WordPress Analytics: Track Your Blog Post Performance

Do you find yourself unsure if your carefully crafted blog posts are reaching an audience? It can be disheartening to invest time in writing without knowing the impact.

Without post-level analytics, you may be missing crucial information, such as which posts attract the most visitors, what subjects appeal to your audience, and how people discover your website.

Leveraging the appropriate tools, you can use this data to optimize your content strategy and expand your readership. 🙌

This tutorial will walk you through monitoring your blog’s performance using accessible tools such asMonsterInsights and All in One SEO. These plugins provide a straightforward way to identify successful content directly from your WordPress dashboard, enabling you to produce more of what your audience enjoys.

What Is WordPress Post Analytics, and Why Should You Care?

WordPress post analytics refers to the information and reports illustrating user activity on your blog posts.

Here are some key performance indicators (KPIs) you will likely want to monitor:

• Pageviews: The number of times a particular blog post has been viewed, revealing the popularity of your content.
• Bounce Rate:The percentage of visitors who leave your site after viewing only one page. A high bounce rate suggests that your content may not be sufficiently engaging.
• Time on Page:How much time do readers spend reading your posts? Longer durations typically indicate higher engagement.
• Traffic Sources: Where your readers are coming from – social media, search engines, or other websites. This can help you see where you should focus your efforts for content marketing.
• SEO Statistics: Impressions and clicks can show you how many people are viewing your content in the search engines and actually visiting it. Checking your keyword rankings can also help you see how well your content is performing.

When you keep an eye on analytics, you can spot trends, identify popular topics, and see where improvements are needed.

Whether you’re blogging for personal reasons or managing a business website, these insights are key to growing your audience and achieving your goals.

You can see what topics resonate most, improve posts that aren’t performing well, and make informed decisions about the content strategy for your WordPress blog.

How to Easily See Your Blog Stats in WordPress

Tracking your blog stats in WordPress is simpler than you might think. Depending on your needs, there are tools for quick website traffic updates, demographic insights, or even monitoring if your WordPress posts are suffering from ‘content decay.’

In this guide, we’ll walk you through a couple of different methods to check your blog stats. Feel free to use the quick jump links below to go to your preferred method:

Ready? Let’s get started!

Method 1: See Your Individual Blog Post Stats and Analytics (Recommended)

Many marketing experts suggest utilizing Google Analytics to understand user behavior on your WordPress blog.

Using Google Analytics to monitor blog statistics is quite robust, but it might feel daunting initially.

Luckily, you can simplify Google’s data using MonsterInsights, the best WordPress analytics plugin for connecting Google Analytics to your site

It simplifies management from the WordPress dashboard, saving time on complex configurations. Moreover, it lets you analyze individual blog post performance.

At CanadaCreate, we use MonsterInsights for many tracking tasks. These include conversion tracking for our forms, buttons, and marketing campaigns. It also helps us track referral links and collect general website statistics, such as the most visited posts/pages.

For a more in-depth look, read our comprehensive MonsterInsights review.

Furthermore, MonsterInsights enables tracking of eCommerce sales, form submissions, video views, and even file downloads, giving you a comprehensive overview of your site’s performance.

To begin, install MonsterInsights. If installation assistance is needed, refer to our guide on installing a WordPress plugin.

After installation, link your Google Analytics account.

Refer to our beginner’s guide for detailed instructions on installing Google Analytics in WordPress.

Then, to track your blog post stats, you’ll need the Page Insights Addon.

This addon displays performance data for each post or page inside your WordPress dashboard, so you can track performance without leaving your site.

To enable Page Insights, go to your WordPress dashboard, navigate to Insights » Addons, and then locate the ‘Page Insights’ add-on.

After locating it, click ‘Download & Activate,’ then activate it using the toggle.

After activating the Page Insights addon, you can access stats for each blog post from your WordPress dashboard.

To view individual post stats, go toPosts » All Posts from your dashboard.

A new ‘Insights’ column will now appear in your posts list, displaying page visits, time spent, and other metrics.

Simply click the ‘Insights’ icon next to any post to see its stats.

This will open a popup window.

This window displays post insights such as ‘Entrances,’ ‘Page Views,’ ‘Time on Page,’ and ‘Exits.’ The data defaults to the ‘Last 30 Days’, but you can change the range in the dropdown.

You can also view stats from the front end of your site.

When logged in, you can see post insights by going to a post and selecting ‘Insights’ in the admin bar.

Doing so expands the display.

Once it appears, you’ll be able to view the number of page views, entrances, and total users that page has had in the last 30 days.

Lastly, you can also check your WordPress blog stats right from the content editor screen.

Make sure the ‘Post’ tab is selected in your right-hand menu. Then, scroll down to the ‘MonsterInsights’ section in the sidebar and click to expand it.

After that, simply click the ‘Show Page Insights’ button.

This opens a performance overview for the current page without exiting the editor.

Here, you can see your blog post’s time on page, entrances, page views, and exits for the last 30 days or the previous day.

To explore the full suite of reports available in the MonsterInsights plugin, go toInsights » Reports.

