Monday, January 16, 2023

How to Set Up Google Ads Conversion Tracking in WordPress

Do you want to know how much revenue you’re generating from Google Ads on your website?

Setting up Google Ads conversion tracking will help you uncover insights about your ad campaign’s performance. You can find out which campaign is performing the best, how users interact with your ads, and how you can improve conversions.

In this article, we’ll show you how to properly set up eCommerce Google Ads conversion tracking in WordPress. This is the exact same method that we use on our own websites.

How to setup Google Ads conversion tracking

Why Set Up Google Ads Conversion Tracking in WordPress?

If you’re running Google Ads for your WordPress blog, eCommerce store, or membership site, then it is important to know how they’re performing. You can’t improve, what you can’t measure.

Tracking Google Ads conversions helps you see how much revenue you earned from users who clicked on your ad campaigns. It also helps you see which paid keywords and ad groups drive the most conversions. This way, you can optimize your campaigns and budget for more profitable search terms.

Besides that, Google Ads conversion tracking also uncovers how users behave on your WordPress site after clicking an ad. For instance, you might see a lot of users arrive on a landing page, but abandon it after adding products to the cart.

You can use this information to improve the checkout process, offer discounts and incentives as users are about to leave your site, and provide a better user experience.

That said, let’s see how you can add Google Ads conversion tracking in WordPress.

Adding Google Ads to WordPress Website

The easiest way of connecting Google Ads with WordPress is by using MonsterInsights. It is the best Analytics plugin for WordPress that helps set up Google Analytics without editing.

MonsterInsights offers an Ads addon that lets you setup comprehensive conversion tracking without touching a single line of code or hiring a developer.

We will use the MonsterInsights Pro license for this tutorial because it includes the Ads addon. There is also a MonsterInsights Lite version you can use for free.

First, you’ll need to install and activate the MonsterInsights plugin. If you need help, then please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you will be redirected to the welcome screen in your WordPress dashboard. Go ahead and click the ‘Launch the Wizard’ button.

Launch setup wizard

Next, you can follow the onscreen instructions to connect Google Analytics to your site. For more details, you can see our guide on how to install Google Analytics in WordPress.

With MonsterInsights, you can also use dual tracking to set up a Google Analytics 4 property. It is the latest analytics version and will soon replace Universal Analytics. You can learn more by following our guide on how to switch to Google Analytics 4 in WordPress.

Once you’ve connected Google Analytics with WordPress, the next step is to install the Ads addon. Simply go to Insights » Addons from your WordPress dashboard and navigate to the ‘Ads’ addon.

Install the ads addon

Go ahead and click the ‘Install’ button. The addon will now automatically install and activate on your site.

Creating a Conversion Action in Google Ads

Next, you’ll need to create a conversion action in Google Ads.

First, you can visit the Google Ads website and log in to your account.

After that, go ahead and click the ‘Tools and settings’ option at the top. Under the ‘Measurement’ column, simply select the Conversions option.

Click the tools and settings option

On the next screen, you’ll need to create a conversion action.

You can click the ‘New conversion action’ button to get started.

Create new conversion action

Next, Google Ads will ask you to select the type of conversions you want to track. It will show you 4 options, including a website, app, phone call, or import.

For this tutorial, we’ll choose the ‘Website’ option for tracking ad conversions.

Select the kind of conversion to track

After that, you’ll need to enter the website URL where you’d like to measure conversions.

Once that’s done, simply click the ‘Scan’ button.

Enter your domain to scan

Google Ads will now show 2 options to create conversion actions, including an automatic and manual method. In the automatic method, you’ll need to select the conversion goal, choose a match type, and enter the URL. This way is suitable if you know which events to count as conversions.

However, we recommend selecting the manual method. Simply scroll down and click the ‘+ Add a conversion action manually’ option.

Add conversion action manually

Next, you’ll need to enter the Conversion action details.

First, you can select the ‘Goal and action optimization’ for your conversion. This is the action you’d like to track. For example, when a user subscribes to your newsletter, makes a purchase, adds a product to a cart, submits a contact form, and more.

For the sake of this tutorial, we will select ‘Subscribe’ as the goal. After that, you can enter the Conversion name.

Enter conversion action details

You can now scroll down and select a Value for your conversion. Google Ads lets you choose the same value for each conversion, assign different values for conversions, or don’t use a value for conversion action.

