{"id":191461,"date":"2020-09-10T02:35:34","date_gmt":"2020-09-10T02:35:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/premium.wpmudev.org\/blog\/?p=191461"},"modified":"2020-09-10T02:35:34","modified_gmt":"2020-09-10T02:35:34","slug":"get-the-most-out-of-beehive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/get-the-most-out-of-beehive\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Get The Most Out Of Using Beehive"},"content":{"rendered":"

Beehive Analytics<\/a> is your all-in-one Google Analytics Dashboard, keeping you in the loop when it comes to your site traffic and making analytics less of a chore. Easily track your statistics straight from your WordPress dashboard and stay on top of your marketing game. Here\u2019s everything you need to know\u2026<\/p>\n

Google Analytics can be daunting for inexperienced users. When all you need are a few simple statistics, having to navigate its interface whilst being faced with rows upon rows of numbers can be a bit overwhelming.<\/p>\n

From your most-visited pages to your most-popular referral platforms, Beehive saves you this headache by making all of your most important stats available to you at a glance.<\/p>\n

This article will talk you through how to get set up and make the most of Beehive.<\/p>\n

Read on to find out more about:<\/p>\n

1. Connection Options<\/a>
\n2. Setting Up an API Project<\/a>
\n3. Configuring Your Permissions<\/a>
\n4. Beehive Dashboard Overview<\/a>
\n5. Beehive Dashboard Widget<\/a>
\n6. Checking Your Reports<\/a>
\n7. Enabling Display Ads<\/a>
\n8. Using Beehive with Multisite<\/a><\/p>\n

1. Connection Options<\/h2>\n

First things first – to use Beehive, you need to have a Google Analytics account.<\/a><\/p>\n

There are three different routes you can go down when connecting your analytics account to Beehive:<\/p>\n

Tracking ID only<\/strong> \u2013 Adding just a Tracking ID allows data to be sent to a property within a Google Analytics account, but that data can only be viewed in Google Analytics and will not be available on the dashboards of the target site(s).<\/p>\n

Connect with Google<\/strong> \u2013 This method utilizes a shared API to display tracking statistics on site or network dashboards but comes with limitations.<\/p>\n

API Project (recommended)<\/strong> \u2013 Creating a custom API Project for a specific site or network allows data to be displayed on site and network dashboards without the limitations of a shared API.<\/p>\n

2. Setting Up an API Project<\/h2>\n

Below we will take you through how to set up Beehive as an API Project. It is our recommended method as you won\u2019t be sharing API credentials with anyone, plus you can personalize your authentication screen icon and project name.<\/p>\n

Head to the Google Developer Console<\/a> and select a new project.<\/p>\n

\"Screenshot
Choose your project name wisely as it cannot be amended later.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Select your organization and location and click Create.<\/p>\n

You will then be met with a message informing you that you have no APIs available to use. Click on Enable APIs and Services just above this message.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Screenshot
This will take you to the API Library.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On the next screen, you will see tons of different API categories, however the only ones you need to enable are Google People, Google Analytics and Google Analytics Reporting.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Screenshot
Type them into the search bar and click Enable on each.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As Google requires informed consent for most of its data collection APIs, in order to run Beehive, Google needs a OAuth 2.0 Client ID which requires that users grant consent to the data collection via a consent screen.<\/p>\n

You can set this up by heading back to the Google API dashboard and clicking Credentials.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Screenshot
Click Create Credentials and select OAuth client ID.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On the next screen, you will need to choose the type of users that will be using Beehive. This will generally be external if you want to give access to people outside of your organization such as clients or agencies.<\/p>\n

\"Screenshot
If you select Internal, only members of your organization will be able to use the plugin.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The next screen may look a little daunting, but all you need to do is fill in a few pieces of simple information.<\/p>\n

First of all, add the application name (e.g. Beehive Analytics), and add a logo if you wish. Please note that adding a logo may mean that Google has to verify the plugin, which may prevent you continuing with the setup until the verification is complete.<\/p>\n

\"Screenshot
Select another support email address if you don\u2019t want to use the one linked to your account.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Scroll down to Authorized domains, add in your site address, then click Save.<\/p>\n

You will then need to head back to credentials and again click Create OAuth client ID.<\/p>\n

Select the application type as Web Application, name the client and add the Authorized Redirect URIs.<\/p>\n

