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Tag: monsterinsights

  • How to Find and Fix Broken Links in WordPress (Step by Step)

    Everyone agrees that broken links are bad for user experience. But did you know that broken links can significantly hurt your WordPress SEO rankings?

    Yes, it’s proven that having broken internal links on your website negatively impacts SEO.

    In this article, we will show you how to easily find and fix broken links in WordPress so that you can improve your user experience and SEO rankings.

    How to Find and Fix Broken Links in WordPress (Step by Step)

    What Is a Broken Link?

    A broken link, also known as a dead link, is a link that no longer works.

    Broken links can happen for many reasons, but the most common reason is when a page is either deleted or moved to a different location, which causes the server to show a ‘404 not found’ error message.

    On WordPress sites, broken links typically occur when moving a site to a new domain name or when deleting a post or page without proper redirection.

    Sometimes, broken links can also happen due to a typo, and they can go unnoticed for months, if not years.

    This is why it’s extremely important to regularly monitor broken links on your WordPress website and fix them so you can keep them from hurting your SEO rankings.

    In this guide, we will share the top 5 methods to find broken links in WordPress. After that, we will show you an easy way to fix those broken links.

    Here’s a table of contents for easy navigation:

    Ready? Let’s get started.

    The Broken Link Checker plugin by AIOSEO is an essential tool for making sure all of the links on your WordPress site are functioning correctly.

    It regularly scans for broken links on your website, including internal and external links that result in a 404 error.

    Unlike some other broken link checker plugins, it’s built as a SaaS service, so it won’t slow your website down. It also won’t be blocked by managed WordPress hosting companies like WP Engine because it uses an external private server to ping for broken links.

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

    Note: The free version of Broken Link Checker allows you to scan up to 200 internal links. You can upgrade to the Pro version to scan more internal and external links.

    Upon activation, the Broken Link Checker Setup Wizard will start automatically to help you set up your account.

    The Broken Link Checker Setup Wizard Will Start Automatically

    On the next page, you can choose to create a free account or connect to a plan that you already purchased.

    To create a new free account, simply click the ‘Create a Free Account’ button. You will need to fill in your name, email address, and phone number. You will also need to enter your credit card details so you can be upgraded when you go over the free 200 link limit.

    Connect Your Site to a Free Broken Link Checker Account or an Existing Account

    If you already purchased the Pro version, then you can click on the ‘Connect to an Existing Account’ button. You will be asked to sign in to your account, and then you can click the ‘Connect’ link next to your plan.

    The plugin will now start working in the background to find links in your posts, pages, and custom post types.

    You can go to the Broken’ tab to view the full report. The links are categorized into broken, redirects, and dismissed.

    Find broken links and edit URLs with Broken Link Checker by AIOSEO

    If you have been running your WordPress blog for a long time, then this report will include broken links to third-party websites as well.

    You can quickly fix any broken links right inside of the plugin by clicking the ‘Edit URL’ link. Or, you can remove the link by clicking ‘Unlink.’ Once you are finished, don’t forget to click the ‘Update’ button.

    Editing a Broken Link Using Broken Link Checker

    Broken Link Checker will also give you ‘Status Details’ about each link when you click the Information ⓘ icon.

    The information displayed includes how long the link has been broken, its HTTP status code, response headers, and more.

    View status details on broken links

    The plugin’s Settings tab lets you control which post types (posts, pages, custom post types) and statuses (published, draft) you want to monitor or exclude.

    Broken Link Checker by AIOSEO will automatically scan your site every 3 days, so you won’t have to worry about broken links in the future.

    Semrush is one of the best SEO tools on the market. It allows you to easily monitor your website’s SEO rankings and overall health.

    It also includes a powerful site audit tool that crawls your website to find common errors and prepare a detailed report for you.

    First, you will need to sign up for a Semrush account.

    It is a paid service, but they offer a limited free account that allows you to crawl up to 100 pages on one domain name. Paid plan limits start from 100,000 pages a month.

    Once you are logged in, you need to click on the ‘Site Audit’ link from the left menu.

    This will bring you to the Site Audit page. From here, click on the ‘Create project’ button at the top to add your website.

    Adding a New Site Audit Project in Semrush

    You will be asked to enter the domain name you want to audit, and then you need to click the ‘Create project’ button.

    After that, you will be asked to configure the site audit settings.

    Type a Domain for Your New Site Audit Project

    Semrush will now begin crawling your website for the site audit. This may take a few minutes, depending on how many pages you selected for the crawl.

    Once finished, you can click on your domain under the ‘Site Audit’ section to view your report.

    Semrush Report Showing Broken Links

    Notice that the number of broken links is written in blue. That’s because it’s a link you can click to see more information.

    You will see a list of broken links found on the crawled pages of your domain.

    Broken Links Report in Semrush

    You can now click on the ‘Export’ button at the top right corner of the screen to download your crawl report. You will need it when fixing broken links on your website.

    Ahrefs is an excellent all-in-one SEO tool for marketers, businesses, and SEO professionals. It offers detailed SEO insights into your own website or any of your competitors.

    You can use it for keyword research, competition analysis, organic and paid keyword ideas, and site health monitoring, including broken links. With the Site Explorer tool, you will get a complete backlink profile of your website.

    First, you will need to sign up for an Ahrefs account. Note that it is a paid service.

    Once you are logged into your Ahref’s dashboard, you need to enter your domain name into the ‘Site Explorer’ tool.

    The Site Explorer tool will now crawl your website to prepare reports. This may take some time, depending on how much content you have on your website.

    Once it is finished, you will see an overview of your Site Explorer results. From here, you need to click on the Pages » Best by links menu and then sort your report by 404 status.

    Finding Broken Links Using Ahrefs

    You can now export your report in CSV format to find and fix the broken links on your WordPress website.

    MonsterInsights is the best analytics solution for WordPress. It automatically tracks broken links and 404 errors on your website by using Google Analytics.

    Using the plugin, you can set up Google Analytics without editing code. It also lets you set up link and button click tracking, eCommerce tracking, author tracking, and more.

    To start, you will need to sign up for a Google Analytics account and connect it with your WordPress website using MonsterInsights. For more details, you can follow our detailed guide on how to install Google Analytics in WordPress.

    Note: MonsterInsights is a premium WordPress plugin, but we will be using the free version for this tutorial. However, you can upgrade to its Pro version for advanced tracking features, dashboard reports, popular posts features, and more.

    Once MonsterInsights is active on your website, the plugin will start to track broken links and show you a report in Google Analytics. However, it might take up to 24 hours before you see any data.

    To find broken links, you need to create an Exploration report in Google Analytics. This will take information about your broken links from MonsterInsights and display them in a list.

    Once you log in to Google Analytics, you will need to navigate to the ‘Explore’ tab and choose a Blank report.

    Create a Blank Explore Report in Google Analytics

    Now, under Exploration Name, you can type a name for the report, such as ‘Broken Links’.

    Next, you need to click the ‘+’ button next to Dimensions.

    Creating a New Explore Report in Google Analytics

    You will see a full list of the available dimensions for your report.

    You need to search for the ‘Page title’ dimension and check its box. After that, you should do the same thing for the ‘Page path + query string’ dimension.

    Importing Dimensions to Your Report

    Once you’ve done that, just click the ‘Import’ button at the top right of the screen.

    Next, you need to import a metric. This time, you should click on the ‘+’ button next to Metrics and import the Sessions metric.

    Import the Sessions Metric to Your Report

    Now, you can add the items you imported to your report.

    First, you need to drag both Dimensions to the Rows box in the second column. After that, drag the Sessions metric to the Values box.

    Drag the Variables to the Settings Column

    Next, scroll the second column down to the Filters section.

    You need to click the box that says ‘Drop or select dimension or metric’. After that, click on ‘Page title’ from the menu.

    Create a New Filter Using the Page Title

    Now, under Conditions, you need to select ‘contains’ from the dropdown menu and then type the page title for your website’s 404 page, such as ‘Page not found’.

    Tip: If you are not sure of the title of your website’s 404 page, then type a random URL after your domain name, such as https://example.com/xyz and then check your browser’s tab for the title.

    Page Title Filter Conditions

    Once you’ve done that, you can click the ‘Apply’ link.

    On the right of the page, you will now see a report of all of the 404 errors that occurred during the report’s time frame. However, in most cases, the ‘Page page + query string’ column will be cut off so that you can’t see the full URL.

    404 error pages in Google Analytics 4

    To see the URLs, you will need to download the data. Simply click the ‘Download’ icon at the top right of the page.

    When you view the downloaded data, you will see that most of the URLs look like this:

    /404.html?page=/error-page-url/&from=http://example.com/page/

    The part of the URL that shows your broken links comes after ?page=. In the example above, this is https://example.com/error-page-url.

    The part of the URL that shows the page containing the broken link comes after &from=. In the example, this is http://example.com/page/.

    You can use this information to fix the broken links. We show you how to do that in the last section of this article.

    To see this report in the future, simply visit the ‘Explore’ tab in Google Analytics.

    Google Search Console is a free tool offered by Google to help webmasters manage their sites’ visibility in search results. It also notifies you about errors, including 404 errors that are caused by a broken link.

    First, you will need to set up Google Search Console for your website. For step-by-step setup instructions, see our ultimate Google Search Console guide.

    After you have logged in to your Google Search Console account, just click on the ‘Pages’ link from the left menu.

    Google Search Console Pages Report

    Next, make sure the box next to ‘Not indexed’ is checked.

    This will make sure that you will see any 404 errors that were encountered by users when visiting your website.

    Google Search Console Pages That Aren't Indexed

    When you scroll down to the section titled ‘Why pages aren’t indexed’, you will see one reason listed as ‘Not found (404)’.

    When you click on this item, you will see a list of all broken links that caused a 404 error.

    A List of Pages Not Found in Google Search Console

    We have shown you 5 different methods to find broken links in WordPress. Now, let’s talk about how to easily fix broken links in WordPress.

    The best way to fix a broken link is to redirect it to another page.

    For example, if you moved the contents of an article to a different address, then you will need to redirect it to the newer article.

    Similarly, if an article does not exist anymore, then you will want to point users to a similar page that is closely related to the contents of the old article.

    You can do this by setting up 301 redirects.

    The easiest way to fix broken links and set up redirection is by using the All in One SEO (AIOSEO) plugin for WordPress. It offers a powerful redirection manager that helps you track 404 error pages and create 301 redirects.

    Note: We will be using the AIOSEO Pro version because it includes the redirection manager addon and offers multiple types of redirections.

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

    Upon activation, you need to visit the All in One SEO » Redirects page and then click the ‘Activate Redirects’ button.

    Activate AIOSEO Redirects

    Next, you will need to go to the ‘Settings’ tab under Redirects and enable 404 logs. You can find the option in the ‘Logs’ section.

    AIOSEO will also let you set the time period to record your 404 logs using the dropdown menu. We suggest that you select no longer than one month for smooth and optimal performance.

    Enable 404 Logs

    After that, go ahead and click the ‘Save Changes’ button.

    You will now see a ‘404 Logs’ tab appear in the Redirects section in AIOSEO. Go ahead and click on the tab.

    When you first enable the 404 logs option, there will be no data on this page. The plugin will only start to monitor and record 404 pages after enabling the settings.

    However, once it’s active, AIOSEO will show a list of broken links on your website under the ‘URL’ column. It will also show you how many people visited the link under the ‘Hits’ column and the last accessed date.

    404 Logs Under Redirects

    You can now click the ‘Add Redirect’ button for any broken link you want to fix. When you click the button, you’ll see redirection options for your 404 error URL.

    Simply enter the Target URL where you’d like to redirect your visitors and select ‘301 Moved Permanently’ as the redirection type from the dropdown menu. Once you’ve done that, you should click the ‘Add Redirect’ button.

    Redirecting a 404 Error Using AIOSEO

    You can now test this by visiting the old broken link, and you will be redirected to the new page.

    Just repeat the process for all broken links on your website.

    For more information, see our guide on how to set up redirects in WordPress for beginners.

    Now that you have found and fixed the broken links on your WordPress site, you may be wondering about other ways to use internal links to improve your site’s SEO. Here are our best guides on internal links:

    We hope this article helped you learn how to easily find and fix broken links in WordPress. You may also want to see our guide on how to set up an SEO-friendly URL structure and our expert pick of the best internal linking 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 Find and Fix Broken Links in WordPress (Step by Step) first appeared on WPBeginner.

  • How to Appear in Google Answer Boxes with Your WordPress Site

    Do you want your articles to appear in Google answer boxes?

    Google uses answer boxes to answer questions directly on the search results page. Getting featured in them can help you get more organic clicks and boost website traffic.

    In this article, we will explain how to make your WordPress website’s content appear in Google answer boxes.

