MonsterInsights Review: My Honest Review & Guide

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Daniel Wade

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July 28, 2022

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Searching for the best MonsterInsight review to determine if this is the ideal plugin to help you quickly link Google Analytics to your WordPress? Look no more!

But, what is MonsterInsights? MonsterInsights is a special, clear WordPress module that facilitates monitoring and management of Google Analytics. It is a unique WordPress module intended to facilitate easier management and tracking of Google Analytics data. What's shockingly better is that it is ideal for novices.

MonsterInsights is by a wide margin the most common and successful WordPress module. Be that as it may, is it truly worth all the publicity? Indeed. In this guide, we will take you through a complete review of MonsterInsights and describe why it is a fundamental module for your site. Furthermore, we’ll investigate the entirety of MonsterInsights highlights and assist you with deciding whether this module is the ideal answer for your site needs.

This post contains legitimate and substantiated data gathered from solid sources and real client surveys, not to mention the manufacturer's site content. As such, whatever your experience level, the MonsterInsights plugin is where your focus should be. Ready to get familiar with the different plugin features and how this plugin can assist your business further expand? How about we go directly into our detailed MonsterInsights review.

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What Is MonsterInsights?

MonsterInsights is seemingly the best WordPress Google-subsidiary module. Essentially, MonsterInsights is an elite WordPress module intended to facilitate the monitoring and running of standard Google Analytics data.

MonsterInsights offers a simple-to-utilize module arrangement. It includes various advantages and highlights to assist you in achieving a better improvement of your tactics. This simple plugin can assist you with finding significant data about your market base.

You can swiftly become familiar with your guests, location, and the material that most appeals to your target base, and much more.

This module was at first made by the renowned Yoast SEO engineer, Joost de Valk. The MonsterInsights plugin was in the past known as Google Analytics for WordPress.

Nonetheless, back in 2016, the GA plugin traded from a Yoast SEO module to its new owner, Syed Balkhi. This prompted its rebranding from the (Google Analytics) module to what we now call MonsterInsights.

From that point forward, MonsterInsights has directed its efforts to accomplish one major objective: to make analytics simpler for novices. Its incentive is to deliver a simpler and quicker client experience. The surprising thing is that MonsterInsight is presently upheld by the association that brought us OptinMonster, WPForms, and WPBeginner.

This patched-up MonsterInsight module presently features various valuable highlights intended to monitor guests' behaviors. It regularly allows exclusive monitoring otherwise not offered on default by Google Analytics.

For example, utilizing MonsterInsights can assist you with recognizing the number of clicks on your outbound links or the sort of documents your guests download most.

MonsterInsight offers you exclusive dashboard reports that layout all your crucial information in an open arrangement. Even better, these reports are quite helpful, as they present data in a straightforward methodology giving a superior viewpoint on your site's performance.

MonsterInsight plugin comes in two distinctive versions: - Premium and Lite. For the Lite option, you can follow all your fundamental information from your WordPress site. The Premium plan is even better especially considering its cutting-edge tracker and multiple functionalities, all appropriate for more prominent sites like E-commerce (affiliated) sites.

Since you now understand what MonsterInsight is, how about we go directly into our comprehensive MonsterInsight review?

Why Do You Need A (Monsterinsights Analytics) Plugin?

Have you at any point operated Google Analytics? If so, then you see how indispensable this tool is. Regardless, while it offers vast and important information, it can get amazingly overpowering for an amateur just learning to use it. Rather, for anyone not an analytics guru, it may appear somewhat overwhelming to use or challenging to exploit the data you get.

So why is having this analytics plugin important? Well, numerous clients need an improved tool that features all the essential information in a straightforward configuration. This is imperative data that you can use to help your site.

With a practical investigation instrument, you can without much of a stretch:

  • Understand the versions and subjects most followed or loved by your visitors to assist you with creating more user-specific content.
  • Identify how clients discover your site to help you channel exceptional and successful promoting endeavors
  • Establish and monitor your site's conversion objectives, assisting you with figuring out how to rally and upgrade your site

For skilled Google Analytics users, this is not difficult to achieve and can be easily done without requiring a plugin. Nonetheless, with a special module like MonsterInsights, you acquire all the essential information, making analytics simpler whether you are unqualified or a specialist user.

Additionally, MonsterInsights is more direct than Google Analytics. If you have just begun WordPress, it is difficult for you to recognize where or how to put your code. With a generally clearer arrangement, this plugin guarantees you needn't alter any codes on your site.