We will select the ‘Use the same for each conversion’ option, select the currency, and enter a value for this tutorial.

Enter value for conversion action

Besides that, you can also choose how many conversions to count per click.

If you’re tracking email newsletter signups, then we recommend selecting the ‘One’ option. This way, each subscriber is counted once. However, you can use the ‘Every’ option in an eCommerce store and count each purchase as a conversion.

After selecting these options, simply click the ‘Done’ button at the bottom.

Enter value and count

You can now see your conversion action under the ‘Create conversion actions manually using code’ section.

Go ahead and click the ‘Save and continue’ button to get instructions for adding the tracking tags for conversion action to your site.

Click the save and continue button

On the next screen, you’ll see 3 options to add the conversion action to your site.

Simply select the ‘Use Google Tag Manager’ option. You should see the Conversion ID and Conversion Label. Copy these to a notepad file or keep the browser window/tab open.

Select the use tag manager option

To finish the setup process, you’ll need to head to your WordPress website dashboard and view the MonsterInsights settings.

From here, go to Insights » Settings and click on the ‘Publisher’ tab.

Publisher settings in MonsterInsights

After that, you can scroll down to the ‘Ads Tracking’ section.

Go ahead and enter the Conversion ID. Make sure you follow the format, which will look like this: AW-123456789.

If you are tracking Google Ads on Easy Digital Downloads, WooCommerce, and MemberPress, then enter the Conversion Label in the respective field.

Enter conversion ID and label

That’s it. You’ve successfully set up Google Ads conversion tracking on your WordPress website.

View Google Ads Conversion Tracking Data in Google Analytics

You can take it a step further and connect Google Ads with Google Analytics to get more insights about how people use your website after clicking on an ad.

For instance, you can see the number of visitors from paid search and find out which pages they view after landing on your site. You can also use different filters and create custom reports in Google Analytics.

Let’s see how you can link your Google Ads account with Google Analytics 4 and Universal Analytics.

Connect Google Ads with Google Analytics 4

First, you’ll need to log in to your GA4 account and then go to the ‘Admin’ settings.

Go to admin settings

After that, you can click the ‘Google Ads Links’ option.

It is located under the Property column.

Go to ads links

A new window will now slide in from the right.

Go ahead and click the ‘Link’ button in the top right corner.

Click the link button

Next, you will see different options for Link setup.

First, you can click the ‘Choose Google Ads accounts’ option.

Choose Google ads account to link

On the next screen, you’ll need to select the Google Ads account you wish to connect.

Once that’s done, simply click the ‘Confirm’ button at the top.

Select your google ads account

You will now see the Google Ads account that you want to link.

Go ahead and click the ‘Next’ button.

See selected google ads account

In the next step, Google Analytics will give you options to enable personalized advertising and enable auto-tagging.

You can use the default settings and click the ‘Next’ button.

Change configure settings

After that, you’ll see a summary of your Link setup settings.

If everything checks out, then go ahead and click the ‘Submit’ button.

Review and submit link setup

You should now see a ‘Link Created’ notification in front of your Google Ads account. This means that you’ve successfully connected Google Ads with Google Analytics.

Do note that it can take up to 24 hours for your Google Ads data to appear in Analytics reports.

See link created notification

Next, you can view the Google Ads conversion tracking report in Google Analytics 4.

First, you can head to Acquisition » Traffic acquisition from the menu on your left and scroll down to see how many visitors came from the Paid Search channel.

View paid search traffic

After that, you can go to Acquisition » Acquisition overview and view the Session Google Ads campaign report. This will show which campaign got the most traffic.

You can also click the ‘View Google Ads campaigns’ option at the bottom to view more details.

View session google ads campaign report

For each campaign, you can see the total number of users, sessions, number of Google Ads clicks, cost per click (CPC), conversions, and more.

Using the information from this report, you can see which campaigns perform the best.

View detailed stats for each campaign

Connect Google Ads with Universal Analytics

If you’re using Universal Analytics, then you can first log in to your account.

After that, head to the ‘Admin’ settings.

Click admin settings

Next, you’ll need to go to the Google Ads Links option.

You can find the option under the Property column.

Go to Google Ads links

On the next screen, you’ll need to select the Google Ads account you want to connect.

After selecting your account, simply click the ‘Continue’ button.

