The Google Site Kit add-on is an important addition that acts as an intermediary between you and the services provided by Google. This free add-on was launched in 2019 by Google. This add-on integrates Google services into your site, such as (Google Analytics, Webmaster Tools, AdSense ads, and others).
What is the Google Site Kit add-on?
It is an add-on that integrates Google services and tools on your site, so that you will be able to access this information and data from one place, from within your site’s WordPress control panel.
1- Google Analytics – Google Analytics
Google Analytics provides you with all the data, information and statistics related to your site so that you can know how to improve the site’s performance. It will tell you the number of visitors to your site, where they come from, what the most important pages are, and many more.
All you have to do is enter the WordPress control panel for your site, enter the Site Kit settings, link your Google Analytics account to the site, and obtain and access all the previous information through the Site Kit control panel.
The offer offered by the add-on is very suitable for beginners, apart from the many information found in Google Analytics
2- Webmaster Tools – Search Console
Google Search Console helps you track your site, track the archive of your site, what errors you have, as well as track keywords on your site, etc.
By connecting Google Search Console, as a service in the Site Kit add-on, you will easily be able to access historical information as well as submit sitemaps and more information that helps you improve your site’s results, all in one place from within your site’s WordPress dashboard.
3- Google Adsense – Google Adsense
When you link AdSense to your site through Site Kit, this means you don’t need to navigate between the WordPress control panels and the AdSense control panel to manage your account and monitor your earnings.
With this link, you will control what you want from one place, and all AdSense tools will remain as they are and as you are accustomed to using them.
4- Improve performance – PageSpeed Insights
PageSpeed helps you analyze your site’s performance, improve its speed, show errors and problems, and check the loading speed of your site on various devices.
When you connect this service to your site through Site Kit, you will get, with one click, a comprehensive overview of your site’s speed rating.
5- Tag Manager
Through this service, you can manage, publish, and control marketing tags on your site, and it provides many features and tools that help you improve the performance of your site.
In general, tags are snippets of code that you can place on your site, in order to increase and improve the data collection mechanism on your site. When you activate this service through Site Kit, you will be able to access and control this data from within the Site Kit settings, easily and from one place.
6- Optimization – Google Optimize
It is an A/B testing tool that improves your site’s conversions by allowing you to run experiments. After you link this service through Google site kit.
You will be able to choose or create different variables and conditions to test different aspects of your site. Optimize will also be linked to your Google Analytics account via Site Kit, and this will enable you to know the performance level of all your pages from one place.
Google site kit will integrate these tools and display them on your site, so you can see and control them from only one place.
Who needs Google site kit?
Google site kit is suitable for website owners, companies, or developers, and in general for anyone looking to access information and data in order to understand, analyze, and improve sites quickly from within the WordPress control panel.
How to install and configure Google site kit?
1- To install and install the Google Site Kit add-on, you must go to the WordPress control panel for your site, then go to ( Add-ons << Add New ), then write the name of the add-on in the search box, and then click on Install Now.
2- After installing the add-on, we will activate it by clicking on Activate ,
3- After that, a new window will open for us, through which we begin configuring the add-on by clicking (Start Setup)
4- The next step is to log in through the Gmail account linked to Google services, where Site Kit will ask you to confirm permission to access your account in order to access Google Analytics data, webmaster tools, and site management.
5- After that, the add-on’s control panel will open for you, where you can start configuring the add-on and connect to multiple Google services to appear on your site.
Site kit settings :
Within the Site Kit control panel, there is a set of options that give you full control over all options:
- Control Panel – Dashboard
- Webmaster Tools – Search Console
- Statistics – Analytics
- Settings – Setting
1- Control Panel – Dashboard
It shows you an overview of what is happening on your site, as it shows you statistics for each of the services that you have activated, and you can also control the services from the control panel.
2- Webmaster Tools – Search Console
By connecting this service through Site Kit, you will be able to view and track your site, archive your site, submit a sitemap, etc. from here. Without having to exit your site’s control panel.
3- Statistics – Analytics
Through Site Kit, you will be able to connect your site with Google Analytics to obtain all the information and data that helps you improve and monitor the performance of your site.
4- Settings – Setting
Where you can control the services that you have connected to and link them to your website, as well as connect and request more services
Pros and cons of Google site kit
Google Site Kit contains a set of features and benefits for website owners that we will review for you so that you can get the most out of the add-on, and it also contains some negatives that we will tell you about so that you do not need to do without some other tools.
Positives
1- Display reports and data
When you connect Google Analytics with Google Site Kit, you will get all the data and information about the visits that come to your site.
For example:
- Find out who visited your site through search engines
- Know the visitors who reached your site through referrals.
- Visitors who enter your site via a URL.
- Visitors by email.
2- Deep research
In this research, data and information from (Google Analytics and Search Console) are combined to provide a report that enables you to know impressions, clicks, the number of distinguished visitors that your site received during a certain period, and more.
3- Measuring the spread of the site
This report provides you with the most important queries related to your site, and thus you can know the most important keywords that are frequently searched for on your site, as well as the most important pages that receive visits, etc.
4- Measuring speed
By integrating with PageSpeed Insights, you’ll be able to improve your site’s loading speeds. Where you can know the speed and performance of your site on desktop and mobile
5- Google AdSense ads
Another distinctive report offered by Google Site Kit is the Google AdSense report. It shows you an overview of your site’s overall Google AdSense performance.
If you want to display Google AdSense ads on your site, you will undoubtedly need this report, as it shows you the amount of profits today, yesterday, and the month, the number of ad appearances, profits per thousand views, and others.
Negatives
1- Insufficient data
Site Kit gives you summary data and information about your site’s performance and does not display everything in detail, but it is still good for beginners.
2- Subject to protection laws (GDPR)
When using Site Kit, you need to authenticate to comply with the rules. It is a law to protect privacy and data for users in Europe, or you can use (VPN) to bypass this point.
3- Not useful for e-commerce
If you have an e-commerce store or have multiple forms (contact form, order forms, etc.) on your site, then Google Site Kit will not be a good fit. It will not provide any integration for items and products on your site. For example, it won’t show you the revenue or average order size for your online store, and you won’t even be able to see what the top products on your store are.
Also, there are some features in Google Analytics, such as (Traffic value, events, sales), etc., that you will not be able to access when you are working on a store and you need to go to your account in Google Analytics to view and know them.
In the end, if you are at the beginning of your journey and have a new website, Google Site Kit is one of the additions you need to access all the information you want to quickly improve the performance of your site and strengthen it
