A new home for our Google Analytics plugins

Today we’re announcing that our Analytics plugins are getting a new home on MonsterInsights.com. One of the “problems” of a quickly growing business is that you have to choose what to focus on. We’ve made that choice: we’ll focus on building best in class SEO products, from plugins to training programs. We’re very happy to be able to get our loyal Google Analytics for WordPress users a good new home at Monster Insights. 

Meet the new owner(s)

syed-balkhi-300x300

The MonsterInsights.com team is managed by Syed Balkhi. You might know Syed from plugins like OptinMonster, Envira Gallery and more. Syed also runs WPBeginner.com, and is a fantastic entrepreneur. His businesses focus on conversion and business growth, which made our suite of Google Analytics plugins a nice fit.

What does this acquisition mean for existing users?

As Syed says in his post too: aside from new ownership and the new name, it’s business as usual. You can continue to use the plugin that you love without any interruptions.

MonsterInsights logo
The new name and logo for Monster Insights

With the experience Syed and team have, they’ll be adding new features and improvements to what’s now called MonsterInsights in the near future. They’ll update the plugin and give it the love it deserves. I have no doubt in my mind that this will lead to a far better plugin, very quickly. 

A nostalgic moment

While I’m very happy about the decision to give this plugin a new home, I’m also feeling nostalgic. Google Analytics for WordPress was my first “major” plugin, even before WordPress SEO (now Yoast SEO) was a thing. It’s been “with me” for a very long time, but I trust Syed and team will take it to even greater heights.

I want to thank Syed for making this tough decision easier. Knowing that he’ll take care of the plugin and both our free and premium customers really made it easier to decide to do what’s right.

If you have questions, pose them in the comments and we’ll try to address them. Also, go ahead over to the new MonsterInsights site and read Syed’s welcome post.

Coming up next!


66 Responses to A new home for our Google Analytics plugins

  1. Kevin
    Kevin  • 8 years ago

    Deleting the app. I can’t get it to work. I authenticate the Adwords and it doesn’t take. It keeps saying I have to authenticate. Says it authenticated but doesn’t stay and keeps telling me to authenticate. I manually put in the UA code and it didn’t keep this way either.

    • Pablo Pacheco Karzin
      Pablo Pacheco Karzin  • 8 years ago

      Verify if you are logged as an administrator. You are probably being ignored on plugins settings

  2. Dennis Schmets
    Dennis Schmets  • 8 years ago

    If I understood correctly’ve become Yoast SEO plugin on gene removed by Syd MonsterInsights.com? One of the leading (perhaps the best) plugins in the field of SEO and WordPress. Must be hard to give up this life’s work, right?

    • Joost de Valk
      Joost de Valk  • 8 years ago

      You didn’t understand correctly; only our GA plugins, like it said in the title and basically the entire post ;-)

  3. Carme
    Carme  • 8 years ago

    Hi,
    Can I to buy woocommerce Bundle with 20% discount?
    https://yoast.com/wordpress/plugins/woocommerce-bundle/
    Thanks

    • Joost de Valk

      Hey Carme,

      that URL actually shouldn’t exist :)

  4. An Coppens
    An Coppens  • 8 years ago

    Seriously unhappy with this transition. Google analytics which worked fine before is still a sorry mess with unreadable menu, it doesn’t accept the login and as has been said I originally thought the site had been hacked by an unknown monster…

    A week into the change I would have expected any bugs to be fixed, but that is not the case. Can we get our money back on this and who from?

  5. Reinier
    Reinier  • 8 years ago

    Finally found it. I thought my site was hacked.

    – I didn’t receive new login information
    – My translations are not working (er URL. / rror: “%s” / niet bijg)
    – I got an unwanted icon in my menu

    And according to reactions of Joost he’s not able to deal with criticism of his customers.

    I’m sorry Joost, your products are most of time ok, but now I hope you learn from this transition. Neither the transition went smooth, nor the communication.

  6. Ferry
    Ferry  • 8 years ago

    .. and our previous posts are back… seriously?

  7. Ferry
    Ferry  • 8 years ago

    Nice to see that a ‘negative’ post from a paying customer about the transition is being deleted by Team Yoast…

    Again: The plugin isn’t working on 4 of our sites, we have received no e-mail like many other customers. We’ve bought and used almost every premium plugin from Yoast, but this amateuristic transition is simply one bridge too far. With all respect of Syed (Optinmonster is really cool!), we’re going to move to the All-in-One seo plugin.