This area gives a comprehensive view of all reports.

From here, you can easily explore different data categories and get more in-depth information about your website’s performance.

For instance, you could examine website traffic patterns or monitor site visitor behavior.

Also, read our full MonsterInsights review to understand all the available analytics and reports.

Alternative: Monitor Content Rankings and Identify Decay

Perhaps you’re interested in assessing your content’s ranking performance and determining if updates are needed. This approach to WordPress post analytics caters to SEO considerations.

This segment employs All in One SEO for WordPress (AIOSEO), a leading SEO plugin, to monitor your blog post effectiveness.

Initially, we’ll address content decay.

‘Content decay’ describes content that gradually loses traffic and search engine ranking. Following publication on your WordPress site, search engines might initially drive traffic to it. However, this traffic can diminish over time, irrespective of content modifications.

This decay occurs subtly, making it easily overlooked. Prompt detection is essential to mitigate substantial impacts on search rankings.

The All in One SEO for WordPress (AIOSEO) plugin assists in identifying content decay. This WordPress SEO plugin enables tracking your content’s Google search performance, pinpointing posts with the most significant traffic declines.

We highly endorse AIOSEO. We use it to generate XML sitemaps, optimize on-page SEO, incorporate schema markup, and configure OpenGraph settings for Facebook and X. Explore our AIOSEO review for further insights into our experience.

First, install AIOSEO and link it to your Google Search Console account. Consult our guide on properly setting up AIOSEO for detailed instructions.

Next, navigate toAll in One SEO » Search Statistics in your dashboard to view your site’s performance.

Alternatively, go to the ‘Content Rankings’ area to assess individual content performance. Identify underperforming content by filtering by ‘Loss’ and ‘Drop’.

After pinpointing content needing improvement, refresh it with current details or refine it using All in One SEO’s advice to boost rankings and traffic.

Consult our comprehensive guide on content decay and its solutions for deeper understanding.

Remember that the ‘SEO Statistics’ area contains post-specific data.

In this tab, you’ll find statistics for your search impressions, total clicks, average click-through rates (CTR), and average positions.

The graph displays your search impressions and clicks, offering a visual representation of your blog’s performance over time.

Below the graph, a detailed report provides performance data for each blog post.

Moreover, you can check if Google has indexed your posts and their corresponding SEO scores.

The ‘Diff’ column reveals ranking fluctuations, helping you identify and address performance shifts.

In the ‘Keyword Rank Tracker’ section, monitor specific keyword rankings, along with their clicks, CTR, impressions, and positions.

A comprehensive list of all ranked keywords is also available.

Scroll to evaluate your content’s effectiveness.

If you observe ranking decreases or underperforming posts, consider content improvement. Refer to our WordPress SEO guide and blog post writing guide for guidance.

Bonus Tip: How to Track User Engagement in WordPress

So, you’ve just learned how to monitor traffic and page views for your WordPress blog. But what’s next?

To elevate your website, consider tracking user engagement, which goes beyond mere traffic numbers to encompass visitor actions on your site.

Tracking user engagement provides insights into visitor activities on your WordPress website.

Are visitors spending time reading posts and clicking links, or are they quickly leaving? These actions indicate what’s effective and areas for improvement.

For instance, if visitors scroll further down a particular page, it suggests higher engagement with the content.

This can give you valuable insights into which parts of your page are holding attention. As a result, you can optimize other pages similarly to increase user engagement and conversions.

Likewise, engagement tracking reveals which affiliate links or ads receive the most clicks, enabling content refinement for better outcomes.

For further information, consult our guide on tracking user engagement in WordPress using Google Analytics.

WordPress Analytics FAQs

Now that you know how to track your WordPress blog stats, let’s clear up some common questions about analytics.

Does WordPress tell you who visited your blog?

WordPress respects user privacy and doesn’t reveal personal visitor information. However, tools like Google Analytics offer general, anonymous statistics such as visitor numbers and locations.

Can a blogger check their blog post stats?

Yes, viewing individual blog post stats is simple with tools like MonsterInsights, AIOSEO, and OnePageGA.

What tool can I use to track specific blog post traffic?

While Google Analytics is widely used, plugins such as MonsterInsights provide simplified blog post tracking within WordPress.

What’s the best alternative to GA4 for tracking blog analytics?

If you prefer a simpler approach to analytics, MonsterInsights is a great alternative. It integrates Google Analytics data into your WordPress dashboard and offers user-friendly reports.

Explore More WordPress Analytics Guides

That’s all there is to it!

We hope this guide clarified WordPress blog analytics and how to view them on your site. You may also find these guides helpful:

• How to See Who Is Following My WordPress Site
• How to Set Up WordPress Email Tracking
• How to Track User Journey on WordPress Lead Forms
• How to Track WordPress Category and Tag Analytics
• Website Marketing Data You Must Track on Every WordPress Site
• How to Add WordPress Analytics Without Cookies
• How to Easily Do Visual Regression Testing in WordPress
• How to Do A/B Split Testing in WordPress
• MonsterInsights vs Site Kit: The Best Analytics Solution for WordPress

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