How to Check Your Website’s Traffic in WordPress
I get asked this question a lot. People want to know how to check the traffic on their websites. They want to see how many people are coming to their sites, how often they’re visiting, and what pages they are spending the most time on. Well, I’ve got good news for you. It’s actually pretty easy to check your website’s traffic in WordPress. And the best part is, you can actually do this from within the dashboard of your WordPress website.
How Do I Check My Website’s Traffic?
Before we get started, let’s make sure you have a WordPress website. If you don’t, don’t worry. You can still perform these steps. You just won’t be able to see the results. Or, you’ll have to go from a dashboard to a separate screen to see the stats.
To start, click on the gear icon in your WordPress dashboard. Then, select Settings. You’ll see a screen pop up with your settings. In the sidebar, you’ll see Traffic. Here, you can choose the traffic sources that you want to track. The default is all sources.
Next, click on the Tools button. You’ll see a screen with your site’s various tools. One of these is the Traffic Analysis Tool. Underneath the graph, you’ll see the following details:
- Current Traffic
- Daily Visitors
- Monthly Visitors
- Yearly Visitors
- New Visitors
- Returning Visitors
- Average Time on Site
- Top Pages
- Top Post
To view your monthly and daily traffic, you’ll need to upgrade to the Pro version of WordPress. Once you do, you can click on the graph above the details to expand the information for that day. You can also click on the dropdown next to each item and choose a time period. This will bring up more information on that specific day.
Why Do I Need To Track My Website’s Traffic?
You might be wondering why you need to track the traffic to your website. After all, isn’t your website supposed to be bringing in the business? Well, in traditional SEO (search engine optimization), it’s considered good practice to measure the effectiveness of your marketing efforts. For instance, you might want to track the number of clicks you get on a website when you run an ad. Or, you could track the number of people that visit a certain page on your site.
By knowing these numbers, you’ll be able to tell whether or not your efforts are paying off. If your efforts are bringing in the right audience and gaining you more engagement, then that’s all you need. But if you’re struggling to find a decent amount of traffic, then it might be time to reassess your strategy.
When we talk about SEO, we usually think about the big platforms like Google or Bing. However, the importance of tracking SEO metrics for smaller sites cannot be overstated. Especially since most of the traffic on these smaller sites comes from smaller platforms like Google. So, if you’re getting decent traction on Google but not on Bing, you might want to change something about your strategy.
How Do I Upgrade To The Pro Version Of WordPress?
If you want to be able to track your website’s traffic, you’ll need to upgrade to the Pro version of WordPress. Don’t worry. It’s not hard. And, once you’ve upgraded, you’ll be able to install the Google Analytics plugin from WordPress.com. This will put a tracking tab on every page of your site. You can then start tracking your website’s traffic in no time.
To get started, click on the gear icon in your WordPress dashboard. Then, select Settings. You’ll see a screen pop up with your settings. In the sidebar, you’ll see Traffic. Here, you can choose the traffic sources that you want to track. The default is all sources. Then, click on the Tools button in the top right corner of the screen. Finally, click on the Plugins button in the top left corner of the screen.
You’ll see a screen with your site’s various plugins. One of these is the Google Analytics plugin. By clicking on this icon, you’ll be able to install the Google Analytics plugin on your site. Once you’ve done that, you’ll be able to track your website’s traffic from within the WordPress dashboard.
What About My Website’s IP Address?
An IP address is a number which acts as your website’s address. It’s essentially your website’s phone number. When you install the Google Analytics plugin on your site, you’ll be asked for your site’s IP address. You don’t have to worry about this number. It won’t be visible to anyone but you.
You’ll need to have either a static IP address or a dynamic DNS provider to take advantage of this feature. If you don’t have either one of these, you can’t track your website’s traffic using the Google Analytics plugin. However, don’t worry. You can manually enter your IP address when you’re tracking your site’s traffic anyway. So, you won’t lose out on this feature entirely.
The Importance Of Having A Blog
Having a blog on your website can greatly benefit your search engine optimization efforts. It’s not just about having content on your site. Having a blog actually helps with your SEO. Why? When you have a blog, you’re essentially creating a hub for people to come back to time and time again. You’re establishing yourself as an expert in your industry. And, as an established expert, you’ll be able to pull in a decent amount of qualified traffic to your site.
The advantage of having a blog is that you can have more than one. Imagine having a restaurant blog and a travel blog both on your site. People who are searching for either one of those topics can now have a place to come back to time and time again. In the same way, having a fiction blog can also attract potential readers who are interested in reading new content daily.
So, in summary, if you want to check the traffic on your WordPress website, you can do so from within the dashboard. All you need is a copy of the URL of your website and an idea for where you want to track the traffic (your site’s IP address or domain name). Then, all you need to do is paste this information into the dashboard and start tracking. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.