    How to appear in Google answer boxes with your site

    What Is a Google Answer Box?

    The Google answer box is part of Google’s knowledge graph. It is an algorithm that tries to answer user’s questions right on the search page like a featured snippet, and it appears at the top of the page.

    Answer box example on google

    Google uses carousels, side boxes, lists, tables, and answer boxes to display the most relevant information at the top. This information is gathered from various sources, and the algorithm decides which results should be displayed inside an answer box.

    According to research done by Advanced Web Ranking, answer boxes have an average click-through rate of 32.3%. This makes them extremely important for your WordPress SEO strategy.

    How Google Displays Information in the Answer Box

    The purpose of answer boxes is to offer instant information to users. This works particularly well when people are looking for factual data like public figures, distances, conversion rates, scores, and similar information.

    Answer box for conversion rates

    If users get the exact information they need, then they can move on and search for something else. For many queries, Google can just display a sidebox from the web’s most reliable knowledge sources, like Wikipedia.

    In a way, it might sound like Google is trying to keep all the traffic for itself. However, not all users are looking for information that Google’s knowledge graph can answer with accuracy.

    If a user’s keywords require an opinionated, well-thought-out, or research-based answer, then Google relies on other web sources.

    Answer box for researches

    If you are among the top 10 results for a keyword, then you are already closer to appearing in a Google answer box.

    Google answer box results change quite often, and you can easily appear as the best answer by simply improving your WordPress website content.

    Let’s explore a number of content optimization steps that you can take to appear in the answer box. You can click the links below to jump to our different tips:

    1. Add Short and Helpful Answers in Your Content

    The purpose of answer boxes is to provide quick answers to users.

    To help grab a Google answer box, you will want to make sure that your article answers a specific question as early in the article as possible. You also need to make your answer short, concise, and easy to understand.

    You can also add a frequently asked questions (FAQ) section to your blog post and pages. This will allow you to answer as many questions as possible for a particular topic and increase your chances of getting featured in an answer box.

    Include a FAQ section

    If you are using All in One SEO for WordPress (AIOSEO), then it is super easy to add a FAQ section to your content. AIOSEO is the best SEO plugin for WordPress, and it automatically optimizes your site for featured snippets.

    Another advantage of using AIOSEO is that it lets you easily add FAQ schema in WordPress. FAQ schema is a smart markup code that allows Google to identify a FAQ section in your content.

    As a result, Google may reward you by listing your site in answer boxes, people also ask sections, and other rich results.

    FAQ schema can appear in the People Also Ask box

    2. Include Keywords in the Form of Questions

    It also helps to include your keywords in the form of a question followed by a short answer. After that, feel free to add as much detail to your answer as you want.

    Adding more information will allow you to use the keyword throughout the article. You can even use the article to answer other questions your users may have about the same topic.

    To find keywords that are in the form of a question, you can use any keyword research tool.

    For instance, we recommend Semrush as it shows a lot of information about a search term. This includes questions about the topic, which you can include while writing the article.

    View questions for a keyword

    Expert Tip: Looking for a free way to do keyword research? Our WPBeginner Keyword Generator tool can help you find hundreds of keyword ideas in just seconds.

    To learn more, please follow our guide on how to do keyword research for your WordPress blog.

    3. Use Lists, Tables, and Table of Contents

    Users love properly formatted content because it helps them quickly get the information they need. You can publish informative content in a viral listicle format that is easier for visitors to consume and share.

    For example, here’s how Google picked numbered bullets from OptinMonster’s exit-intent popup hacks article and showed it as an answer box / featured snippet in the search results.

    Include lists in your content

    Google understands that list and table formatting makes content easier to read and tends to highlight the websites that use this formatting.

    This includes:

    • Pages that use tables to list items
    • How to articles that use step-by-step instructions
    • Top lists that simply list items
    • Lengthy articles that use a table of contents
    • And more

    This does not mean that you must always use one of these formats to write your articles. However, if using formatting can help your users get to the information quickly, then it’s a good idea to use it.

    In other cases, Google will use descriptions from your list post and show them in answer boxes.

    For example, Google picks small details from our article about WordPress form plugins and displays them in the search results.

    Google answer box form plugins

    4. Optimize Content With Data-Driven Decisions

    Data is the most important thing you need if you want to create an effective content strategy. Without knowing information about your visitors, you won’t be able to write content that they want to read.

    This is where Google Analytics comes in. Its detailed data helps you understand your audience and plan accordingly.

    You will need MonsterInsights to properly track user engagement in WordPress. It is the best Google Analytics plugin on the market, and it will help you learn where your users are coming from and what they do while they are on your site.

    The MonsterInsights Google Analytics plugin

    These stats provide you with a clear picture of what’s already working on your website. You can then expand on it and make informed decisions for better SEO.

    5. Optimize Your Page’s Meta Description

    A meta description is a brief description explaining what your page is about. It is added in the <head> section of your site’s HTML. At times, Google will use it as an answer and show it in its answer boxes.

    You can easily add meta descriptions to your articles by using the All in One SEO plugin. When you are in the content editor, simply scroll down to the AIOSEO Settings meta box and enter a meta description.

    AIOSEO meta description

    Make sure that your meta description includes your target keyword. It also needs to explain what questions or topics this particular page or post will be answering.

    6. Follow SEO Best Practices

    Apart from answering user questions, you also need to make sure that Google can find your content and understand it easily.

    This means you still need to optimize your posts for SEO just like you would normally do:

    • Include your keywords in the SEO title, description, and keywords.
    • Add your focus keyword in the content and sub-headings in your article.
    • Properly use categories and tags.
    • Make sure there is enough content to cover the topic.
    • Make internal linking a habit and link to your other posts and pages.
    • Add title and alt tags to your images.

    For more details, you can see our complete guide on how to optimize your WordPress blog posts for SEO.

    Are Google Answer Boxes Worth the Effort?

    Yes, absolutely. As we mentioned earlier, the click-through rate for results in the answer box is way higher than other content. Depending on the topic and your content, it could go as high as 51.2%.

    However, we do not recommend you overthink it. The purpose of answer boxes is to help users find information quickly. If you focus on answering questions through helpful and informative content, then search results will start picking up your content.

    Google’s search features are always changing. There are no shortcuts that will help you win forever. But building your website as an authority/reliable source of useful information will help you win in the long run.

    We hope this article helped you learn how to appear in Google answer boxes. You may also want to see our list of the best WordPress SEO plugins and our guide on how to use Google Trends to improve SEO and grow your business.

    The post How to Appear in Google Answer Boxes with Your WordPress Site first appeared on WPBeginner.

  • How to Add a Cookies Popup in WordPress for GDPR/CCPA

    Do you want to add a cookies consent popup in WordPress?

    Your WordPress site may be setting cookies on your visitors’ browsers. However, the European Union’s law requires websites to get user consent before setting any cookies on their computers.

    In this article, we will show you how to add a cookies popup in WordPress.

    How to Add cookies popup in WordPress

    Why Are Cookie Popups Necessary?

    Browser cookies are small files containing data sent by a website to store in a user’s browser. Most WordPress websites set cookies for various purposes.

    For example, by default, WordPress uses cookies for authentication purposes to store session information for logged-in users. It also sets a cookie when someone leaves a comment on your site.

    Apart from these, WordPress plugins can also set their own cookies to store different information or recognize repeat visitors.

    You can learn how your site uses cookies by checking our guide on how to know if your WordPress website uses cookies.

    While cookies are extremely useful, they can also be used to collect information about a user and share it with third-party advertising platforms.

    That’s why in Europe and a few other countries, website owners are required to let users know about their usage of cookies. If your website targets audiences in those regions, then you need to show a cookie consent disclaimer.

    Cookie notice preview

    The easiest way to do that is with a WordPress GDPR plugin. Cookie Notice and Cookiebot are two of the most popular cookie notification plugins and are compatible with many other popular WordPress plugins.

    That being said, let’s take a look at how to easily display a cookie consent popup in WordPress.

    Method 1: Add a Cookie Popup with Cookie Notice (Easiest)

    First, you’ll need to install and activate the Cookie Notice & Compliance for GDPR / CCPA plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

    Upon activation, the plugin will start to display a basic cookies popup to your visitors right away without any additional configuration. The default message is suitable for most websites.

    Cookie notice default message

    If you’d like to customize the notification, then you need to visit the Cookies menu item in your WordPress dashboard.

    From here, simply scroll down to the Notice Settings section.

    Edit cookie notice message

    On this page, you can customize the popup message and button text.

    You can also add a link to your privacy policy page. If you haven’t already created one, then you can follow our guide on how to create a privacy policy page in WordPress.

    After that, you can select that page from the Privacy Policy dropdown menu.

    Enable privacy policy link

    You can also give your visitors the option of refusing and revoking consent.

    To do that, just click on the ‘Refuse consent’ and ‘Revoke consent’ checkboxes. The default settings will work for most websites.

    Refuse consent settings

    If you scroll down to the Notice Design section, then you can choose the position, animation, button style, and colors of your cookie consent popup.

    You can also set a button class to add custom CSS for your popup.

    Edit design of notice

    Once you’re finished, click on the ‘Save Changes’ button at the end to store your settings.

    You can now visit your website to see your cookie consent popup in action.

    Cookie notice default message

    Method 2: Add a Cookie Popup with Cookiebot (Feature-Rich)

    Another method for setting up cookie popups is by using the Cookie banner plugin for WordPress or the Cookiebot plugin.

    While it’s not as easy to set up as Cookie Notice and won’t work unless you sign up for a free Cookiebot account, it does offer some additional customization options.

    First, you can install and activate the Cookie banner plugin for WordPress plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

    Once activated, a new Cookiebot section is added to your WordPress dashboard. You’ll need to navigate to Cookiebot » Settings in your WordPress dashboard to configure the plugin.

    If you don’t already have a Cookiebot ID, then you’ll need to sign up for one by clicking the ‘Create a new Account’ button.

    Create a new Cookiebot account

    Next, the Cookiebot website will open in a new tab on your browser.

    Go ahead and enter your email address and password. You’ll also need to click the terms of service, privacy policy, and DPA checkbox.

    Create a CookieBot account

    Once that’s done, you can click the ‘Create Account’ button.

    Next, you’ll see Cookitbot settings. Go ahead and add your website URL under the Domain name field. In the free version, you can only add 1 domain name.

    Add domain name to Cookiebot

    After that, you’ll need to switch to the ‘Your scripts’ tab.

    From here, simply copy the ‘Domain Group ID.’

    Copy domain group ID

    Next, you can head back to the Cookiebot settings in your WordPress dashboard.

    Under the General Settings tab, scroll down to the Connect your Domain Group section and enter the ID under the ‘Add your Domain Group ID’ field.

    Enter your domain group ID

    Once that’s done, don’t forget to click the ‘Save Changes’ button at the top.

    If you scroll down, you’ll see more settings. For instance, the plugin lets you select a language. By default, it will be set to ‘Autodetect,’ but you can click the dropdown menu to change it.

    You can also select Cookie-blocking mode. We recommend using the ‘Automatic cookie-blocking mode’ as the plugin will block all cookies except those that are strictly necessary until a user has given consent.

    Select language and cookie blocking settings

    You might like to check ‘Auto-update Cookiebot’ option in the Advanced Settings tab.

    This way, the plugin stays up to date with any changes in GDPR legislation.

    Automatic Cookiebot plugin update

    For testing purposes, you should also enable the ‘Render Cookiebot CMP on front-end while logged in’ option.

    If you leave it disabled, then you won’t see the popup when you’re logged into your WordPress site.

    Enable Cookiebot for logged in users

    After you’re done with the settings, don’t forget to click the ‘Save Changes’ button at the bottom.

    Customize Your Cookie Popup Notice

    We’re not finished yet, but we’re getting close. To finish configuring Cookiebot, you now need to return to the Cookiebot website.

    Next, you’ll need to navigate to the Banner tab on the Cookiebot website.

    Customize Cookiebot banner

    Here, you can choose a template, edit the position, and appearance of the popup.

    You’ll be able to see the changes by clicking the Preview button or returning to your website.

    Preview cookiebot popup changes

    If you notice that the wording used in the popup doesn’t match the reasons your website uses cookies, then you can change it.

    You’ll find the settings to do this by navigating to the Content tab on the Cookiebot website.

    Edit content of cookie notice

    You might also want to add a cookie declaration to your website’s privacy policy. If you haven’t already created a privacy policy page, then you can follow our guide on how to create a privacy policy page in WordPress.

    You need to start by navigating to the Declaration tab on Cookiebot’s website. By default, the cookie declaration uses Cookiebot’s default wording.

    Declaration settings in Cookiebot

    If you need to customize the message because your website uses cookies for a different reason, then you need a premium Cookiebot subscription.

