Google Analytics Tracking in WordPress Without a  Plugin

There are many plugins available that handle this, but sometimes a simple solution works best. For most of the WordPress sites I design I implement this basic Google Analytics function into functions.php to keep things lightweight and not dependent on plugins. The only extra feature added to Google Analytics is 404 error tracking, which I always add.

The base_google_analytics() Function

/**
*   Google analytics attached to footer
*/
function base_google_analytics() {
?>
    <script type="text/javascript"> var _gaq = _gaq || [];
    _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-XXXXXX-1']);
    <?php if( is_404() ){ ?>
    _gaq.push(['_trackPageview', '/404/?page=' + document.location.pathname + document.location.search + '&from=' + document.referrer]);
    <?php } else { ?>
    _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);
    <?php } ?>
    (function() {
        var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true;
        ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'https://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js';
        var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s);
    })();
    </script>
<?php
}
add_action('wp_footer', 'base_google_analytics');

I hope this helps you with your next project. As always, if you have any suggestions fire away!