A Beginner’s Guide to Removing Google Analytics from WordPress

Google Analytics is one of the most powerful tools available for tracking visitor behavior, analyzing user demographics, and improving online presence. However, due to privacy concerns or other reasons, some WordPress website owners may prefer to remove it. Here’s a guide on how to do it.

Step 1: Remove the Tracking Code

The Google Analytics tracking code is usually located in the header or footer of a WordPress site. To remove it, website owners can either manually edit the code or use a plugin like Headers and Footers or Insert Headers and Footers.

Option A: Edit the Code Manually

Website owners can navigate to Appearance > Editor in their WordPress dashboard, and then select the header.php or footer.php file depending on where the tracking code is located. Once located, find the Google Analytics tracking code (it usually starts with “UA-“) and delete the entire code. Save the changes.

Option B: Use a Plugin

Those who are not comfortable with coding can use a plugin like Headers and Footers or Insert Headers and Footers. Simply install and activate the plugin, navigate to Settings > Headers and Footers, locate the Google Analytics tracking code, delete it, and then save the changes.

Step 2: Remove the Google Analytics Plugin

If website owners have installed a Google Analytics plugin on their WordPress site, they can easily remove it by navigating to Plugins > Installed Plugins, finding the Google Analytics plugin, clicking on the Deactivate button and then on the Delete button.

Step 3: Clear Cache

After removing the Google Analytics tracking code and/or plugin, website owners may need to clear their website’s cache to ensure that the changes take effect. Most caching plugins have an option to clear the cache, so website owners can simply navigate to the plugin settings and click on the clear cache button. If they are not using a caching plugin, they may need to manually clear their browser cache.

Step 4: Verify Removal

Website owners can verify that Google Analytics has been successfully removed from their WordPress site by using a browser extension like Tag Assistant or Google Analytics Debugger. These tools allow them to check if there are any remaining Google Analytics tags on their website.

Simply install the extension, navigate to the website, and then click on the extension icon. If there are no Google Analytics tags detected, then they have successfully removed it from their site.

Conclusion

While removing Google Analytics from WordPress may be a simple process that can be completed in just a few minutes, website owners should consider the consequences of losing valuable data. If they want to continue tracking website analytics, they should consider using an alternative tool that meets their privacy concerns and other requirements.