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Parse.ly Integration

Whether you’ve already made your purchase or you want a summary of the process before starting, these are the steps for Parse.ly integration.

  1. Receive one “sandbox” Site ID and one, or more, production Site IDs from Support.
  2. Attend kickoff call
  3. Install the tracking code.
  4. Test pageview events.
  5. Send metadata.
  6. Validate metadata.
  7. Admins, adjust your preferences.
  8. Admins, invite your teammates.
  9. Get trained.
  10. If your contract contains premium features, install them.
  • We will send you your Site ID
  • You’ll choose a tracking script injection method, like GTM, and insert your Site ID
  • Our tracking script, with Site ID, will appear in your HTML
  • Visitors will trigger pageview events when visiting your site
  • Parse.ly will receive and display your pageviews and then assign them to your Site ID
  • Parse.ly will then scan your HTML to find the metadata you’ve placed there
  • The metadata we receive should match what you’ve mapped to your CMS
  • Once we’ve crawled your site for metadata we’ll associate it with your pageviews.
  • As time goes on and your traffic increases, you’ll see historical comparisons in your dashboard.
  • As you become familiar with your Dashboard, you can find ways to customize everything to meet your needs.

Step 1: Receive Site IDs

An Account Executive will work with your team to determine your needs and how Parse.ly can solve them. This person will also coordinate the start of your Parse.ly integration. They will contact the Parse.ly Support team and provide contract details.

The Support team will then create your Sandbox, production Parse.ly Site IDs, and enable the features that you’ve purchased. Your team will need these Site IDs when it is time to install tracking (Step 3).

You’ll receive emails from:

  • Parse.ly (support@parsely.com) — this is where we’ll provide your Site IDs, personalized instructions, and an invitation to join us for a kickoff call
  • Parse.ly (app@parsely.com) — Parse.ly Support will invite the first batch of Parse.ly Admins

Step 2: Attend Kickoff Call

This call can happen at any point in the implementation process. It’s about aligning to your team’s goals and walking through the steps outlined below. Read more about what to expect from this call.

Step 3: Install tracking

In most cases, we recommend using Google Tag Manager to install our JavaScript Tag on your site. Click here to see a full list of options. You will be using the Site ID provide in Step 1.

A screenshot from Google Tag Manager with a Parse.ly tag template in use for tracking.
GTM is one convenient way to add our code
HTML containing Parse.ly tracking code resulting from the integration process.
Our code will appear on your site like this

Some sites may require special configuration to account for Single-Page Applications or dynamic tracking. Click here to see if any of these special cases apply to your site.

Step 4: Test

Immediately after installing our tracking code on your pages, your site will start generating pageview events. Read our testing instructions to validate those pageviews in your browser.

A screenshot of Chrome developer tools showing a filter of "action=pageview" and a pageview event resulting from a Parse.ly integration.

Minutes after your site begins sending pageviews, you should see them in your Parse.ly Dashboard.

Parse.ly dashboard displaying pageviews
Adding tracking code will trigger pageviews and enable all other Parse.ly features

Step 5: Send metadata

If your CMS is WordPress, we recommend using the WordPress Parse.ly Plugin. By following these instructions, you may use the plugin and GTM tracking (from Step 3).

If you are not using WordPress, review our metadata requirements.

Regardless of your CMS, the objective is the same. We want to take information, like the author of a post, and gain meaningful insights. For example:

The WordPress Post editor has an Author field. In the screenshot below, I’ve selected my name.

Now the wp-parsely plugin will extract this information out of WordPress and will display it in the form of a meta tag within the HTML of the post.

Once Parse.ly receives that first pageview event (depicted in Step 4), we will crawl the url to get the metadata. Within minutes, we will associate the pageview information with the metadata for a complete picture in the Dashboard. If this isn’t happening, try allowlisting our crawler.

Step 6: Validate metadata

Review the listings in your Dashboard to ensure the metadata matches your expectations.

Step 7: Adjust Preferences

Admins should review the Preferences menu and make suitable adjustments for their team. You may access the menu in your dashboard and follow these instructions.

To see more information about Account settings, review our documentation.

Step 8: Invite teammates

Admins should invite their teammates using these instructions.

Step 9: Training

When your satisfied with the integration of your Parse.ly Dashboard, contact your Relationship Manager to discuss training. In the meantime, download our Getting Started Guide, take our learning course, and explore these tools that come bundled with your Dashboard:

Step 10: Add-on features

After your Parse.ly Dashboard integration and testing, you may continue installing add-on features in any order.

Add-on features include

Last updated: June 24, 2024