t have one. If you use Blogger, Youtube or Gmail then you already have one.

2. Visit google.com/analytics and click sign in. Login using your Google Account and you’ll see a screen explaining Google Analytics. Click sign up.

3. Fill in your details in the form. Don’t worry about Industry Category. The choice doesn’t affect tracking and data collection, it just helps Google tailor the service to you.

4. Click Get Tracking ID, Accept the Terms and you’ll be brought to this page.

5. The tracking id is what gathers the data and sends it back to Google Analytics so it needs to be installed properly.

Step 2: Install Google Analytics to your Blog

Below are 3 methods you can choose from depending on how you want to add the script and what platform you are on.

Blogger Method 1: Tracking ID Settings
Blogger have made it really easy to add Google Analytics for those who would rather not mess around with code.

6a. From the area above in step 4, copy your Tracking ID number (UA-00000000-0). If you are using a Blogger template, go to Settings > Other and enter your Tracking ID number to the last section called Analytics Web Property ID and save settings. It may take 24hours for any data to appear.

6b. We’ll double check that the corresponding code is in your template. To do this go to Template > Edit HTML and between </b:template-skin> and </head> you should see the following code. If you don’t then add the following code above </head> and save.

<b:include data='blog' name='google-analytics'/>

Blogger Method 2: Manually using Script
If you’d rather go the manually way and add the code yourself, then follow this section.

7a. From the area above in step 4, copy your Tracking Code (the script).

7b. On Blogger, go to Template > Edit HTML > Search for </head>. Just above </head> paste the Tracking Code and click Save Template. Make sure to copy and paste the code exactly. It may take 24hours for any data to appear.

Adding GA on WordPress
For Self Hosted WordPress users, you can use a plugin to add your Tracking ID or add the Tracking Code directly to your themes header.php file.

Google Analytics – Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Do I need to add the script to every page or post on my blog?
No, don’t add the script to pages or posts. Add it to your template in the correct area. It will automatically be on every page on your blog because of that and will collect data.

Q: How do I enable demographic reports on Google Analytics?
The tutorial here will show you how to update your GA code to allow demographic data.

Q: Why not use Blogger Stats instead?
Blogger Stats count your own views, spiders that crawl your site for indexing purposes and spam bots. Google Analytics is more accurate and very useful for keeping an eye on all the data and stats you need for your blog. Plus, it’s whats universally used and more than likely it’s what PR and advertisers will look for when deciding whether or not to work with you.

Q: What about WordPress Stats & Jetpack plugin?
The figures shown on wordpress.com stats or on the Jetpack plugin are known to be pretty accurate. It may not have as many features as Google Analytics but it’s perfect for finding out just what you need to know on a daily basis.

Q: How do I use Google Analytics?
The following posts will explain the dashboard, data and reports on Google Analytics, and what stats to look at as a blogger.

• Beginners guide to Google Analytics – Reading Data
• Understanding Google Analytics dashboard and different reports available