Would you like to track the performance of your blog authors? The standard configuration of Google Analytics doesn’t allow author tracking. To search by author in Google Analytics, you’ll need to add Author as a custom dimension. In this guide, we’ll show you the easy way to set up author tracking in Google Analytics.
Why Should You Enable Author Tracking?
Author tracking in Google Analytics gives you valuable insights on the performance of your blog authors. With author tracking, you can…
- discover the most popular author of your blog
- sort page views for articles by author
- see which author’s posts keep visitors on your site by analyzing the bounce rate
Ready to find out your own blog author stats? Let’s get started.
How to Set Up Author Tracking in Google Analytics
Step 1: Install MonsterInsights and Custom Dimensions
In order to enable author tracking, you need to set up custom dimensions both in your WordPress site and in your Google Analytics account.
To add Author as the custom dimension in WordPress, you’ll need the MonsterInsights Pro plugin and the Dimensions addon. To access the addon, you must have the Pro license.
Make sure to connect the plugin with Google Analytics.
Step 2: Add Custom Dimensions in MonsterInsights
You can navigate to Insights » Settings in your WordPress dashboard. Then, click on the Tracking tab on the upper tab row, and then to the Custom Dimensions tab on the left tab row.
Now click on Add new custom dimension and select Author as the dimension type.
Then, 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.
Log into your Google Analytics account, and select the website for which you’d like to set up custom dimensions.
Click on the Admin tab in the left panel. Now click Custom Definitions and then Custom Dimensions.
You’ll see a table where you can click + New Custom Dimension.
Now in the Name field, enter Author and click Create. You don’t have to change any other settings. Then, click Done.
Step 4: Match Custom Dimensions 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 Author 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.
How to Search by Author in Google Analytics
To access the author tracking data and search by author, you’ll have to create a custom report by navigating to Customization » Custom Reports in the left taskbar. In the Report Content section, specify your preferred metric groups. In Dimension Drilldowns, add Author as your dimension. Then, click Save.
This will show you a custom traffic report with Author as the primary dimension.
How to Customize Your Traffic Report With Author Tracking
You can customize your traffic report by choosing Author as your secondary dimension.
In Google Analytics, navigate to Behavior » Site Content » All Pages. Click on any primary dimension, say Page Title. Then, choose Author as the secondary dimension. This will add the author column to the report you are looking at.
See the custom traffic report below.
You can then sort the order and change the view of your traffic report. You can also export the data into a spreadsheet from Google Analytics.
That’s it!
We hope this guide helped you to set up author tracking in Google Analytics.
If you enjoyed this article, you may also want to read our guide on creating a goal for tracking conversions in Google Analytics.
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