These are the steps for testing if your Google Analytics is working with and without MonsterInsights.
A MonsterInsights premium plan is required.
The quickest way to test if your Google Analytics is recording your site's traffic is to do the following:
- Log into your MonsterInsights and open the Real-Time reports tab.
- Open a completely different (incognito/private) browser or use a different device to browse your site while not logged in.
- You should have 2 completely different browser windows open at the same time. One logged in and one logged out.
- With the logged out browser window, make sure you open a couple of pages on your site.
If everything is working, you'll see your user count go up on the Real-Time reports tab. Here's an example.
This is a quick test for checking if your page views are working. No third-party plugin required.
- Log into your Google Analytics property and navigate to the Realtime > Overview report tab (left-hand side).
- Open a completely different (incognito/private) browser or use a different device to browse your site while not logged in.
- You should have 2 completely different browser windows open at the same time. One not logged in while visiting your homepage and the other one with the Google Analytics Realtime > Overview report tab open. This is important.
- With the logged-out window, make sure you visit 1 or 2 pages on your website.
If everything is working, you'll see the pageview show up on the Realtime > Overview report. Here's an example.
This example is for download events. You can substitute download for any other event you want to test e.g., outbound link clicks, form impressions, scroll depth events, etc.
No third-party plugin required.
- Log into your Google Analytics property and navigate to the Realtime > Events report tab (left-hand side).
- Open a completely different (incognito/private) browser or use a different device to browse your site as a visitor or while not logged in as an admin or editor. Administrator and editor roles are not tracked by default.
- You should have 2 completely different browser windows open at the same time:
- One as a visitor or as a logged-in subscriber to your downloads area on your site.
- The other one with the Google Analytics Realtime > Events report tab open.
- With the browser window that's at the downloads area, make sure you download 1 or 2 files.
If everything is working, you'll see the download event on the Realtime > Events report. Here's an example.
We also have a great YouTube video on how to check if your Google Analytics is working.