    Alternatively, you can just type your own declaration into your privacy policy, but you’d miss out on features such as links where visitors can change or withdraw their consent.

    In this tutorial, we’ll add the default declaration to our privacy policy. You just need to edit your privacy policy and insert the shortcode [cookie_declaration] where you want to display the cookie declaration.

    Enter cookie declaration shortcode

    To see the declaration you need to save and preview the page.

    This is how the first few paragraphs look on our test website.

    Privacy declaration

    Bonus: Improve GDPR Compliance with MonsterInsights

    MonsterInsights is the best analytics solution for your WordPress site. It’s also the simplest way to improve your compliance with GDPR and other privacy regulations.

    That’s because MonsterInsights offers an EU Compliance addon that works out of the box. It will automatically change your analytics settings to help you stay in compliance with privacy laws.

    The MonsterInsights Google Analytics plugin

    The EU compliance addon is included in the premium plan. The best thing is that it automatically integrates with both Cookie Notice and Cookiebot.

    The first step is to install the MonsterInsights plugin and connect it to your Google Analytics account. For more information, see our guide on how to install Google Analytics using MonsterInsights.

    Once MonsterInsights is installed and set up, you’ll need to install and activate the EU Compliance addon.

    You can do that by navigating to the Insights » Addons page in your WordPress dashboard. Next, find the EU Compliance addon and click on the ‘Install’ button.

    MonsterInsights EU compliance addon

    The addon will be automatically activated.

    You can check this by going to the MonsterInsights » Settings page and switching to the ‘Engagement’ tab.

    When you look at the EU Compliance section, you will see that the addon has been turned on.

    View EU compliance settings

    If you click the down arrow on the right side of the screen, then you can see a detailed list of the configuration changes the addon has made to your website.

    For instance, you can see that it automatically anonymized IP addresses in Google Analytics, disabled demographics, and interest reports, disabled UserID tracking, and much more.

    View EU compliance settings in MonsterInsights

    Next, you can scroll down to see MonsterInsights compatibility with different cookie plugins like Cookie Notice and CookieBot.

    MonsterInsights will automatically make changes to the Google Analytics tracking code if any of the plugins are installed on your site. This way, it will wait for consent before tracking users in Google Analytics.

    Compliance plugin integration

    We hope this article helped you add a cookie consent popup to your WordPress site.

    You may also want to see our step-by-step guide on how to properly move your WordPress site from HTTP to HTTPS, or check out our comparison of the best business phone services for small businesses.

    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 Add a Cookies Popup in WordPress for GDPR/CCPA first appeared on WPBeginner.

  • How to Understand WordPress Website Visitors Intent (7 Tips)

    Do you want to better understand your website visitors?

    By figuring out the intent of your visitors, you can offer what they’re looking for. This helps you create more helpful content, improve your website experience, offer the right products, and more.

    In this article, we will show you how to understand WordPress website visitors’ intent and also share helpful tips.

    How to understand website visitors intent

    What is Website Visitor Intent?

    Website visitor intent simply refers to what a user is trying to do or find on your WordPress website, or why they clicked on your site in search results in the first place.

    To better understand what is a visitor or user’s intent, you can break it down into 4 types:

    • Navigational – When a user searches for your brand name in the search engine to find the website URL or visits your site to find a link to the contact form, then this is called navigational intent. For instance, a visitor might be looking to fill out a contact form and get in touch with you about guest posting.
    • Informational – This is when people are in the research phase and are looking for information about a product or service. Informational intent allows visitors to gain more knowledge about a topic or solve a problem. For example, a user might be looking for an article to learn more about your software before making a purchase.
    • Commercial – A user might visit your website to compare different products and services. When this happens, then the visitor intent is said to be commercial. The purpose of the visit is to find out which product or service is better and which they should buy.
    • Transactional – When someone visits your site to make a purchase, then the intent is transactional. Users are in the final stage of buying a product or service. They can also visit your site or online store to find discount coupons and deals before purchasing.

    Why Understand WordPress Website Visitor Intent?

    As a website owner or a marketer, trying to understand visitor intent is like reading minds. It uncovers a wealth of information that can help grow your business.

    If you have a WordPress blog, then you can find out which content your visitors like. This way, you can create content that your audience prefers and boost your website traffic.

    Similarly, understanding visitor intent on a WooCommerce can help you better understand your customer’s needs. You can offer products that people are looking for and get more conversions.

    Knowing user intent can also help improve your website experience. You can see the path a user takes on your website before converting. This way, you’ll be able to fix any issues, like making the checkout process straightforward or providing a table of contents in an article for better navigation.

    That said, let’s look at how you can better understand website visitor intent. You can click the links below to jump ahead to any tip.

    Understanding WordPress Website Visitor Intent

    Uncovering the true intention of users and why they’re on your website can be challenging.

    However, there are many WordPress plugins and tools that you can use better understand your audience and their behavior.

    Here are a few ways you can learn about your website visitor’s intent.

    1. Ask Users for a Quick Feedback

    The easiest way of understanding your visitors’ intent is by asking them for feedback. You get to know what your audience is looking for on your website and uncover their pain points.

    For instance, if you have an online store, then you can run surveys to find out what buyers are actually looking for or where they are satisfied with their purchase.

    Similarly, you can also get feedback on your articles and landing pages. This helps you figure out whether the content you’re creating is helpful for users. You can then tweak your content to match the correct intent.

    For example, a user might be visiting with informational intent and looking for basic information about your service. However, if you show an article that has a transactional intent, then the user might not be satisfied and would eventually exit your site.

    MonsterInsights runs a quick survey and asks its visitors what content it should create. This is really useful in coming up with new content ideas.

    User feedback preview

    The best way of adding collecting feedback from your audience is by using the UserFeedback plugin. It is a free and powerful plugin that lets you launch surveys and get quick feedback in real-time.

    The plugin comes with built-in templates and questions that help create a quick feedback survey. There is also a UserFeedback premium version that offers more templates, questions, and customization options.

    For example, you can choose templates for website experience, post-purchase review, competitive research, NPS survey, and more.

    userfeedback surveys

    Please see our guide on how to get quick feedback on your articles in WordPress to learn more.

    2. Add Interactive Polls to Understand Visitor Intent

    Another way of quickly understanding your WordPress website visitor intent is by adding interactive polls on your site.

    While surveys can be open-ended, polls are focused. You can show multiple options for users to choose from, show a rating scale, or show a simple yes/no question. The highest votes for an option will help you uncover the intent behind using your website.

    UserFeedback popup poll example

    The best way to create interactive polls in WordPress is by using WPForms. It is the best contact form plugin for WordPress and offers a Survey and Polls addon.

    It offers pre-built form templates, a drag-and-drop form builder, and multiple customization options.

    Edit your poll form template

    Check out our tutorial on how to create an interactive poll in WordPress.

    Once you know why people use your website, you can then divide them into different segments. This will help you send targeted push notifications, show personalized campaigns, and display relevant content.

    3. Track the User Journey of Your WordPress Forms

    If you have different forms on your website, then wouldn’t you want to know how users interact with them and what’s their intent when submitting one?

    Forms are a great way to stay connected with your users. They help you get feedback from people, resolve their queries, collect online payments, accept file uploads, gather leads and newsletter subscribers, and more.

    However, some users fill out forms while others don’t. By tracking the user journey, you can see the steps people take before submitting a form.

    This way, you’ll learn a lot about user behavior and what compels them to fill out forms on your website. Using the insight you get from understanding your visitor’s intent, you can create forms that help gather more leads and grow your business. Plus, you’ll also be able to reduce form abandonment.

    The best way to track the user journey of your WordPress forms is by using WPForms. It offers a User Journey addon that shows where a user came from and which pages they visited before submitting a form.

    View user journey in WPForms

    To learn more, you can follow our guide on how to track user journeys on WordPress lead forms.

    4. Setup Customer Journey Tracking on Your Online Store

    You can also track customer journeys on your eCommerce store and learn more about your visitors’ intent. Customer journey tracking will help you see which pages each user visited, how long they stayed there, and what they did before completing a purchase.

    This will help you uncover transactional intent and see the reason why people are buying some products but not others. You can then improve your sales funnel and optimize it for more conversions.

    Plus, you’ll see how users navigate your website. Using this information, you can uncover the navigational intent of users and make it easier for them to find the right products, smoothen the checkout process, optimize the product pages, and more.

    With MonsterInsights, setting up customer journey tracking is very easy. It offers a User Journey addon that automatically works with popular eCommerce plugins like WooCommerce, MemberPress, Easy Digital Downloads, and more.

    You can then view a report inside your WordPress dashboard and learn more about the path your customers took.

    MonsterInsights user journey report

    Simply select a transaction ID to view the entire journey of the customer.

    In the screenshot below, you can exactly see on which page the customer arrived, which pages they then visited, and how long they stayed there before buying a product.

    User journey in MonsterInsights

    For more details, please see our guides on how to enable customer tracking in WooCommerce and how to track customer journeys using MemberPress.

    5. Find Out How People Use Your Website

    Next, you can discover website visitor intent by looking at how they interact with your WordPress site.

    For instance, you can see where they click, which pages they visit the most, which files they download, which videos they watch, and more.

    You can track all this using MonsterInsights. It is the best Analytics plugin for WordPress and makes it very easy to install Google Analytics in WordPress without editing code.

    The plugin automatically sets up advanced tracking in Google Analytics for you. The best part, you can see reports in your WordPress admin panel and better understand your visitors.

    For instance, MonsterInsights tracks outbound links and affiliate links on your site. This helps understand user behavior and lets you see where they click.

    Outbound and affiliate links report

    Similarly, you can uncover your most important pages.

    MonsterInsights shows the top pages and posts that people visit on your site. Using this insight, you can uncover content that your audience likes.

    Top pages and posts report

    If you have videoes embedded in your content, then MonsterInsights can also help see which videos get the most engagement. For instance, if an informational video is getting more plays, then you can create similar videos to attract more visitors.

    In the report, you can see the number of plays, average watch time, average percentage watched, and completion rate for each video. To learn more, please see our guide on how to track video analytics in WordPress.

    Media report

    Besides that, you can also use MonsterInsights to better understand your visitors by tracking file downloads, viewing top traffic sources, finding which region your visitors are from, and more.

    It even shows which device and browser your visitors use, which marketing campaigns are performing the best, and top referral sources.

    6. See What Search Terms People Use on Your Website

    Do you have a search feature on your WordPress website? If so, then you can understand user intent by finding out what search terms people use on your site to find products, services, and content.

    You can use SearchWP to uncover the search terms people use on your website or eCommerce store. It is the best WordPress search plugin that lets you customize your search on a WordPress site.

    You can create custom search engines and algorithms to include custom fields, tables, categories, tags, documents, products, and more in the search process.

    With SearchWP, you’ll get to see stats inside your WordPress dashboard. It will display all the queries and the number of times users searched them on your site.

    Site search statistics

    To learn more, check out our guide on how to improve WordPress search with SearchWP.

    7. Use SEO Tools to See the Search Intent of Keywords

    Aside from tracking site searches, you can also look up keywords people use on search engines to find your website. While this may not show user behavior on your website, but it reveals a key part of user intent.

    For instance, let’s say a user enters a search term on Google looking for information about your products. Instead, you’re offering them a sales page with transactional intent that has limited details about the product. This will be bad for your WordPress SEO and user experience.

    Understanding the search intent of a keyword helps you fulfill your visitor’s needs. You get to see what type of content to create or products to offer.

    To start, you will first need to see what keywords people are entering in search engines. You can do that by using Google Search Console. It is a free tool by Google that helps monitor your site’s presence in search results.

    You can follow our step-by-step guide on how to add your WordPress site to Google Search Console to get started.

    Next, Search Console will show all the keywords your site is ranking on. If you’re using MonsterInsights, then you can see the Search Console report inside your WordPress dashboard.

    It will show the number of impressions, clicks, click-through rate (CTR), and average position for top 50 Google search terms people use.

    Search console report

    After you’ve uncovered the keywords people are searching for, the next step is to perform keyword research and figure out their user intent.

    You can do that by using an SEO tool like Semrush. It is a powerful tool used by SEO experts, marketers, and business owners. Simply enter the keyword in the tool, and you’ll see different variations.

    Keyword intent in SEO tool

    It will also show the intent behind each search term. For instance, if the intent is informational, then your users are looking for answers to a specific question or topic. Or if it is transactional, then people are looking complete an action like purchasing a product or service.

    You can then use these details to create the right content and satisfy user intent. In turn will help you rank higher on Google, better assist your visitors, and boost conversions.

    Alternative Method: To get more keyword ideas for your website, you can use WPBeginner’s Keyword Generator Tool. It will show over 300 search term ideas to target on your site.

    We hope this article helped you learn how to understand WordPress website visitor intent. You may also want to see our guide on how to increase your blog traffic and the best push notification software.

