Hey there, WordPress site owner! Let me guess – you have a multi-author blog and you‘re dying to know which of your writers are knocking it out of the park. Am I right?
Well, you‘re in luck. Enabling author tracking in WordPress is the key to unlocking those insights. And I‘m here to walk you through the process step-by-step.
But first, let‘s talk about why author tracking is so game-changing.
Why Enabling Author Tracking in WordPress is a Must
Did you know that WordPress powers over 43% of all websites on the internet? That‘s a mind-boggling number!
And as more and more businesses and publications build their online presence with WordPress, multi-author blogs are on the rise. In fact, a whopping 76.3% of WordPress sites have multiple authors according to a study by WordPress hosting provider Kinsta.
If you‘re one of those multi-author WordPress sites, you absolutely need author tracking in your life. Here are a few reasons why:
Identify your top performing authors. See which writers consistently churn out content that attracts tons of traffic, keeps readers engaged, and converts like crazy.
Make data-driven editorial decisions. Use author performance data to optimize your content strategy, assign topics to the best authors, and develop your editorial calendar.
Reward and motivate your authors. Share author tracking data with your writers to recognize top performers and incentivize the team to keep creating outstanding content.
Uncover improvement opportunities. Pinpoint authors who may be struggling so you can provide additional training and support to level up their content.
Trust me, once you have author tracking data at your fingertips, you‘ll wonder how you ever made informed content decisions without it!
How to Enable Author Tracking in WordPress: The Simple Setup Process
Alright, now that you‘re bought in on the benefits of author tracking, let‘s dive into how to actually set it up in WordPress. And great news – it‘s way easier than you might think!
Step 1: Install the MonsterInsights WordPress Plugin
The simplest way to enable author tracking is by using the MonsterInsights plugin. It‘s the most popular Google Analytics plugin for WordPress with over 3 million active installations.
MonsterInsights allows you to easily connect your WordPress site with Google Analytics and configure advanced tracking features like author tracking without messing with any code.
To get started:
Install and activate the MonsterInsights plugin. You‘ll need at least their Pro plan to access the author tracking addon.
After activating the plugin, launch the setup wizard to connect MonsterInsights with your Google Analytics account. MonsterInsights has an excellent step-by-step guide if you need help.
Step 2: Enable the Author Tracking Addon in MonsterInsights
Now that you have MonsterInsights installed, turning on author tracking is a snap:
In your WordPress dashboard, navigate to Insights » Addons.
Look for the "MonsterInsights Dimensions" addon and click Install.
Once the addon is installed and activated, go to Insights » Settings » Conversions and scroll down to the "Custom Dimensions" section.
Click the Add New Custom Dimension button.
Select Author as the dimension, enter "Authors" as the name, and click Save Changes.
That‘s it! You‘ve now enabled author tracking in MonsterInsights. Give yourself a well-deserved pat on the back.
Step 3: Configure Author Tracking in Google Analytics
The final step is to create the author custom dimension in your Google Analytics account. Here‘s how:
Log into Google Analytics and navigate to Admin » Custom Definitions » Custom Dimensions.
Click the New Custom Dimension button.
Enter "Authors" as the dimension name, set the scope to "Hit", and check the "Active" box. Then click Create.
Note the index number (e.g. 1) for your new Authors custom dimension. You‘ll need this for the next step.
Back in WordPress, go to the MonsterInsights custom dimensions settings and enter the index number in the "ID" field for the Author dimension.
- Save your changes, and you‘re all set! MonsterInsights will start sending author data to Google Analytics.
Viewing and Analyzing Author Tracking Data
After you‘ve enabled author tracking and collected some data, it‘s time for the fun part – digging into the numbers to extract actionable insights!
MonsterInsights makes it easy to view top-level author stats right in your WordPress dashboard under the Insights » Reports page. Look for the "Top Authors" report.
For more detailed author tracking metrics, you can find the data in a few places within Google Analytics:
- Behavior » Site Content » All Pages with "Authors" selected as a secondary dimension
- Audiences » Custom » Custom Dimensions with "Authors" selected as the dimension
Some key author metrics to track and analyze include:
- Sessions: The number of visits to an author‘s content
- Pageviews: Total pageviews for an author‘s posts
- Avg. Time on Page: How long visitors spend reading an author‘s content, on average
- Bounce Rate: The percentage of visitors who leave after viewing just one page from an author
- Goal Completions: Number of conversions generated from an author‘s content (e-commerce orders, email signups, etc.)
I recommend exporting your author tracking data to a spreadsheet so you can slice and dice it in different ways and monitor trends over time.
For example, you might calculate metrics like:
- Sessions per author per month
- Average time on page per author per content type
- Bounce rate per author over time
- Goal completions per author per 1,000 sessions
| Author | Sessions/Mo | Avg. Time on Page | Bounce Rate | Goal Completions per 1K Sessions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| John S. | 10,500 | 4:37 | 65.45% | 8.74 |
| Sally R. | 8,200 | 2:13 | 82.39% | 3.68 |
| Mark T. | 6,300 | 5:48 | 48.32% | 24.92 |
Advanced Author Tracking Use Cases
While seeing author traffic and engagement metrics is incredibly useful, you can go even further with author tracking in Google Analytics.
Consider these use cases:
Author Acquisition Analysis: Combine author tracking with acquisition reports to see which authors drive the most new visitors via different marketing channels like organic search, social media, email, etc.
Author Conversion Rate Optimization: Analyze conversion rates per author to identify writers whose content moves visitors closer to your business goals. Test different offers, CTAs, and content types to improve each author‘s conversions.
Author Specific Goal Tracking: Set up special conversion goals for your VIP or sponsored authors to better track ROI for those partnerships.
The possibilities are endless! By enabling author tracking and diving deep into the data, you can gain a competitive advantage and make smarter content marketing decisions.
Start Tracking Authors for Better Content Insights
Whew, that was a lot of information! But I wanted to make sure you had everything you need to become an author tracking pro.
To recap, here are the key steps to enable author tracking in WordPress:
- Install and activate MonsterInsights
- Enable the Dimensions addon and configure the Authors custom dimension
- Set up the Authors custom dimension in Google Analytics
- Explore author tracking data in MonsterInsights and Google Analytics reports
- Analyze author metrics to improve content strategy and performance
Pretty straightforward, right? Even if you‘re not super technical, the MonsterInsights plugin makes it a breeze.
If you haven‘t enabled author tracking yet, what are you waiting for? Get started today and uncover those game-changing content insights.
And hey, if you have any other WordPress analytics questions, feel free to drop a comment below. I‘m always happy to help out my fellow site owners!
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