For the full details on Web Stories, be sure to read our blog post with all the details on best SEO practices.
The Web Story plugin provides a place to input your Google Analytics ID, and it can automatically insert the proper tracking code for you.
Our recommendation is to set up a separate Google Analytics Profile to track Web Stories. Traffic to Web Stories is not really the same as traffic to your site. If you combine stories with your primary Analytics, you’ll see a surge of users who are virtually un-monetized. All that will do is hurt your RPM calculation, while also making everything harder to track.
Important information about tracking Web Stories with GA4
UPDATE: June 24, 2023: With just a week of Universal Analytics left to go, the official Google Web Stories plugin has still not updated to track GA4. Source with the most recent entry in May. Discussion threads in the Google Help Center Community point to the same Wordpress forum.
Currently, it does not look like there is an available solution, and we will update as we find new information.
A potential solution: UTM codes
"By adding utm campaign parameters to the destination URLs you use in referral links and ad campaigns, you can see which campaigns refer traffic. When a user clicks a referral link, the URL parameters are sent to Analytics and the parameter values are visible in the Traffic acquisition report." Source and instructions for set up.
This solution would not track Web Stories pageviews specifically, but rather would help you to identify the traffic TO YOUR WEBSITE from those Web Stories. Since Web Stories themselves do not monetize very effectively, the traffic from Web Stories to the actual site is where the money is at. Understanding which Web Stories you've created that generate traffic to your site may be a more useful, actionable metric.
Using UTM codes has the benefit of letting you actually declare the traffic source. Discover traffic, for example, typically shows up as Direct traffic, and so can be tough to track.
By setting UTM codes on the URL you can choose to make the medium “organic,” and the source “discover.” This would make it so Discover traffic shows up as Organic Search, with Discover as the source, so you can easily track it separately from Google Search and from your other Direct traffic.
EXAMPLE: make your landing page URLs something like this:
https://www.sugardishme.com/web-stories/the-grinch-stole-christmas-cookies/?utm_source=discover&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=web_story
To set up a separate Universal Analytics (GA3) profile for your web stories you can follow these easy steps
In Google Analytics go to Admin > Property.
Click Create Property.
Name the property and then click Show Advanced Options and toggle the button on to Create a Universal Analytics property.
Enter your Web Stories URL and select the protocol (http or https; most Mediavine sites are https, but if you are not, talk to your host and check out this article) and time zone.
Select Create a Universal Analytics property only.
When you click Next Google will ask you some things about your business. Then click Create. This window will pop up:
Copy the UA number and paste it into the Web Stories settings and save!
