WordPress
The WordPress plugin
Install the plugin, paste the key, done. The data starts flowing right away, and nothing else is needed.
Installing it
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Add the site in Metrimato
You get a tracking key of your own, and it waits on the site's install page.
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Upload the plugin
In WordPress: Plugins, Add New, Upload Plugin, choose the zip file, activate.
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Paste the key
Settings, Metrimato. Paste the key and save. That is the only setting there is.
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Check the dashboard
Open the site in a browser and look at Metrimato. The first visit shows up within seconds, so you know straight away whether it worked.
Download
The plugin is not in the WordPress.org directory yet, so you install it from the zip file. It is the same package the install page inside the service offers.
6.73 KB
The plugin adds the tracking script to your pages, nothing else
The plugin's only job is to add Metrimato's tracking script to your pages. It measures nothing itself and sends nothing anywhere from your server. The measuring happens in the script in the visitor's browser, exactly as it does on a site where the script was added by hand.
What it does
- Prints the tracking line into the page with your key
- Tells Metrimato when a visitor lands on a page that does not exist, so you get a list of the addresses that are broken
- Passes on the site's own search term, including when the search address is a tidy one such as /search/word/
- Lets you leave chosen signed-in roles out of the measurement
- Checks the key when you save it, so nothing else can end up in the page
What it does not do
- It writes no cookies and reads nothing from browser storage
- It sends nothing to Metrimato from your server
- It collects nothing about your WordPress users
- It adds no database table, no scheduled task and no dashboard widget
- It touches nothing on the page except the one script line and, on a missing page, one small tag
Two things worth knowing in advance
Both are on the plugin's own settings screen as well.
- Role exclusion does not survive a page cache
- If a caching plugin serves a signed-in visitor a page that was saved earlier, the exclusion cannot apply: that page was built for somebody else. On a cached site, treat role exclusion as approximate.
- The search term is sent once, never twice
- The script reads the search term from the address itself when the address carries a search parameter. With tidy search addresses there is no parameter, so the plugin passes the term on instead. Both routes are guarded, so a search is never counted twice.
Frequently asked
Do I need the plugin?
No. One script line in the page template measures the same things. The plugin does make possible the missing pages, the site's own search with tidy addresses and the role exclusion, and it saves you editing a theme file.
Does it slow the site down?
The plugin itself does almost nothing: it prints one line into the page. What the visitor loads is the 2.5 kilobyte tracking script.
Will it survive a theme update?
Yes. The plugin is separate from the theme, so updating or changing the theme does not remove the tracking line.
Does it work with WooCommerce?
Pageviews, sources and devices are measured as on any other page. Purchases are not measured automatically: send a custom event from the thank-you page and create a goal from it in Metrimato, and the tracking works.
Can I use it on several sites?
Yes. Each site needs its own key, because the key is what identifies the site.
Is it in the WordPress.org directory?
Not yet. For now you install it from the zip file and update it the same way.
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