You’ll add your App Information<\/strong>, App Domain<\/strong>, and Developer Contact Information<\/strong>. Click Save and Continue. <\/strong>For more information, please visit our documentation page<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Head back to Beehive and click on the settings page.<\/p>\n

Click the Set Up API Project option and copy across the two pieces of data from your Google API.<\/p>\n

\"Screenshot
Fill in both fields and click Authorize.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

You will then be prompted to link your Google account. Follow the quick steps and your account should be successfully linked.<\/p>\n

Last but not least, you will need to choose a profile, as you can have more than one site connected to your Google Analytics account.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"Screenshot
Select the site you want to connect to from the drop-down box.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

If the site you are connecting is the same site as the one you have installed the plugin on and are currently using, you can tick the Automatically detect tracking ID box.<\/p>\n

If you are tracking the analytics for a different site, you will need to add the tracking ID manually. There is a link further down the page which takes you to Google’s instructions on where to find it.<\/p>\n

The hard part is now over and you can now start exploring Beehive!<\/p>\n

3. Configure Your Permissions<\/h2>\n

As standard, all administrators have access to Beehive. You can grant permissions to view the widget and analytics stats to other users either by role or by capability.<\/p>\n

\"Screenshot
The downward arrows allow you to fine-tune which aspects of the widget and analytics you want to grant access to.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

You can also choose who gets access to Branda\u2019s settings, which allows the user to change the linked accounts.<\/p>\n

\"Screenshot
Tick boxes to add permissions to extra roles or click Custom Users to include or exclude by username.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

4. Beehive Dashboard Overview<\/h2>\n

For a less-experienced user, Beehive\u2019s dashboard is a breath of fresh air compared to Google Analytics.<\/p>\n

Your main stats are displayed on one simple and easy to understand screen, and you can quickly flick through past results by using the drop-down in the top-right corner.<\/p>\n

\"Screenshot
See your most important stats at a glance.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The dashboard displays a running total of page views for the current week, as well as the number of users, sessions, average time, and bounce rate.<\/p>\n

Beehive\u2019s dashboard features a handy comparison so that you know how your stats are holding up compared to last period.<\/p>\n

5. Beehive Dashboard Widget<\/h2>\n

This easy-to-digest theme runs through to your main dashboard, where Beehive automatically adds a detailed summary of your Google Analytics stats.<\/p>\n

\"Screenshot
The widget is packed full of handy statistics.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

You can see a quick overview such as your top page, top country, top referral, and page views. Flick across the menu to see a mini audience graph as well as your top pages and average time spent, and a roundup of your traffic activity.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a simple way to keep an eye on your stats without needing to open up the plugin and getting into \u2018analytics mode\u2019.<\/p>\n

Note: If you find yourself wondering why the WPMU DEV analytics widget in the WPMU DEV dashboard shows different data when compared to data displayed by other Analytics widgets, that’s because we use different metrics. We anonymize IPs and don’t track or store any personally identifiable information (PII).<\/p>\n

6. Checking Your Reports<\/h2>\n

From the bottom left of Beehive\u2019s dashboard, click \u2018View Full Report\u2019 to be taken to the good stuff.<\/p>\n

You can switch the main graph to display the number of sessions, users, pageviews, average session time, and bounce rates.<\/p>\n

Easily keep track of trends with Beehive\u2019s handy graphs.<\/small><\/p>\n

Next up are three simple donut charts which present some of your most important statistics.<\/p>\n

First of all is the overall mediums chart. This outlines where your traffic is coming from and groups it into categories such as organic search, direct traffic, and social media.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"Screenshot
This chart gives a good general idea of how your visitors are finding your site.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

This second splits down the referrals from social networks, including all of the large and obvious ones, right down to Stack Overflow, Reddit, and even WordPress.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"Screenshot
The chart will display any social network that you get traffic from.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The last donut chart splits down the search engine traffic.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"Screenshot
A nice even split…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

At the bottom of the page are the top countries and pages.<\/p>\n

An interactive map displays the top places that your visitors hail from. You can move your cursor over a country to see an exact session count.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"Screenshot
Find out exactly which parts of the world love your site.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Last but not least are your top pages, along with the average session time, number of visitors and an indication of the trend.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"Screenshot
View any of your stats over any period to track trends.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

7. Enable Display Ads<\/h2>\n

Take your analytics a step further by adding Google advertising cookies to your site so you can do things such as:<\/p>\n