Select Google ads account

Next, you will need to enter a Link group title.

You can then select the Views to link with your Google Ads account. Simply click the toggle to ON for the correct Views.

Enter link group title

Once that’s done, simply click the ‘Link accounts’ button.

Google Analytics will now show a summary of your settings. Simply scroll down and click the ‘Done’ button.

Click the done button

That’s it. Your Google Ads account will now be linked to the Universal Analytics property.

To view data from your ad campaigns, head to Acquisition » Google Ads » Campaigns from the menu on your left. You can see the number of clicks, cost, CPC, and more for each campaign.

View Google ads report in UA

Final Thoughts on Google Ads Conversion Tracking in WordPress

When it comes to setting up any conversion tracking, the most important thing you want to make sure is that the setup is done properly. This is why we use and recommend MonsterInsights because it just does everything for you behind the scenes without touching any code.

However if you prefer to add code directly on your WordPress site, then you can do that as well by using a plugin like WPCode. This will help future-proof your customizations. There’s a free version of WPCode that you can use by following our tutorial on adding custom code in WordPress.

We hope this article helped you learn how to set up Google Ads conversion tracking in WordPress. You may also want to see our ultimate WordPress SEO guide and the best WooCommerce plugins to grow your store.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Set Up Google Ads Conversion Tracking in WordPress first appeared on WPBeginner.


January 16, 2023 at 04:11PM

Sunday, January 15, 2023

How to Create Your Own Customized Short URL for Your Blog

Do you want to create your own customized short URL for your blog?

Customized short URLs are often branded short URLs that are easy to remember and share. We use wpbeg.in for our own branded custom short URLs.

In this article, we’ll show you how to easily create your own customized short URLs for your blog.

Creating customized short urls in WordPress

Why Use a Branded Customized Short URL in WordPress?

You may have noticed how popular websites like The New York Times, Twitter, Facebook, and TechCrunch use branded short URLs on social media.

The New York times uses nyti.ms, TechCrunch uses tcrn.ch, and WPBeginner uses wpbeg.in domain name for shorter customized URLs.

Short URL used on social platforms

These branded domain names are called domain hacks.

They are created by combining the brand name and a domain TLD to cleverly spell a brand name.

Since most websites use .com as their primary domain, this is a good way to create a short url for your WordPress site. See our tips on picking the best domain for your blog.

Using your own customized short URL improves brand recognition among your users. It also allows you to create shorter URLs for easy sharing on social platforms.

Most importantly, you can easily track these URLs to see how many clicks you got when you shared a URL.

Having said that, let’s see how to create your own branded customized short URLs in WordPress.

Note: If you’re just looking to create memorable short URLs using your main domain, then we recommend using the Pretty Links plugin. This is what top podcasters and YouTubers use to mention short links in their videos.

Step 1: Buy a Short URL or Short Domain Name

Most of us do not have a short URL as our primary domain name. This means you will need to register a new domain name that is much shorter than your current domain.

For example, when choosing a branded shorter domain for WPBeginner.com we registered WPBeg.in. This made our short URL 6 characters shorter than our primary domain.

There are many free domain name generators that allow you to automatically generate domain name suggestions. See our list of 14 best free domain name generators.

Domainr is the one that specializes in helping you find short domains using domain hacks.

Using domain hack to generate short url

Try different combinations and explore creative ways to spell your brand name.

Once you have found a domain name that meets your needs and is available, you can register it on any of the top domain registrars.

We recommend using Domain.com. They are the best domain registrar on the market and you can get a 25% discount using our Domain.com coupon code.

The Domain.com website with search bar

Other domain registrars that we recommend include Network Solutions and GoDaddy.

The cost of domain name registration depends on which TLD you select. Country-specific TLDs cost a little more than some other new TLDs.

Once you have registered your domain name, you will be able to manage it from your domain registrar’s control panel.

Step 2: Setup Your Custom Domain in Bitly

Bitly is a popular URL shortner service that allows you to manage and track links. We use it to shorten our WordPress URLs and manage them.

First, you will need to create a Bitly account. You’ll need at least Basic plan to use your own custom domain name for link shortening.

Sign up for a paid Bitly plan

After completing the sign up, you’ll reach your Bitly account dashboard.

From here, you need to click on Account settings » Custom domains menu and then click on the Add a domain button.

Add custom domain to Bitly

On the next screen, you’ll see options to buy a new domain name or use your own domain name.

Go ahead, and click on the ‘I want to use my own domain name’ option to continue.

Continue with your own custom domain

Next, enter the domain name you recently purchased.

Below that, select ‘No, this is an unused domain name’ option and click Next.

Enter domain name

Now you will see the option to choose a group.

Bitly allows you to organize your links, domains, and users into groups. This allows you to limit certain domains to specific users.

Choose All groups to make your custom domain available for all groups.

Allow groups

Next, you will be asked to add DNS records to your branded domain name before continuing.

You can leave this window open and proceed to the next step.

Finish adding domain

Step 3: Set DNS A Record to Point to Bit.ly

In order to create your own branded custom short URLs, you need to point your domain to Bitly servers.

To do that, you will need to add DNS records to your custom domain name. DNS records are kind of instructions that point domain name to proper servers.

You can find the DNS records that you need to add on Bitly website.

Bitly DNS records

There are two types of DNS records that you can add.

For root domain names (e.g. wpbeg.in), you’ll need to enter A records.

However, If your custom domain is a subdomain (e.g. on.wsj.com), then you’ll need to enter the CNAME records.

To add the records, simply visit the domain management area on your domain registrar’s website and look for DNS records.

If you took our advice and registered your domain with Domain.com, then you will find the DNS & Nameservers settings under the left column.

DNS records

Switch to the DNS Records tab and then click on the Add DNS Record button.

This will bring up a popup where you need to enter the following information

  • Hostname under the Name field
  • Choose A as the Type
  • Copy and paste the Bitly IP address
  • Choose 1 hour under the TTL
Setting up A records

Click on the Add DNS button to save your settings.

If you are using a subdomain for example on.wsj.com, then you need to set a CNAME record and point it to cname.bitly.com

After adding DNS records you can switch back to Bitly website and click on the Add Domain button.

Finish adding domain

Now, you will see a notification that your domain settings are being verified.

Bitly will check your domain for DNS records and if everything looks ok you’ll recieve an email notification.

Domain verification

Step 4: Set up Short URL on Your WordPress Site

The best part about using Bitly is that you can easily manage, share, and track your short URLs directly from your WordPress site.

First, thing you need to do is install and activate the Bitly’s WordPress Plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you need to visit Settings » Writing page and scroll down to the ‘WP Bitly Shortlinks’ section.

Connect Bitly to WordPress

Simply click on the Authorize button and then Allow Bitly to connect your WordPress site.

Once connected, you can choose which post types you want to generate shortlinks for. Below that, you can choose the default domain that you added earlier.

Choose default domain

Don’t forget to click on the Save changes button to store your settings,

The plugin will now start generating your custom branded short URLs. You can see them by visiting your Bitly dashboard.

WP-Bitly plugin will also show you BitLy stats for each post. You can see those stats by editing a post and look for WP Bitly metabox.

Bitly stats inside WordPress post editor

This will allow you to track how many times your short URL for this post has been clicked and from which websites.

We hope this article helped you learn how to create your own customized short URLs in WordPress. You may also want to see our complete WordPress conversion tracking guide or see our pick of the best social media plugins for WordPress.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Create Your Own Customized Short URL for Your Blog first appeared on WPBeginner.


January 15, 2023 at 02:14PM

Saturday, January 14, 2023

What is rel=”noopener” in WordPress? (Explained)

Have you been wondering what rel="noopener" means in WordPress?

When you add a link that opens in a new tab, WordPress will automatically add the rel="noopener" attribute to the link.

In this article, we will explain what rel="noopener" means in WordPress and how it affects your website.

What Is rel="noopener" in WordPress? (Explained)

What Is rel=”noopener” in WordPress?

When you add links to your WordPress website, you can use HTML attributes to control what happens when you click the link.

For example, when you create a link, there is a toggle switch that allows you to open it in a new tab.

Opening a Link in a New Tab

The HTML code generated by WordPress for this link looks like this:

<a href="http://example.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">external link</a>

Notice that some HTML attributes have been added to the link, rel="noopener" and rel="noreferrer". These attributes are added to address a security vulnerability.

The problem is that JavaScript code can be used to allow a new tab to get control of its referring window. If you link to an external website affected by the malicious code, then that website can use the window.opener property in JavaScript to change the original page (your website) to steal information and spread malicious code.

