Frequently Asked Questions:

Where do I insert my Google Analytics code?

Because a WordPress blog is a dynamic, database-driven site, there’s not a simple place to insert the Google Analytics tracking code. Fortunately, however, some clever people have created free plugins that will insert your Google Analytics code everywhere it needs to be without you ever touching the template files. The plugin I use can be found here, but you can also google “wordpress plugin google analytics.”

If you use the one I linked to above, just extract the folder and upload into your “plugins” folder, inside your “wp-content” folder. NOTE: with that particular plugin, you need to use the “legacy” urchin.js tracking code, not the newer fancier one. In your google analytics control panel there will be an option to copy the urchin.js version or the newer one. Make sure you use the urchin.js one for this plugin.

Once you’ve uploaded the plugin, activate it from within your WP Admin area under the “Plugins” tab. Then, under “Settings” (”Options” if you’re on an older version of WordPress) and you should see a “Google Analytics” link in the submenu. Click on it, and past your code into the box and then click save.

Related Posts: Uploading and Installing a Plugin, Adding Statcounter tracking code to your blog

Questions? Instead of emailing for support, leave a comment below so everyone can benefit from any clarification.

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 6th, 2008 and is filed under Analytics & Statcounters, Frequently Asked Questions. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

27 Responses to “Where do I insert my Google Analytics code?”

  1. On April 28th, 2008 at 11:13 am Shirley said:

    Once I paste the code into the box, I get a message saying it’d deactivating due to fatal error. What am I doing wrong?

    Thank you

  2. On April 28th, 2008 at 12:43 pm Jared said:

    Shirley » huh… never heard of that before. can you paste the error message in a comment so I can see it?

  3. On April 28th, 2008 at 1:19 pm Shirley said:

    I just noticed this message along the bottom of :Google Analytics” :
    “Warning: Making changes to active plugins is not recommended. If your changes cause a fatal error, the plugin will be automatically deactivated.”

    I did something wrong.

  4. On April 28th, 2008 at 1:47 pm Jared said:

    Shirley » odd. why don’t you try deactivating, then deleting the plugin off your server and reuploading it. i’m assuming you didn’t edit the code at all, right?

  5. On April 28th, 2008 at 2:04 pm Shirley said:

    Will do. No editing was done. I copied and pasted as is……..would WP version interfere? I’ll let you know what happens.

  6. On May 16th, 2008 at 2:20 pm jamie said:

    do we have to put the google code on every page or just that box you pointed out? im not seeing it coming up in my google analytics page.
    thanks.

  7. On May 16th, 2008 at 2:35 pm jamie said:

    nevermind. i think i got it.
    thanks.

  8. On June 17th, 2008 at 5:47 am Kym said:

    when I paste the code – do I delete the code that there? Becasue there Is a code already adn it seems identical to the one genreated apart form a 1d noumber.

    Anyway if I paste under the code that there and hit update its just defalts back to the other code that already there……………. If delete the orignal cade it will update but google checks my status and says its not verified??

  9. On June 17th, 2008 at 6:08 am Kym said:

    Sorry didn’t give you my web addy to check :)

  10. On June 17th, 2008 at 6:51 am Jared said:

    @Kym: delete the code that is there and paste in yours. then give google 24 hours to find the code, it should be there.

  11. On June 17th, 2008 at 7:07 am Kym said:

    Okay – great thats what I’ve done …I’ll checc back in 24 hrs and let you know
    :)

    Thanks
    Kym

  12. On August 29th, 2008 at 9:42 am Vanessa said:

    Which is better? Google Analytics or Statcounter?

  13. On August 29th, 2008 at 11:51 am Jared said:

    @Vanessa: my opinion: google analytics. much more powerful.

  14. On September 10th, 2008 at 6:12 am Frank said:

    Hi – not sure if this is an analytics problem, or what.

    I changed the date of a post in the blog – to rearrange the order. Now I am getting a ‘404 not found’ error from the web Crawl page on Google Analytics. So, I guess that the original link (and date is part of the blog entry link) is being stored somewhere – but I can’t find it anywhere.

