From page speed testing to analytics, Google tools play a pivotal role in the management, maintenance, and optimization of WordPress sites. However, one pitfall of using third-party services is that they cause minor delays in an otherwise efficient workflow.
Fortunately, Google just made integrating its products with WordPress easier. Its new Site Kit plugin lets you access essential metrics and insights directly from your website’s back end.
In this post, we’ll discuss what Google Site Kit is and how it works. Then we’ll explain four ways it can benefit you as a developer when working on client projects. Let’s get started!
An Introduction to Google Site Kit
As we discussed in a recent post, Site Kit is the official WordPress plugin for Google:
Put simply, Site Kit is a tool that lets you seamlessly integrate Google products and tools with WordPress. It offers quick, easy access to the essential insights needed for managing your websites as well as your clients’.
One of the biggest draws of Site Kit is that it supports all the key Google platforms, including:
- Search Console: A Google web service that lets you check the indexing status and visibility of your site.
- Google Analytics: A tracking and analytics tool used for monitoring web traffic and discovering visitor behavior patterns.
- AdSense: Google’s advertisement program where you can publish targeted media and contextual Pay-Per-Click (PPC) ads as well as track your earnings.
- PageSpeed Insights: A tool for testing the speed and performance of a domain or webpage and identifying opportunities for improvement.
- Tag Manager: The free management solution for adding and updating site tags.
- Optimize: A site optimization tool that helps boost visitor conversions through codeless A/B testing.
Google Site Kit is a free plugin. It gives you updated insights and stats in your WordPress dashboard without the need for editing any source code on your site.
4 Ways Google Site Kit Can Benefit Developers
Now that we covered what Google Site Kit is and its main features, it’s time to take a look at what it can do for you specifically. Here are four ways this plugin can benefit WordPress developers.
1. It Reduces the Number of Plugins You Need on Your Client Sites
There’s a whole host of issues that can stem from having too many plugins on your WordPress sites, including an increased risk of security and compatibility issues as well as slower loading times. Therefore, the fewer you have, the better.
One of the benefits of using Site Kit as a developer is that it eliminates the need to use a separate plugin for each of the Google tools and products you rely on. By consolidating them, you don’t have to worry about an abundance of extensions slowing your clients’ websites down.
Plus, you only have to maintain updates for one plugin:
Since it’s developed by Google, it’s safe to assume that Site Kit is lightweight and optimized according to Search Engine Optimization (SEO) best practices. While you can use it with similar existing plugins, it’s not recommended.
For example, if you’re using MonsterInsights for Google Analytics, it’s not necessary to keep it activated alongside Site Kit. Doing so could cause compatibility issues.
2. Site Kit Saves You Time and Streamlines Your Workflow
As a developer, Site Kit can increase your efficiency by streamlining your workflow in various ways. We just discussed how it eliminates the need for multiple plugins. In that sense, it saves you time by negating the issue of managing a greater number of updates.
Additionally, Google Site Kit eliminates the need to access multiple dashboards. The plugin displays all the stats you need to view directly in the WordPress back end. Gone are the days when you need to log into third-party external sources to view reports and stats for each platform.
The time you save can now be better spent on more pressing business matters, such as improving customer service and tending to essential client project tasks. It’s also worth noting that Google Site Kit lets you access multiple accounts from a single page in your dashboard:
With all this information available in WordPress, you won’t need to go digging for specific stats and reports. Everything you need is readily available in charts and summaries that are easy to locate and understand.
3. You Can Easily Identify Opportunities to Improve the Performance of Your Clients’ Websites
Google Site Kit includes all the essential metrics and analytics needed to monitor and maintain some of the most important WordPress tasks for your client sites. This includes SEO reports, page speed performance, and PPC campaigns.
Once you install and set it up, you can choose which services you want to integrate with WordPress. Let’s say you decide to add PageSpeed Insights, a popular and powerful tool that can help you enhance the performance of your client websites.
Right from your client’s WordPress dashboard, Site Kit will provide you with a snapshot summary of the PageSpeed Insights tool. You will be able to see the analysis of the website’s homepage loading times for both its mobile and desktop versions:
Plus, Google Site Kit goes beyond providing overview data for your client sites. You can also search and analyze specific pages and posts.
4. It Increases Transparency to Improve Customer Satisfaction
As a WordPress developer, you’re likely no stranger to the importance of maintaining a healthy level of communication with your clients. The more transparency you have, the more likely it is that your customers will trust you and appreciate the value of your services.
Fortunately, the data and insight Site Kit provides makes establishing that level of transparency with your clients even easier. It can do this through advanced reporting and by alerting WordPress admins anytime a milestone is reached.
Google Site Kit can lead to quicker, more meaningful and accurate reporting. Thanks to the ease of access it provides, you’re less likely to fall victim to human error when transferring and translating data and information from third-party dashboards.
It also aggregates data for easy client access. Rather than manually gathering information and compiling the reports yourself, the plugin generates them for you:
Once you install and activate Google Site Kit, you can configure the settings as necessary. You will be able to control and customize which insights your clients are able to view.
Conclusion
Google Site Kit promises to make it easier for website owners to access and manage key services and analytics to increase the success of their online properties. However, this plugin can be particularly useful when you’re a WordPress developer.
As we discussed in this post, four ways Google Site Kit can benefit developers include:
- It reduces the number of plugins you need on your clients’ sites.
- Site Kit saves you time and streamlines your workflow.
- You can easily identify opportunities to improve the performance of your clients’ sites.
- It increases transparency to improve customer satisfaction.
Do you have any questions about using Google Site Kit for your client sites and projects? Let us know in the comments section below!
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