Track WordPress Analytics Without Cookies: 2 Simple Ways

Navigating the complexities of website analytics in today's privacy-conscious world can feel like walking a tightrope. Traditional methods, once simple, now come laden with legal landmines and the risk of alienating your audience. Are you struggling to gain crucial insights into your WordPress site's performance without compromising user privacy or facing compliance headaches?

You're not alone. The landscape of web tracking has shifted dramatically, making it challenging for WordPress site owners to gather data responsibly. I've personally guided numerous businesses through this transition, testing a multitude of solutions to find approaches that genuinely work.

This comprehensive guide unveils two powerful strategies to equip your WordPress site with insightful analytics, all while upholding your visitors' privacy. We'll explore a privacy-first approach to Google Analytics, leveraging its power with intelligent compliance, and a truly cookieless alternative for maximum privacy.

The Privacy Imperative: Do You Truly Need Cookieless Analytics?

The buzz around cookies and stringent privacy laws like GDPR and CCPA has ignited a significant debate. What does it all mean for your WordPress website's analytics strategy? Let's demystify it.

Simply put, cookies are tiny data packets stored in a user's browser during a website visit. Most analytics tools, including Google Analytics 4 (GA4), historically rely on these cookies to trace visitor behavior—from pages viewed to time spent and actions taken. This rich data empowers site owners to understand their audience and optimize their online presence.

Here’s the crux: Landmark privacy regulations, such as the GDPR, CCPA, and ePrivacy Directive, mandate explicit user consent before cookies are deployed for tracking. This critical requirement has led many website owners to believe that a complete switch to cookie-free analytics is their only path to compliance.

However, that's not entirely true! You absolutely can continue to track essential data with solutions like Google Analytics while maintaining full legal compliance.

Debunking Myths: Why GA4 with Privacy Controls is Your Best Bet

When it comes to robust website analytics, Google Analytics 4 (GA4) remains the industry leader. It delivers unparalleled insights into visitor behavior, serving as an indispensable tool for all types of websites.

Crucially, let's clarify a common misconception: GA4 does not depend on third-party cookies. Instead, it utilizes first-party cookies, which are directly set by your own WordPress site. These cookies collect data solely about your visitors' interactions on your domain.

In contrast, third-party cookies originate from external services (think advertising networks) and are designed to track users across multiple, unrelated websites. Their broad scope raises significant privacy concerns, leading to their gradual deprecation by popular browsers.

You might be asking: "If GA4 still uses cookies—even first-party ones—can it truly be privacy-compliant?"

The answer is a resounding yes!

However, compliance isn't automatic; it's your responsibility to configure GA4 in a manner that adheres to applicable regulations. The need for cookie consent in Google Analytics hinges on several variables: your location, your visitors' locations, and how you process their data. Given that cookie consent laws vary significantly by region—even within the EU—some websites must secure explicit consent for specific cookies, while others simply need a general consent banner.

To empower you with compliant GA4 analytics, we'll integrate it with:

✅ MonsterInsights' EU Compliance addon: This powerful addition streamlines your data handling processes, aligning them with GDPR and other critical privacy regulations.

✅ WPConsent cookie banners: Essential for accurately requesting and managing user consent, ensuring seamless compliance.

By leveraging these tools, you can continue to glean valuable insights from GA4 while effectively mitigating legal risks and building trust with your audience.

Your Blueprint for Privacy-First WordPress Analytics: Two Proven Pathways

Now that we've grasped the nuances of cookieless tracking and established when it's truly essential, let's dive into the practical setup on your WordPress site.

We'll explore two robust options:

GA4 + MonsterInsights EU Compliance addon: This method allows you to track user behavior with GA4 while maintaining full compliance with privacy laws like GDPR. It utilizes configurable first-party cookies for stronger privacy controls, making it ideal for detailed insights with straightforward WordPress integration.
Burst Statistics: A genuinely cookieless solution that stores data directly on your server, offering a hybrid mode with optional cookies for enhanced flexibility.

This tutorial will guide you through both methods, alongside expert tips and answers to common questions about cookieless tracking.

Feel free to jump to your preferred method:

Ready? Let's get your analytics compliant and powerful.