    Any ideas of where this is stored, or how I can change it ?

    Thanks, Frank

  15. On September 10th, 2008 at 11:37 am Jared said:

    @Frank: i’m not sure about that. that would be a good question to ask on the WordPress support forum: wordpress.org/support

  16. On October 23rd, 2008 at 10:53 am Allison said:

    Hi Jared,

    Someone told me about an “All in one SEO package.” I went and downlaoded it but now I’m not sure what to do with it…any advise?

    Thank you!

  17. On October 24th, 2008 at 6:08 am Jared said:

    @Allison: It’s a plugin. here’s a post i made explaining what those are and how to use them

    http://tinyurl.com/5nz84j

  18. On November 22nd, 2008 at 10:48 am Joanna said:

    I can’t find the box where I am supposed to add the code. I activated the plug in and added the domain name to the analytics and where does the code go? When I go to settings I don’t see google analytics in the submenu. Help, thank you.

  19. On November 23rd, 2008 at 6:28 pm Jared said:

    @Joanna: did you click on the “settings” tab? it should be a sub-tab of that one.

  20. On November 23rd, 2008 at 11:42 pm Joanna said:

    When I click on plugins I see : Plugins, plugin Editor, Google Analytics and Akismet Config. Is it supposed to be next to one of those.

    Under the Google Analytics there isn’t a box where I could enter the code.

    Thanks for your help!

  21. On January 9th, 2009 at 2:15 pm Julie said:

    i copyed this whole link to the bottom of my page and the whole page shifted and screwed up..what am i doing wrong?

    var gaJsHost = ((”https:” == document.location.protocol) ? “https://ssl.” : “http://wwwjuliefraserphotography.com”);
    document.write(unescape(”%3Cscript src=’” + gaJsHost + “google-analytics.com/ga.js’ type=’text/javascript’%3E%3C/script%3E”));

    try {
    var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker(”UA-6945837-1″);
    pageTracker._trackPageview();
    } catch(err) {}

  22. On January 9th, 2009 at 2:19 pm Julie said:

    I’m also getting this error:

    Warning: Cannot modify header information – headers already sent by (output started at /home/juliefra/public_html/blog/wp-content/plugins/google-analytics-for-wordpress/googleanalytics.php:539) in /home/juliefra/public_html/blog/wp-includes/pluggable.php on line 850

  23. On October 2nd, 2009 at 9:52 am Svertikall said:

    Привет. Подскажите, как перевести блог с бесплатного хостинга, вот мой блог php
    Вроде как wordpress должен легко перемещаться на свежую площадку, хотя у меня все время промахи в базе данных. Я посмотрел там, хотя в php ничего не знаю вообще и привлекать сторонних разработчиков программного обеспечения то ведь не хочется. Имеет возможность подскажите, как неболезненно перенести блог?

  24. On October 5th, 2009 at 1:29 pm Sterlimastiv said:

    Привет. Образовалась проблема – купил я электродрель на магазин ру
    А она сломалась у меня в тот ведь день – гарантии никакой не дали. Просто почта пришла с коробкой, а там все на китайском. Написал в торговый центр данный, дали ответ, что обращайтесь в сервис центр, хотя у меня ни документов на руках нет, ничего. Как можно приструнить этот онлайн магазин? Есть ли какие-то компетентные органы, что писать. Куда писать, кому писать. Ошибся, да, надо было в торговом центре нормальном прикупить, но нужной мне модели просто не было, да и подешевле в интернет-магазине. А вот и уже сижу у разбитого корыта. Подскажите, что делать.

  25. On October 19th, 2010 at 10:01 am Dallas SEM said:

    Glad I found this tidbit on yahoo when I was surfing the internet. Good STUFF!

  26. On October 30th, 2010 at 1:14 am Freelance SEO specialist said:

    Hey Karleen,You got me:)I will thing about it!

  27. On March 12th, 2012 at 10:39 am seo|vps|hosting|dedicated|server said:

    seo|vps|hosting|dedicated|server…

    [...]» Where do I insert my Google Analytics code? Jared’s ProPhoto Tips[...]…

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