    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 Understand WordPress Website Visitors Intent (7 Tips) first appeared on WPBeginner.

  • How to Track User Engagement in WordPress with Google Analytics

    Are you properly tracking user engagement on your WordPress site?

    User engagement is one of the most important metrics to track because it helps you better understand your audience and what they want. With Google Analytics, you can easily see how people interact with your website.

    In this article, we will show you how to track user engagement in WordPress with Google Analytics.

    How to Track user management with Analytics

    Why Track User Engagement With Google Analytics?

    Generally, WordPress website owners consider traffic and pageviews to be the most important indicators of their website’s performance. They assume that higher traffic will result in more conversions and sales.

    While that is generally true, you can get even better results by tracking and optimizing user engagement.

    User engagement shows you what users do when they arrive on your website. It helps you identify patterns of highly engaged user behavior that lead to more conversions and sales.

    For example, you may realize that users visiting a specific page are 10X more likely to make a purchase than any other visitor on your website. You can use this insight to redirect the user’s attention to that page.

    Similarly, tracking engagement can help you see which affiliate links or banner ads your visitors are clicking. Using this data, you will be able to optimize your content to get more clicks and boost conversions.

    That said, let’s see how you can set up user engagement tracking in WordPress using Google Analytics.

    Tracking User Engagement in WordPress Using Google Analytics

    The best way to set up user engagement tracking in WordPress is by using MonsterInsights. It’s the best analytics plugin for WordPress that helps you configure Google Analytics without writing code.

    MonsterInsights automatically sets up outbound link tracking, form conversion tracking, scroll depth, affiliate link clicks, and other advanced tracking features in Google Analytics out of the box.

    It automates the process of pasting different analytics codes and event tracking in WordPress, so you don’t have to deal with the hassle of code and configuration.

    The MonsterInsights Google Analytics plugin

    For this tutorial, we will use the MonsterInsights Pro version because it includes advanced tracking features and more dashboard reports. However, there is also a MonsterInsights Lite version that you can use for free and get started with user engagement tracking.

    First, you will 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 see the MonsterInsights welcome screen. Go ahead and click the ‘Launch the Wizard’ button. You can then follow the setup wizard to get everything ready in minutes.

    Launch setup wizard

    For more details, please see our guide on how to install Google Analytics in WordPress.

    Now that you have Google Analytics with MonsterInsights ready to go, let’s take a look at what user engagement metrics are best to track and how you can track them.

    These aren’t all of the metrics you can track with MonsterInsights and Google Analytics, but they are the most important ones to start with. You can click the links below to jump ahead to any section:

    The first thing you want to figure out is which posts and pages on your WordPress blog are popular amongst your users. These important pages and posts on your website get the most traffic.

    Figuring out what your users like on your site can help you plan a content strategy that expands on what’s already working.

    MonsterInsights makes it really simple. You just need to visit the Insights » Reports page in your WordPress admin area and go to the ‘Overview’ report.

    Overview report in MonsterInsights

    After that, you can scroll down to see other reports with different data.

    You will find your most popular content in the ‘Top Posts/Pages’ section.

    Top posts and page report

    On most websites, 90% of the traffic goes to 10% of the top pages and posts.

    Once you find these top pages, you can optimize them for maximum conversions by adding content upgrades or targeted lead magnets on these posts.

    2. Tracking How Users Engage With Forms on Your Website

    Most websites rely on contact forms to collect user leads and feedback. Sadly, most WordPress contact form plugins don’t give you accurate tracking and conversion data.

    MonsterInsights lets you leverage the events tracking feature in Google Analytics to see how many times your forms are viewed and submitted.

    To enable form tracking, you need to visit the Insights » Addons page. On this page, you will need to install and activate the Forms addon.

    Install forms addon

    Once you have activated the addon, MonsterInsights will automatically start tracking all forms on your website.

    It works with popular contact forms plugins like WPForms, Formidable Forms, and others. MonsterInsights also tracks your website comment forms, user registration forms, and more.

    You can check these settings by going to Insights » Settings in your WordPress dashboard and then clicking on the ‘Conversions’ tab.

    MonsterInsights settings - conversions tab

    Next, MonsterInsights shows the performance of your WordPress forms inside your dashboard.

    Simply go to Insights » Reports from the admin panel and click on the ‘Forms’ tab. The report shows the number of impressions and conversions, as well as the conversion rate for your different WordPress forms.

    Forms report in MonsterInsights

    For more details, please see our guide on how to track form conversions in WordPress.

    3. Tracking eCommerce Store Performance in Google Analytics

    Google Analytics offers many features specifically for eCommerce websites. However, these features are not turned on by default in Google Analytics, and most users don’t even know that they exist.

    eCommerce tracking lets you see shopping behavior, checkout behavior, product performance, sales performance, and so much more. The best part is that you can combine this data with your overall website traffic to gather better insights.

    With MonsterInsights, you can easily set up Enhanced eCommerce on your website without editing code. It seamlessly works with popular plugins like WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads, GiveWP, MemberPress, and more.

    You can see our guide on how to set up eCommerce tracking in WordPress for more information.

    Once you have configured tracking, you can head to Insights » Reports from your WordPress admin menu and click on the ‘eCommerce’ report and select ‘Overview’.

    View eCommerce report in MonsterInsights

    Using the report, you can quickly see how your online store is performing.

    It shows stats like conversion rate, number of transactions, revenue, and average order value. It also helps identify products that users engage with the most and where they are coming from.

    Ecommerce overview report in MonsterInsights

    MonsterInsights also lets you track coupons in your online store.

    You can go to eCommerce » Coupons in MonsterInsights reports to view the report.

    Coupons report in MonsterInsights

    You can also view the eCommerce report in your Google Analytics property.

    Simply visit your Google Analytics account and go to Reports » Monetization » Ecommerce purchases.

    Ecommerce report GA4

    You may also want to see our guide on how to set up WooCommerce conversion tracking.

    4. Tracking Who’s Clicking on Your AdSense Ads

    Many websites rely on ads to make money online while creating useful content. With Google Analytics, you can actually see how users interact with ads on your site.

    For instance, you will be able to track how many clicks each ad is receiving, discover which ads your audience is ignoring, identify the most effective ad placements, and more.

    First, you need to sign up for a Google AdSense account and integrate it with your website. You can follow our guide on how to add Google AdSense to your WordPress site.

    Next, you can link your Google Analytics account with Google AdSense. To do this, log in to your AdSense account and head to Account » Account and Authorization » Google Analytics Integration from the menu on your left.

    Google AdSense ga4 integration

    From here, you can click the ‘+ New link’ button and select your Google Analytics property.

    Once your accounts are connected, you can visit Google Analytics to view the reports.

    To view your AdSense reports, go to your Google Analytics 4 account and visit Monetization » Publisher Ads.

    AdSense report in ga4

    If you have a Universal Analytics property, then you can view the data by going to the Behavior » Publisher page.

    Note: Universal Analytics is no longer collecting your website data. However, you can still access its reports and view old data.

    View AdSense report

    5. Tracking How Far People Scroll Your Website

    When tracking user engagement in WordPress, it’s also important to see how far visitors scroll your website.

    It gives you insights into how people use your site and helps improve your page length. Plus, you can use the data to place your AdSense ads, call-to-action buttons, and affiliate links where they will get the most visibility and conversions.

    MonsterInsights automatically enables scroll-depth tracking. You can view the report by going to Insights » Reports from the WordPress admin panel and clicking the Publishers » Overview tabs.

    Publisher overview report in MonsterInsights

    Next, scroll down and view the ‘Scroll’ report.

    It will show the average scroll depth percentage. MonsterInsights will trigger events in Google Analytics 4 as users scroll 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% of a page and compute the percentage from those results.

    View scroll depth report

    Most marketers use affiliate plugins to manage and cloak affiliate links. This makes your affiliate links look more user-friendly.

    Here is an example of a cloaked affiliate link:

    https://example.com/recommends/product-name/

    MonsterInsights allows you to track affiliate links in Google Analytics. This data helps you figure out which affiliate products are doing well, which pages are generating more affiliate revenue, and more.

    To enable affiliate link tracking, you need to visit the Insights » Settings page. Next, you can switch to the ‘Publisher’ tab and head to the Affiliate Links section.

    Change affiliate link settings

    First, you need to enter the prefix for your link under the Path field, like ‘/refer/’ or ‘/recommend/.’ After that, you must provide a Label that you would like to use for those links in your Google Analytics reports.

    When you are done, click on the ‘Save Changes’ button to store your settings.

    Next, you can view your top affiliate link clicks in MonsterInsights reports. Simply head to the Publishers tab and scroll down to the ‘Top Affiliate Links’ section.

    Outbound and affiliate links report

    Here, you will see which affiliate links are getting the most clicks so that you can promote them more on your site and boost sales.

    Additionally, MonsterInsights will also show your Top Outbound Links. These are external links that people click and exit your site. You can use insights from this report to get more backlinks, form partnerships, sign up for affiliate programs, and exchange guest posts.

    For more detailed instructions, see our guide on how to track outbound links in WordPress.

    7. Tracking Video Engagement in Google Analytics

    Do have you videos embedded on your WordPress website? If so, then you can track how people engage with them.

    With the MonsterInsights Media addon, you can automatically track YouTube, Vimeo, and other HTML 5 video embeds on your website. The best part is that you don’t have to edit code to set up tracking. The plugin takes care of everything.

    You can view the data inside your WordPress dashboard. Simply head to Insights » Reports and then click the ‘Media’ tab.

    View media report

    Next, you will see stats about your top videos.

    For instance, you can see how many people played the video, the average watch time, the completion rate, and more.

    Media report

    To learn more, please follow our guide on how to track video analytics in WordPress.

    8. Tracking Marketing Campaigns in Google Analytics

    If you are running different campaigns on your website, then you can track their performance in Google Analytics. This data helps you see which campaigns get the most engagement so that you can replicate them.

    To start, you can add UTM parameters to your campaign links. These are special tags that pass additional information to Google Analytics and help differentiate campaign URLs from regular links.

    If you are using MonsterInsights, then you can use the URL Builder tool to create links with UTM parameters. Simply head to Insights » Tools from your WordPress dashboard and select the ‘URL Builder’ tab.

    Go to tools in MonsterInsights

    Next, you can fill in the details of your URL.

    For instance, you can add your website link, a campaign source like a newsletter, a campaign medium such as email, a campaign name, and other details.

    Enter campaign source and medium

    After entering these details, MonsterInsights will create a custom URL with UTM parameters. It will look something like this:

    https://example.com?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=spring_sale

    You can simply copy the link and use it in your campaigns.

    Copy custom link with UTM parameter

    Once you have added custom links with UTM parameters, MonsterInsights will start to track them in Google Analytics.

    You can then view a report inside your WordPress dashboard and see which campaign is generating the most engagement.

    Simply head to your MonsterInsights reports and then go to Traffic » Campaigns.

    View campaigns report in MonsterInsights

    Next, you can scroll down to see campaign details.

    The report will show the number of sessions, engaged sessions, purchases, conversion rate, and revenue for each campaign.

    Campaign details in MonsterInsights

    9. Tracking Bounce Rate in Google Analytics

    The bounce rate is the percentage of users who land on your website and decide to leave without going to a second page.

    In the latest version of Google Analytics, you won’t find bounce rate as a default metric that’s visible on your reports. This is one of the key differences you will notice between Google Analytics 4 (GA4) and Universal Analytics.

    You will need to manually add the bounce rate to pages and screens reports in GA4. This can be tricky for beginners, especially for anyone who isn’t familiar with the Google Analytics interface.

    However, an easier way to view the bounce rate is by using MonsterInsights. Simply go to Insights » Reports from your WordPress admin menu and click on the Publishers » Overview tabs. The plugin shows the bounce rate for your important pages.

    Top landing pages report

    A higher bounce rate indicates that you were unable to convince the user to visit other pages. Users can leave your website by clicking on the back button in their browser, clicking on an outgoing link, or closing the window.

    Every site has a bounce rate. However, higher bounce rates can indicate problems with your website that are affecting user experience and causing low engagement.

    To lower the bounce rate, you can speed up your website, improve internal links, ensure that your content meets the search intent, improve the readability of your articles, show popular posts, and more.

    For more tips, you can see our guide on how to increase pageviews and reduce the bounce rate in WordPress.

    10. Tracking Time Spent on Your Website

    Another indicator that shows user engagement is session duration or the amount of time users spend on your site.

    If users are abandoning your site without spending enough time to look at it, then something is wrong, and you need to fix it.

    In the MonsterInsights Overview report, you can see the average session duration for your website in the past 30 days.

    Session duration report

    If you are using Google Analytics 4, then you will see a new metric called average engagement time. It tells you the average time your webpage was being focused on by a user.