  8. Ferry
    Ferry  • 8 years ago

    Customers aren’t happy with this move, and to be honoust: me neither. No e-mail, no login details, a very disturbing icon… hmmm, I think I have to re-consider the plugins before renewal… sorry guys!

    • Syed Balkhi
      Syed Balkhi  • 8 years ago

      Hi Ferry,

      I’m sorry that you haven’t received the emails. We sent them to every user account at the time of migration.

      You can reset your password by going here:

      https://www.monsterinsights.com/wp-login.php?action=lostpassword

      And using the email that you used to purchase the original subscription.

      Let us know if we could be of further assistance.

    • Joost de Valk

      Hey Ferry,

      well, sorry you feel that way. I’ve passed your feedback on to MonsterInsights, not much we can do on top of that right now.

  9. Jim Walczak
    Jim Walczak  • 8 years ago

    If there was an email sent to users – it never made my inbox. I’ve trusted Yoast for years – and have backed that trust up with dollars invested in your plugins.

    As a long time subscriber, I find the way the way I was notified (a big warning box at the top of my dashboard wanting me to update a license to a plugin I never heard of) disturbing at best.

    Right now I feel less trust of the Yoast name and it even further makes be skeptical of the entire plugin ecosystem. I’m not sure what you made on this transition, but what you and the entire plugin community lost in trust from me is priceless.

    Excuse me while I go reevaluate every freaking plugin in our sites

    • Syed Balkhi
      Syed Balkhi  • 8 years ago

      Hey Jim,

      I’m sorry that you haven’t received the emails. We sent them to every user account.

      You can reset your password by going here:

      https://www.monsterinsights.com/wp-login.php?action=lostpassword

      And using the email that you used to purchase the original subscription.

      Let us know if we could be of further assistance.

    • Joost de Valk

      Hey Jim,

      I’ve passed your feedback on to Monster Insights, I trust they’ll track your email down and see what’s going wrong. You might want to check your spam, if you haven’t already, but other than that there’s not much I can do right now.

  10. Val
    Val  • 8 years ago

    Once we’ve updated the plugin, do we lose recorded traffic during the time the change was made before we updated it? Will we start to see the traffic that was lost during the time it wasn’t updated?

  11. Val Huff
    Val Huff  • 8 years ago

    I just noticed a data discrepancy in our Google Analytics dashboard. Does this have to do with the plugin changing to Monster Insights? Is there something we should’ve done in the backend when this change was made?

    • Gordon
      Gordon  • 8 years ago

      I have the same issue. I think data is lost and less traffic is recorded , but to be honest i still have someone checking this out to be 100% true.

  12. Haywhy
    Haywhy  • 8 years ago

    My dashboard is still requesting for authentication authentication after I have authenticated it. What should I do?

  13. Gordon
    Gordon  • 8 years ago

    well, i seem to have missed the e-mail about the change and my Google Analytics by MonsterInsights dashboard is a mess as well

    Almost unreadable and definitely unworkable. I updated to 5.4.9 with no effect. I am not worried this won’t be fixed. I am just not content with this change as it is now, and way of doing business with me. I paid for this plugin and don’t get what i paid for right now.

    • Syed Balkhi
      Syed Balkhi  • 8 years ago

      Hi Gordon,

      Can you please email our support at MonsterInsights, so we can have a closer look to what’s going on.

      This bug came up in 5.8.4 due to a corrupt translation file (not sure how it got corrupted during the commit, but it did). We quickly fixed that in 5.8.4.2 and several users who originally reported the issue confirmed that it was fixed.

      We’re happy to take a look at what’s going on with your site to ensure and get it fixed. If it is something that we indeed overlooked, then I want to make sure that we roll out a fix fast.

      • Gordon Volckmer
        Gordon Volckmer  • 8 years ago

        Thanks Syed,

        I appreciate the reply.

        will contact Support

  14. Scholto
    Scholto  • 8 years ago

    Hi Joost,
    Could you give some explanation about the financial consequences of this transition? Right now I have the benefits of the Yoast Premium Bundle. I think I’m losing those benefits when I extend my subscription next year.
    Kind Regards,
    Scholto
    Finler Media

    • Scholto
      Scholto  • 8 years ago

      Joost, would you please explain?