WordPress adds rel="noopener" to prevent the new tab from taking advantage of this JavaScript feature. Similarly, the rel="noreferrer" attribute prevents passing the referrer information onto the new tab.

How Does rel=”noopener” Affect Your WordPress SEO?

It doesn’t.

Even though the rel="noopener" attribute improves WordPress security, some users avoid using it because they think it will impact their WordPress SEO.

But that’s just a myth.

It has no impact on your site’s SEO rankings or your overall WordPress performance.

What’s the Difference Between “noopener” and “nofollow”?

It’s easy to confuse rel="noopener" with rel="nofollow". However, they are completely separate attributes.

The noopener attribute prevents your website from cross-site hacking and improves WordPress security.

On the other hand, the nofollow attribute prevents your website from passing on SEO link-juice to the linked website.

Search engines look for and consider the nofollow attribute when following a link on your website. However, they do not give any consideration to the noopener tag.

By default, WordPress does not allow you to add nofollow to your external links. If you want to add nofollow in WordPress, then you will need to use a plugin.

To learn more, see our article on how to add title and nofollow to links in WordPress.

Does rel=”noreferrer” Affect Affiliate Links in WordPress?

The rel="noreferrer" does not affect affiliate links in WordPress. Some users believe that it does because rel="noreferrer" prevents the referrer information passing to the new tab.

However, most affiliate programs provide you with a unique URL that has your affiliate ID. This means your affiliate ID is passed along as a URL parameter for the other website to track.

Secondly, most affiliate marketers use a link cloaking plugin for their affiliate links.

With link cloaking, the affiliate link that your users click on is actually your website’s own URL, which then redirects users to the destination URL.

How Do You Disable rel=”noopener” in WordPress?

There is no need to remove rel="noopener" from links on your website. It is good for your website’s security and has no performance or SEO impact on your website.

However, if you must remove it, then you will have to disable the Gutenberg block editor in WordPress and use the old classic editor.

That’s because if you remove rel="noopener" from the link manually, the block editor will automatically add it back in to keep your website safe.

Once the block editor is disabled, you will need to add a code snippet to your theme’s functions.php file or to the WPCode plugin (recommended). You can learn how to use the WPCode Free Plugin in our guide on how to easily add custom code in WordPress.

Simply copy the following code into a new PHP snippet:

add_filter('tiny_mce_before_init','wpb_disable_noopener');
function wpb_disable_noopener( $mceInit ) {
    $mceInit['allow_unsafe_link_target']=true;
    return $mceInit;
}
Adding a Code Snippet Using WPCode

Make sure you change the ‘Active’ toggle on and then click the ‘Save Snippet’ button.

This will stop WordPress from adding rel="noopener" to new links. You will also need to manually edit any old links to remove the attribute.

Want even more control over which rel attributes get added to your links in WordPress? We recommend using the AIOSEO plugin because it lets you add title, nofollow, and other link attributes right inside the WordPress editor.

AIOSEO Adds NoFollow and Title Attributes to the Insert Link Popup

We hope this article helped you learn about rel="noopener" in WordPress. You may also want to learn how to get a free email domain, or see our list of tips to speed up WordPress performance.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post What is rel=”noopener” in WordPress? (Explained) first appeared on WPBeginner.


January 14, 2023 at 03:38PM

Friday, January 13, 2023

How to Set Up Email Newsletter Tracking in Google Analytics

Recently, one of our readers asked how do we measure the impact of our email newsletter?

You can use Google Analytics combined with special tracking links in your email newsletter to see how effective each email is for your business.

In this article, we will share how to set up email newsletter tracking in Google Analytics, step by step.

How to set up email newsletter tracking in Google Analytics

Why Track Your Email Newsletter Traffic in Google Analytics?

When you send out an email newsletter, it likely contains at least one link to your site. Your email marketing service should be able to tell you how many people click on a link (also called your click-through rate). However, most providers can’t show you what happens afterward.

That’s where Google Analytics comes in. You can use it to track what people do after clicking a link from your newsletter.

Let’s say you run a restaurant that offers home delivery. You want to see which of your weekly newsletters led to the most people filling out your online food ordering form.

Or perhaps you’re about to start an online store. It would be great to know which of your email campaigns drove the most sales.