    You can view the report by logging in to your GA4 account and then heading to Reports » Engagement » Overview.

    See average engagement time report

    Using the data, you can better understand your user journey. If the engagement time is low, then you can look into issues like fixing slow site speed, debugging any errors, and making your site’s interface user-friendly.

    11. Tracking Pageviews Per Visit With Google Analytics

    Pageviews per visit is another excellent indicator of how engaged your users are. A higher number of pageviews per session means that people are visiting multiple landing pages and articles on your site. This helps increase the time users spend on your site and decreases the bounce rate.

    In Google Analytics 4, you can view the sessions per user metric based on different traffic sources and see how many pages users view in a single session.

    Just head to Reports » Acquisition » User acquisition from your GA4 property.

    Engaged sessions per user metric

    This helps you see which traffic channels are converting the best for your website. You can then focus your content marketing efforts on areas that are actually driving results.

    Universal Analytics will also show you the total page views for a given period on the Audience » Overview page. However, to track engagement, you want to see pageviews per session.

    See pages per session metric

    You can also break down page views per session by source and channel.

    Simply go to the Acquisition » All Traffic » Channels page.

    View pages per session based on channel

    As a bonus, you can also use the UserFeedback plugin to find out what your visitors really think about your website.

    This is something that analytics can’t track.

    UserFeedback popup poll example

    UserFeedback, built by the MonsterInsights team, lets you easily create popup widgets to collect real-time feedback about your website.

    You can ask questions like what information is missing from your site, why users didn’t buy a product, what type of content they are interested in, and more. This will help you better understand intent and improve engagement. There’s also a free version of UserFeedback that you can try out.

    For more details, you can see our guide on how to get quick feedback on your articles in WordPress.

    We hope this article helped you track user engagement in WordPress with Google Analytics. You may also want to see how to create an email newsletter the right way and our expert pick of the best SEO plugins and tools to optimize your website for search engines.

    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 Track User Engagement in WordPress with Google Analytics first appeared on WPBeginner.

  • 7 Best URL Shorteners for WordPress to Track Links

    Are you looking for a way to shorten your WordPress website links so you can track clicks when they’re shared?

    If you have long and unreadable URLs on your website, then a URL shortener can reduce them to a few characters. This makes it easier to share them on any platform. You can also track how many times they’re clicked and more.

    In this article, we will show you the best URL shorteners for WordPress to track links.

    Best URL shorteners to track links

    What is a URL Shortener and Why Use It on Your Site?

    A URL shortener is a tool that helps convert long WordPress website links into short and shareable links. It simplifies complex URLs that are hard to read by reducing a few characters and turning them into small links.

    When a user clicks the shortened URL, they’re redirected to the correct page. They use 301 redirects, which tell search engines that the link is permanent and not going anywhere. Using a 301 doesn’t affect your WordPress SEO.

    Short URLs are really useful for sharing content on social media. Some social media platforms like Twitter offer a limited number of characters that you can use. If you have a lengthy link, then it can take up a lot of space.

    Using a shortened URL helps save valuable character space that you can use to write compelling copy, get more clicks, and boost engagement. For example, on WPBeginner we use a custom short URL to share content on Twitter.

    Short URL preview

    Besides that, you can use URL shorteners to convert affiliate links into more readable links.

    Affiliate links are usually lengthy, hard to remember, and contain your affiliate ID or username. This makes them complex, and it looks something like this:

    https://www.myaffiliatesite.com/products/?product_id=12345&affiliate=123345623456

    You can convert them into shareable and branded links using a URL shortener. Some tools even let you cloak affiliate links and make them look more professional, like:

    https://wpbeginner.com/refer/productname

    The best part about using URL shortener tools is that they also track the number of clicks. This way, you can see which link gets the most clicks.

    That said, let’s look at some of the best URL shorteners for your WordPress website.

    1. Pretty Links

    The Pretty Links affiliate plugin for WordPress

    Pretty Links is the best WordPress URL shortener plugin and the most popular affiliate link management tool. It helps shrink long and complex links into shortened URLs with your brand name.

    You can use the plugin for links outside your website. For instance, you’ll be able to cloak affiliate links and turn them into readable URLs. This makes it a great tool for creating shareable links for different platforms, like social media.

    When shortening a URL, Pretty Links gives multiple options for redirection. You can select 302 and 307 temporary redirects, 301 permanent redirects, and more.

    How to cloak an affiliate link in WordPress with Pretty Links

    Using Pretty Links, you can manage all your shortened URLs from the WordPress dashboard. In the premium version, there are options to group links into categories and tags.

    The plugin offers other features as well, like an auto-linking feature. You can add affiliate links for certain keywords and the plugin will automatically insert them in the content.

    Pretty Links also helps track the number of clicks for each shortened URL. It shows a report inside the WordPress dashboard, displaying the browser, operating system, timestamp, host, URI, and other data for each link.

    Creating an affiliate report using Pretty Links

    Other than that, the plugin also integrates with MonsterInsights. You can track affiliate link clicks in Google Analytics and better understand your users’ behavior.

    Recommended For: Pretty Links is the best tool for anyone looking for a complete link management solution for their WordPress site. You can easily manage affiliate links, cloak and brand them, shorten any URL on your site, and track link clicks.

    Pros:

    • Beginner-friendly plugin for creating custom links
    • Easily manage and organize your URLs from the WordPress dashboard
    • Cloaks complex affiliates links
    • Use the auto-linking feature to automatically add links to specific keywords
    • Offers social sharing buttons to easily share short links
    • Seamless integration with other plugins like MonsterInsights

    Cons:

    • It doesn’t offer an automatic link uncloaking feature for Amazon
    • You cannot check if a link is broken before publishing it

    Pricing: Pretty Links premium version prices start from $99.50 per year. However, there is also a free version of Pretty Links you can use to get started.

    2. Bitly

    Bitly

    Bitly is one of the most popular URL shorteners in the market. It helps you create short links, QR codes, and link-in-bio pages. The tool is very easy to use, and you get started for free.

    To shorten a URL, simply enter the link, and Bitly will create a short link for you. In the free version, you will get a URL with a ‘bit.ly’ domain name, and it will look like this: https://bit.ly/3YqTCEH.

    Create a short link in Bitly

    If you upgrade to the premium version, then you add a custom domain and remove Bitly branding from the links. At WPBeginner, we also use Bitly to create custom short URLs for our site.

    Bitly makes it very easy to track individual links and get analytics inside your account dashboard. For instance, the tool will show the link clicks, the technology used by your users to click on the short URL, and the location from where you get the most clicks.

    There is also offers Bitly’s WordPress plugin. It is a free plugin that lets you shorten a link for selected post types. You can also view the number of clicks from your dashboard for each shortened URL.

    Recommended For: Bitly is perfect for free users who want to give link-shortening a try, as well as enterprises that want a robust link-shortening and tracking tool. You can easily create short links and QR codes for your business. Plus, it offers detailed analytics and reports for link clicks, QR code scans, country-level data, and more.

    Pros:

    • Create short and custom links in a few clicks
    • View link click reports from your Bitly account dashboard
    • Offers a free WordPress plugin
    • Lets you create QR codes for links
    • Offers 1 link-in bio page feature
    • You can connect a custom domain with Bitly

    Cons:

    • The free version has limited features
    • It uses Bitly branding in short links in the free plan
    • You cannot schedule or auto-link URLs to keywords

    Pricing: Bitly offers a free version that lets you create 10 short links and QR codes per month. However, there are paid plans that start from $8 per month.

    3. ThirstyAffiliates

    The ThirstyAffiliates affiliate WordPress plugin

    ThirstyAffiliates is the best link management plugin for WordPress that lets you cloak your affiliate links. You can turn long, unshareable affiliate links into beautiful short URLs that are easy to read.

    We’ve been using ThirstyAffiliates on our websites, including WPBeginner for over 5 years.

    The plugin lets you manage all your links from your WordPress dashboard. You can easily create branded links, add them to your content, and arrange and organize links into categories.

    The plugin even tracks your links and shows reports inside the WordPress admin panel. You get to see full statistics of how your shortened links are performing and see top-performing affiliates.

    ThirstyAffiliate's affiliate reporting feature

    ThirstyAffiliates also integrates with MonsterInsights, so you can track them in Google Analytics. It also tracks geolocation and shows which region you get the most clicks from.

    ThirstyAffiliates is more than just a URL shortener. You can use it to auto-insert affiliate links in the content, import links, check links with 404 errors, schedule affiliate links, and more.

    Recommended For: If you’re an affiliate marketer or a blogger using WordPress, then ThirstyAffiliates is for you. It’s very easy to use, and you can shorten any URL in just a few clicks. ThirstyAffiliates is also a great alternative to Pretty Links. You can see our comparison on Pretty Links vs ThirstyAffiliates for more details.

    Pros:

    • Very easy to use and shorten URLs
    • It lets you choose a prefix for your links
    • Easily manage all your links from a single place
    • Allows automatic keyword linking
    • Offers smart uncloaking feature for Amazon Associates links
    • It automatically checks links for 404 errors

    Cons:

    • Dashboard reports are not that detailed
    • It doesn’t integrate with eCommerce plugins like WooCommerce
    • The free version is great but offers limited features

    Pricing: ThristyAffiliates premium plans start from $79.50 per year. There is also a ThristyAffiliates free version you can use to get started.

    4. URL Shortener by MyThemeShop

    URL shortener

    URL Shortener by MyThemeShop is a free WordPress plugin that helps create short links for your website. It is a beginner-friendly plugin that’s lightweight and won’t slow down your website.

    You can easily create a short version of your URLs and share them on social media. The plugin also helps trim long links of external sources. This makes your links more readable and shareable.

    URL shortener settings preview

    URL Shortener by MyThemeShop offers multiple redirection types to choose from. It lets you select between 301, 302, and 307 reductions. You can manage all your short links from your WordPress admin panel and also organize them into different categories.

    The best part is that it also tracks all your URLs and shows the number of clicks. This is really useful if you have affiliate links and want to see which affiliate is getting the most clicks and generating revenue.

    Recommended For: If you’re just starting a new website and looking for a free WordPress plugin to shorten URLs and track them, then URL Shortener by MyThemeShop is the best choice. It lets you customize your short link, pick a redirection type, and offers multiple features for free.

    Pros:

    • User-friendly and lightweight plugin
    • Offers auto-linking feature in the free plan
    • Organize your links into categories
    • Open short links in a new tab or window
    • Add nofollow tags to your affiliate links

    Cons:

    • Click tracking report shows limited information
    • Doesn’t integrate with analytics plugins like MonsterInsights
    • You don’t get a link scheduler or broken link checker

    Pricing: URL Shortener by MyThemeShop is available for free.

    5. URL Shortify

    URL Shortify

    URL Shortify is another free WordPress URL shortener plugin and is a great alternative to URL Shortener by MyThemeShop and Bitly’s WordPress plugin.

    You can easily create short links from your WordPress dashboard, select redirection type and even group links into categories. The plugin also lets you enable the option to automatically add nofollow and sponsored tags to your links.

    URL shortify settings

    During our testing, what made URL Shortify stand out was its dashboard reports. It shows more details compared to other free options on your list.

    For instance, you’ll see click history, top locations, referrers, devices, browsers, platforms, and more. The report also shows details of each click, so you know how your short URLs are performing.

    Recommended For: URL Shortify is a good free solution for affiliate marketers, bloggers, podcasters, and anyone looking to manage links on their WordPress site. The biggest draw is for people who want detailed reports inside the WordPress admin area.

    Pros:

    • Easily customize your short links using your brand
    • Automatically create short URLs for your posts and pages
    • Manage and organize links from the WordPress dashboard
    • Track link clicks and get details analytical reports
    • Integrates seamlessly with WooCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads

    Cons:

    • There is no broken link checker in the free version
    • You cannot create QR codes in the free plan

    Pricing: URL Shortify is a free WordPress plugin.

    6. WP.me Shortlinks by Jetpack

    Jetpack WP

    WP.me Shortlinks is a URL shortener by Jetpack. It lets you create short URLs from the WordPress content editor, so you can easily share them on different platforms.

    Jetpack is a plugin suite that offers different features. However, its core focus is on performance, security, and marketing.

    You’ll need to manually activate the WP.me Shortlinks tools from Jetpack settings. Once that’s done, you can access it from the content editor by clicking the Jetpack icon and heading to the Shortlink option. The tool creates short links using the wp.me domain.

    Create shortlink using jetpack

    While the tool is straightforward to use, it doesn’t offer a lot of features that you’ll find in other plugins on our list.

    For instance, you don’t get a dashboard to manage your short links, select redirection type, add your custom domain to short links, remove wp.me branding from links, and auto-link URLs to specific search terms.

