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WordPress Plugin

If you want to integrate Parse.ly content analytics into your WordPress website without any extra integration work, you can use wp-parsely. The wp-parsely plugin automatically injects the Parse.ly content analytics tracker and metadata into your website’s pages. You can also customize your integration easily in the plugin’s settings page.

Installation

Installation steps differ depending on your setup, so please pick the one that applies to your case.

WordPress VIP customers: Contact your account representative(s) and we will install the plugin for you.

WordPress.com customers: Please contact Support to ask for help activating of the plugin for your website.

For all other cases (regular WordPress installations):

  1. Visit the “Plugins” page in your WordPress dashboard and click “Add New” at the top of the page.
  2. Search for “Parse.ly” using the search bar on the right side. The wp-parsely plugin should appear in the search results.
  3. Click “Install Now” to install the plugin.
  4. After installation is completed, click the “Activate” button to activate the plugin.

Decoupled set up: regardless of your hosting situation, you can use wp-parsely in conjunction with a different front-end application.

  1. Follow the configuration instructions.
  2. Review our decoupled instructions.

Configuration

Basic settings

Basic tab of the Parse.ly Settings page

Required: Site ID

Now that wp-parsely is installed and activated, complete the initial configuration for it to work.

  1. Navigate to the Parse.ly settings page in the WordPress dashboard (under the “Settings” menu).
  2. Fill in your Site ID.

Optional settings

Under the “Settings” menu on the Parse.ly settings page, you may see the following fields as part of Basic Settings.

  1. Parse.ly API Secret (optional, not visible to new WPVIP customers). The Parse.ly API Secret is optional and only available to customers who have purchased the Parse.ly API. You will need the Parse.ly API Secret If you plan on using the Content Intelligence. If you have purchased the API, you can find your API Secret in the Parse.ly Dashboard under the “API Settings” menu item. If you have not purchased the API and would like to do so, email your account manager.
  2. Metadata Format: Select a metadata format. We recommend repeated metas.
  3. Logo: If you have a logo you want to add, you can specify your logo’s URL by using the Browse button to the right of the Logo setting.
  4. Track Logged-In Users: Select whether or not you want to track logged-in users. By logged-in users we mean people on your team who are creating content from within WordPress.
  5. Disable JavaScript: Select whether or not you want to use the Parse.ly plugin to load the JavaScript tracking on your site.
  6. Go to the bottom of the page and click the “Save Changes” button.

Content Intelligence settings

Manage user access for AI-powered features from the Content Intelligence tab. AI-powered features are only available to WPVIP customers. Read more about these settings in the WPVIP documentation.

Content Intelligence tab

Headline Testing settings

The Headline Testing tab will install the Headline Testing script onto your site for you. Doing so will enable your team to create tests from the Headline Testing page in the Parse.ly Dashboard.

Headline Testing tab

Recrawl settings

The Recrawl tab is so named because these settings modify the on-page metadata, which may warrant a recrawl. Recrawling is not required if modifying these settings during the initial setup.

Recrawl tab

Track Post Types as

Parse.ly tracks posts (as posts) and pages (as non-posts) by default.

If your site contains Custom Post Types, Parse.ly recommends reviewing this setting since the plugin may not be able to categorize them automatically.

Use Full Metadata in Non-Posts

This setting supports a feature request discussed here. In short, the request is for the plugin to provide metadata support for non-posts like it already does for posts. Some publishers may have developed metadata solutions that conflict with the update we made to the plugin. Therefore, we’re providing this opportunity to toggle the new functionality while resolving potential conflicts.

Handling WordPress categories in Parse.ly

WordPress permits the use of multiple categories. However, Parse.ly will only accept one section value. There are multiple ways of handling this situation:

  • Adjust the Use Top-Level Categories for Section setting.
    • Choosing Yes... selects “News” from a post categorized in News > National > Florida.
    • Choosing No... selects “Florida” from a post categorized in News > National > Florida.
  • Select an alternative to Category from the Use Custom Taxonomy for Section setting.
  • Add Categories to Tags to capture all of your categories in a tag format.
  • WordPress developers may also use one of the predefined filters to customize the section value.

Advanced settings

Advanced tab

Parse.ly Metadata Secret (optional, not visible to new WPVIP customers).

This is a key given to you by Parse.ly support. Do not input any data in this field unless instructed to do so by the Parse.ly support team.

Next steps

Last updated: November 14, 2025