What Distinguishes MonsterInsights From Google Analytics?

If you are asking why you ought to put resources into a module like MonsterInsights when you can undoubtedly copy and paste the (Google Analytics) code…here is why you should.

Well, all things considered, like most clients, you presumably see no compelling reason to utilize MonsterInsight. Shockingly, however, this module gives clients substantially more than the default (track) code.

If you didn't have the vaguest idea, here are a few metrics that Google Analytics doesn't follow naturally but MonsterInsights does:

  • keywords generating the most site traffic
  • WordPress creators, labels, or categories
  • The explicit documents clients are downloading from the webpage
  • … and considerably more

Monitoring all these measurements generally mandates that you adjust your exclusive tracking code and configure each separately in your enlisted Google Analytics account. This is a serious undertaking, especially for clients with multiple websites.

This is not to mention the challenge of possibly destroying your analytics or totally disintegrating your site in the event that you error the code. This clearly can be overwhelming and strenuous for anybody new to it.

If your attention is on extending your business as opposed to learning superior analytics code, MonsterInsights is a fantastic arrangement. This module offers all the improved analytics fundamentals. Furthermore, it gives you a basic yet nitty gritty report in the WordPress dashboard.

How To Set Up Monsterinsights

Linking MonsterInsight and WordPress is generally simple. Surprisingly, such is its simplicity that even a novice can do it in a few minutes. Furthermore, no coding skill is necessary!

Note: it is fundamental to comprehend that your Google Analytics account is set prior to introducing this module.

Interlinking your particular accounts is quite easy. You should begin your Google Analytics account first and afterward download it to the WordPress webpage. After you finish setting up your MonsterInsights and Google Analytics accounts, you can start the modules and use them to sign in to your GA account. In any case, for better understanding, herein are the essential steps to follow to introduce MonsterInsight:

1. Introduce MonsterInsight and initiate it, and afterward go to 'Insights » Settings.' While here, you can undoubtedly link your Google Analytics account without expecting to alter any analytics codes.

2. Click on the 'Interface MonsterInsight’ to start the procedure. A popup will, in a flash, show up, where you should pick the Google account you used to set up your record.

3. You should then tap the ‘Allow’ to permit MonsterInsights to get to your analytics information.

4. You will now be able to choose an analytics profile starting from the drop menu and afterward click the Finish connection button. MonsterInsights naturally connects your site to your Google Analytics account. You will, at that point, be taken to the WordPress dashboard, where you can easily modify everything you want to track.

5. On the Insights »Settings page, you will discover different tabs in the top menu where you can change settings for engagement, e-commerce, conversions, and publisher.

As you explore this segment, you'll see every one of the fabulous highlights and heaps of customization choices accessible from MonsterInsights, for example,

  • Unrivaled link attribution
  • Google AdSense analytics
  • User authorizations
  • Scroll tracking
  • Anonymize IPs
  • Demographics and interest reports
  • Cross-domain analytics
  • PDF downloads and Email summaries

After customizing as per your desires, you require MonsterInsights to monitor and report. As such, you should save these changes to store your settings.

You can see your MonsterInsight report once you view the site analytics. To do this, you should visit ‘Insights» Reports,' where you can get to your site's traffic details.

Initially, MonsterInsight first shows an outline of all the essential analytics for your site. The module likewise includes modified reports for Dimensions, SearchConsole, Publishers, Site Speed, online business, Forms, and Real-time. Along these lines, you can get to more essential experiences in different parts of the site.

What Sets The Monsterinsights Plugin Apart?

Fundamental Features

1.  Setup The Plugin With Ease

As you will quickly discover, while it is not difficult to assemble a Google Analytics account, linking your site with Google Analytics is a serious test. Ideally, MonsterInsights eradicates the usual difficulties and links your site to Google Analytics in several minutes.

On installing this plugin, you need to visit the 'Settings' menu and pick the option 'Authenticate with your Google Account. Once you're done, all that's required is to follow all the onscreen prompts to finish the linking, which is only a few clicks.

2.  Appreciate Google Analytics In Your (WordPress) Dashboard

On finishing the MonsterInsight setup, this plugin permits you to get your internet site's performance without moving from WordPress. For many users who don't seem to be accustomed to Google Analytics, maneuvering through is pretty difficult since it's data-packed. However, MonsterInsights eases the burden and highlights the very important data for your website.

The MonsterInsights plugin permits you to discover many metrics like high pages, posts, high traffic sources, period stats, page views, and high countries. Essentially, since this plugin offers you real-time stats, you'll be able to quickly read your website's performance anytime.

This way, you'll be able to monitor your pressing point in time events, among others. With this plugin, you save valuable time since it displays valuable information from your Google Analytics at intervals on your WordPress (Admin) dashboard.

3.  Enhanced Tracking Ability

MonsterInsights plugin conjointly comes with further tracking options (working within the background) to ensure you receive correct Google Analytics knowledge.

Among the extra tracking functionalities enclosed are:

Engagement Track

With this plugin, you'll be able to arrange to overlook specific user roles like Editor and Administrator to permit Google Analytics to track real guests visiting your website only. MonsterInsights conjointly supplies alternative engagement choices that allow you to track departing clicks and transfer specific links like Events in your Google account.

Here, you'll be able to see the number of times and what the users clicked. This includes downloads accessed through links.

Demographics Track

This is often an excellent choice to assist you in perceiving your audience. The Demographics and Interest report choice is kind of a useful feature. To enjoy it, begin by sanctioning this feature in Google Analytics, then check the box labeled demographics in your MonsterInsights. This feature permits you to anonymize your informatics addresses.

Enhanced Link Attribution

Consider this… your journal posts or landing page has two calls to action or buttons, each linking to a constant page. With this tracking choice, you'll be able to establish the link with the foremost links. With this data, you'll be able to pinpoint visitors' precise behaviors on your website and therefore enhance your pages.

Referral Tracking

With Google Analytics, you'll be able to pinpoint the precise spot your traffic originates from. If you utilize MonsterInsight, you'll be able to fancy this insight to assist promote your WP website without having to grasp the complete Google Analytics suite. This plugin can help you establish how users find your website and verify the selling ways you simply ought to retain or replace.

For instance, suppose you're paying tons of cash for ads; however, you're still not obtaining enough guests despite noticing serious traction from your social media posts. With this knowledge, you'll be able to save on your selling budget, and you'll be able to even puzzle out the techniques to retain or replace and the way to use your budget.

File Transfer Tracking 

Google Analytics doesn't monitor your file downloads. However, MonsterInsights can assist you in establishing the foremost popularly downloaded files. Also, you'll be able to monitor the subsequent normal file extension downloads, doc, zip, pdf, js, Xls, exe, and tgz.

If you have any downloads with any extension besides these, you would like to feature the file extensions you would like to track as transfer fields and use a comma to separate.

Universal Tracking

It permits you to track your guests across multiple platforms and devices effectively. For example, if guests look at your website from their smartphones and maybe switch to their laptop computer to continue their browsing, MonsterInsights calculates this united browsing session.

This is higher than standard analytics plugins that count this as a pair of browse sessions. This is often ineffective since it can impact your stats by inflating the general session total. Without this option, it's impossible to trace the trail your guests use to maneuver through your website. This plugin offers you a whole perspective on website.

Premium Options

On advancing to the plugin's premium version, you'll be able to fancy a lot of customization choices. This will give you a profound understanding of your analytics. These tools supply superior data of your users' activities on your website, serving to help you focus a lot on what looks to be operational.

4.  Add-Ons                                                                    

Add-ons are an amazing addition only accessible through the premium MonsterInsights version. You install and initiate them like plugins.

The Plus version comprises four Add-ons options, with another four obtainable within the plugin's professional arrangement. Check them out.

Google AMP

Google Analytics, like Facebook Instant Articles, does not exactly monitor AMP-Enabled pages. Take this instance; once users visit any AMP-activated pages and later visit regular pages (or vice versa), the standard Google-affiliated AMP Analytics counts this as 2 distinctive sessions. With MonsterInsights Add-on, it monitors this concern and outlines it as a single action. This way, you receive a lot of precise and actionable illustrations of your traffic.

Ads Tracking

This fantastic premium add-on permits you to optimize all of your website Ads for the best revenue. For example, you'll be able to monitor the entire clicks on each banner and establish your audience's favorite ads to work out the foremost effective ad placements.

Facebook Instant Articles

The standard GA does not monitor Facebook Instant Articles information individually. It gathers all knowledge put together by default. However, with this Add-on, you'll be able to exactly monitor this metric in Google Analytics.

By sanctioning this add-on tracking, you'll be able to read your most productive pages and posts on Facebook, the content that appeals to your audience, and formats and topics that best fit your audience.

Performance

For a website with high volume traffic, it's potential to succeed in the GA process limit. Ideally, the fundamental Google Analytics free version features a monthly limit of up to ten million hits per property. To make sure you stay at intervals of this limit, the (MonsterInsight) Add-on offers, you'll be able to alter the location speed and sample rate.

Custom Dimensions 

The unique MonsterInsights Add-on helps you monitor performance for searches, users, authors, tags, among others. With this feature, you receive beyond the standard default GA report. You’ll be able to monitor your custom info and then present this in your MonsterInsights dashboard and reports.

This way, you can add the analytics: Category tracking, Author, Post Type, and Focus Keyword tracking choices.

E-Commerce

This MonsterInsight Add-on permits you to feature GA Ecommerce tracking to each of your simple Digital Downloads and WordPress WooCommerce stores. Ideally, you'll be able to monitor each sales activity like Average order price, E-commerce conversion rates, and fashionable products. Moreover, by sanctioning this ECommerce Add-on, you'll be able to simply receive the subsequent powerful reports.

These reports include Shopping Behavior, Checkout Behavior, Product List Performance, and Sales Performance. Typically, this nice Add-on helps you perceive your customers and improve your store to induce many sales.

Forms Tracking

Google Analytics offers quite a collection of choices, it does not monitor your conversions and type views. However, by sanctioning the new MonsterInsights tracking option, you can now simply track your submissions, conversions, and type views without having to deal with codes.

It is pretty easy, check the Form tracking box, and you are set. This Add-on plugin works with nearly any WordPress Contact type plugins like Gravity Forms and WPForms.

5.  Google Optimize

This distinctive tool, Google Optimize, is a free personalization and A/B testing Google tool that permits you to spot what functions best on your website. Yet, sanctioning it is quite difficult.

After making your Google Optimize account, move to Settings on MonsterInsights to activate it during a few clicks. This is often used to perform A/B tests and enhance your website's conversions and user expertise at once.

6.  Google Analytics EU Compliance

Your website analytics should be GDPR compliant. Typically, GDPR represents a fancy set of legislations that usually cause issues for several website owners wanting to make sure they regularly update their users' data privacy.

Luckily, the MonsterInsight EU Compliance Add-on renders this somewhat accessible as they're compliant with the EU, which automates necessary configuration changes. Also, it integrates WordPress 2-cookie consent plugins easing your worries regarding implementing tortuous code changes.

This Add-on anonymizes IP addresses and restricts the Demographics Reports for Advertising and Remarketing, and conjointly restricts author name and User ID tracking, and far much more.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Straightforward Installation Process And Setup

The Google Analytics installation process is quite tedious. It can take a lot of time to handle multiple options. Coincidentally, MonsterInsights allows you to activate all GA features in mere minutes.

Easy UI

If you want to acquire the reports and analytics you need, you need not leave your admin dashboard. The MonsterInsight Menu offers everything within its multiple tabs

Multiple Customization Options

Simplified reports significantly help with your decision-making processes. This MonsterInsights plugin allows you to customize your tracking features to suit your needs, like date range, and different metrics, and so much more.

 No Third-Party Accounts Necessary:

Compared to other standard plugins like Jetpack that requires owners to have WordPress accounts, this plugin doesn't mandate that you link it to a different account besides Google.

Effective Import And Export Of Reports:

You can easily store your site's analytics data by utilizing the 'export' option.

Cons

Quite Expensive

Surprisingly, the MonsterInsights plugin is rather costly. The cheapest plugin option (for a single site) usually costs around $199.

Limited Free Version

Unfortunately, this is perhaps the most significant drawback when using MonsterInsights. Nearly all the advanced features are only accessible in the Pro Version. This can be frustrating when using MonsterInsight's free version.

How Does The MonsterInsights Plugin Compare To The Competition?

Unsurprisingly, multiple tracking plugins among the WordPress plugin market are designed to help you collect website analytics. Ideally, once it involves engaging guests to your website and changing them, the assortment of accessible plugins is unbelievable.

Even so, once you compare the MonsterInsights plugin with some in style Analytics (WordPress) plugins, here are some aspects that set MonsterInsights apart:

Better User Experience

This is the foremost important issue that sets MonsterInsights, excluding the contestant plugins. Besides finding this plugin straightforward to put in, its distinctive workflows and tracking settings distinguish it because of the best learner-friendly GA WordPress plugin.

Ideally, this plugin makes it convenient that you simply needn't juggle with any codes to line up WordPress Google Analytics, solely requiring many clicks to induce a start.

All Tracking Options In A Single Comprehensive Product

However distinctive your business wants is, MonsterInsights is your ideal resolution.

