Google analytics? I have the tracking code. What now?
August 21, 2013 11:07 AM Subscribe
This is for work. It's a wordpress site. According to a wordpress plugin that's already been installed, I have a google analytics tracking number that has been on the homepage for several months already.
How do I see analytics about the site's visitors. When I go to Google analytics, it makes me enter an email address, my site URL and generates a NEW tracking number. I don't want a new tracking number. I want to use my existing number that has been on the homepage for months already.
so how do I use google analytics if all I have is a tracking number and a URL. I don't have the email associated with this tracking URL, if there ever was one. That was before I was hire.
Thanks.
Someone at your company installed that code, before you were hired, as you say. They could only have done that by starting up a Google Analytics account. So you need to track down who did that, and they will need to access that account via their email login and password. Chances are it is the same as their personal or business Google account they use for email, calendar, Drive, etc.
Once they log in, they can give you admin privileges so you can get at the information as well as tweak the setup. They would do this by going the correct website on the Analytics dashboard (there could be more than one), then into Admin, User Management. There they can ad your email account (must be one that has a Google account), and give it permissions (check all of them).
posted by beagle at 11:26 AM on August 21, 2013 [1 favorite]
Once they log in, they can give you admin privileges so you can get at the information as well as tweak the setup. They would do this by going the correct website on the Analytics dashboard (there could be more than one), then into Admin, User Management. There they can ad your email account (must be one that has a Google account), and give it permissions (check all of them).
posted by beagle at 11:26 AM on August 21, 2013 [1 favorite]
To add to the answers given - if you don't have the google account that created the tracking code, you are basically asking 'how can I see the analytics data for someone else's tracking code?' You could try contacting Google Support - here is a story from someone who had the same issue as you, and the response he got from support.
posted by jacalata at 11:33 AM on August 21, 2013
posted by jacalata at 11:33 AM on August 21, 2013
If you have access to the website's backend but don't have access to the Google Analytics account, if all else fails you can put a new tracking code in and start over, but do that as a last resort because you won't ever be able to go back and view previous month's data, only start from where you are now.
posted by randomkeystrike at 11:46 AM on August 21, 2013
posted by randomkeystrike at 11:46 AM on August 21, 2013
If you can't access their email and get the previous tracking then I would suggest:
1) Make a Gmail account that anyone can log into. (Maybe something like complanynameanalytics@gmail.com or something, not a personal account). That means future employees can log into this Gmail and this situation won't happen again.
2) Install a new tracking code. Meaning you add a new URL, then change the tracking code through the Wordpress plugin to that new tracking code.
This option of a new Gmail also means you can add things like pay per click accounts, webmaster tools, Google+ administration, and you can use that email account for business listings, while allowing current and future employees to access it.
Working in online marketing, any client would get their own Gmail for this purpose, so we would all have access to analytics, and could turn that Gmail over to the client if needed.
posted by Crystalinne at 11:50 AM on August 21, 2013 [2 favorites]
1) Make a Gmail account that anyone can log into. (Maybe something like complanynameanalytics@gmail.com or something, not a personal account). That means future employees can log into this Gmail and this situation won't happen again.
2) Install a new tracking code. Meaning you add a new URL, then change the tracking code through the Wordpress plugin to that new tracking code.
This option of a new Gmail also means you can add things like pay per click accounts, webmaster tools, Google+ administration, and you can use that email account for business listings, while allowing current and future employees to access it.
Working in online marketing, any client would get their own Gmail for this purpose, so we would all have access to analytics, and could turn that Gmail over to the client if needed.
posted by Crystalinne at 11:50 AM on August 21, 2013 [2 favorites]
If your company is a Google Apps user, then you can reset the original user's password, but you'd have to know who it was.
Using a generic email or having multiple people on an analytics account (analytics terminology takes a little getting used to) is important for just this reason.
posted by idb at 1:17 PM on August 21, 2013
Using a generic email or having multiple people on an analytics account (analytics terminology takes a little getting used to) is important for just this reason.
posted by idb at 1:17 PM on August 21, 2013
If your employer has a Google AdWords account (active or inactive), call AdWords Support. They can walk you through a procedure to "prove ownership" of the site, and add a new user to the Google Analytics account.
That's assuming, of course, that the Analytics account hasn't been deleted, and that there's nobody else using the account who could block you.
posted by faster than a speeding bulette at 10:28 PM on August 21, 2013
That's assuming, of course, that the Analytics account hasn't been deleted, and that there's nobody else using the account who could block you.
posted by faster than a speeding bulette at 10:28 PM on August 21, 2013
This thread is closed to new comments.
When you log in to the account, you'll see analytics for your site.
posted by entropone at 11:17 AM on August 21, 2013