[SOLVED] How do I enter Google Website Optimizer control/tracking tags

dutchess · #1 Jan 27, 2011, 06:01 PM

Hi, I have been trying to figure out how to get Google Website Optimizer working with Wordpress.

I am on WP ver. 3.0.4
I am on Ata. ver. 3.6.1

The instructions from google are:

Control and Tracking Script: Paste the following script immediately after the opening <head> tag of your test page's source code.

I think those directions are for static html pages. Because Wordpress is a dynamic CMS, what is the best way to insert the scripts? I need to find a way to insert the scripts directly after the opening <head> tag, but only on the page that I am testing, not globally.

I have searched through the Wordpress plugin's but have not found one that fits my need. (Google website optimizer for wordpress is a plugin that will put the scripts in the page, but it has not been updated in a while and puts the tags at the end of the header, right before </head> which is the wrong location)

I have been toying with the idea of putting in some conditional code in the header.php, so that it will only put the control/tracking code on the page I select, but I have zero experience with .php

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

juggledad · #2 Jan 27, 2011, 06:39 PM

look at the Atahualpa 'Add HTML/CSS Inserts' option page

dutchess · #3 Jan 27, 2011, 07:20 PM

Thanks for the quick reply Juggledad. I looked through the 'Add HTML/CSS Inserts' option page and inserted the google scripts in the "HTML Inserts: Header" section.

When I looked at the source code, I did see the scripts at the right location right under the <head> tag However it appeared on every page. I need a way to input the script on one specific page. Is there any code I can input before the conversion/tracking script that tells it to only be on one page?

dutchess · #4 Jan 28, 2011, 12:11 PM

Update:

I got the website optimizer working for a multivariate experiment.

Here's what I did for anyone that is looking to test using Google Website Optimizer:

Download the wordpress plugin HiFi. It is a head injection/footer injection plugin that is page specific.

Go to google website optimizer, sign up for an account, and run a multivariate experiment.

Follow the steps on the google site and you will get scripts to insert into your site.

Paste the control/tracking scripts on the test page in wordpress:
- page>edit... you will see a new box called Head & Foot. Paste the code in the box called head injection.

Paste the scripts for page selection (in wordpress) on the test page USING THE HTML EDITOR.

Paste the conversion script on the conversion page in wordpress:
- page>edit... same as the control/tracking script, paste the conversion script in the head injection box.

After that you can validate the code in google and make your variations.

Notes:
One problem I had was that I was unable to preview my different variations on the google website. Just click continue and run the experiment. Go to the page on a few different computers to verify that the experiment is actually changing the variables. (or you can clear cookies, etc and go back to the site as a 'new visitor')

Be wary of switching between the html and visual editors. I noticed that sometimes when I switched from html to visual, wordpress would 'clean up' the page selection script and make it inoperable. (it would change some words and delete </noscript> at the end of the section) If you have problems, I recommend turning off the visual editor and seeing if that helps.