      • Joost de Valk

        Hey,

        for us, the plugin is $69 and the upgrade discount is 25%. I can’t speak for Monster Insights, as I simply don’t know.

    • Scholto
      Scholto  • 8 years ago

      Hi Joost,
      And what are the financial consequences? At this moment I have the premium bundle (139 dollars) which contains the Yoast SEO plugin and the GA plugin.

      When I have to update them seperately I guess I have to pay 69 dollars for the seo plugin at Yoast and 89 dollars for the GA plugin at Monster Insights. Or are there upgrade discounts? And what are those upgrade discounts from your company and from MonsterInsights?

      Don’t let me be misunderstood: I’m willing to pay more for good products like yours and those from Monster Insights, but from customer perspective I´m also aware of “sneaky” price inflation if you know what I mean.

      Thanks in advance.
      Scholto

    • Joost de Valk

      Hey!

      Yes indeed, you’ll be able to update your Yoast SEO plugin with us, and your GA plugin with MonsterInsights.

  15. Mustafa Rangoonwala
    Mustafa Rangoonwala  • 8 years ago

    Looks great man…..Hard working guy. Syed Rocks

  16. Anne
    Anne  • 8 years ago

    Don’t know if it’s a co-incidence or not, by my Google Analytics seem to have stopped recording since this took place!

  17. Chris
    Chris  • 8 years ago

    I was wondering what about the pro users will they be supported or we have to purchase a new license ?

    Now I get it what its all with the name change when we updated this plugin for WordPress

    • Derek
      Derek  • 8 years ago

      This was answered already in the comments.

  18. Lazy Jaiden
    Lazy Jaiden  • 8 years ago

    Just found this blog post, like many others probably will :) Saw the MonsterInsights, got freaked, googled “Yoast MonsterInsights”.

    Whew, great to see all is well. Syed is awesome, so now I’m not worried.

    Joost, don’t be sad, just know it came from a great home, and is going to a great home. Nothing to be sad about. Although I’ve let go of my “babies” before and actually got teary-eyed Lol So I know how you feel.

    All the best,
    Jaiden

  19. Ed
    Ed  • 8 years ago

    The new dashboard icon is a gawdy mess. I come away with the feeling I’ve been highjacked and at best marketed to without being asked.

    Always liked the plugin, but annoying people enough with stunts like that and a deactivation seems like a good option.

  20. Landon
    Landon  • 8 years ago

    The new icon the dashboard is a bit distracting and out of place (not very professional looking).

    Still love the plugin and appreciate all of your guys hard work.

  21. Adrienne
    Adrienne  • 8 years ago

    Syed rocks, so I think the plugin will be in good hands.

    • Joost de Valk

      So do we!

  22. Charles
    Charles  • 8 years ago

    I haven’t had a chance to try this yet! Will give it a test drive over the weekend :)

  23. Chris Trynkiewicz
    Chris Trynkiewicz  • 8 years ago

    Hi,

    How’s the new team going to support translations? The plugin is currently hooked to Yoast’s GlotPress.

    All the best,
    Chris Trynkiewicz, Polish validator

    • Joost de Valk

      Hi Chris,

      for now, nothing is changing, Syed and team are looking at how they’ll handle it.

  24. pablo
    pablo  • 8 years ago

    Hi! that’s great however I almost delete it because There was no Yoast logo on the dashboard. Feeling a little paranoid this days with security issues.

  25. Adam
    Adam  • 8 years ago

    Interesting News, Glad the 4.5 compatibility issue was resolved. I reported it to the Yoast support team last week :)

    Good luck with the new acquisition Syed :)

  26. Andrew Taylor
    Andrew Taylor  • 8 years ago

    The MonsterInsights plugin appeared in the admin area of one of my sites and I deleted it believing it was malicious. The submenu didn’t seem to be correctly formed and listed;
    – ‘t up-to-da’
    – ‘ved.’
    – ‘s of files’.

    I wasn’t aware of the change from Yoast, so was busy performing Wordfence scans and trying to Google more info on the MonsterInsights plugin. I couldn’t even find this blog post at the time and only just saw it in the newsletter.

    • Reinier
      Reinier  • 8 years ago

      I agree with Andrew too. I’m sorry Joost, but your reaction to Andrew isn’t very professional.