    You also don’t get built-in dashboard reports to see link click stats. You’ll need to manually set up link click tracking in Google Analytics.

    Recommended For: WP.me is a great tool if you’re already using Jetpack on your WordPress site. This way, you can quickly shorten URLs from the content editor.

    Pros:

    • It comes prebuilt in the Jetpack plugin
    • With Jetpack, you get a whole suite of plugins along with a URL shortener
    • Easy to use and can be accessed from the content editor
    • You can use it for free

    Cons:

    • It doesn’t offer a custom branding option for short links
    • No option to select the redirection type
    • You cannot set up auto-link to keywords
    • There is no dashboard to manage and organize short URLs
    • You don’t get built-in reports to track shortened URLs

    Pricing: WP.me Shortlinks is available in the free version of Jetpack. However, there are also premium plans that start from $4.95 per month.

    7. TinyURL

    TinyURL

    TinyURL is a URL shortener software you can use to create short links and QR codes. It is a great alternative if you don’t want to use a WordPress plugin or Bitly and just want to quickly condense long URLs.

    The best part about the tool during our testing is that you can create unlimited short URLs in the free version. This makes a budget-friendly option for new websites and beginners. However, your links with TinyURL branding in the URL.

    View shortened URL in TinyURL

    To add your own brand name in the links and access analytics, you’ll need to upgrade to the premium version. This will unlock reports where you can see URL click history, dashboard report, time chart of clicks over time, map of where people click your links, and more.

    Recommended For: TinyURL is a budget-friendly option for businesses looking for a premium URL shortener. You can customize links using your domain or subdomain while tracking link clicks.

    Pros:

    • Very easy to use and create short URLs
    • Short links don’t have an expiration date
    • Easily manage your links from the TinyURL dashboard
    • Affordable pricing plans

    Cons:

    • The free version has limited features and functionality
    • No integration with WordPress plugins or analytical tools
    • You cannot auto-link, auto-cloak, or schedule short links
    • Analytical reports show basic information

    Pricing: The base software is free to use. However, you’ll need a paid plan to remove TinyURL branding and view reports. The premium plans start from $9.99 per month (billed annually).

    Which is the Best URL Shortener for WordPress?

    After reviewing multiple plugins and tools, we recommend Pretty Links as the best URL shortener for WordPress.

    It is packed with features and helps convert long and complex URLs into readable and shareable links. The plugin is super easy to set up and use.

    You also get a handful of redirection types to choose from, use the auto-linking feature to automatically add links to your content, and manage all the short URLs from your WordPress dashboard.

    Besides that, Pretty Links helps track link clicks. You can integrate it with MonsterInsights to track clicks in Google Analytics as well.

    On the other hand, if you’re looking for an external tool that shortens links and also offers a WordPress plugin, then you can use Bitly.

    FAQs about Best URL Shorteners

    Here are some of the most common questions people have about URL shortener tools:

    1. Which is the best free URL shortener?

    From our testing, we recommend Pretty Links and Bitly as the best free URL shorteners. Pretty Links is great for WordPress sites looking to manage their affiliate links and track them. Bitly is great if you just want to shorten a few URLs.

    2. Are URL shorteners good for SEO?

    URL shorteners won’t impact your WordPress SEO and website visibility if they’re used wisely. Short links don’t pass the link juice entirely, so you shouldn’t use them as the main form of creating links for your website.

    3. Do short URLs expire?

    Some short URLs expire while others don’t. It usually depends on the URL shortener you’re using. For instance, custom links created using TinyURL don’t expire.

    We hope this article helped you learn about the best URL shorteners for WordPress to track links. You may also want to see our guide on the best SEO plugins and tools for WordPress and the ultimate guide to boosting WordPress speed.

    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 7 Best URL Shorteners for WordPress to Track Links first appeared on WPBeginner.

  • How To Properly Set Up eCommerce Tracking In WordPress

    Are you looking to set up eCommerce tracking in WordPress?

    Setting up eCommerce tracking for your online store will help you find your top-selling products, see which campaigns perform the best, understand how people find and use your website, and more. Then you can use those insights to get more traffic and boost sales.

    In this article, we’ll show you how to properly set up eCommerce tracking in WordPress so you can grow your business and make more money.

    How to properly set up eCommerce tracking in WordPress

    Why Set Up WordPress eCommerce Tracking?

    When starting a new online store, most store owners begin by making decisions based on gut feeling or best guesses.

    That’s good for getting started, but to take your business to the next level of growth, you need to start making data-driven decisions.

    However, what data should you base your decisions on?

    That’s where WordPress eCommerce tracking comes in. It helps you make decisions based on data from your actual visitors and customers. You’ll get tailored insights to boost your sales to make more money.

    For instance, you can find out which products your customers like to buy the most on your WooCommerce store. This way, you can offer similar products to get more sales.

    Plus, eCommerce tracking in WordPress can help you better understand your audience, where they’re from, and how they use your website, so you can invest more in the channels and strategies that are proven to work.

    For example, if you find out that 80% of course sales on your membership site come from Facebook, then you may decide to invest in ads on Facebook and stop spending time on other social media platforms like Twitter that may not convert well.

    With that said, let’s take a look at how to track your eCommerce store’s performance in WordPress.

    Setting Up eCommerce Tracking in WordPress

    The easiest way to track the performance of your online store is by using MonsterInsights. It’s the best Analytics WordPress plugin and is used by over 3 million professionals.

    MonsterInsights helps you set up eCommerce tracking in Google Analytics. The plugin works with some of the most popular eCommerce plugins, including WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads, LifterLMS, MemberPress, LifterLMS, GiveWP, and more.

    The best part about using MonsterInsights is that you don’t need to edit code or hire a developer to track eCommerce conversions in WordPress.

    That’s because the manual method for setting up eCommerce tracking in Google Analytics requires editing the tracking code or using Google Tag Manager.

    Both of these methods are tricky and can be overwhelming for beginners. If any mistake takes place during the setup process, then it can mess up your analytics and data.

    This is where MonsterInsights comes in handy. It offers an eCommerce addon that automatically configures eCommerce tracking on your WordPress website.

    MonsterInsights

    It also shows important stats inside your WordPress admin area, so you can quickly view how your website is performing and get insights to grow your business.

    Note: You’ll need the MonsterInsights Pro version because it includes the eCommerce addon, dashboard reports, and other advanced tracking features. There is also a MonsterInsights Lite version you can use to get started.

    First, you can install and activate the MonsterInsights Pro plugin on your website. If you need help, then please refer to our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

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

    Set up MonsterInsights

    Next, follow the steps in the wizard to set up the plugin and connect your website with Google Analytics. For more details, you can go through our guide on how to install Google Analytics in WordPress.

    After that, you’ll need to navigate to Insights » Addons from your WordPress dashboard. Then scroll down to the eCommerce addon and click the ‘Install’ button.

    Install the eCommerce addon

    The addon will automatically activate, and you’ll see the status change to Active.

    After that, simply navigate to Insights » Settings and click the ‘eCommerce’ tab.

    Next, you’ll need to ensure that the ‘Use Enhanced eCommerce’ option is enabled under the eCommerce Tracking section.

    Use enhanced ecommerce option

    MonsterInsights will now automatically detect your WordPress eCommerce plugin and start recording analytics.

    Next, let’s look at how you can use MonsterInsights’ reports to see your online store’s performance.

    View eCommerce Reports in WordPress

    When it comes to using Google Analytics and finding the data that you need, it can be overwhelming for beginners.

    MonsterInsights makes it super easy to get the data that matters, as it brings all your important stats inside the WordPress dashboard. This way, you see how your eCommerce store is performing and then make decisions to grow your business.

    To see eCommerce reports in WordPress, you can head to Insights » Reports. From here, you can select the ‘eCommerce’ tab and click on Overview.

    View eCommerce report in MonsterInsights

    In the report, you can quickly see how your online store is doing by looking at the conversion rate, transactions, revenue, and average order value.

    Besides that, MonsterInsights also shows your Top Products. It helps you spot your top-selling items along with their quantity, percentage of sales, and total revenue.

    Ecommerce overview report in MonsterInsights

    You can use this data to find out which products your customers like and then offer similar products to boost sales.

    Next, you can scroll down and view the Top Conversion Sources.

    Top conversion sources

    These are the websites that are sending the most sales to your store. You could invest in ads on those sites, create special discount offers or free shipping offers for people that arrive from these sources, or reach out to them to work out a cross-promotion or other partnership.

    Other reports you can view in the eCommerce section in MonsterInsights include the Total Add to Carts, Total Removed from Cart, New Customers, and Abandoned Checkouts.

    Additional ecommerce reports in MonsterInsights

    You can use these reports to better understand your customer’s behavior while shopping and during checkout. Plus, it helps to use the data to optimize your sales funnel and reduce shopping cart abandonment.

    Besides that, you can head to eCommerce » Coupons report in MonsterInsights. If you’re using coupon codes on your online store, then this report will show how people interact with them.

    You can see which coupons drive the most transactions and revenue on your website, what’s the average order value, and more.

    Coupons report in MonsterInsights

    View eCommerce Reports in Google Analytics

    MonsterInsights makes it very easy to find the data you need to make decisions. However, you can also view eCommerce tracking in your Google Analytics account.

    Let’s see how to view eCommerce reports in Google Analytics 4 (GA4) and Universal Analytics.

    eCommerce Reports in Google Analytics 4

    Google Analytics 4 is the latest version of Google’s popular analytics platform. It uses a new reporting interface, so you’ll find your online store’s data in different reports.

    First, you’ll need to log in to your Google Analytics account. After that, simply head to Reports » Monetization » Overview from the menu on the left.

    Monetization report in ga4

    Here, you can see your store’s performance at a quick glance. Google Analytics will show metrics like total revenue, purchase revenue, total purchasers, average purchase revenue per user, and more.

    Besides that, you can go to Monetization » Ecommerce purchases and see product performance. GA4 will show data about which items people viewed the most, which products got the most purchases, and a breakdown of revenue for each product.

    Ecommerce purchases report

    There are more reports in Google Analytics that you can also view to see eCommerce tracking data.

    For instance, if you have an app, then you can view the ‘In-app purchases’ report to see which products your customers bought using the app. Similarly, you can also view the ‘Publisher ads’ report to measure your paid ads campaign performance.

    If you want to see the purchase journey of your customers, then Google Analytics shows a ‘User purchase journey’ report. Here, you’ll see how many visitors started a session and went to buy your product.

    User purchase journey report

    The report also shows the abandon rate for each step, so you can use this insight and try to boost conversions by making the buying process easier.

    To make the most of Google Analytics reports, you can combine them with other reports like Traffic acquisition and see which channel generates the most revenue.

    Ecommerce revenue by channel

    eCommerce Reports in Universal Analytics

    Note: Universal Analytics is an old Google Analytics version and has now sunset. It will no longer process your website data and record it. However, you can still access your past eCommerce data in Universal Analytics.

    To view eCommerce reports, you can go to Conversions Ecommerce Overview from the menu on the left.

    Ecommerce report universal analytics

    Universal Analytics will show an overview of different metrics in this report.

    However, you can switch to different reports to view data on shopping behavior, product performance, sales performance, and more.

    Product performance report in Universal Analytics

    Bonus: Enable Customer Tracking in Google Analytics

    Now that you’ve set up eCommerce tracking, you can take it a step further and enable customer tracking.

    This will allow you to better understand each customer on your store. You can offer a personalized shopping experience for logged-in users, promote products that customers prefer, and boost sales.

    With MonsterInsights, you can easily set up customer tracking using its User Journey addon. It will show all the steps a customer took before making a purchase, like which pages they visited, what they searched for on your site, where they clicked, and more.

    User journey in MonsterInsights

    You can learn more by following our guide on how to enable customer tracking in WooCommmerce with Google Analytics.

    We hope this article helped you learn how to properly set up eCommerce tracking in WordPress. You may also want to see our expert pick of the best business phone services and the best WordPress plugins for business sites.

    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 Properly Set Up eCommerce Tracking In WordPress first appeared on WPBeginner.

  • How to Track Third-Party Domain Requests in WordPress

    Do you want to learn how to track third-party domain requests in WordPress?

    If your website is slow, then visitors may leave before it even has a chance to load. However, even if you’ve optimized every part of your website, third-party domain requests can still have a big impact on your page loading times.

    In this article, we will show you how to track third-party domain requests in WordPress.

    How to track third-party domain requests in WordPress

    Why Track Third-Party Domain Requests in WordPress?

    By reducing your page load times, you can improve the user experience, get more visitors, and boost your WordPress SEO. There are lots of ways to speed up your website, including optimizing your images and choosing the best WordPress hosting.

    However, third-party domain requests can also affect your site’s performance even with the best hosting and optimization.

