Ever wish you could peek over your visitors’ shoulders and watch what they do on your website in real-time?
Maybe you just hit “send” on an email to 10,000 subscribers. Are they clicking through? What pages are they visiting? Are they bouncing immediately or exploring your content?
Or perhaps you posted something on social media and want to see if it’s driving traffic right now. Is that promotional campaign actually working, or are you burning budget with zero results?
Google Analytics real-time reports answer these questions instantly.
Real-time reports transform how you monitor marketing campaigns, track content performance, and respond to traffic spikes. Instead of making decisions based on yesterday’s data, you can see immediate results and adjust on the fly.
The challenge? Google Analytics’ real-time interface can be tricky to navigate, and constantly logging into your Analytics account interrupts your workflow.
There’s a better way. With ExactMetrics, you can view real-time reports directly in your WordPress dashboard—no need to leave your site or navigate Google Analytics’ complex interface.
In this guide, I’ll show you how to access real-time reports both in WordPress (the simple way) and directly in Google Analytics. You’ll learn what data is available, how to interpret it, and how to use real-time insights to make better business decisions. Let’s dive in!
In This Article:
- Why Real-Time Reports Matter for Your Website
- Find Real Time Reports in WordPress
- Find Realtime Reports in Google Analytics
- FAQs: Google Analytics Real-Time Reports
Why Real-Time Reports Matter for Your Website
Real-time reports unlock immediate insights that historical data simply can’t provide:
- Instant campaign feedback – See how email blasts, social posts, or ads perform the moment they go live
- Traffic spike diagnosis – Identify what’s causing sudden traffic surges (viral content, mentions, attacks)
- Live content testing – Watch user behavior as you publish new content or make site changes
- Peak traffic optimization – Monitor your busiest periods to ensure everything runs smoothly
- Event monitoring – Track live webinars, product launches, or flash sales as they happen
- Quick troubleshooting – Catch broken links or technical issues immediately based on unusual traffic patterns
Real-time data helps you make immediate decisions instead of waiting 24-48 hours for standard reports to populate.
Find Real Time Reports in WordPress
ExactMetrics is the best premium WordPress Analytics plugin, allowing you to easily set up Google Analytics without editing any code or needing a complicated tool like Google Tag Manager. You get advanced tracking right out of the box with an extremely user-friendly interface and Google Analytics reports right inside your WordPress dashboard.
Plus, you gain access to tons of additional Google Analytics features and advanced tracking capabilities with just a few simple clicks. Upgrade your tracking game and get sophisticated analytics without complicated configuration or code.
Here are some of ExactMetrics’ most popular features:
- Custom event tracking and one-click eCommerce tracking
- Conversion tracking for Google Ads and Microsoft (Bing) Ads
- Custom dimensions
- Advanced form tracking and integration with popular form builders like Formidable Forms, Ninja Forms, Gravity Forms, and WPForms.
- EU Compliance
- Display popular posts and advanced author tracking
- Affiliate and outbound link tracking
- Social media tracking
- Media and video play tracking
- And more…
Get started with ExactMetrics today!
To access your real-time Google Analytics reports from WordPress, you’ll need to install and activate the plugin and connect it to your Google Analytics account. Don’t worry though, it’s only a few clicks with our set-up wizard and you won’t need to worry about any code or tracking tags.
From your ExactMetric’s real time reports, you’ll be able to see:
- How many active users are on your site, updated every minute
- Pageviews per minute for the past 30 minutes
- Top pages users are viewing on your site
- What percentage of visitors are on each of your top 50 pages
- Top countries where current site visitors are browsing from
- Top cities where current site visitors are browsing from
For help installing ExactMetrics and connecting Google Analytics, check out our step-by-step tutorial How to Add Google Analytics to Your WordPress Site.
When you’re finished, just head back here to continue, and we’ll show you how to find Google Analytics real time reports in WordPress as well as how to find the Realtime reports tab in your Google Analytics account.
Google Analytics Real Time Overview Report
To find your Real-Time report in WordPress, head to ExactMetric » Reports in your admin menu and click the tab that says Real-Time at the top. When you first open it, you’ll see an Overview report with a graph of your page views within the last 30 minutes and the number of visitors currently on your site.
It can be fun (and also helpful) to watch real-time data right after you send out an email, start running an ad, or post a social media update. You can see how many people are clicking right away.
Google Analytics Real Time Top Pages Report
Which pages are your current visitors on? With the Google Analytics Real-Time Top Pages report, you can find out. Watch what pages people are visiting in realtime, without ever leaving ExactMetrics.
Are you showing the right content at the right time? If you’re running a website that gets a lot of visits from social media and other campaigns, this report can help you decide when to share again, and instantly see what content is doing the best.
Google Analytics Real Time Referral Traffic Sources Report
The Real-Time Referral Traffic Sources report can show you how your current visitors got to your site.
What’s really neat about this report in ExactMetrics is that it also shows you the referral path and campaign data. So, let’s say you have a couple of different ads running on social media at the same time. If you used campaign URLs, you’ll see which traffic is from which campaign.
Google Analytics Real Time Locations Report
At the bottom of the Real-Time report tab in ExactMetrics, you’ll find your Top Countries and Top Cities reports. These are where your current visitors are located.
If you have international visitors, the locations report can be a pretty cool way to watch people from different countries visit your site. If you’re not international, viewing visitor data by city is still really helpful. It can be very useful if you have multiple physical locations, or want to see how a piece of just-published-and-shared content is doing in different areas.
