How to Anonymize IP Addresses in Google Analytics

Are you needing to anonymize IP addresses of your site visitors in Google Analytics?

ExactMetrics makes it easy to comply with applicable privacy laws.

Follow this guide to anonymize IP in Google Analytics with ExactMetrics.

Prerequisites:

  1. ExactMetrics is installed and activated.
  2. Google Analytics is connected and authenticated on your website.
  3. Please also review the legal disclaimer at the end of the guide.

Within your WordPress dashboard, click into ExactMetrics » Settings » Engagement » Demographics.

 

Enable Anonymize IP Addresses.

If this option is missing, it means you have the EU Compliance addon installed and activated. When this addon is active, the option is automatically enabled and instead located within the EU Compliance section at ExactMetrics » Settings » Engagement » EU Compliance:

Enabling Anonymize IP Addresses simply adds the following snippet of code:

__gtagTracker( 'config', 'G-xxxxxxxxxx', {"anonymize_ip":"true"} );

With this code, the last octet of IP addresses of visitors on your site will be anonymized.

You can look for the snippet within your site's source code to confirm that you've enabled the option. It's recommended to clear site cache (if needed), clear browser cache and to use an incognito window before verifying.

Reminder:

Personally Identifiable Information is not collected by Google Analytics by default. IP data is used to collect city and country information and is never exposed.

With Google Analytics by default IP addresses are anonymized.

You did it! You've Anonymized IP Addresses in your Google Analytics.

Do you need to go further?

If the EU GDPR applies to your business, you may need to take other necessary steps of EU Compliance. To ensure full compliance, see our full guide: Getting Started with the EU Compliance Addon.

 

Legal Disclaimer: This addon is designed to automate some of the settings change required to be in compliance with various EU laws however due to the dynamic nature of websites, no plugin can offer 100% legal compliance. Please consult a specialist internet law attorney to determine if you are in compliance with all applicable laws for your jurisdictions and your use cases.

As a website operator, it is solely your responsibility to ensure that you are in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations governing your use of our plugin.

ExactMetrics, its employees/contractors, and other affiliated parties are not lawyers. Any advice given in our support, documentation, website, other mediums or through our services/products should not be considered legal advice and is for informational and/or educational purposes only and are not guaranteed to be correct, complete or up-to-date, and do not constitute creating/entering an Attorney-Client relationship.