How to Set Up Custom Dimensions

With Custom Dimensions, you can choose to track your own custom data and display it in your MonsterInsights dashboard and reports. You can track performance for authors, categories, tags, searches, users, and more.

If you have a GA4 property, read the GA4 instructions.

If you have a UA property, skip to the steps for UA instructions below.

Not sure what property type you have? Learn about the differences between UA vs GA4 properties.

About MonsterInsights Custom Dimensions

MonsterInsights allows you to choose from several custom dimension types. They are:

• Logged in
• User ID
• Post Type
• Author
• Category
• Published at
• Tags
• SEO Score
• Focus Keyword

1. Logged In 

This custom dimension allows you to track whether your website visitors are logged in to your site or not.

If you want to choose Logged In as the dimension type, choose Logged In from the dropdown menu.

2. User ID

You can track each individual logged-in user’s activity by setting User ID as a custom dimension. This is ideal for eCommerce and membership sites.

If you want to set User ID as the dimension type, choose User ID from the dropdown menu.

3. Post Type

If you have several custom post types in your WordPress site, you can track the performance of each post type with custom dimensions.

If you want to set Post Type as the dimension type, choose Post Type from the dropdown menu.

4. Author

If you run a multi-author blog, you can identify what works best for each author.

If you want to set Author as the dimension type, choose Author from the dropdown menu.

5. Category

Tracking the performance of different categories of your site is another great strategy to identify what works best.

To set up category tracking, choose Category from the dropdown menu.

6. Published at

You can track the performance of your posts based on when it was published on your site.

If you want to set Published at as the dimension type, choose Published at from the dropdown menu.

7. Tags

Tags give you more detailed insights about what specific topics work best on your site.

To start tracking tags as a custom dimension, choose Tags from the dropdown menu.

8. TruSEO Score

If you’re using the All In One SEO (AIOSEO) plugin for SEO, you can analyze the SEO score of your posts and pages in Google Analytics.

If you want to set TruSEO Score as the dimension type, choose TruSEO Score from the dropdown menu.

9. Focus Keyphrase

If you’re using the All In One SEO (AIOSEO) plugin for SEO, you can analyze the Focus Keyphrase of your posts and pages in Google Analytics.

If you want to set Focus Keyphrase as the dimension type, choose Focus Keyphrase from the dropdown menu.

Now that you know which dimensions you want to set up, let’s move on to the step-by-step guide.

Custom Dimensions in Google Analytics 4

MonsterInsights automatically creates custom definitions for you in your GA4 property, so all you’ll need to do is to make adjustments in your MonsterInsights settings.

Go to Insights » Settings » Conversions

Click Add New Custom Dimension to add a dimension.

Choose your dimension from the dropdown.

Click Save Changes.

After you’ve saved changes, you can see your new custom definitions in your GA4 property by going to analytics.google.com » Configure » Custom definitions.

Custom Dimensions in Universal Analytics

Custom Dimensions need to be set up both in MonsterInsights and in Universal Analytics properties itself.

Step 1: Install MonsterInsights and Custom Dimensions

First, you need to authenticate with Google Analytics.

You’ll then want to enter your license key into MonsterInsights, if you haven’t done so already.

Next you will want to install the Custom Dimensions addon.

Step 2: Add Custom Dimensions in MonsterInsights

Now you can navigate to Insights » Settings » Conversions. Once there, scroll down to the Custom Dimensions area.

Once on this page, click on Add new custom dimension. You can select the right dimension type from the dropdown menu.

Once you are done selecting, click the Save Changes button.

Step 3: Set Up Custom Dimensions in Google Analytics

Now that we’ve set up the Custom Dimensions correctly on your website, we’ll have to set them up in Google Analytics as well.

To get started, you can go to Google Analytics and select the correct Google Analytics property in the account picker.

Since we need to set up Custom Dimensions, next click on the Admin tab in the left panel.

On the Admin page, click Custom Definitions and then Custom Dimensions.

You’ll see a table where you can click + New Custom Dimension. Click that.

Now you can fill in the name of your new Custom Dimension based on the dimension type you chose in Step 2. For example, if you chose Logged In as the dimension type, make sure to add the name as Logged In. 

After entering the dimension name, click Create. You don’t have to change any of the other settings.

On the next screen, you can just click Done.

Repeat the steps above for all custom dimensions you want to add to your website.

Step 4: Match Custom Dimension IDs

The final step is to check that the index number in Google Analytics corresponds with the Custom Dimension ID in the MonsterInsights settings.

First, check the index number for your custom dimensions in Google Analytics.

Next, go back to your Custom Dimensions settings in MonsterInsights. Make sure the Custom Dimension ID corresponds to the index number in Google Analytics. If not, type in the correct number and click Save Changes.

Now you can go to Insights » Reports and click on the Dimensions tab to view your new custom dimension reports.

 

That’s it! If you enjoy having more and more data, you should definitely check out our Google Analytics eCommerce Tracking plugin. This will make it very easy for you to track your sales from your site!