Google Analytics for WordPress for Mobile

Joost de Valk, a.k.a. Yoast, has created the great Google Analytics for WordPress plugin. The plugin does exactly what you would expect, add the Google Analytics JavaScript to your blog. On top of that it also allows you to define a lot of little tweaks specific to WordPress such as tracking authors, tags, categories and more.

All this is great, but what about mobile devices?

Well, if your visitor is using a device with a good browser such as Mobile Safari (iOS devices), Android, WebOS and Nokia’s Symbian devices all should be good, but what about all the others? I am not talking about WML phones that are today a rarity more than anything, I am talking about all those low and mid-end devices that sell like hot-cakes. Think about all the Samsung, Sony Ericsson, LG and (reasonably-priced) Nokia that people get for free from their operator, or buy for about 50-100 Euro. It is true that heavy users will likely buy a high-end device with a big screen and a good browser, but that does not mean we should suddenly forget the long-tail.

With this in mind, and knowing the WordPress Mobile Pack (WPMP for short), I made a few small changes to Yoast’s script. The theory is very simple, based on the device groups defined by WPMP provide the standard JavaScript for the high-end and  use the Google’s official ga.php file for the rest. The changes are quite simple and are all applied to googleanalytics.php, plus you will need Google’s ga.php. Also, this system plays on the safe side as if the device is not correctly recognised, in the worst case the 1px image is server, which means that it should really work with anything, even the WML devices.

REQUIREMENTS

• WordPress Mobile Pack version 1.2.3 or higher
• Google Analytics for WordPress by Yoast
• Download the script adaptation based on Google Analytics for WordPress 4.0.8, a.k.a Google Analytics for WordPress for Mobile

INSTALLATION

1. Both WPMP and Google Analytics plugins should be enabled and correctly functioning (of course!)
2. Make sure in the “Mobile Theme” menu you have enabled the Nokia templates (this is needed to activate the device group recognition)
3. Save a backup copy of your existing googleanalytics.php
4. Upload the files ga.php and googleanalytics.php in your google-analytics-for-wordpress directory on your server (normally in wp-content/plugins/google-analytics-for-wordpress)

KNOWN LIMITATIONS

Although in theory the custom segmentation is implemented, it is a bit of a hack and needs review with Yoast.

UPDATE

Small bug fixed, see Google Analytics for WordPress for Mobile update.