Looking for a best option for tracking analytics for your Ghost website?
This guide is for you. In this guide, I’ve shared the steps to set up Ghost website analytics using the Plausible Analytics platform.
I am a blogger and I want a simple yet effective way to track my website visitors, user activity, and more. As you might know the native Ghost analytics is of no use.
Initially, I tried tracking with Google Analytics, but it was too complex for my needs.
Moving from Google Analytics to Plausible
When I was using WordPress, Jetpack was simple and did the job well. But with Ghost, I had to find a good alternative and ended up choosing Plausible.
The data shown in the dashboard is clean, and as a blogger, it has everything I need. Plausible is a similar one but with subscription charges.
So why did I choose Plausible?
I chose Plausible because it’s lightweight and doesn’t affect website performance. This is important for blogs trying to build a brand, as a smooth user experience helps keep visitors engaged. I didn’t want to slow down my site with heavy or random tools.
Setting Up Plausible Analytics on Ghost
In this post, I’ve shared step-by-step instructions to get started with Plausible and also showed how to import data from Google Analytics.
Follow the step by step guide given below.
Step 1: Register for Plausible
Go to the Plausible registration page and sign up for an account. You’ll get a 30-day trial.
Step 2: Copy the Plausible Script
During the signup process, you’ll get the option to copy the Plausible tracking script. This script needs to be added to your Ghost website for tracking.
You can also enable options as shown below.
Keep the page open so you can copy the code later.
We’ll use this code in the Ghost configuration step next.
Step 3: Add the Script to Ghost Website
From your Ghost admin page, click the settings icon in the bottom-left corner.
You’ll find the Code Injection option at the bottom left under the Advanced section. Click on it.
Then click Open as shown below.
In the Header section, paste the Plausible script you copied in Step 2.
Step 4: Verify the Script Installation
Go back to the Plausible page and click "Start Collecting Data".
If you’ve added the script correctly, you’ll see a success message as shown below.
That’s it! Your analytics dashboard is ready.
Plausible will start tracking your website user activity right away.
Here is my website’s dashboard, showing live data right after setting up the tracking script.
Importing Data from Google Analytics
If you were using Google Analytics, you can import the data into Plausible. Here’s how:
Click the dropdown next to your website name, and you’ll see the Site Settings option.
In Settings, you’ll find the Imports & Exports option.
There, you’ll see the Import from Google Analytics option as shown below.
Click that option and sign in to your Google Analytics account.
Once you select the property and set the date range, all the data will be imported into Plausible. Its pretty quick actually!
Wrapping Up
As a Ghost user, I found Plausible to be a better option for website stats and analytics.
Google Analytics didn’t work for me because it was too complex. Plausible is simple, clean, and gives all the data a blogger needs.
Hope this article was helpful. I’ll keep updating this guide based on my experience with the platform.
Over to you:
What analytics tool are you using? Have you tried Plausible yet?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments.