The Best Google Tools Under One Roof: Google’s Site Kit Plugin

When Google launched its Site Kit plugin for WordPress last fall, WordPress users—particularly those who rely on their websites to drive revenue—rejoiced. The plugin effectively brings multiple Google services—including Analytics, AdSense, PageSpeed Insights, and Search Console—under one roof to offer users a comprehensive dashboard view of the way people are interacting with their sites. 

Now that Site Kit has been out in the wild for a few months—and already installed on more than 400,000 sites— we wanted to dig in a bit deeper and hear how the launch has gone, how the plugin is being received by the WordPress community, and what if any plans Google has to add new features to upcoming versions of the plugin. 

To find out more, we sat down with Mariya Moeva, Site Kit Product Manager at Google, to discuss all things Site Kit as well as some of the exciting things her team has in store. As a side note, you can hear Mariya discuss Site Kit and other powerful Google tools during her upcoming keynote presentation at WP Engine Summit/2020.

Just to set the stage, can you give us a little bit of background on Site Kit? How did it come to be? What was the initial motivation that led to the plugin being built? 

We saw that a lot of site owners need to keep track of how they’re doing on the web, but don’t have the time or the knowledge to seek out and understand complex reports from multiple tools. Another issue a lot of site owners struggle with is how to set up the different products to get access to this information in the first place (e.g. how to place a verification code or a tracking tag on their site). Our goal was to make setup as intuitive as possible, then bring in one place the most relevant stats and functionality from across Google products to help site owners be successful on the web. The best place to do that was where they already spend time managing their site—the wp-admin dashboard. 

Now that we’re 5+ months from launch, with more than 400,000 active installations, what is the current state of Site Kit? Is Google pleased with the rollout thus far? Would you say the launch has been a success? 

We’re seeing strong and consistent adoption growth every month, and we’re glad that the product resonates with WordPress site owners. We’ll continue to build features that address the daily tasks of managing a site and growing its audience. 

What sorts of things are you and your team hearing from the WordPress community?  Has there been a specific type of WordPress user that sticks out as being most enthusiastic about Site Kit?   

We recently invited Site Kit’s users to share their thoughts with us, and we’ve gotten more than 5,500 responses so far! 

Based on these responses, we see three big groups of users who benefit the most from the plugin—bloggers, business owners, and content monetizers. They all want to focus on their business or other daily tasks and appreciate that we do the work for them by selecting the most relevant stats from across Google products that they should be checking on a regular basis. 

We’ve also heard from site developers, who appreciate that they now have a simple, easy to understand dashboard to show to their clients—this saves them lots of back-and-forth on the phone or email with clients. 

What is your team the most excited about with regards to Site Kit as it stands now? Do you expect to see wider adoption in the coming months? 

We’re very excited about several upcoming features on the roadmap, which will make the dashboard even more relevant to each individual site owner by connecting their specific goals with what’s being reported. We’re also working on further simplifying setup for each product, for example by letting users create a brand new Google Analytics account directly from the plugin. 

Last but not least, we’re looking into more ways to reach the site owners who would benefit from it most by working together with key partners in the WordPress ecosystem. 

If you have an idea for a feature or enhancement that you think would make your life easier, let us know on GitHub or on our support page in the WordPress plugin repository. 

Check out this article for more information about getting started with Site Kit, and visit WP Engine’s Solution Center to find out about other plugins, themes, and educational resources our internal teams have vetted for WP Engine customers.