Do you want to set up Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) on your WordPress site and accurately track your visitors?
AMP allows you to deliver an exceptional user experience when users view your content on mobile. It speeds up the loading time on mobile, so your visitors don’t experience any delays.
In this guide, we’ll show you how to add Google Analytics to AMP Pages on WordPress step by step.
But first…
What Is Google AMP & Why Use It?
Google’s Accelerated Mobile Project (AMP) is an open-source initiative to make web content load faster for mobile users.
AMP pages have a lightning bolt symbol that you might’ve already seen in front of some Google search results on mobile.
It tells you that, by clicking on that particular search result, you’ll be directed to an AMP page, which is a streamlined version of the original article specifically built for boosting page speed.
Best of all, if you click on the search results found in the News carousel, you can easily swipe through different pages in the carousel, which load almost instantly on your mobile browser.
AMP pages are a stripped-down version of your site. They use a separate streamlined version of CSS and lazy load images to make your web pages load faster.
Enabling AMP in your articles is a win-win for you and your organic visitors. That’s because it increases the pageviews for you and improves the reading experience for your site visitors.
Another benefit of using AMP is that you get to improve your search engine rankings. Your content will start to appear in the top stories carousel on Google. This can skyrocket your click-through rate and boost organic traffic.
Now, are you ready to learn how to track WordPress AMP pages in Google Analytics?
How to Track AMP-enabled Pages in Google Analytics
You can track your AMP-enabled pages with Google Analytics, but it’s quite a complex task for beginners. That is because AMP uses a separate analytics snippet than your standard Google Analytics tracking code.
You’d have to actually modify the Google Analytics tracking code manually. Even then, sometimes it still requires additional troubleshooting to get it to work right.
But thankfully, MonsterInsights is there to help you easily add Google Analytics to AMP pages with just a couple of clicks. With it’s Google AMP addon, you can accurately track your web traffic.
Here are a few key features of the MonsterInsights Google AMP addon:
- It stops double-tracking visitors: By default, when a user visits an AMP page and then a normal page (or vice versa), Google Analytics counts it as 2 different sessions. But MonsterInsights Google AMP addon fixes this issue and tracks it as a single session.
- It supports other MonsterInsights features: In your AMP pages, you can adjust sample rates with the Performance addon or segment your Analytics with different dimensions with the Custom Dimensions addon.
- A/B test your AMP pages with Google Optimize: You can create different versions of your AMP pages to test user interactions so you can discover what works best on your AMP pages.
Now, follow these steps to start AMP tracking in Google Analytics.
Step 1: Install the Offical AMP Plugin for WordPress
The first thing you’ll need to do is install the official AMP plugin on your WordPress site. Simply go to Plugins » Add New from your admin area and search AMP in the search bar.
Now click Install Now to install the plugin. After that, wait for a few seconds and then Activate the plugin.
The plugin will automatically create AMP versions for your posts and pages. If you want, you can type /amp/ at the end of the URL of your post to check its AMP version.
Step 2: Install MonsterInsights and Connect Google Analytics
Once you’ve installed the AMP WordPress plugin, you’ll now have to install MonsterInsights on your site. It is the best Google Analytics plugin for WordPress, as you can set up advanced tracking without editing code or hiring an expert.
After MonsterInsights is up and running on your website, the next thing you’ll need to do is set up Google Analytics in WordPress.
MonsterInsights makes this process very simple as you won’t have to touch a single line of code. Just follow its step by step wizard, and Google Analytics will be running on your site in no time.
Step 3: Install MonsterInsights AMP Addon
Now that Google Analytics is added to your WordPress website, you’ll now have to install the MonsterInsights AMP addon.
To access the addon, you must have the Plus license plan or higher.
Once all that is taken care of go to Insights » Addons and click Install under the MonsterInsights AMP addon.
After the addon is installed, it will automatically activate, and you should see the status change to Active.
Congrats!
You’ve successfully installed the Google AMP addon. No further configuration is required.
If you want to confirm your AMP settings just to be sure, go to Insights » Settings and click the Publishers tab. Then, scroll down to the ‘Google AMP’ section. You’ll see the cursor for Google AMP activation is enabled.
The second option there allows you to enable AMP tracking after consent. If you haven’t implemented a consent box on your site, make sure not to enable this option. Otherwise, it will prevent the plugin from tracking all AMP users.
How to Find AMP Data in Google Analytics
To find your AMP data in Google Analytics, log into your Google Analytics account and select the website for which you’d like to find the AMP data.
Go to Behavior » Site Content » All Pages. To view the data for your AMP pages only, use the search bar above the table with the keyword /amp. This will show you the traffic reports for your AMP pages only.
If you’re monetizing your website with Google Analytics, you might also want to track your ads’ performance. You can refer to our guide to learn how to track Google AdSense in Google Analytics.
And that’s it!
We hope you liked our article on how to track AMP pages in Google Analytics. You can also check out our beginners guide to Google Analytics for WordPress.
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