Quick Start

Get Ghost Metrics tracking your website in under 5 minutes.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have:

A Ghost Metrics account (contact your administrator if you don’t have access)
Access to edit your website’s HTML or a tag manager like Google Tag Manager
Your Ghost Metrics site ID (found in your dashboard)

Step 1: Log In to Ghost Metrics

Go to your Ghost Metrics dashboard and log in with your credentials. Your dashboard URL will be provided by your organization or Ghost Metrics support.

Step 2: Find Your Tracking Code

Once logged in:

Click the gear icon in the top right to access Administration
Select Tracking Code from the menu
You’ll see your JavaScript tracking code ready to copy

Your tracking code will look something like this:


<!-- Ghost Metrics Tag Manager -->
<script>
  var _mtm = window._mtm = window._mtm || [];
  _mtm.push({'mtm.startTime': (new Date().getTime()), 'event': 'mtm.Start'});
  (function() {
    var d=document, g=d.createElement('script'), s=d.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];
    g.async=true; g.src='https://example.ghostmetrics.cloud/js/container_XXXXXXXX.js'; s.parentNode.insertBefore(g,s);
  })();
</script>
<!-- End Ghost Metrics Tag Manager -->

Step 3: Add the Code to Your Website

Copy the tracking code and paste it into your website’s HTML, just before the closing </head> tag.

Where exactly?

The code should go on every page you want to track. Most websites use a shared header template or layout file, so you only need to add it once.

Common locations:

WordPress: Use a plugin like WPCode or add to your theme’s header.php
Static HTML: Add to each page’s <head> section
Tag Manager: Add as a Custom HTML tag (see Google Tag Manager installation)

Step 4: Verify It’s Working

After adding the tracking code:

Visit your website in a new browser tab
Go back to Ghost Metrics
Navigate to Visitors → Real-time
You should see your visit appear within a few seconds

If you see your visit in the Real-time report, congratulations — you’re tracking!

What’s Being Tracked?

With the basic installation, Ghost Metrics automatically tracks:

Pageviews — Every page a visitor views
Visit information — Duration, pages per visit, bounce rate
Traffic sources — Where visitors came from (search, referral, direct)
Technology — Browser, device, screen size, operating system
Location — Country and region based on IP (IP addresses are anonymized)
Outlinks — When visitors click links to other websites
Downloads — When visitors download files from your site

Next Steps

Now that basic tracking is working, you can:

Set Up Goal Tracking

Track conversions like form submissions and button clicks.

→ Learn about Goals

Track Custom Events

Measure specific user interactions beyond pageviews.

→ Learn about Event Tracking

Add Campaign Tracking

Track your marketing campaigns with UTM parameters.

→ Learn about Campaign Tracking

Explore Your Reports

Dive into your analytics data.

→ Dashboard Overview

Need Help?

If you’re having trouble getting tracking to work:

Check our Troubleshooting Guide
Contact Support