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Test Post Not Real

Monday, October 16th, 2023

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Google Analytics 4 and Google Site kit

Friday, June 9th, 2023

The Google Analytics plugin for WordPress will be discontinued on July 1, 2023. This means that users who are currently using the plugin will no longer be able to track their website traffic data.

Google has announced that it will be replacing the Google Analytics plugin with the Google Site Kit plugin. Google Site Kit is a free plugin that allows users to connect their WordPress website to Google Analytics, Search Console, and other Google services.

Google Site Kit offers a number of features that are not available in the Google Analytics plugin, including:

  • Single dashboard: Google Site Kit provides a single dashboard where users can view all of their website traffic data from Google Analytics, Search Console, and other Google services.
  • Real-time insights: Google Site Kit provides real-time insights into website traffic, so users can see how their website is performing in real time.
  • Custom reports: Google Site Kit allows users to create custom reports that are tailored to their specific needs.

If you are currently using the Google Analytics plugin for WordPress, you should switch to the Google Site Kit plugin as soon as possible. To learn more about Google Site Kit, please visit the Google Site Kit website.

Important: The Google Site Kit plugin has already been network activated for all blogs. This means that users do not need to install the plugin themselves. They simply need to connect their blog to their Google account in order to start using Google Site Kit.

To connect your blog to your Google account, please follow these steps:

  1. Click “Site Kit” Google Site Kit management link button. from the left admin panel.
  2. Check the box to “Connect Google Analytics as part of your setup.
  3. Log in to your Google Account, You can use your OSU Google account or a personal one.
    • Google should verify the site ownership automatically

Once you have connected your blog to your Google account, Google Site Kit will start collecting data about your website traffic. You can view this data in the Google Site Kit dashboard.

Thank you for using the Google Analytics plugin for WordPress. We hope that you will enjoy using Google Site Kit.

Blogs Update

Thursday, March 1st, 2018

An update has been released on Thursday, March 1st, 2018. The following updates have been applied:

Major Version

  • none

New Plugins Added

  • none

Plugin Updates

  • Akismit 4.0.3
    • Added a scheduled task to remove entries in wp_commentmeta that no longer have corresponding comments in wp_comments.
    • Added a new akismet_batch_delete_count action to the batch delete methods for people who’d like to keep track of the numbers of records being processed by those methods.
  • Disqus 3.0.13
    • Added a new option for rendering comments javascript directly into page markup
    • Fixed warning that stated “cannot access private method Disqus_Rest_Api::dsq_get_settings_schema()”
    • A few small copy changes in plugin’s admin UI
  • Simple Calendar 3.1.14
    • Fix: Issue where navigation to next month would be disabled when multi-day events extended to future months.
  • Yoast SEO 6.3.1
    • Fixes a bug where a non-existing JavaScript chunk file was loaded, causing a console error. This only affected users using a locale different than en.

Blogs Update

Thursday, February 15th, 2018

An update has been released on Wednesday, February 14th, 2018. The following updates have been applied:

Major Version

  • none

New Plugins Added

  • Z URL Preview
    • This plugin fetches an excerpt of an external website link. The excerpt contains the title, description and image.

Plugin Updates

  • Aesop Story Engine 1.9.9.4
    • FIX Updated leaflet.js.
  • Disqus comment system 3.0.12
    • 3.0.12
      •  Disabled browser autocomplete for site configuration form
      •  Fixed an issue where admin JavaScript bundle was missing for sites with WP_DEBUG enabled
      • Implemented a dsq_can_load filter for custom control of when Disqus loads
    • 3.0.11
      • Improved UX on updating the site configuration manually
      • Fixed an issue causing a site crash with PHP version 5.2
      • Added additional information to support diagnostics
    • 3.0.10
      • Lowered minimum-supported version of PHP to 5.4
      • Fixed a syntax issue in PHP version 5.3
    • 3.0.9
      • Added a check to deactivate plugin if PHP version is earlier than the minimum-supported version 5.6.
    • 3.0.8
      • Fixed a bug that prevented automatic installation when upgrading from version 2.86 or earlier.
    • 3.0.7
      • Plugin has been completely rewritten to support modern and secure WordPress features.
      • Added new Automatic Installation for installing Disqus on your site. This also creates the API application required for enabling comment syncing.
      • Completely redesigned plugin settings page. Disqus replaces the Comments menu link in your WordPress admin and includes shortcut links to popular settings.
  • Simple Calendar
    • 3.1.13
      • Fix: Issue where calendar event pop-ups would display without content.
  • Jetpack 5.8
  • User Role Editor 4.40
    • Update: use wp_roles() function from WordPress API instead of initializing $wp_roles global variable directly.
    • Fix: Bug was introduced by version 4.37 with users recalculation for “All” tab after excluding users with “administrator” role. Code worked incorrectly for Japanese locale.
  • Yoast SEO 6.3
    • Bugfixes:
      • Reverts the shortlink in the HTML comment back to the hard link it was before.
      • Fixes a bug where the Local SEO for WooCommerce extension was not shown on the licenses page.
      • Fixes a bug where the `current_user_can()` function was not called with the post ID as argument.
      • Fixes a bug where the auto-generated meta descriptions were not using the new 320 characters limitation.
      • Fixes a bug where specific external links were not filtered from the post_type sitemap.
      • Fixes a bug where trashed posts were displayed in the bulk editor overview.
      • Fixes a bug where old meta values were not deleted during import.
      • Fixes a bug where only 10 posts when executing meta robots import from wpSEO.de.
      • Clears the sitemap cache when the Site URL is changed.
    • Enhancements:
      • Adds an importer for the SEO Ultimate plugin SEO data.
      • Adds an importer for the SEOpressor plugin SEO data.
      • Adds links to explanatory articles on the features tab.
      • Adds additional explanation for entries on the features tab.
      • Improves Open Graph copy for Facebook and Twitter in the Social settings to better explain what it does.
      • Improves Content Analysis and Publish box copy for better translations.
      • Applies design changes to the Help Center support tab for Premium.
    • Other:
    • Removes “meta keywords” from the plugin as this has had no search result value for at least 7 years.
    • Removes the “noindex subpages” feature as Google has gotten much better at paginated series, and it’s now actually detrimental to use.
    • Removes the “Other” tab from the Titles & Metas settings screen, as all options have been moved or removed.
    • Security hardening.
  • Mailchimp for WP 4.1.15
    • Fixes
      • Dropdown fields with special characters were not properly passed to MailChimp.
      • Interest groups with an all-numeric ID were not properly passed to MailChimp.
    • Improvements
      • Various minor code optimizations
      • Do not redirect when showing “already subscribed” warning.
      • Improved scroll to form handling after a form is submitted without AJAX.
  • Pretty link 2.1.4
    • Fixed IP conflict with Flywheel
    • Fixed wp_redirect race condition

Blogs Upgrade to 4.9.2

Thursday, February 1st, 2018

A minor security update to WordPress Core has been release on OSU Blogs. For more information check the release notes.

Blogs Upgrade

Thursday, December 7th, 2017

Blogs have been updated to WordPress 4.9 “Tipton”

New Core enhancements:

  • Customizer Workflow Improved
  • Coding Enhancements
  • Site Building Improvements

New Core Plugins:

  • The New Gallery Widget
  • Press a Button, Add Media

Contrib Plugins have been updated as well.