Method 1: Harnessing GA4 for Powerful, Privacy-Compliant Analytics (Recommended for Deep Insights)

This method is for you if you seek access to robust analytics while rigorously respecting user privacy. We'll achieve this by pairing MonsterInsights with WPConsent to establish privacy-enhanced tracking.

Step 1: Install MonsterInsights for Privacy-Enhanced Analytics

MonsterInsights stands as the most popular Google Analytics plugin for WordPress, and for good reason: it dramatically simplifies the process of viewing your Google Analytics data directly within your WordPress dashboard.

At ShareWordpress, we rely on MonsterInsights to meticulously track traffic sources, visitor demographics, and conversion rates across our forms, buttons, referral links, and more. For a deeper dive into its capabilities, check out our complete MonsterInsights review.

✏️ Quick note: For this tutorial, we'll utilize the MonsterInsights Pro version, primarily because it includes the indispensable EU Compliance addon (required in Step 3). However, a free MonsterInsights version is also available and perfectly suitable for basic analytics reporting.

First, let's install and activate the MonsterInsights plugin. If you need assistance, consult this guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Step 2: Connect MonsterInsights to Your Google Analytics Account

Once MonsterInsights is active, it’s time to link it to your WordPress site and your Google Analytics account.

From your WordPress dashboard, navigate to the ‘Insights’ tab in the left-hand menu.

Then, simply click the ‘Launch the Wizard’ button to initiate the MonsterInsights setup process.

On the subsequent screen, you'll select the category that best describes your website.

Whether it's a WordPress blog, a business site, or an online store, make your selection.

Click ‘Save and Continue’ to proceed.

Next, you'll connect MonsterInsights to your Google Analytics account.

Click the ‘Connect MonsterInsights’ button to begin the integration.

Follow the prompts to sign in to your Google Analytics account and select the specific website you wish to track.

MonsterInsights will then seamlessly install Google Analytics on your site.

For a detailed walkthrough, refer to our guide on how to install Google Analytics in WordPress.

Step 3: Install the MonsterInsights EU Compliance Addon

Given that GA4 still leverages first-party cookies, ensuring your tracking adheres to GDPR is paramount. The MonsterInsights EU Compliance addon simplifies this by automating critical privacy settings within GA4.

Key features include:

Anonymizing IP addresses to prevent personal data storage.
Disabling the tracking of sensitive data like user demographics, interests, and User IDs.

To install the addon, navigate to Insights » Addons.

Locate the EU Compliance addon and click the ‘Install & Activate’ button.

Once activated, toggle the setting to 'Enable EU Compliance' under the ‘Engagement’ tab within the ‘Settings’ menu.

We highly recommend cross-referencing these settings directly within your GA4 account to ensure perfect alignment.

For instance, to prevent GA4 from tracking demographics, navigate to your GA4 ‘Admin’ panel.

Next, locate and click on the ‘Data collection’ option within the ‘Data collection and modification’ setting.

Ensure ‘Google signals data collection’ is disabled.

Why is this crucial? Google Signals gathers additional user data, including:

Demographics & Interests: Age, gender, and hobbies.
Location & Engagement: User locations drawn from Google accounts.
Cross-Device Tracking: Identifies users across different devices.
Cross-Platform Reports: Insights into user interaction across various platforms.
Ad Personalization Data: Connects with Google Ads for remarketing purposes.

If it's already off, you'll see the option to ‘Turn On’ it, indicating appropriate privacy settings.

Additionally, it's wise to review your data retention settings.

Data retention dictates how long GA4 stores user-level and event-level data before automatic deletion. Opting for a shorter retention period significantly enhances GDPR compliance and overall privacy.

To adjust this, go to Data collection and modification » Data retention from the ‘Admin’ menu.

On the next screen, you'll find options to set the data retention period for both event and user data. For stricter compliance, simply select the ‘2 months’ option from the dropdown menus.

Remember to click ‘Save’ after making your adjustments.

To deepen your understanding of GA4, explore our beginner’s guide on how to use Google Analytics 4.

Step 4: Set Up the WPConsent Cookie Consent Plugin

Using Google Analytics 4 compliantly with laws like GDPR and CCPA necessitates obtaining user consent before tracking. This critical responsibility rests with you.

