Ok so there are a number of ways to add Google Analytics to your WordPress site and not all of them are created equal. I mean you can follow the instructions on GA when you create a property ID and have that code embedded into the theme but I am STRONGLY advising against this.
There are also a number of plugins on the market to assist with this task and honest you can find them easily enough in the plugin’s directory on WordPress.org. If however you are running a MultiSite cluster then you should seriously consider getting the commercial version of Google Analytics plus from the team at WPMUDev. Yes I know this is a premium plugin and far too many people have an aversion to paying for things. Honestly it’s work the price of admission.
Do yourself and your users a favor by buying network activating the plugin. If you activate is locally on each site then some key features are hidden and worse it will give you headaches down the road when you come to your senses and network activate it.
Activating at the network level of your cluster allows you to set the minimum role accessibility level. It is important to note that granting your site admins the ability override this means that you will need to adjust each site individually. See the above figure for details.
The figure below is the individual site admin screen. Which honestly if you have even a modest network cluster you will want to avoid. You will still authenticate each site to Google Analytics.
Once you have authenticated, you can connect the site to the appropriate property ID and the plugin will start communicating with GA bidirectionally. Assuming that you have setup the access level properly then anyone with meeting the minimum role and above will be able to see the statistics dash board and even drill down into the advanced stats.
There you have it a concise way to ramp up Google analytics on your site while giving your editorial team a nice dashboard where they can gain insights into what is popular with granting them access to your GA accounts. I particularly find this handy with guest authors and freelancers who usually don’t have a long term interest or investment in the site.
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