    A third-party domain request loads content or resources from a location outside of your domain. Some common examples include content from social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, advertising networks including Google AdSense, and even some WordPress comment plugins.

    A large number of third-party domain requests can slow down your website. However, sometimes even a single third-party request can block the rest of the page from loading. When this happens, WordPress will connect to the third-party URL and download all the required content, before loading the rest of your page.

    With that being said, let’s see how you can speed up your website by tracking and optimizing third-party domain requests in WordPress.

    How to Identify Third-Party Domain Requests in WordPress

    The first step is identifying all the third-party domain requests your site is making, using Pingdom. Pingdom is a popular performance monitoring tool that allows you to monitor your WordPress server uptime. It can also show all your site’s third-party domain requests.

    First, you need to visit the Pingdom website and paste your domain name into the ‘URL’ field. Then, click on ‘Start Test.’

    Tracking third-party domain requests using Pingdom

    After a few moments, Pingdom will show a breakdown of your site’s performance. To see all the third-party domain requests, scroll to the ‘File Requests’ section.

    Here, you’ll see the content type, URL, and size of each request.

    Tracking third-party URL requests in WordPress using Pingdom

    To find the third-party requests, simply look for any items that don’t begin with your site’s domain name.

    If you want to learn more about a request, then simply hover your mouse over its bar in the waterfall chart.

    Analyzing domain requests using a waterfall chart and free online tool

    Here, you’ll see all the steps that WordPress takes to get content from this third-party domain including making a DNS lookup, SSL handshake, and downloading data from that domain.

    Pingdom also shows how long each step takes, so you can identify the domain requests that make the biggest impact on your site’s performance.

    If you don’t recognize a third-party service, then just paste its URL into a search engine such as Google. Often, this will bring up links to documentation, pages, and forums where you can learn more about the domain.

    Identifying and research external domain requests

    How to Optimize Third-Party Domain Requests

    Once you’ve identified the third-party domain requests that are hurting your website’s performance, there are a few different ways to optimize those requests and boost your WordPress speed.

    The method that works best for you may vary depending on how your WordPress website is set up, the requests it makes, and other factors. With that in mind, simply use the quick links below to jump straight to the method you want to learn more about.

    Method 1. Remove the Third-Party Domain Request

    This isn’t a good option for all WordPress blogs, but removing one or more third-party requests can have a huge impact on your page loading times.

    You may have added a domain request by accident, or you might have changed direction so a particular third-party request no longer works well for your business.

    For example, you may have originally added Google AdSense but now make more money selling WooCommerce products on your online store. By removing Google AdSense, you might improve your store’s performance to a point where you get lots more sales, and make far more money compared to showing online ads.

    Here, there’s no easy solution that will work for all websites. With that in mind, you may want to try removing different services and content from your site, and then tracking the impact this has on important metrics such as your conversion rates.

    If you do decide to remove feature and plugins that make third-party domain requests, then it’s smart to back up your WordPress website. This allows you to quickly restore your website if you encounter any errors, or simply realize you made a mistake.

    You may also want to put your site into maintenance mode while making this change, just in case it breaks your website.

    The steps for removing third-party domain requests will vary depending on the request.

    However, you can often find detailed step-by-step guides in the documentation for the related service, plugin, or software, or by typing your search query into Google. For more on this topic, please see our guide on how to properly ask for WordPress support and get it.

    Method 2. Remove Unnecessary WordPress Plugins

    Plugins are a huge reason why WordPress is so popular. With the right plugins, you can add missing features, extend the built-in functionality, and turn your WordPress blog into any kind of website.

    However, some WordPress plugins make a lot of third-party requests and may even slow down your website. You might be completely unaware that these requests are even happening.

    With that in mind, it’s a good idea to go to Plugins » Installed Plugins in the WordPress dashboard, and remove any plugins that you no longer need.

    A list of installed WordPress plugins, in the WordPress dashboard

    You can even try replacing multiple smaller plugins with a single WordPress plugin. For example, there are countless SEO plugins and tools on the market, but AIOSEO is a complete SEO toolkit that performs a long list of important SEO tasks.

    Method 3. Preconnect to Important Third-Party Domains

    Another option is to connect to the external domain right at the beginning of the page loading process. When a browser preconnects to an external domain first, it can often download the third-party content much faster.

    Just be aware that preconnecting to an external URL takes resources away from loading the rest of your page. If the external resource isn’t crucial, then prioritizing it in this way may hurt the user experience by delaying the rest of your content.

    To use the preconnect method, you’ll need a list of all your third-party domain requests. If you haven’t already, then you can get this information using Pingdom, and by following the process described above.

    After that, you’ll need to add custom code in WordPress. Some guides will tell you to edit your theme files directly, but this can cause many common WordPress errors. You also won’t be able to update your WordPress theme without losing customization.

    That’s why recommend WPCode.

    WPCode is the best code snippets plugin that allows you to add custom CSS, PHP, HTML, and more without putting your site at risk. You can also enable and disable your code snippets with the click of a button.

    First, you will need to install and activate the free WPCode plugin. For more information, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

    Once the plugin is activated, go to Code Snippets » Add Snippet.

    How to add a custom snippet to WordPress using WPCode

    Here, you will see all the ready-made WPCode snippets you can add to your site. These include a snippet that allows you to completely disable comments, upload file types that WordPress doesn’t usually support, disable attachment pages, and much more.

    Simply hover your mouse over the ‘Add Your Custom Code (New Snippet)’ option and click the ‘Use snippet’ button when it appears.

    Adding custom JavaScript code to your website or blog

    On the next screen, you need to type in a title for the code snippet. This is just for your reference, so you can use anything you want.

    Then, open the ‘Code Type’ dropdown and choose ‘JavaScript Snippet.’

    Adding custom JavaScript to a WordPress website

    With that done, you’re ready to add each domain that WordPress should preconnect to.

    For example, in the following code snippet we’re preconnecting to Google Fonts.

    <link rel="preconnect" href="https://fonts.googleapis.com" crossorigin />
    

    In the code editor, simply add each external URL that you want to use.

    Preconnecting to a third-party domain

    With that done, go ahead and scroll to the ‘Insertion’ settings. Here, select ‘Auto Insert’ if it isn’t already selected.

    You can then open the ‘Location’ dropdown and choose ‘Site Wide Header.’

    Adding code to a WordPress header

    When you’re ready to make the code snippet live, scroll to the top of the page and click on the ‘Inactive’ toggle so it changes to ‘Active.

    Then, click on the ‘Save Snippet’ button.

    Optimizing third-party domain requests in WordPress

    Method 4. Implement DNS Prefetching

    DNS prefetching allows you to perform a DNS lookup in the background before the visitor needs the linked content or resource. This is particularly useful for third-party resources that are used across your website, such as Google Analytics, Google Fonts, or your WordPress Content Delivery Network (CDN) service.

    To use DNS prefetching, simply create a new JavaScript snippet using WPCode, and by following the same process described above.

    Adding DNS prefetching in WordPress

    With that done, add each domain name that you want to prefetch using the following format:

     <link rel="dns-prefetch" href="//fonts.googleapis.com">
    

    After entering this information, add the code to your site-wide header by following the steps described in Method 3, and then publish the code snippet.

    Method 5. Host Resources Locally

    When used correctly, preconnecting and prefetching allow you to make third-party domain requests without impacting the visitor experience. However, where ever possible you should try to host resources and content locally.

    Retrieving content from a local server is typically much faster, and it’s easier to improve that content’s performance. For example, you might use a caching plugin, or set up a CDN.

    There are lots of different WordPress plugins and services that can help you host content locally. For example, if you want to use custom typography then you can host local fonts in WordPress rather than loading them from a third-party such as Google Fonts.

    Similarly, you can easily add unique icon fonts to your WordPress theme using a plugin such as SeedProd.

    If you’re using Google Ads, Google Analytics, Campaign Manager, or other popular free Google products, then you can host the gtag.js script locally on your own server using MonsterInsights with the Performance Addon.

    By replacing external domain requests with local resources, you can often improve your website’s performance without compromising on its features and content.

    Method 6. Use Lazy Loading

    Instead of loading all your content at once, lazy loading downloads only the content visible on the user’s screen. It will then load more content as the user scrolls down the screen. This can make it seem like the page is loading faster.

    WordPress will lazy load images by default, but depending on their location it may help to lazy load externally hosted content too. For example, if you want to embed YouTube videos in WordPress blog posts, then you can choose a plugin that has lazy loading built-in.

    Other plugins such as Smash Balloon YouTube Feed come with built-in caching and delayed loading for the video player. This can improve the perceived page load times, even when you’re showing content from third-party websites.

    We hope this article helped you learn how to track third-party domain requests in WordPress. You may also want to check out our guide on how to create a custom Instagram photo feed, or see our expert pick of the best YouTube video gallery 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 Track Third-Party Domain Requests in WordPress first appeared on WPBeginner.

  • 12 Best Lead Generation WordPress Plugins (Powerful)

    Are you looking for the best lead generation WordPress plugins?

    Using the right lead generation tools can help you get more customers and sales faster so that you can grow your business.

    In this article, we will share some of the best lead generation WordPress plugins to help you improve your marketing.

    Best Lead Generation WordPress Plugins (Powerful)

    What Is Lead Generation, and Why Does It Matter?

    Lead generation means getting the interest of prospective customers. It can be done in several different ways.

    On your website, lead generation might mean getting visitors to:

    • Join your email newsletter.
    • Submit a contact or inquiry form on your website.
    • Contact someone at your company through live chat.
    • Talk to a chatbot (automated chat).
    • Call your sales team, or book a call with them.

    Lead generation is essential for all online businesses. Of course, it’s also important to have a strong process for converting the leads into customers. However, most businesses struggle to get enough leads in the first place.

    Even if you run a nonprofit, lead generation matters. It can help you get more donations and more support.

    Our goal with this list is to share the absolute best WordPress lead generation plugins that you can use to grow your business faster.

    Unlike other best lead generation tool lists, we are not just sharing a list of plugins that do the same thing. Instead, we’re focusing on lead generation from a holistic point of view.

    For each lead generation solution category, we share an expert pick along with one alternative option for that category. This will help us keep this list comprehensive without causing choice paralysis.

    With that said, here are the best lead generation plugins for WordPress.

    1. WPForms

    WPForms

    WPForms is the best contact form plugin on the market. Over 6 million website owners use the beginner-friendly, drag-and-drop builder to create any kind of online form for their WordPress sites.

    It comes with over a hundred pre-built form templates you can use as a starting point. After that, you can customize the form to match your needs using the drag-and-drop form builder interface.

    Here are just some of the lead generation forms you can create:

    WPForms also integrates with your favorite email marketing services and CRM providers. This lets you automatically add leads to your email list.

    Each time someone submits the form, you will automatically get an email notification. You can easily turn this off if you prefer not to receive email alerts. WPForms will store each completed form entry in your WordPress database too.

    It’s also possible to send notifications to multiple recipients using WPForms. For example, you might want to send a customer inquiry notification to a specific person in the sales team and their supervisor.

    Price:

    WPForms pricing starts at $49.50/year. There’s also a free version of the plugin, which has limited features.

    Alternative:

    Formidable Forms ($39.50 per year) is a good alternative to WPForms. It has powerful tools that let you create different forms, including lead generation calculators. However, it’s not as beginner friendly as WPForms.

    2. OptinMonster

    OptinMonster

    OptinMonster is a powerful lead generation and popup plugin that you can use on your WordPress site.

    It lets you create high-converting popups and email signup forms that help you turn abandoned website visitors into subscribers and customers.

    It has lots of useful features, including Exit Intent® technology. This lets you show your popup at the exact moment when someone is about to leave your site.

    You can combine it with their page targeting feature to show customized popup messages for each page on your site, which is proven to increase conversions.

    With OptinMonster, you even get special popups like spin the wheel popups and Yes/No optins. These can boost your conversion rate even further.

    OptinMonster Spin Wheel Campaign

    There are lots of different professionally designed templates included in the app. This makes it quick and easy to create your lead forms using the drag-and-drop builder.

    You can also use OptinMonster to generate leads in other ways. For instance, you might use the content-locking feature to ask visitors to join your email list before they can read your full content.

    You don’t necessarily need to use it to generate email leads, either. You could add a click-to-call button to your popup, use it to show special discount codes, and more.

    Price:

    OptinMonster starts at $9/month when billed annually. To get advanced features like Exit Intent technology and Yes/No forms, you need the Pro plan from $29/month.

    Alternative:

    Thrive Leads ($99 per year) is a good alternative to OptinMonster. It offers a range of different types of lead generation forms and popups. It also has a built-in template library to speed up the building process.

    3. SeedProd

    SeedProd website builder

    SeedProd is the best WordPress website and theme builder on the market. It’s used by over a million website owners to easily create any type of website without writing any code.