Maybe you’re aiming to make money blogging. You want to know which campaigns got people to sign up for your online course.

With Google Analytics, it’s pretty easy to set up email newsletter tracking and see how many sales each email generates for your business.

With that said, let’s get started.

Creating Trackable URLs for Your Email Newsletter

If you want detailed insights in Google Analytics, then you need to add special tracking parameters to each link in your newsletter.

In other words, you can’t use a standard link like this:
https://www.site.com

Instead, you need to use a URL with special parameters that look like this:
https://www.site.com?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=jan_sale

The ending part of this URL, everything after the question mark, is called a UTM code.

It might look complicated, but don’t worry. It’s actually quite easy to create.

Let’s take a look at two easy ways to create these trackable URLs for your email campaigns.

Method 1: Create Trackable URLs using MonsterInsights (Recommended)

MonsterInsights is the best Google Analytics plugin for WordPress. It allows you to easily install Google Analytics in WordPress and shows beautiful traffic reports inside the WordPress dashboard.

It also helps you set up Google Analytics 4 (GA4) property. GA4 is the latest Analytics version by Google and it will replace Universal Analytics on July 1, 2023. With MonsterInsights, you can easily switch to GA4 in WordPress and start tracking your data.

To track email newsletters, you can use the free version of MonsterInsights to access the URL builder tool. However, we recommend upgrading to the pro plan in order to unlock more advanced features like eCommerce tracking (we will talk more about eCommerce tracking later in this article).

First, you need to install and activate the MonsterInsights plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you can go to the Insights » Tools page in your WordPress dashboard and select the ‘URL Builder’ tab.

Go to tools in MonsterInsights

In the URL Builder tool, the first piece of information you’ll need to enter is the URL you want to add to your newsletter. This might be your main website URL if you’re linking to your home page.

In this example, we’re running a sale and linking to the website’s online store:

Enter website URL

Google Analytics will track your email newsletter visitors as a ‘campaign’. This is simply the term Google Analytics uses for email or advertising promotions.

You’ll need to enter the source, medium, and name for your campaign, so Google Analytics can easily track them.

Source: Set this to ‘newsletter’ or something else meaningful
Medium: This should be set to ’email’
Name: You can use whatever makes sense, e.g. ‘jan_sale’ or ‘april_tshirts_sale’

If you’re using more than one word for the source, medium, or name, make sure you use underscores between words. Don’t use spaces or hyphens.

Enter campaign source and medium

Besides that, you’ll see more options in the URL Builder.

The Campaign Term field is used if you’re running ads, so you can leave that blank. The Campaign Content can be used if you’re split-testing your emails or ads. Again, you can leave it blank for this example.

Additional options in URL builder

Next, you can scroll down.

At the bottom of the page, you should now see your special URL, with the tracking details included:

Copy your newsletter tracking URL

You can now use this URL in your email newsletter and later track clicks in your Google Analytics account.

Method 2: Manually Create Trackable URLs in Google Analytics

MonsterInsight’s URL builder is a handy tool for saving time, as it creates the UTM codes for you. If you prefer to create your trackable URLs manually, here’s how to do it.

First, get the URL you want to use. We’re going to use https://www.site.com/shop for this example.

Next, you’ll need to create the UTM code yourself. We’ll take it to step by step.

Add a question mark to the end of your URL, like this:

https://www.site.com/shop?

Then, add the utm_source:

https://www.site.com/shop?utm_source=newsletter

Next, add the ampersand (&) symbol and the utm_medium:

https://www.site.com/shop?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email

Finally, add another ampersand (&) and the utm_campaign:

https://www.site.com/shop?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=jan_sale

You can use any word or phrase you want for the campaign’s name. If you’re using multiple words for the source, medium, or campaign name, you can separate the words with an underscore.

That’s it. Your tracking URL is ready to be used in your newsletter.

Using Trackable URLs in Your Newsletter Campaigns

Once you’ve created your URL, either using the MonsterInsights URL builder or manually, you can use it in emails.

You can copy and paste the URL into your email wherever you would have used the standard URL before.

Here’s how that looks when inserting a URL in Constant Contact:

Constant Contact Inserting Trackable Link

Tip: You can even use trackable URLs in your regular emails. This would make sense if you do a lot of email outreach. You can also create trackable URLs to use on social media, in ads, and more.

