Are you looking to make use of Google analytics to keep track of your site’s visitors and get data to help you improve your marketing campaign? If so, you’re on the right track. However, you may have noticed that Google analytics doesn’t have a very user-friendly interface and this can make things difficult for you when trying to navigate.
In such times, Google Analytics plugins come in handy. They help to reduce the stress that you would have faced if you added Google Analytics to your website manually. But is that really enough reason to make use of this tools? Of course not. In this article, you’ll discover the importance of these tools alongside the best analytics and tracking plugins.
Why Use Analytics and Tracking Plugins?
First, it’s important to clarify that using analytics and tracking plugins is not a must to access Google Analytics. However, navigating through it could be a hassle since it does not have a user-friendly interface. This could make users wander around various pages in search of a particular piece of information or data. So, most people prefer using Google Analytics with plugins because as mentioned earlier, it is generally easier for you as a user to use a plugin than manually connecting Google Analytics to your website.
Google Analytics plugins help you:
Recognize the source of referral traffic: If you are able to identify where the bulk of your referral traffic is coming from, you would know where to invest more money in marketing.
Categorize your audience: When you have more knowledge of who your audience is, you will be able to make specific campaigns to target specific categories
Improve your content: It helps you know what keywords you need to rank for and what content attracts most of your website's visitors.
It only shows you the important information instead of making you search through tons of data to find what you need.
Now, you are probably excited to find an appropriate Google Analytics plugin that offers all of these features so you can stop with the manual installation of Google Analytics.
So, in this article, we will discuss 4 of the best Google Analytics and tracking plugins. These include:
Best Analytics and Tracking Plugins
Finding an appropriate Google Analytics plugin can be difficult since new ones hit the market on a monthly basis. This article will save you stress. The earlier mentioned list of reliable and feature-filled Google Analytics and tracking plugins will now be elaborated on:
MonsterInsights is no doubt the most popular Google Analytics WordPress plugin. This plugin allows you to easily add Google Analytics to your website. It also enables you to view reports from your WordPress. It is ideal for small businesses as it requires no coding or developers. It is as popular as it is because it is really simple to use while having very advanced features.
This plugin has many addons which optimize the utility because of the extended abilities it has. It has an ad tracking feature that helps in identifying the ad banner with the most profit gained. MonsterInsights allows you to seamlessly set up even the most advanced Google Analytics features in WordPress. It operates behind the scenes and this does not affect whatever you are working on while using it. For beginners, MonsterInsights teaches them how to install Google Analytics step-by-step. It shows the behavior of your website's visitors and the most recent traffic data of the website on your WordPress dashboard.
MonsterInsights' download tracker can be used in knowing how many times a file has been downloaded. It is simply the best and most popular Google Analytics plugin. Its only disadvantage is that most advanced features are in the premium plans.
Pricing
Plus: $99.5/year
Pro: $199.50/year
Agency: $399.50/year
2. Site Kit
Site Kit is a free Google Analytics plugin. It was made by Google itself. Site Kit is quite popular and can be considered the 2nd most popular free Google Analytics plugin. Many websites use this because it is the official Google plugin and it can easily take information from other platforms such as Search Console. Just like MonsterInsights this plugin also has the ability to track website visitor's behavior and increase the site's visibility in search engines.
It offers no add-ons or premium plans. Site Kit is quite direct so it only needs your Gmail and Google Analytics accounts. It isn't highly recommended though, as it does not really provide detailed reports in WordPress. It is really useful to site owners since it helps them set up metrics to help them in growing their online presence. It is also useful to developers/agencies. And, it is of course useful as a plugin.
Pricing
Free
WP Statistics is a freemium and an easy-to-use yet powerful Google Analytics and tracking plugin. WP Statistics displays data in editable graphs and charts. With WP Statistics you can track your website's visitor's data like operating system, referral websites, browser, country and city, and many more. Here, you can download WP Statistics' data in different forms including XML, TSV, and CSV. It protects users' information or data by not allowing the plugin to cache cookies from the users' browsers. It offers real-time tracking. WP Statistics is GDPR compliant. It has powerful add-ons which increase its functionality.
Pricing
Freemium
Premium plans start at $15 to $199 per year
4. Analytify
Analytify can be referred to as one of the most used Google Analytics plugins. It has a super easy installation process for adding its tracking code to your website. Analytics reviews, just like MonsterInsights, can be seen in your WordPress admin area. It allows you to check on the statistics of each page and post and the activities of visitors on such pages and post such as time on the page and bounce rate.
Analytify offers a wide range of add-ons in order to increase its utility. It is a rookie-friendly plugin that is highly recommended for e-commerce and company website owners because of its tracking features. Addons are needed to access some features such as receiving emails or reports. Analytify sends automated mail reports for individual pages, posts, and general statistics. Though the free version is limited, its premium versions are cheaper than that of MonsterInsights while providing identical functionality, including the ability to view individual pages and post stats.
Pricing
Pro: $59/year
Conversion: $99/year
Developer: $299/year
Wrapping Up
That's all for the recommendations of the best analytics and tracking plugins. And after a thorough review of the list, MonsterInsights ended up being the overall best Google Analytics plugin. It has all features necessary to be seen as a reliable plugin and it has affordable prices. Its team is also very amazing since they try their best to keep the plugin updated with constant improvements or upgrades of the software on which it operates. MonsterInsights lets users do everything they need to from the convenience of their WordPress dashboard.
That said, the other Google Analytics plugins mentioned in this article are also very useful with the adequate functionality needed by an average user. It’s up to you to review each one and determine which suits your needs better. Remember, the benefits that comes from making use of Google analytics plugins are too good to miss out on for everyone looking to improve their marketing campaign. So, get started today on Google analytics using the plugin of your choice.