    It has dozens of professional templates you can customize easily with the drag and drop builder.

    SeedProd also provides you with a beginner-friendly landing page builder. And you will find a ready-made sales page, opt-in page, webinar registration, coming soon page templates, and more.

    All of these landing page templates can be completely customized to help you start generating leads as quickly and easily as possible.

    Customize SeedProd

    It includes dozens of blocks designed to help you build better landing pages, like testimonial blocks, countdown timers, CTA buttons, pricing tables, and so much more.

    You will find a searchable stock photo library with over 2 million photos that you can add to your pages to improve conversions.

    It also has powerful integrations with the top email marketing software and thousands of third-party apps via Zapier. This lets you easily send your leads to your lead management tool of choice.

    For online store owners, you can use the WooCommerce blocks to build custom WooCommerce product pages easily, thank you pages, and more to collect leads and sell more products.

    Price:

    SeedProd starts from $39.50 per year (only $3.29 per month). Plus, there’s a free version you can try to see how the plugin works.

    Alternative:

    Instapage offers similar page builder features but is more expensive and starts at $199 per month (billed annually).

    4. LiveChat

    Live Chat Inc Website

    LiveChat is the best live chat software for WordPress websites. It’s very easy to set up, and you can integrate it with dozens of other marketing services.

    By adding live chat support to your WordPress website, you can build a better relationship with your users and convert more visitors into customers.

    This plugin places a chat button in the bottom right-hand corner of your website. Visitors can click on this to chat with your team in real time.

    Plus, your support team members don’t need to log in to WordPress to use LiveChat. Instead, they can use the LiveChat app on their laptop or mobile devices.

    LiveChat will create a support ticket if a visitor contacts your team outside of support hours.

    LiveChat is fast and easy to use for your visitors and your support team. It lets you quickly turn leads into customers by answering pre-sales questions straight away.

    Price:

    LiveChat starts at $20 per month when billed annually with a 14-day free trial. Our LiveChat coupon gives you an extended 30-day free trial plus a 30% discount.

    Alternative:

    Brevo (Previously Sendinblue) offers a simple, free live chat feature that you can use on your website. It also offers email, SMS, and a CRM tool that integrate with live chat.

    5. ChatBot

    ChatBot

    ChatBot is one of the best AI chatbot software options on the market and lets you use automated live chat to connect with your potential customers and respond to questions 24/7.

    To help you get started quickly, ChatBot has lots of pre-designed templates. For instance, you can use the lead generation bot to book calls. Meanwhile, the sales bot template allows you to sell products directly from the chat window.

    ChatBot can be used in Facebook Messenger as well as on your website. That makes it a great option for companies and organizations that get a lot of inquiries through Facebook.

    It’s easy to integrate it with other apps, such as LiveChat. A live agent can step into the conversation seamlessly if needed.

    Price:

    ChatBot pricing starts at $52 per month. There’s a 14-day free trial available.

    Alternative:

    Hubspot offers a suite of business CRM tools, including a chatbot builder and live chat. You can get started free, and paid plans start at $30 per month.

    6. RafflePress

    RafflePress

    RafflePress is one of the best WordPress giveaway plugins on the market. It allows you to easily create viral giveaways and contests that you can use to grow your website traffic and email list.

    You can use the drag and drop builder to quickly create giveaway campaigns in minutes without writing any code. Plus, there’s a built-in template library to help make giveaway creation even faster.

    A unique refer-a-friend feature lets you do word-of-mouth marketing by letting users share your contest on their social media profiles.

    This helps to build engagement and can get you a lot of new visitors to your WordPress blog.

    You will find many other powerful features that help improve your campaigns, like email verification, fraud protection, social logins, giveaway landing pages, success tracking, and more.

    Plus, your giveaways will run on mobile devices, so you can reach your visitors no matter where they happen to be.

    For more details, see our guide on how to run a giveaway/contest in WordPress.

    Price:

    RafflePress has a free version of the plugin you can use to get started. Paid plans start at $39.50 per year for the starter plan.

    Alternative:

    Gleam is an advanced giveaway platform you can use to run contests and giveaways. However, it’s not as beginner friendly, and you will need at least the $97 per month Pro plan to unlock useful features.

    7. PushEngage

    PushEngage

    PushEngage is the best web push notification software on the market, used by over 10,000 companies, including Harvard, Dominoes, and Business Insider.

    It lets you easily send targeted push messages to visitors after they leave your website.

    We use push notifications here at WPBeginner, and they are consistently a top 5 source of our traffic. They are a highly-effective way to convert website visitors into loyal followers and customers.

    Visitors simply give their permission to receive push notifications by clicking a button:

    An example of a push notification optin on the WPBeginner website

    You can set up push notifications to automatically send out to your subscribers whenever you publish a blog post or use them to send completely custom messages.

    It’s a very easy-to-use solution for beginners to advanced users. You will find powerful features like A/B testing, custom-triggered campaigns, interactive messages, custom drip campaigns, and so much more.

    Plus, you can use the marketing automation features to create abandoned card sequences, scheduled messages, and more.

    You will be able to see a detailed breakdown of your subscriber engagement and even the transactional revenue generated from your push campaigns.

    Price:

    PushEngage starts at $9 per month and gives you support for 100,000 subscribers and unlimited campaigns. There’s also a free plan available that gives you 30 campaigns per month for 200 subscribers.

    Alternative:

    OneSignal has a free plan for unlimited notifications on mobile. For advanced features like delayed notifications, pricing starts at $99 per month.

    8. FunnelKit

    FunnelKit homepage

    FunnelKit, formerly known as WooFunnels, is the best sales funnel builder for WordPress.

    You can use it to create lead-generation funnels, sales funnels, high-converting checkout pages, one-click upsells, and more.

    It’s essentially a ClickFunnels alternative that helps you convert website visitors into leads and customers.

    FunnelKit comes with a built-in library of beautiful funnel templates that you can import in one click.

    FunnelKit templates

    You can easily customize the templates using the WordPress block editor as well as popular page builder plugins like Elementor, Divi, and others.

    FunnelKit offers in-depth analytics so that you can see how your funnels are performing in real time. Plus, it comes with A/B testing that lets you experiment with different versions of your funnels to find out which one converts best.

    In addition, FunnelKit has a marketing automation solution called FunnelKit Automations. It allows you to set up automated email and SMS campaigns for lead nurturing, welcome series, abandoned cart recovery, post-purchase upsell, and more.

    Price:

    FunnelKit starts at $99.50 per year. To access FunnelKit Automations, you need at least the Professional plan, which costs $249.50 per year.

    Alternative:

    SeedProd, which we mentioned earlier in this list, can also be used to easily create lead generation pages, sales pages, custom WooCommerce checkout pages, and more.

    9. WP Call Button

    WP Call Button

    WP Call Button allows you to easily add a ‘click to call’ button on your WordPress website or WooCommerce store. Visitors can simply click or tap the button to call you straight away.

    If your customers need to call you before purchasing a service or booking an appointment, adding a click-to-call button on your website will increase your leads and sales.

    It can also be used to easily set up business call forwarding.

    WP Call Button makes adding your button to any post or page easy. You can include it in your WordPress sidebar, too. It’s also easy to create a sticky floating call button that stays visible all the time.

    Price:

    WP Call Button is free and works with all top business phones and business VoIP providers.

    Alternative:

    You can also create a click-to-call link using the manual method covered in our article on adding a click-to-call button in WordPress.

    10. AffiliateWP

    AffiliateWP

    AffiliateWP is one of the best affiliate tracking and management solution for WordPress. It lets you simply create your own fully featured affiliate program on WordPress.

    By creating an affiliate program, you can have your own team of affiliates promoting your products in exchange for a commission.

    This can help you get more visibility online, traffic, and of course, make more sales. You can even create your very own WooCommerce affiliate program using this plugin.

    It comes with everything you need to manage your program, including accurate affiliate tracking, integrated payouts, real-time reporting, affiliate coupon tracking, and so much more.

    With manual affiliate approval and top-performing affiliate data, you can build lasting partnerships with your most valuable affiliates for years to come.

    Price:

    AffiliateWP starts at $149.50 per year and has everything you need to run a successful affiliate program.

    Alternative:

    Easy Affiliate is another popular WordPress plugin for creating and managing an affiliate program. The basic plan starts at $99.50 per year.

    11. All in One SEO

    All in One SEO

    All in One SEO is the best WordPress SEO plugin used by over 3 million websites. It’s the most comprehensive SEO toolkit that makes it easy to improve your SEO rankings without learning any complicated SEO jargon.

    Doing WordPress SEO is an important part of lead generation. You need to bring people to your website before they can join your email list, call you, subscribe to push notifications, or do anything else on this list.

    Once you install and activate the plugin, an easy-to-use setup wizard will help you choose the best SEO settings for your business, so you can start getting more traffic.

    It has a TruSEO score, which offers detailed on-page SEO analysis and gives you an actionable SEO checklist to help you easily optimize your posts and pages.

    AIOSEO checklist

    All in One SEO can help you improve your post SEO titles and meta descriptions, generate rich snippet schema markup and create smart XML sitemaps and RSS sitemaps.

    Plus, there are built-in WooCommerce SEO settings, like individual product optimizations, product image SEO, and more, to help your online store get more visitors from the search results.

    Price:

    AIOSEO starts at $49.60 per year for access to advanced SEO features. You can also try out the free version to begin optimizing your site for SEO.

    Alternative:

    Yoast SEO is another popular SEO plugin for WordPress that will help you optimize your site. There is a free version and a premium version that starts at $99 per year.

    12. MonsterInsights

    The MonsterInsights Google Analytics plugin

    MonsterInsights offers a powerful way to add Google Analytics to your WordPress website. It lets you quickly and easily see crucial statistics about your site and find your most important pages.

    This means you can easily find out what’s working and what’s not, focusing on the areas that really matter.

    For instance, you might use MonsterInsights to enable author tracking and see which writers for your site are producing the best-performing posts.

    Or you could use MonsterInsights to track link clicks and button clicks. This lets you figure out which links and buttons are getting clicked and which ones aren’t, letting you pinpoint areas for improvement.

    MonsterInsights is quick and easy to set up and gives you real-time stats. It can even track things like your eCommerce data, form completions, and file downloads. This gives you more insights into your lead generation efforts.

    Price:

    MonsterInsights starts at $99.50/year. There’s also a free version available for WordPress with limited features.

    Alternative:

    ExactMetrics offers similar features to MonsterInsights and starts at $99.50 per year.

    Bonus: Nextiva

    Nextiva

    Nextiva is the best business phone service for small business owners in terms of features and ease of use.

    If your business relies on phone calls for lead generation, then Nextiva can help you improve your business communication across the board.

    It has a web-based admin panel that will let you manage your entire unified communications platform in one place.

    You will find business phone features like call routing, voicemail to text and email, SMS messaging, unlimited domestic calling, online faxing, and so much more.

    Every new account can get a free local or toll-free number. Plus, you get all standard features like caller ID, call forwarding, routing, custom greetings, and more.

    You can even integrate your business phone with powerful features like live chat and CRM services.

    We use Nextiva at WPBeginner for our business phone service. It works well for our remote team since they can receive business calls on their cell phones while still keeping their numbers private.

    Price:

    Nextiva starts at $14.95 per month per user for all your business phone needs. The Enterprise plan costs $26.95 per month per user and includes video conferencing, call recording, and more.

    Alternative:

    RingCentral is another popular business phone provider that’s packed with features. Paid plans start at $20 per month per user.

    What Is the Best Lead Generation Plugin for WordPress?

    We believe you need multiple plugins for a robust lead-generation strategy on your site.

    With that said, WPForms is the best lead generation plugin for WordPress. You can use their drag-and-drop form builder to create any online form.

    If you are looking for a live chat solution to improve leads and support, then LiveChat and ChatBot are both great options.

    If you want to improve your overall conversion rate on your website, then nothing beats the powerful features that OptinMonster has to offer.

    If you want to improve your existing website and product pages to generate more leads and make more sales, then SeedProd is a must-have plugin.

    With any lead generation strategy, attracting leads is only the first part. You have to ensure a proper sales process to close the deal.

    If you rely on phone calls, then we recommend using Nextiva. It comes with auto-attendant, call-routing, CRM, and powerful sales features that you can use to increase your sales.

    To summarize, our top lead generation tools are:

    1. WPForms
    2. OptinMonster
    3. SeedProd
    4. LiveChat.com
    5. ChatBot.com
    6. Nextiva

    We hope this article helped you learn about the best lead-generation plugins and tools for WordPress.

    You might also want to see our other guides that can help you generate new leads and turn them into customers.

    Best WordPress Guides for Lead Generation

    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 12 Best Lead Generation WordPress Plugins (Powerful) first appeared on WPBeginner.