Once you are done with your email, send out your newsletter and wait for some clicks. After that, you can go to Google Analytics to view your report.

Viewing Your Email Newsletter Report in Google Analytics

Now that you’ve set up custom URLs for tracking in email newsletter, the next step is to view the reports in Google Analytics.

View Email Newsletter Report in Universal Analytics

First, you’ll need to log in to your Google Analytics account.

After that, simply click the Acquisition » Campaigns » All Campaigns link.

Go to all campaigns

You should then see data for the campaign(s) you’ve created.

Tip: If you’ve only just sent out the newsletter, change the date for the report to the current day. Google Analytics defaults to showing you data for the previous 7 days.

View newsletter tracking report

View Email Newsletter Report in Google Analytics 4

First, you’ll need to log in to your Google Analytics 4 account.

From here, head to Reports » Acquisition » Traffic Acquisition from the dashboard on the left.

View traffic acquisition report

Here, you’ll see all the traffic sources for your website, including direct, organic search, paid search, and email.

To see traffic from your newsletter, simply enter ’email’ in the search bar and hit enter.

View different traffic sources

This will filter the report and only show traffic from emails.

Next, you can click the blue ‘+’ button under the search bar.

Click the plus button

You’ll now see more options to short your website traffic.

Go ahead and select Traffic source » Session source from the dropdown list.

Select session source

After that, you should see traffic from different email campaigns.

This way, you can which campaign was most effective and helped generate revenue.

View newsletter URL report in ga4

Tracking Email Newsletter Conversions

The most important part of your newsletter tracking is what users do after they arrive on your website.

For instance, if you run an online store you might want to see which emails led to a sale. If you wanted users to fill out an order form, then you might want to track that.

The easiest way to do this is by using MonsterInsights to do almost all the setup for you.

Switching on eCommerce Tracking in Google Analytics

First, you’ll need to switch on eCommerce tracking in Google Analytics. This is a quick and easy process.

Simply log in to Google Analytics and make sure you have the correct website. After that, click the Admin link on the bottom left.

Click admin settings

You will now see different settings.

In the View column, go ahead and click the ‘Ecommerce Settings’ option.

Ecommerce settings

You can now toggle ‘Enable Ecommerce’ on. We recommend also enabling the ‘ Enable Enhanced Ecommerce Reporting’ option at this point.

This will track additional data and also lets you see eCommerce reports in MonsterInsights.

Enable ecommerce and enhanced ecommerce reporting

Don’t forget to click the Save button when you’re done.

Switching on eCommerce Tracking in MonsterInsights

You’ll need the Pro version of MonsterInsights in order to use its eCommerce features. These work with WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads, MemberPress, and LifterLMS.

Next, you can go to Insights » Addons, find the eCommerce addon, and then click the Install button below it.

Install the eCommerce addon

After that, you need to go to Insights » Settings and click the eCommerce tab. You should see that your eCommerce plugin (e.g. WooCommerce) has been automatically detected.

Tip: We recommend switching on ‘Use Enhanced eCommerce’ as this means you can view the MonsterInsights eCommerce report too.

Use enhanced ecommerce option

That’s all you need to do because MonsterInsights handles everything else after that. Google Analytics will now be able to track eCommerce transactions on your site.

Now, when you visit Google Analytics, you’ll be able to see details of your eCommerce transactions.

In Universal Analytics, simply go to Acquisition » Campaigns and then click the ‘All Campaigns’ link. Next, select ‘E-commerce’ from the Conversions dropdown menu.

Select eCommerce conversion goal

For detailed instructions, see our article on how to setup WooCommerce conversion tracking.

Tracking Links, Clicks, Buttons, and Forms

Not all websites use an eCommerce platform with a shopping cart.

For instance, if you have a simple order form, then you can track which email campaigns led users to submit that form. If you have a click to call button on your website, then you can track that as well.

We have a separate detailed guide on tracking links and button clicks in Google Analytics with step-by-step instructions.

We hope this article helped you learn how to set up email newsletter tracking in Google Analytics. You might also want to see these tested and easy ways to grow your email list faster and must-have WordPress plugins for business websites.

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The post How to Set Up Email Newsletter Tracking in Google Analytics first appeared on WPBeginner.


January 13, 2023 at 11:51PM