Whether consent is required depends on your business's location, your users' locations, the data you collect, and its intended use. Rules are diverse, even within the EU, with some jurisdictions requiring consent for specific cookie types and others for any cookie usage.

Instead of navigating these complexities manually, WPConsent provides a robust solution to simplify compliance.

This powerful plugin enables you to display a customizable cookie consent banner, log user choices, and precisely control when tools like GA4 are permitted to execute—all from within your WordPress environment.

At ShareWordpress (and across several of our partner brands), we trust WPConsent as a reliable solution for managing privacy settings. Discover all its features in our complete WPConsent review!

Begin by installing the WPConsent plugin. If you need assistance, refer to our beginner’s guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

✏️ Quick note: While the free WPConsent plugin offers basic cookie banner functionality, this article will utilize the WPConsent Pro version for its invaluable cookie consent log feature.

Upon plugin activation, activate your license key.

Navigate to WPConsent » Settings. Copy your license key from your WPConsent account and paste it into the ‘License Key’ field.

Click the ‘Activate Key’ button.

Now, head to the ‘Dashboard’ to initiate the setup wizard.

Click the ‘Let’s Get Started’ button.

On the next screen, WPConsent will perform a scan to identify if your site is utilizing cookies.

First, confirm your site's email address.

If correct, click ‘Scan Your Website.’

The tool will then commence the cookie scan.

Upon completion, you'll receive a ‘Scan completed’ notification and a concise report on its findings. For instance, it might indicate that WPConsent detected services on your site that set cookies.

Click ‘OK’ to proceed.

Next, you'll see a detailed breakdown of your WordPress site's scan results.

On our demo site, services using cookies included WordPress login (potentially due to the ‘ Remember Me‘ option), WordPress Comments, Google Analytics, and Matomo.

Ensure you select all relevant services. Then, check the box labeled ‘Prevent known scripts from adding cookies before consent is given.’

With your selections made, click the ‘Auto-Configure selected’ button.

Subsequently, WPConsent will guide you through setting up your cookie banner.

The process is incredibly straightforward: simply choose a layout and select a position.

Scroll down the page to preview your cookie consent banner.

If everything meets your expectations, click the ‘Save & Complete Setup’ button.

And you're done!

Now, when you visit your website, your cookie consent banner will be fully operational.

👉 Expert Tip: Including a link to your privacy policy page within the cookie banner is vital for building user trust and fulfilling legal obligations. If you haven't created one yet, our tutorial on how to add a privacy policy page in WordPress is an excellent resource.

After creating your policy, embed the link into your cookie banner via the WPConsent editor.

Navigate to WPConsent » Banner Design from your admin area. Edit the text in the ‘Message’ field to include the link to your Privacy Policy page.

Crucially, click the ‘Save’ button to preserve your changes.

And here's your updated cookie banner:

Step 5: Access Consent Logs to Verify Your Privacy Settings

WPConsent's ‘Consent Logs’ section offers a meticulous record of how visitors interact with your site’s cookie consent popup.

To view your logs, navigate to WPConsent » Consent Logs from your WordPress admin area.

Here, you'll find a detailed table outlining each user's consent choices.

For example, our log shows a user who accepted all cookie categories—essential, statistics, and marketing.

Congratulations! You've successfully configured Google Analytics with enhanced privacy settings, leveraging first-party cookies responsibly.

Method 2: Embracing Truly Cookieless Analytics with Burst Statistics (Free & Simplified)

If your goal is to implement analytics without relying on any cookies, Burst Statistics emerges as a superb, free option that simplifies the entire process.

It's important to understand that Burst Statistics employs a technique called fingerprinting. This method identifies a computer or device based on its unique characteristics—such as browser, operating system, and installed fonts—even without using cookies. While generally considered less intrusive than traditional cookies, it is still a form of tracking, and awareness of its mechanism is beneficial.

Let's walk through setting it up on your WordPress site.

Step 1: Install and Activate the Burst Statistics Plugin on WordPress

To begin, install and activate the free Burst Statistics plugin. Navigate to Plugins » Add New Plugin from your admin area.

Utilize the search feature to quickly locate the plugin, then click the ‘Install Now’ button.

✏️ Quick note: This guide focuses on the free Burst Statistics plugin for cookieless analytics. However, upgrading to Burst Statistics Pro unlocks a wealth of advanced features, including data archiving, multiple goal tracking, and sophisticated filtering options.

