Google Analytics Setup
Google Analytics, a free service of Google, provides a world of statistical information that can help you manage and plan for your site better. Your site data is collected on a daily basis and is displayed against data for your site over the past month.
The data collected is just amazing. For starters, on the first screen, the Dashboard, you can see an overview chart of the month with numbers of visits, pageviews, and pages per visit, bounce rate, average time on the site, and percentage of new visits. Also there’s a visitors overview chart with numbers of visitors, a world chart showing where your visitors are coming from, a chart showing traffic sources, and an overview of which pages on your site are most popular.
You can compare statistics with the new Advanced Segments, check your site against the average statistics of sites of your size with Benchmarks, view the search terms that brought readers to your site… the list goes on and on. Each of the (and more) elements on the Dashboard can be drilled down into to discover an incredible amount of information about your site.
Needless to say, Google Analytics is a must-have tool to have! Getting a Google Analytics account is easy to do, and Thesis makes incorporating it into your site a snap.
Setting up Google Analytics
In your browser, go to Google Analytics.
Screen 1: Access Analytics button
Screen 1: Press the “Access Analytics” button or sign up for a new account. If you do not have a Google account, you will be lead through the steps of creating one. If you already have a Google Analytics account, choose “Create New Account” from the pulldown on the upper right.
Screen 2: Sign Up for Google Analytics button
Screen 2: Click the “Sign Up for Google Analytics” button.
Screen 3: Signup for site URL, etc.
Screen 3: Fill in your site’s URL, name the account, choose a country and time zone. Click continue.
Screen 4: Your name, phone number, country
Screen 4: Fill in your name, phone number, and country. Click continue.
Screen 5: Read and agree to terms of service.
Screen 6: Copy the tracking code
Screen 6: Copy the tracking code. I suggest you create a document and save this tracking code in case you ever need to access it again. Click continue.
Screen 7: Overview
Screen 7: If everything’s ok, you should see the Overview Screen.
Putting the tracking code into your footer scripts: Without a plugin
Enter the tracking code into Footer Scripts
The Google Analytics script you copied on screen 6 above needs to go into the footer in every screen. With Thesis, it’s easy to set this up:
1. From the Admin Panel, go to Appearance, then Thesis Options
2. In the left hand column find “Stats Software and Scripts” then “Footer Scripts”
3. Paste the tracking code here and save.
Putting the tracking code into your footer scripts: Using the Google Analytics for WordPress plugin
Enter your Analytics ID
1. Note the Analytics number assigned to you in the overview screen (screen 7, above). It starts with a “UA-”. It will also be in the tracking code you copied in the line:
var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-0000000-1");
2. From the Admin Panel, go to Plugins, then click on Google Analytics
3. Paste your Analytics ID into the “Analytics Account ID” box, then update settings.
And finally…
Remember that it takes time to build up Google Analytics history. Your first overview screen will show no visits, no matter how popular your site is. The Google Analytics data for your site is updated once a day, so today’s data will be shown tomorrow and kept for a month.
There are lots of places to learn how to use Google Analytics data. Start with the official Google Analytics Help page. Measuring Success has a great page with links to many Analytics learning sites. And then there’s always Google search itself, which shows thousands of pages for the search terms “Google Analytics Help.”
I hope this article has been clear and easy to follow. Please feel free to leave a comment, or to email me using the “Contact” tab.
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Hey, guess I’ll be the first to say thanks :D Just put it in my thesis theme. I just started a new blog for my travel reviews and other stuff I think is interesting. I have it all set up now thanks to the analytics add! Time to start adding blog posts
for some reason I posted my website with ww.example.com and when I clicked on it, it still loaded. Wierd!
Thanks again for the tutorial
Mike, I have followed instruction three ways from Sunday, trying footer, header, nothing works. Have also used http://www.google.com/support/analytics/bin/answer.py?answer=57053
The check status says not installed and I get message in view source that’
Any clue?
Google Analytics tracking code not shown because admin tracking is disabled
Thanks. I had put the code in through the Thesis Openhooks plugin and that did not work. Made the change after finding your website and all is good.
Thanks for these clear directions. It walked me through it perfectly.
Which google analytics plugin does this example use?
I have Google Analytics installed but the tracking code is showing at the very top of my blog page, Anyone experienced this before? If so, how do I remove it just so that it’s not seen?
thanks in advance,
Dan