Google Analytics Begrippenlijst

Add Google Analytics to Visual Composer

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Gepubliceerd op 21 mrt 2024 en bijgewerkt op 8 apr 2024 door Iron Brands

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Building a visually appealing website is crucial but understanding how visitors find your site and interact with it is equally important . This is where Google Analytics comes into play! This blog post will guide you through the process of adding Google Analytics to your Visual Composer website, step by step.

Let's dive in!

  1. Set Up Google Analytics
  2. Add Google Analytics to Your Visual Composer Website
  3. Verify the Integration
  4. Final Thoughts

Before we dig in I want to show you something. I promise it's worth it...

Google Analytics is great, but also complex and a bit clunky. If you just want a straightforward dashboard with the insights you need, GA is not a great place to start. Additionally, Google doesn't care about privacy and GA requires an annoying cookie banner.

That's why I built Simple Analytics, a privacy-friendly and simple analytics tool - no personal data, no cookies, just the insights you need in a straightforward dashboard.

Here is how it looks vs GA. Feel free to check our live analytics to get an idea for your project. (It's free btw)

All right, enough about us. Now let's get into answering your question!

Can you spot the difference between the dashboards?

Set Up Google Analytics

If you haven't already set up a Google Analytics account for your website, you will need to do that first. Here's how to get started:

  • Create a Google Analytics Account: Visit the Google Analytics website and sign in with your Google account. If you don’t have one, you’ll need to create it.
  • Set Up a New Property: Follow the instructions to create a new GA4 property, selecting "Web" as your platform type.
  • Obtain Your Measurement ID: After setting up your property, Google will provide you with a Measurement ID (formatted as "G-XXXXXXXXXX"). Note down this ID, as it's necessary for integrating GA with your Visual Composer website.

Add Google Analytics to Your Visual Composer Website

Integrating Google Analytics with Visual Composer is quite straightforward:

  • Access Your WordPress Dashboard: Log in to your WordPress site and navigate to the dashboard.
  • Install Insert Headers and Footers Plugin: you can directly edit your theme’s header.php file to include the GA tracking code, but using a plugin like "Insert Headers and Footers" is easier.
  • Insert Your GA Tracking Code: Go to "Settings" > "Insert Headers and Footers" in your WordPress dashboard. Paste your entire Google Analytics tracking code into the "Scripts in Header" box. This code snippet should include your unique Measurement ID and is provided by GA during the setup process.
  • Save Your Changes: After pasting the tracking code, save your changes. The plugin will now insert the GA tracking code into the header of every page of your Visual Composer website.
  • (Optional) Create New Properties: create a new and different property for every website you want to track and insert the corresponding tracking code. This allows GA to collect data individually for each website.

Verify the Integration

After adding the Google Analytics tracking code to your website, it’s important to ensure that it's correctly tracking your site. Visit your website to generate some traffic, then log into your Google Analytics account and navigate to the "Realtime" report to see if your activity is being tracked.

Final Thoughts

Adding Google Analytics to your website can give you great insights. However, ask yourself: is Google Analytics the right tool for you?

GA is an overpowered solution for straightforward analytics. If you're looking for a simple and intuitive dashboard with the insights you need, there are better alternatives. Yes, I’m talking about my own product (Simple Analytics), but there are others out there as well.

I hated using Google Analytics for my projects. It's clunky, there are hundreds of dashboards and it doesn't look appealing. Also Google doesn't care about privacy or ethics. That's why I decided to build my own and more intuitive web analytics tool.

If this resonates with you, feel free to give Simple Analytics a spin. You just need to add the script to your website and off you go. This takes about one minute- and there is a free version as well!

Enjoy!