Topic
Setup
Practical setup guides: adding analytics to a site, getting cookie consent right before tracking starts, and planning the events worth tracking from day one.
Most analytics problems are setup problems that surface months later: a tracking script that fires before consent, a page template that never loaded the snippet, an event named after a button that has since been redesigned. Fixing them after the fact means living with a gap in the data, so the hour spent getting setup right pays off for as long as the product exists.
These guides cover the three setup decisions that are hardest to undo: installing tracking correctly and confirming it is live, putting a consent banner in front of it that records real consent, and deciding which events matter before you start sending them.
Reading order
Where to start
- How to add analytics to WordPress (heatmaps and replay included)
A concrete install: adding analytics, heatmaps and session replay to a WordPress site in three steps, confirming tracking is live, and keeping it privacy-friendly.
- What a cookie consent banner has to do, and how to check yours
Before tracking starts: what a consent banner must do to collect valid consent, the patterns that void it, and what happens to your analytics when someone declines.
- What event tracking is, and which events are actually worth tracking
Once pageviews are flowing: which events to add, how to name them so the list stays searchable, and how to check one before you trust it.
Setup
Every article on this topic
What a cookie consent banner has to do, and how to check yours
A banner is not consent — consent is a record, freely given and as easy to refuse as to accept. Here is the checklist, and the patterns that quietly void it.
What event tracking is, and which events are actually worth tracking
An event is not a click you recorded — it is a decision about what deserves a name. Naming, counting, and the ten-to-twenty rule.
How to add analytics to WordPress (heatmaps and replay included)
Add product analytics, heatmaps, and session replay to WordPress with a free plugin — no theme edits. A two-minute setup guide plus what to track first.
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