As an example, suppose you're an operative of a WooCommerce store. You most likely realize dozens of WooCommerce-specific (analytics) plugins that you will simply use to trace your varied consumer interactions.

The disadvantage of those different accessible product-specific add-ons is that they, sadly, limit you from enjoying all-out Google Analytics tracking. This implies that you simply cannot track optimization type submissions, track downloads, and plenty of different events that aren't directly associated with e-commerce.

MonsterInsights comes packed with full Analytics options; this permits you to observe various events on your website essential to your business.

Suited For All Websites

Another advantage you'll like concerning the MonsterInsight plugin is its budget-friendliness. For example, if you are a publisher trying to spot a website's performance on pages with Google AMP or typical Facebook instant articles, all you have to do is to get this plugin set up. Also, if you wish to activate and track e-commerce, you'll transfer the professional version.

But you may ask, what if I cannot afford the premium Analytics plugin?

Well, No problem! You’ll get pleasure from the free version you can check out before deciding to take a premium version position.

Undoubtedly, MonsterInsights is far the foremost effective plugin, notwithstanding your budget or the dimensions of your online business.

Third-Party Accounts Are Not Necessary.

For example, with Jetpack Stats, you must link your website to WordPress.com to enjoy website tracking features. For any user not trying to share traffic statistics with WordPress.com, Jetpack Stats does not enable this.

Contrastingly, Google sends heaps of your traffic through searches so that you are conversant with your specific guests. Luckily, MonsterInsights links your website to Google Analytics, removing the necessity to make another account.

Most On-Demand Google Analytics Plugin

MonsterInsights is far the commonest Google Analytics WordPress plugin. Its options are quite an assortment of downloads and installs. Ideally, you'll get pleasure from multiple free third-party add-ons within the certified plugins repositories designed to assist you quickly improve the Analytics tracking capabilities.

Cost: What Do You Need To Enjoy MonsterInsights?

MonsterInsights plugin comes in varied valuation plans to suit all business varieties. Each of the plans options a 14-day money-back guarantee. Best of all, it even contains a free/simple version that will be downloaded from WordPress.org.

However, if you concentrate on dashboard reports, with-it tracking like e-commerce tracking, custom dimensions, and different options, read the MonsterInsights professional version.

The MonsterInsights basic version is FREE! This is often adequate to introduce you to analytics while taking the effort out of connecting Google Analytics to your website.

The MonsterInsights premium version comes in four complete tariff plans:

  • Basic setup ($ 39): Perfectly-Suited for beginners.
  • Plus, setup ($ 99): works dead for any growing business trying to attain a lot of
  • Pro set up ($ 199): options for everything necessary to induce complete results quickly.
  • Agency set up ($ 399): Designed to suit internet development and promoting agencies.

Support And Documentation

The MonsterInsights website and WordPress.org plugins website page each open you to each tutorial necessary to assist you in troubleshooting issues and originated plugins. As for the free version, you'll access community support on the exclusive (WordPress.org) support forum. MonsterInsights professional version users will get pleasure from access to superior developer support.

Is MonsterInsights A Worthwhile Investment?

MonsterInsights makes it remarkably easy to link your website to your Google Analytics account. MonsterInsights serves its purpose to create analysis easier for beginners. You get powerful insights into Google Analytics while not bothering you with the hassles of copy/pasting codes. This is often certainly the simplest Google Analytics plugin for WordPress.

The dashboard is extremely convenient for the user, whereas the setup method is even much simpler. You’ll simply have multiple GA accounts at a similar email address, and MonsterInsights can inquire about that account you want to link. Once you have got access, choose an account and follow the installation steps.

The plugin can connect with the account, and you'll then have access to MonsterInsights on your WordPress website. This way, it gets pretty much easier to accumulate data about your website while not necessarily needing to log into Google Analytics.

Undoubtedly, MonsterInsights is the simplest, most convenient, and useful Google Analytics WordPress plugin within the market. Ideally, you get pleasure from a lot of track choices, exclusive options, and better customer experience than the other WordPress Analytics plugins. In essence, this renders MonsterInsights an invaluable resource.

MonsterInsights Review: My Honest Review & Guide

About THE AUTHOR

Daniel Wade

Daniel Wade

After working for multiple digital advertising agencies and managing hundreds of client accounts and spending millions of dollars via Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Native Ads and Direct Media Buying, I took things out on my own and started SparrowBoost. Now, my tight-knit team and I continue to get smarter and more efficient at running our own campaigns and we share our knowledge with you.

Learn more about SparrowBoost