How to setup author tracking in Google Analytics with MonsterInsights Software

You may want to setup author tracking in Google Analytics if you run a website on WordPress with multiple authors.

In this blog post we will show you how to setup author tracking Google Analytics so that you can track all of your sites authors posting content on your website.

You may need this kind of solution if you are running WPML for WordPress or any other multisite solution which facilitates the need for multiple WordPress websites on one installation.

Purchase MonsterInsights for author tracking google analytics

Monsterinsights is the all in one plugin for Google analytics and WordPress. It covers all areas of universal tracking, it provides enhanced eCommerce tracking (so you can track more then just goals), custom goals, real time statistics and even affiliate link tracking all from your WordPress Dashboard.

I personally have found that it is quite difficult to setup enhanced eCommerce tracking on any WooCommerce installation, MonsterInsights fixes this dilemma quite efficiently.

SEOBetter: Step-by-step How to grow your traffic to 70,000 unique visitors in 11 weeks.

Get this eBook PDF for free (RRP $9.95 on Amazon Kindle), plus new updates and thoroughly tested online marketing techniques by subscribing to my newsletter.

You can also sign up to our newsletter with Facebook (quicker and easier)

Install Google Analytics to setup author tracking

If you you found this article you most likely already know what Google Analytics is and what it can do for your website.

If you have the right tools such as MonsterInsights you can take full advantage of Google Analytics and what is has to offer without having to take a course on how to actually use Google Analytics.

How To Set Up Author Tracking Google Analytics using MonsterInsights?

To get started on author tracking in Google Analytics you will need to put some things in place first.

Connect Google Analytics to your WordPress site using MonsterInsights

Once you have purchased the MonsterInsights plugin you will need to install and activate the plugin on your WordPress website.

Once you have activated the Monsterinsights plugin you will need to connect Google Analytics so we can get moving onto author tracking.

Now we have connected MonsterInsights to your Google analytics account. This is the first step to setting up author tracking in Google analytics.

How do I activate custom dimensions in MonsterInsights so we can segment data presentation?

1. When you are in your WordPress dashboard, go to Insights > Addons
2. Click the install button which you can see the plugin called “Custom dimensions add-on”.

Next create a custom dimension type in MonsterInsights

1. When you are in your WordPress dashboard proceed to Insights > Settings and click on the “Conversions tab”. From here scroll down and go to the custom dimensions section.
2. Create a new dimension and select author as the setting, click save.

Setup author tracking with Google Analytics by following these steps

1. Login to Google Analytics and select the WordPress website you previously connected to MonsterInsights.
2. Click on the Admin menu item with the cog next to it, then proceed to custom definitions and custom dimensions.
3. Click the +new button and create a new custom dimensions
4. Enter the name as “Author” in the name field and then click create.
5. Click the “done” button and we are good to go.

Match the custom dimensions ID’s for author tracking with Google Analytics

Just as a precaution procedure we need to match the index number in Google Analytics with the custom dimension ID in the MonsterInsights settings.

You should check the index number of the Author in your Google Analytics account.

Next, move back to your custom dimensions settings in your MonsterInsights. And make sure that the custom dimension ID here must match with the index number in your Google Analytics.

If the two numbers do not match, type in the correct number then click the save button.

Performance author tracking with Google Analytics with Monsterinsight

Now we can start tracking WordPress authors on our website from within WordPress itself instead of always having to log into Google Analytics to check the stats.

How do I view a report on author tracking with Monsterinsights?

To view a report on author tracking with Monsterinsights when you are logged into your WordPress dashboard click on “reports” then select dimensions.

With this new report view you can track the most popular authors on your single or multisite WordPress installation.

You may be interested in which authors bring in the most traffic, which have the most social shares and which product the most appealing content.

How do i setup a custom dashboard for author tracking with Google Analytics?

1. To get started click on Customization > Custom Reports
2. Create a new report and give it a name such as “Author report”
3. Create a metric such as Page / Sessions
4. Select the dimension drill downs as “author” and “landing page”
5. Click save

Now when you click on custom reports you will see the “Author” report you created.

If you want to add more dimensions to correspond with your author click on the “secondary dimensions” dropdown and add more dimensions to analyze your WordPress author.

Author tracking with Google Analytics with Monsterinsights Conclusion

MonsterInsights provides so much more value then just author tracking with Google Analytics, i personally use it to track advanced eCommerce conversions which can very difficult to setup without a plugin on WooCommerce.

This little trick for author tracking with Google Analytics with Monsterinsights is one that is well suited for any business running a WordPress multi-site installation or for people who have multiple authors on their website.

This is one of the essential WordPress plugins we recommend to our readers as it allows you to view all of your most important Google analytics stats straight from your WordPress dashboard.