“Corrected Transcript:
Okay, so let’s assume that you’ve set up Google Analytics. In fact, no, let’s not assume that. I’ve already shown how to do that. It’s really simple with Google Site Kit for WordPress. Once you do that, there’s one other thing you ought to do just so you don’t fake yourself out with your own traffic showing up in your stats. And that’s what they call internal traffic. But for us, it just means probably at home, for me it’s at home, plus this one place I spend time once a week, a different IP address. We’ll get to that later.
I’m going to show you how I excluded my own “home office” from my analytics, so it does not show up. So here we are in Google Analytics. Now, if you’re starting from your website, there’s a link in Google Site Kit, under WordPress admin Site Kit, then you’ll find a way to actually jump into Google Analytics. So it’s not like you have to remember the URL, which, by the way, is analytics.google.com.
Moving forward, here we are in one of my properties. So I’m going to go down the left-hand side to “Admin” and click that. Now there’s a document online that covers this in every little tiny detail except one little detail. So I’m going to include that detail here. So here we are, and we’re looking at “Data Collection and Modification.” So in GA4, the whole concept of getting data from your website is called a “data stream.” And “Data Collection and Modification,” that’s what they’re talking about. And then “Data Streams,” that’s actually what’s coming from your website.
So, this is going to appear there for you because, you know, FitLiving.net GA, well, it is the same thing. Now if this is brand new, it’s probably not going to be named Fit Living, and it is not going to have a GA4 on the end. For example, if we look at the owner’s job, it doesn’t have GA4 on the end. The reason there’s GA4 here is because it was transitioned from an older, so-called Universal Analytics.
So whatever this is, that’s going to be that too. Great. Click that. Now, if it’s not there, then you do need to add a stream. And that’s a whole different thing about how you do that. I may record another video if I find out when I create my next test property.
Alright, so here we are, we go into that and there’s a data stream. This is weird. I don’t understand why that’s there. I’ve corrected it a couple of times. It still calls that out. I’m getting data. I don’t know what’s going on there. It looks like a bug to me, by the way. But moving on, if you see it, let me know.
So, here we are, there’s a bunch of stuff here and it’s “Measurement,” “Modified Events,” “Redact Data,” I love that. And say, “Okay, what conservative visitors,” and so “Configure Tag Settings.” Google Tag Manager is a whole other topic for another day. But, so “Configure Tag Settings.” And now what you’re supposed to look for, you will not find according to the actual document. It’s not there because you have to push that button right there, “Define Internal Traffic.” That’s the thing you need to look for, “Define Internal Traffic.”
So you’ll notice I’ve already done this, so I’ve designated a role name. I’m going to create a mythical one. I’m going to update it for real, but because this is a thing I do, I volunteer at a sheriff’s office facility one day a week. I don’t have to do much. I sit there and actually do my own job, but I have to monitor radios. And so I want to put in this because I’m doing my own job there while listening to radios. And it has a completely different IP address, so I’m going to pretend that I know what it is. I don’t, I have to go on Friday, I’ll figure it out. But anyway, role name. And so I’m going to call it EOC, emergency operation center. And I’m going to say, yeah, it’s internal traffic. And internal doesn’t mean it’s internal; internal means ignore. That’s what it actually means to you.
For example, I also have a MiFi. So if my internet goes down, which happens particularly during hurricanes here in Florida, I can boot up my MiFi and use the cellular network, which is more reliable than Comcast. If I wanted to make sure that my MiFi was excluded, I would enter that IP address as well.
You can do an address range, but that would only make sense in a corporate environment where they have their own router at the head end and everybody is in a 10-dot-something network. For us, it’s always going to be “IP address equals” and then it’s going to be something like “52.37.122.40.” I’m just making that up. And then you just hit “Add Condition.” Now I’m obviously going to take this off because I don’t know who that is.
So now what I’m suggesting is this place that I spend part of a week, and that’s the IP address, whatever. And you hit “Create.” And so now I’ve got two, and these are both excluded. And so when I’m visiting the website from home or from that place I volunteer, it’s not going to show up, and that’ll be true in real-time analytics.
Now, before I actually take it off, let’s see. “Save,” “Add Condition.” Okay, I guess I have to do that differently. Now how do I get rid of it? Right? Okay, I haven’t actually tested that. Oh, “Delete,” there we go. Okay, fair enough. We’re back to that.
And one more thing, how do you know your IP address? There’s somewhere in here I thought there was a link. Oh, “What’s my IP?” There we go. Click that. And it’s a Google search. So it, and this is literally they put that in there. The subtext for that is, “Let me Google that for you.” But sure enough, you can see that’s my IP address. Let’s see if it’s changed. Oh, you know what? Because that kind of thing can happen. It’s not really supposed to happen. So “71.153,” let’s go back and look. Whoops, there, whoops. Okay, where am I? I seem to have closed the wrong window. Oh, here it is. Sorry, sorry, sorry. It had not changed. It can change depending on your service, and that’s a problem. But that’s on you. I can’t do anything about that. That’s about you and your service provider.
Anyway, I hope that helps. I do recommend doing this just so you don’t freak yourself out about how many users might stop by your website today. It’s a big letdown when you find out it was only you. I mean, I guess you could put all your family members too if your mom is really excited about your website. Just kidding on that one. But anyway, that’s how you do it.”