Now that you’ve seen how to view your real-time reports in WordPress, let’s look at how you can find your Google Analytics Realtime Report.
Find Realtime Reports in Google Analytics
To view the full real time reports in Google Analytics from ExactMetrics, click any of the blue button links from the Real-Time tab in WordPress. It’ll take you to your Realtime overview report in Analytics.
If you’re accessing your website’s real time data from your Google Analytics account, click Reports » Realtime from the sidebar menu.
Now you’ll see your Google Analytics Realtime Overview with a number of different data cards that have different reports on them. This real time Google Analytics data gives information about site visitors who have been active in the last 30 minutes. The top card will tell you how many users, which is broken down by device type.
You can find lots more information on the Realtime reports page by looking at the individual cards. In Google Analytics, you’ll be able to see:
- Users per minute over the last 30 minutes
- Percentage of users by device category
- Users by source, medium, or campaign
- Page views by title
- Users by audience
- Event counts and names
- Conversions by event name
Another really cool thing you can do in Google Analytics Realtime is create comparisons. You can see things like how well two campaigns are currently performing, compare the activity between visitors from different regions, and lots more.
To create a comparison, click where it says Add comparison + towards the top, you can then customize your comparison in the sidebar that comes us and hit Apply. Now you’ll see the data side by side.
For example, we added a comparison for English Language so now we see data for English users and all users next to each other. You can add more comparisons or remove them to discover more about your real time site activity and visitors.
Well, that’s all there is to it! You’ve learned how to find real time reports in Google Analytics and WordPress.
I hope you found this overview helpful. Next, you’ll definitely want to learn How to Share Your Google Analytics Reports.
Want to know how far down your pages visitors are scrolling? Check out How to Track Scroll Depth in Google Analytics Without Editing Code.
Not using ExactMetrics yet? What are you waiting for?
Don’t forget to follow us on X and Facebook to see all the latest Google Analytics tutorials.
FAQs: Google Analytics Real-Time Reports
Here are answers to common questions about real-time reports in Google Analytics.
How accurate are Google Analytics real-time reports?
Real-time reports in Google Analytics are highly accurate but operate with a slight delay of 5-10 seconds for data processing. The active user count updates approximately every minute, while page view data refreshes more frequently. Real-time reports show data from the last 30 minutes and are designed for monitoring current activity rather than precise second-by-second tracking. For most purposes, this level of accuracy is more than sufficient for making immediate decisions about campaigns, content, or site issues.
What counts as an “active user” in real-time reports?
An active user is someone currently on your website or who has interacted with your site within approximately the last 5 minutes. Google Analytics considers users active if they’ve loaded a page, triggered an event, or shown activity recently. Once someone closes your site or remains inactive for several minutes, they drop out of the active user count. This metric helps you understand your actual concurrent visitor count at any given moment, not total visitors over a longer period.
Can I see individual visitor activity in real-time reports?
No, Google Analytics real-time reports show aggregated data, not individual user sessions. You can see what pages are being viewed, which cities visitors are from, and traffic sources, but you cannot track specific individuals or see their complete browsing path in real-time. This privacy-focused approach complies with data protection regulations. For individual user journey tracking (in a privacy-compliant way), you’ll need to use ExactMetrics’ User Journey addon, which shows anonymized customer paths over multiple sessions.
Why don’t my real-time report numbers match my historical reports?
Real-time reports use different data collection and processing than historical reports in Google Analytics. Real-time data prioritizes speed over complete accuracy, while historical reports include additional processing like bot filtering, session adjustments, and data quality checks that can take 24-48 hours. Small discrepancies are normal. Additionally, real-time reports show only the last 30 minutes, while historical reports accumulate data over longer periods. Always use historical reports for important business decisions and analysis.
Do real-time reports work with ad blockers?
Real-time reports depend on the same Google Analytics tracking code as standard reports. If visitors use ad blockers or privacy extensions that block Google Analytics, they won’t appear in your real-time reports (or any Analytics reports). This affects roughly 25-40% of internet users, depending on your audience. Real-time reports show actual tracked visitors, not total site traffic. For complete accuracy, consider using server-side tracking solutions, though these require more technical setup.
Can I use real-time reports to track marketing campaign performance?
Yes, real-time reports are excellent for immediate campaign monitoring. When you use UTM parameters in your campaign URLs, real-time reports show traffic from specific campaigns, allowing you to see instant results from email sends, social media posts, or ad launches. The Referral Traffic Sources report in ExactMetrics displays campaign data, making it easy to compare multiple campaigns running simultaneously. This immediate feedback helps you quickly identify winning strategies and pause underperforming campaigns before wasting budget.
How far back do real-time reports go?
Real-time reports show data from the last 30 minutes only. They’re designed for monitoring current activity, not historical analysis. If you need to see what happened an hour ago or yesterday, use Google Analytics’ standard reports instead. The 30-minute window provides a snapshot of immediate user behavior without the complexity of longer historical tracking. ExactMetrics preserves this same 30-minute window in its WordPress real-time reports for consistency with Google Analytics.
Why should I use ExactMetrics for real-time reports instead of Google Analytics directly?
ExactMetrics brings real-time reports directly into your WordPress dashboard, eliminating the need to log into Google Analytics constantly. This saves time and keeps you focused on managing your site. ExactMetrics also presents real-time data in a cleaner, easier-to-read format than Google Analytics’ interface. Additionally, ExactMetrics includes campaign path data alongside referral sources in one unified view, making it faster to understand exactly where traffic originates. For WordPress users, ExactMetrics simply provides a more convenient, streamlined experience.