Written by: 
Rafal Kukla | Published on: 4 March 2020 | Edited on: 6 April 2023
If you aren't sure what Google Analytics is, don't have it installed or you've installed it on your Wordpress site, but never look at the data then this post is probably for you.
To Understand Where Your Customers Come From, You must first understand where your referral traffic is coming from before creating a marketing strategy. Setting up Google Analytics properly will take you to the exact source of where your visitor came from.
Why You Need Google Analytics
Understanding Which Geographical Areas Generate The Most Traffic
Understanding where your clients come from will allow you formulate marketing strategies and approaches that fix any customer targeting issues you may have. You will also be able to gauge if the products/services have any new growth area potential. Let's presume the company sells winter clothes.
You will know your core customers will be people from areas that experience a harsh winter. Accordingly, you can develop campaigns/promotions, design products or put out content for these customers. The company will thus be able to retain old customers and increase the number of new customers.
Making and Monitoring More Successful Campaigns
To Monitor Your Goals
Find They Keywords That Work Best For Your Site
To Check Out And Monitor Your Competitors
Gain Knowlege About The Content You Should Be Creating
How To Install Google Analytics On Your Wordpress Site
If you decide against using a plugin, it's pretty easy to add a Google Analytics code directly to your WordPress theme using your header.php file.
But, if you're going the manual road, you'll need to use a WordPress child theme. Otherwise, every time you change your WordPress theme, your tracking code will get overwritten.
To install Analytics manually, paste your Google Analytics Tracking Code right before the closing </head> tag in your header.php file.
Find Your Google Analytics Code
To locate your Google Analytics Tracking Code, go to your Google Analytics account. Then:
- Click the Gear icon to access your admin page
- Choose Tracking Info to expand the list
- Choose Tracking Code
To add the code follow these 4 steps:
- Go to Appearance
- Then Editor
- Select the header.php file for your child theme.
- Paste the Google Analytics Tracking Code right before the </head> tag in the Editor
Once you have done this, please click update file. Republish your site and your tracking code will then be live and active on your Wordpress site.
Another option would be to add a free plugin like Header and Footer. This will allow you to easily add and change your code into your Wordpress header without the need to manually install it like above. You could also use other Wordpress themes and wouldn’t be limited to the child themes.
You can also install plugins like this ones below:
The Importance Of Google Analytics For Business
Google Analytics is a very important tool for digital marketing but is severely underused by most businesses. GA helps you to calculate the outcomes of individual campaigns in real-time, align customer data with previous periods, and much more.
Businesses ould use the tool to compare month by month sales to see which of their marketing campaigns is working and which campaigns are not. Once a business has a set strategy, they will be able to lower their ad expenses and generate more sales leads.
How To Get A Google Analytics Certification
Google Partners is an online channel for the connections and partnerships between Google and digital marketers and digital agencies. The Google Analytics Partner Exam (GAIQ) can only be taken by signed-up Google Partners, so you'll need to apply to join.
You can learn more and register here.
Sign up to Google Partners
Security issues can be easily avoided by choosing the best Wordpress hosting provider or WordPress Manager for your website; this will ensure that your site is hosted on a safe platform and is on properly secured servers that can block the most common attacks.
Google Analytics Revision Tools
If you need more revision before taking your google analytics test, then you can find lots of information on the following sites:
Free Google Analytics Course For Beginners - Click Here
Free Advanced Course - Click Here
Take A Mock Test Before You Sit Your Exam or If You Fail - Click Here
Installing Google Analytics on your Wordpress site will surely help you grow and maintain your target market.
Summary
The benefits of having Google Analytics on your site outweigh the cons of having to install it, and so it's definitely worth having on your website. GA is a simple copy and paste of code that is pretty simple to install. It helps improve your marketing campaigns and lets you know where your site visitors and customers are located. It informs you about what your top-performing content is, all for free! You'd be pretty silly not to utilise it.
If you need expert help installing your Google Analytics code, you may benefit from our WordPress management services. Click Here to take a look.