Next, click the ‘Activate’ button when it appears. For detailed installation steps, consult our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Step 2: Configure Settings for Optimal Performance and Privacy

Upon plugin activation, you can immediately enable cookieless analytics.

Simply navigate to Statistics » Settings from your WordPress admin area. Ensure you're on the ‘General’ tab.

From here, toggle on the ‘Enable Cookieless tracking’ option.

And that's it! You've successfully configured WordPress analytics without cookies on your website.

Step 3: Verify Your Analytics are Working Properly

Unlike traditional approaches, cookieless analytics actively avoids storing personal data like IP addresses or other user identifiers. Instead, it provides anonymized, aggregated data.

However, it's crucial to acknowledge that some methods, including fingerprinting, still involve data collection. The privacy implications depend entirely on how they are implemented.

To verify that your analytics are functioning correctly, navigate to the ‘Statistics’ menu. On this screen, you'll immediately see a graph illustrating your visitors and pageviews over the last seven days.

Scroll down the page for a more detailed breakdown of your statistics.

You might observe that your sessions are counted differently.

In traditional analytics, cookies track when a visitor's session begins and ends. If the same person returns within a specific timeframe (typically 30 minutes), it's registered as the same session.

With cookieless analytics, returning users cannot be recognized within that window. Consequently, each visit is treated as a new session, even if it occurs shortly after a previous one.

🤔 What does this mean for your reports? You may see a higher session count than usual, as quick return visits won't be consolidated into a single session.

Further down the page, Burst Statistics provides a dedicated ‘Pages’ report, illustrating how pageviews are distributed across your site.

For example, if your ‘Compare’ report shows 9 pageviews, you can see that 3 views originated from the ‘Career’ page, 2 from the ‘Login’ page, and so forth.

Your Top Questions Answered: Navigating Cookieless WordPress Analytics

Still have lingering questions? Let’s address some common concerns about tracking website data without cookies.

Why do websites need cookies?

Cookies serve multiple functions: they store small data amounts to remember user preferences, track user behavior over time, and ultimately enhance the user experience. Many analytics tools leverage cookies to identify returning visitors and monitor interactions across sessions.

How can I add analytics to my WordPress site?

In essence, you can integrate analytics into your WordPress site using powerful tools like MonsterInsights, Matomo, or HubSpot.

We highly recommend MonsterInsights for its unparalleled ease of integrating Google Analytics into WordPress. It delivers all your GA4 data in clear, digestible reports directly within your WordPress dashboard.

For a step-by-step guide, check out our tutorial on how to install Google Analytics in WordPress.

Do all websites with analytics need cookie warnings?

No, not necessarily. If your analytics solution does not store personally identifiable information (PII) or track users across sessions using cookies, then a cookie consent banner is not required. This is a primary reason many site owners transition to cookieless analytics.

For instance, Burst Statistics is a privacy-focused analytics tool that employs fingerprinting. Instead of cookies, it analyzes non-personal browser and device data to differentiate visitors. While this approach is technically cookieless, it's important to remember it's still a form of data collection with its own privacy considerations.

Will cookieless analytics affect data accuracy?

The impact on data accuracy depends on the specific tool you choose.

While cookieless tracking might not capture minute user journeys with as much granular detail, it still provides highly accurate insights into overall traffic, page views, and engagement metrics.

Many modern cookieless analytics tools employ advanced techniques like fingerprinting or server-side tracking to enhance accuracy. Although these methods minimize cookie usage, they still collect data through alternative means, which may warrant privacy considerations.

Can I switch back to traditional analytics if needed?

Yes, most analytics solutions offer the flexibility to switch between cookieless and traditional tracking. However, if you revert to using cookies, you will likely need to add a cookie consent banner to ensure compliance with privacy laws.

Expand Your Expertise: More Essential WordPress Analytics Guides

We hope this article has clarified how to implement privacy-first or truly cookieless analytics on your WordPress site.

Eager to delve deeper into WordPress analytics and fine-tune your website's performance tracking? Explore these additional resources:

If this article resonated with you, consider subscribing to our YouTube Channel for expert WordPress video tutorials. You can also connect with our community on Twitter and Facebook for the latest updates and insights.