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How do you track visitor traffic on your WordPress site?

There are several things a website owner needs to do to optimize their WordPress site. Content creation, tracking website metrics, and improving web design are just a few examples.

Metric tracking, in particular, is important because it gives you insights into your website. You can then use these insights to determine in which direction you need to improve the platform. This information can help you analyze the behavior of your online visitors.

While there are a handful of metrics, traffic is arguably one of the most important, as it tells you how many people have visited your site over a given period of time.

Traffic also helps you determine whether your efforts are working or not, and website owners often use this metric to develop an appropriate optimization strategy.

There are two ways to track and monitor visitor traffic on a WordPress site: either by using an analytics tool or an auditing tool.

#1 Website Analytics Tools

A website analytics tool is a platform that analyzes multiple elements of your website in real-time. Google Analytics is the most popular website traffic analysis tool, but you can look for alternatives if you want something different. Check out this detailed guide for a list of alternatives. These tools generally have certain features, including:

  • Search engine optimization (SEO) analysis
  • Optimize website speed
  • Marketing analysis
  • Product performance analysis
  • Social media analysis

However, before you can track visitor traffic on your WordPress site, you first need to integrate the analytics tool into the WordPress platform. Below is a step-by-step guide on how to do that.

For the purposes of this guide, the steps focus on the Google Analytics setup process.

Let's start with how to set up Google Analytics in WordPress by installing a plugin.

  1. Go to the admin page of your WordPress site.
  2. Click Plug-ins in the left sidebar and select Add new from the drop-down menu.
  3. You will be redirected to the Add Plugins page. In the search bar at the top right of the page, type “GA Google Analytics”.
  4. Search for the article developed by Jeff Starr and click on Activate.

You now need two data elements, which you can obtain by following these steps:

  1. Open a browser and visit the Google Analytics site by clicking this link.
  2. There should be a button on the site that says “ Get started today. Click on it.
  1. A new page will open. If you are currently signed in to a Google Account, you will be taken to the analysis page. If not, you may need to sign in with your Google Account first.
  2. Click on the Start measuring Button.
  1. On the next page, you will need to fill out some forms. Here you can see each setup form and the corresponding information you may need to fill out:
    1. Account setup: Here you need to set up the Google Analytics account and enter the account name and data you want to share with the platform.
    2. Furnishing of the property: A property is the collection of data that comes from your account. To set up an Analytics property, you need to come up with a name and specify your time zone and currency.
    3. About your company: You'll then need to provide details about your business, including industry, company size, and your purpose for using Google Analytics. Examples of purposes include measuring customer engagement, optimizing the site experience, measuring lead generation, and more.
  1. A pop-up window will appear with the Google Analytics terms of use. Please read them carefully and click I accept button to continue.
  1. The website should redirect you to the stream setup. Under the Choose a platform choose network because you use Google Analytics on a WordPress website.
  1. On the Set up data stream In the section, enter your website URL and stream name.
  1. The web stream details window appears. Under Stream details you will find your stream ID. Click on the copy icon to the right and paste it into your notepad.
  2. Click on the Show tag instructions button that should be somewhere on your screen.
  1. In the new window there should be two tabs, namely Install with a website builder And Install manuallyGo to Manually Install Tab.
  1. There should be a code on this tab. Please copy the entire code and paste it into your notepad.

You now have the two pieces of data you need to set up Google Analytics. Now you need to go back to your WordPress admin page. Here's what you need to do next:

  1. Go back to the GA Google Analytics settings page where you left off previously.

Among the plugin settings, three fields are of particular importance: (1) GA tracking ID field, (2) tracking method, and (3) tracking code location.

  1. Paste the measurement ID you copied previously into the GA Tracking ID field.
  2. Paste the code you copied earlier into the box to the right of “Tracking code location”.
  3. Set the Universal Analytics tracking method to Global Site Tag.

Now, when you go to the Google Analytics page and click on “Realtime” or “Home” in the left sidebar, you will see a graph. The graph shows you the users who have visited your website, as well as other information about visitor traffic, such as the number of new users and the time spent on site.

#2 SEO Audit Tools

The second method is to use an SEO audit tool. As the name suggests, the tool will perform an audit of the WordPress site to look for technical SEO issues. These can include broken links, 404 errors, duplicate articles, and missing resources. Although they can do several things, audit tools have one special feature in common: traffic analytics. It allows you to check the traffic of a specific website, and users can use it to check the website performance of their competitors.

You can use it for many other things, like tracking visitor traffic to your WordPress site. You don't have to set it up, so it's much easier, although not as detailed.

Below are some of the most popular SEO audit tools on the market:

  • Ahrefs
  • SEMrush
  • GTMetrix
  • Sitechecker Pro
  • Google Search Console

In addition to traffic, SEO audit tools can also monitor and track the following metrics:

  • Average visit duration
  • Bounce rate
  • Pages per visit
  • Total visits
  • Unique visitors

To use the platform, you simply need to go to the website and enter the URL of your WordPress site. After a few seconds of processing, the platform should display the metrics.

Packing

Online visitor traffic is an important piece of data that reflects the performance of a website. This is why an analytics and auditing tool is often indispensable for a webmaster. Although it can be difficult and tedious to set up, the insights it can provide are well worth the effort. Not to mention, you already have this guide that makes it much easier.

However, keep in mind that in addition to visitor traffic, you also need to pay attention to other website metrics, including time on site, bounce rates, customer feedback, comments, and more.

About the Author
Cristina Shank
Cristina Shank is a skilled Database Engineer with a degree from Stanford University. She specializes in optimizing and managing complex database systems, bringing a blend of technical expertise and innovative solutions to her work. Cristina is dedicated to advancing data management practices and frequently shares her insights through writing and speaking engagements.