It is no tell-tale that MonsterInsights is one of the best Google Analytics for WordPress and is well recommended for its easy setup and amazing tracking services amongst its other exclusive features and services. With its latest advancement on MonsterInsights 7.13, the platform brings users other amazing features which are Popular Posts and Contextual Insights that will improve the performance of the plugin wonderfully.
With the Popular Post feature on MonsterInsights, blog/website owners can now display their best pieces on any section of their website or blog they want which improves views and visitors engagements on the site as well as email signups, social media shares and progressively more conversions. Monster insights also offer users three options to display popular posts on their website, which are;
- Display Popular Products; this option is great for increasing revenues and sales on eCommerce stores as it enables sellers to display the best products available on their platforms.
- The Inline Popular Posts; provides the option to display posts that are within the text context of a blog post which improves the bounce rate of the blog.
- The popular posts widget; allows for the display of up to 10 articles on any section of your website. It could be on the sidebar or the end of your website or blog based on your preference.
Aside from the amazing options for Popular Post display on MonsterInsights, users also have amazing customization options of different categories, colours, layout and fonts that enable them to edit Popular Posts on their blogs or website based on their preference and blog theme, directly from the WordPress Editor. Users also have three options for Posts display. Posts can be displayed based on either of the following options;
- Comments; Posts with the most comments after 30days
- Curated; Posts that will rotate randomly in the widget
- SharedCount; most shared posts on the website or blog
How to Display Popular Posts on WordPress
If you would like to display Popular Posts on your WordPress site using MonsterInsights Google Analytics Plugin, you can do that through the steps below;
- Ensure you have MonsterInsights 7.13 version or install the MonsterInsights Pro Plugin on your device
- Install and activate “Dimensions Addon” On MonsterInsights
- Set up Custom dimension on MonsterInsights if you haven’t done that previously
- Select the option you prefer for displaying posts
- Use Google Analytics to add your top 5 posts
- Click on the “Check Configuration” icon and you are all set.
How to Install Custom Dimensions on MonsterInsights
Custom Dimension is an addon on MonsterInsights that allows users to track custom data and displays it on MonsterInsight’s dashboard and reports and is also a necessary tool for displaying Popular Posts on a WordPress site using MonsterInsights. This addon is available to MonsterInsights Pro users and can be installed through the process below;
- On your MonsterInsights dashboard, go to “Settings”
- On the top right corner of the screen, click on “Conversions”
- Scroll to the section that has “Custom Dimensions” and click on “Add new custom dimension”
- Select your preferred custom dimension type from the drop-down menu and save
- Set up Custom Dimensions on your website and Navigate to Google Analytics to set up Customs Dimension there as well
- Log in on Google Analytics and go to “Access Google Analytics”
- Follow the “website data” link and click on “Admin” on the left panel
- Select the “Custom Definitions” option and then “Custom Dimension”
- Click on the freshly loaded table that reads, “+ New Custom Dimension”
- Edit the name to the Custom Dimension type you previously selected and click on “Create”
- Simply click on the “Done” button on the next page
- Ensure the index number in Google Analytics matches with the Custom Dimensions ID in MonsterInsights settings and save
NOTE; Custom Dimensions will take about 24-48 hours to set up and be effective on Google Analytics.
