Site Kit by Google – Analytics, Search Console, AdSense, Speed

Reviewers like having Analytics and Search Console in one dashboard, but the newest ones say stats only load about half the time, especially on shared hosting.

How well this listing is tuned to rank in WordPress.org search, on the factors an owner controls. Not popularity, optimization.

Directory searches this plugin turns up in, and which way each one is moving. WordPress.org publishes no history of search positions, so this starts the day we first tracked a keyword and never backfills.

wp.org is where the directory puts the plugin for that search. On merit is where it would sit if results were ranked on rating, support and updates, without the install boost. The last column is how far the wp.org position moved, from our first reading in the last 90 days to the latest.

1380 searches this plugin appeared in over the last 90 days, 20 listed. 1276 left out as unrelated or noise (years, numbers, stray words).

Directory rank vs rivals

wp.org popularity rank over time · higher is better · when a rival's line climbs above yours, they've overtaken you

How often this plugin actually ships. A steady rhythm is the maintenance signal a single "last updated" date can't show.

Share of active installs on each version of this plugin. Green is the current release; a big slice on older versions is a user base that has stopped updating.

Crossed into this band 19 months ago; the previous band took 14 months to cross, which places it about 80% of the way through.

1. ★★★★★ crowesam

   4mo ago

   What better way to understand something than reading the manual or seeing posts from the developers and people writingthe manual! This should make things a lot easier.

   Read on wp.org ↗
2. ★★★★★ marvin85

   5mo ago

   makes tracking so easy. i can check analytics n search console right from wp dashboard. rly convenient tbh, load time is a bit slow sometimes but overall pretty good.

   Read on wp.org ↗
3. ★★★★★ Rob Purkis

   5mo ago

   Absolute Kaka This plugin caused endless problems with my websitb and our site was bombarded with adds that bad we could hardly see our website. Turned the plugin off and problems went away.

   Read on wp.org ↗
4. ★★★★★ thyran

   5mo ago

   We manage 75+ WordPress sites for clients and have Site Kit installed on most of them. The plugin’s core value — consolidating tracking code insertion for Analytics, Search Console, Tag Manager, Ads, and PageSpeed Insights into a single managed plugin — is genuinely useful. We rely on it to keep clients’ Google service integrations consistent and centrally managed. That part deserves credit. However, since 2025 the plugin has become increasingly problematic on shared hosting and resource-isolated environments (cPanel/CloudLinux reseller accounts in our case). The Site Kit dashboard widget fires 6+ parallel Google API requests on cold-cache admin loads, with each GA4 Data API call now taking 10-15 seconds (vs sub-second on the old Universal Analytics API). When these requests fire concurrently with other admin widgets (WooCommerce, Yoast, Wordfence), they exhaust CPU, memory, and I/O limits on standard shared hosting accounts, producing 503 errors and 20-40 second dashboard load times. This isn’t a bug — it’s an architectural consequence of how the widget loads data — but it’s also not mentioned anywhere in the plugin’s documented requirements. The current minimum requirements list WordPress version, PHP version, browser support, and REST API availability, but nothing about hosting resources, concurrent connections, or worker capacity. For an agency deploying Site Kit at scale, this gap led to weeks of diagnostic work across multiple sites before identifying the plugin’s resource burst pattern as the cause. Two specific requests: Add a setting to disable the dashboard widget. A toggle in Admin Settings (similar to the existing “Display relevant page stats in the Admin bar” option) would let administrators disable the Summary widget across all users at once. Currently the only options are unchecking it per-user via Screen Options (doesn’t propagate to other admins) or adding custom code to remove the meta box (fragile if the widget ID changes). Document the resource requirements honestly. The plugin should mention that the dashboard widget makes concurrent Google API calls on cold cache, that these calls can take 10+ seconds each, and that shared hosting environments may need to disable the widget or upgrade hosting resources to handle the burst. Workaround for other agencies hitting this: Until a first-class setting exists, this code (placed in a mu-plugin or child theme functions.php) removes the Site Kit dashboard widget for all users: /** * Disable Site Kit Dashboard Widget * * Site Kit's dashboard widget makes 6+ Google API calls on cold-cache * dashboard loads. On resource-constrained hosting these can exhaust * account limits and cause 503 errors. The full Site Kit dashboard * remains accessible via the Site Kit menu item. */add_action('wp_dashboard_setup', function() { remove_meta_box('google_dashboard_widget', 'dashboard', 'normal');}, 99); Note: the widget ID (google_dashboard_widget) is current as of Site Kit at time of writing, but could change in future releases. Detailed diagnostic data, network waterfalls, and the support thread tracking this is at: Wordpres Support Topics unable to add link here just search: Sudden high CPU and 503 errors on Site Kit dashboards across 80+ sites We’ll continue using Site Kit because the consolidated tracking management is genuinely valuable for agency workflows. Better documentation of these characteristics would have saved significant diagnostic time and would help other agencies set hosting expectations correctly when deploying Site Kit at scale.