      • Nick
        Nick  • 8 years ago

        This sudden change on the dashboard, loads of support requests, confusion, hard to find information, extra workload – couldn’t have been handled much worse really.

    • Beth
      Beth  • 8 years ago

      I agree with you Andrew. I came close to deleting it from my client sites as well. Since the change happened in the middle of many plugin updates leading up to and after the WordPress version 4.5 release it was jarring to see a strange new name and icon in the Dashboard. Had to dig around to figure out what happened. Seems like there could have been a heads up sent out to users. And if there was, I certainly didn’t see it. Have this plugin running on several sites I manage.

      • Ferry
        Ferry  • 8 years ago

        Same here! No email received, nothing. At this time we have issues with the e-commerce add-on, can’t download the update (not authorized).

    • Joost de Valk

      Hey Andrew,

      you’re quick to pull the trigger :)

  27. gamma
    gamma  • 8 years ago

    No longer working, how to fix?

  28. Dave Barr
    Dave Barr  • 8 years ago

    Hi Joost,
    Just updated (to Google Analytics by MonsterInsights) and was happy to see that the AMP section in Yoast SEO plugin still works.
    “AMP Analytics
    Because your Google Analytics plugin by Yoast is active, your AMP pages will also be tracked.”
    Will the two plugins continue to work in the future?

    • Joost de Valk

      I will definitely strive for that and work with the Monster Insights team to make that even better.

      • Syed Balkhi
        Syed Balkhi  • 8 years ago

        Absolutely we’ll work together as expected to do what’s best for users (you).

        Thanks Dave

        • Dave Barr
          Dave Barr  • 8 years ago

          Thank you Joost & Syed. That is wonderful news.
          Also, thanks for understanding my badly written question ;-)

          Wishing you all the best success in the future!

  29. Marjorie Ray
    Marjorie Ray  • 8 years ago

    Sounds like a good move. I’d love to see more customization options for reports.

    • Syed Balkhi
      Syed Balkhi  • 8 years ago

      They’re definitely coming. We have some really awesome stuff planned. We want to make sure that we do things the right way and slowly roll out new features – 6 – 8 month roadmap. Will share this in the coming weeks on the site.

  30. Rednasil
    Rednasil  • 8 years ago

    There was a small issue after the update, but the new update fixed these issues. I was worried after seeing that the Google Analytics plugin had a new name. But now I see that it’s Syed’s now, so it’s in good hands..

    Yoast thanks for all the time you guys put in the past few years to deliver this product.

    • Joost de Valk

      Yeah I think Syed and team will do great!

  31. Torben Lundsgaard
    Torben Lundsgaard  • 8 years ago

    Will current subscribers of Google Analytics by Yoast Premium be converted to MonsterInsights Pro?

    • Syed Balkhi
      Syed Balkhi  • 8 years ago

      Absolutely – all premium users will be supported. You should have received an email with new login information.

      All existing license keys should work as expected.

      If you have any questions, feel free to ping our support.

      • Sansern Kiattivejsooonthorn
        Sansern Kiattivejsooonthorn  • 8 years ago

        Hi Joost and Syed,
        It is such a great announcement to have you both working together. Just wondering why my account didn’t receive any password for this change. It would be very much appreciated if you can have your team investigate for me as I did wrote an email to monsterinsights team yesterday but no respond back. Here is the message I am having at this stage “Warning! You didn’t set your MonsterInsights Pro license key yet, which means you’re missing out on updates and support! Enter your license key or get a license here.”

        I am very glad to see some new movement.

        Thank you in advance and congratulation for both of your company.

        Best wishes,

        Sam

    • Joost de Valk

      Yes :)

  32. Ankush Das
    Ankush Das  • 8 years ago

    Well, this home was trustworthy. But, I’m also a user of Syed’s plugin so it will be fine as well!

  33. Henk
    Henk  • 8 years ago

    It’s already broken, so far for the continous “great experience” …

    • Joost de Valk

      Henk, thank you for those warm words. It works well on literally millions of sites.

      • Ferry
        Ferry  • 8 years ago

        Again (and hopefully this post isn’t deleted again): same problem on 4 of our sites, so maybe it’s better to communicate and help your customers and not bashing feedback…

      • Ferry
        Ferry  • 8 years ago

        Broken on 4 client sites so maybe it’s not a good idea to bash your clients but to help them?