   Read on wp.org ↗
5. ★★★★★ mikala65

   5mo ago

   tbh it saves sm time having analytics inside wp. u dont need extra tabs open. gave 4 stars cz setup was kinda annoying rn, but its running gud now. ty

   Read on wp.org ↗
6. ★★★★★ tickastudios

   5mo ago

   A little complicated to use, but very very powerful

   Read on wp.org ↗
7. ★★★★★ luana345

   6mo ago

   Analytics, Search Console, AdSense all in 1 dashboard?? Game changer fr!! Setup took like 2 mins n its literally by Google so u kno its legit. Cnt imagine managing w/o it

   Read on wp.org ↗
8. ★★★★★ DashKitten

   6mo ago

   Repeatedly asks me to reset the plugin in spite of having my Analytics details and being part of the Yoast setup I use. I don’t have time to play detective and guess what might be wrong where.

   Read on wp.org ↗

Recent releases and news for this plugin

1. 2026-11-02 1.191.0 Enhanced Add support for plain permalinks to the "Top posts by visitors" column in the "Recent activity" tab. See #13894 . Add landingPage and sessionCampaignName to shared Analytics report dimensions 1.191.0
2. 2026-10-19 1.190.0 Added Add a "Recent activity" tab showing traffic and search performance since the day before yesterday. See #13681 . Enhanced Add the rrmSurveyCTA feature flag. See #13716 . Improve handling of rate 1.190.0
3. 2026-10-05 1.189.0 Enhanced Update proxy setup to include verification evidence. See #13678 . Add the datePicker feature flag for the dashboard date picker feature. See #13609 . Add the typicalTraffic feature flag. See 1.189.0
4. 2026-09-21 1.188.0 Enhanced Move Easy Digital Downloads currency lookup into the event provider. See #13603 . Add the adsConversionTrackingIntent feature flag. See #13463 . Show Site Goals groups consistently between em 1.188.0
5. 2026-09-07 1.187.0 Enhanced Remove "Site Goals" feature flag (feature is fully-available). See #13420 . Add Site Health debug data for the Content_Events provider. See #13292 . Add the pagination_click event tracking. S 1.187.0
6. 2026-08-24 1.186.0 Enhanced Add new "content events" event provider in conversion event tracking to all sites. See #13281 . Add the initial datastore for the Feature Discovery Hub. See #13245 . Add the featureDiscoveryH 1.186.0

All 3 disclosed vulnerabilities are patched in the current version (1.191.0). Sites still on an older version should update.

1. Patched Medium · 4.3 Site Kit by Google – Analytics, Search Console, AdSense, Speed <= 1.186.0 - Cross-Site Request Forgery ↗
   2026-09-10 CVE-2026-62139 Cross-Site Request Forgery Affects <= 1.186.0 Patched in 1.187.0
2. Patched Low · 2.7 Site Kit by Google – Analytics, Search Console, AdSense, Speed < 1.176.0 - Missing Authorization to Authenticated (Editor+) Settings Update ↗
   2026-06-25 CVE-2026-10753 Missing Authorization Affects < 1.176.0 Patched in 1.176.0
3. Patched Medium · 4.3 Site Kit by Google <= 1.7.1 - Sensitive Information Disclosure ↗
   2020-05-21 CVE-2020-8934 Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor Affects <= 1.7.1 Patched in 1.8.0

Translated into 44 languages, 11 at 90% or more

Plus 20 more locales with partial translations.

Whether ChatGPT and Claude name this plugin when asked the category question, and whether the readme gives them something to quote.

Growth timeline

Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow

1. 2025-04-05 4M+ → 5M+ up after 427 days in tier
2. 2024-02-03 3M+ → 4M+ up after 351 days in tier
3. 2023-02-17 2M+ → 3M+ up after 317 days in tier
4. 2022-04-06 1M+ → 2M+ up after 279 days in tier
5. 2021-07-01 800K+ → 1M+ up after 210 days in tier
6. 2020-12-03 400K+ → 800K+ up after 196 days in tier
7. 2020-05-21 300K+ → 400K+ up after 40 days in tier
8. 2020-04-11 200K+ → 300K+ up after 40 days in tier

Competes with

The plugins that solve the same job, ranked by shared tags then reach, closest match first. The letter on the right is each plugin's health grade (A best, F worst).

Embed this report card

Drop a live Pulse card for Site Kit by Google – Analytics, Search Console, AdSense, Speed into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.

Site Kit by Google – Analytics, Search Console, AdSense, Speed: 5M+ active installs, 4.2★ (1,013 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-11-03. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/google-site-kit