Before you start

Make sure you have the following ready before installing NowMetrix:

Item	What it means
Dashboard account	An active NowMetrix user account with access to the relevant tracker.
Tracker ID	The internal identifier for the website, for example `TRACKER_ID`.
Website access	Permission to add the NowMetrix tracking snippet to the website template or tag manager.
Production domain	The final hostname that should appear in NowMetrix, for example `example-news.com`.

1. Sign in to the dashboard

Open dash.nowmetrix.com and sign in with your NowMetrix account. After login, the dashboard opens with the realtime view for your last selected tracker.

If your organization uses single sign-on, use the sign-in method provided by your account owner. If you cannot access a tracker after login, ask an admin to add your user to the correct tracker list.

2. Find your tracker

Each tracked website has a tracker ID. You will use this ID when installing tracking, requesting API data, or debugging a website integration.

Use neutral IDs in examples and test scripts. In production, replace TRACKER_ID with the tracker ID assigned to your website.

3. Install tracking

Add the NowMetrix tracking snippet to every page that should appear in realtime analytics. The snippet should load on article pages, landing pages, and other public pages where you want active users and pageviews to be counted.

<script src="https://ua.realtimely.io/script.js" data-site="TRACKER_ID" defer></script>

Recommended placement:

Place the snippet in the shared page template, somewhere inside the <head> section.
Load it only once per page.
Keep it active on both desktop and mobile page variants.
Do not block it behind cookie-consent logic unless your legal setup requires that.

Google Tag Manager

In Google Tag Manager, create a Custom HTML tag and paste the standard NowMetrix snippet. Trigger it on all pages that should be tracked.

<script src="https://ua.realtimely.io/script.js" data-site="TRACKER_ID" defer></script>

Enable Support document.write for the Custom HTML tag. Without that setting, the tracker may not initialize correctly in Google Tag Manager.

Manual tracking

By default, NowMetrix records a pageview automatically when the script loads. If your website needs to control when pageviews are sent, disable automatic tracking with data-auto="false".

<script src="https://ua.realtimely.io/script.js" data-site="TRACKER_ID" data-auto="false" defer></script>

Send a pageview manually

<script>
document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => {
    realtimely.trackPageview();
});
</script>

Send custom page data

You can optionally pass your own URL, title, or referrer. This is useful for single-page apps, custom routing, or pages where the visible URL should be normalized before tracking.

<script>
document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => {
    realtimely.trackPageview("TRACKER_ID", {
        url: "https://example-news.com/about",
        title: "About our publication",
        referrer: "https://google.com"
    });
});
</script>

AMP tracking

If your website still serves AMP pages, add the AMP analytics component first:

<script async custom-element="amp-analytics" src="https://cdn.ampproject.org/v0/amp-analytics-0.1.js"></script>

Then add the NowMetrix AMP configuration:

<amp-analytics config="https://ua.realtimely.io/amp/amp.v1.json" data-credentials="include">
    <script type="application/json">
        {"vars": {"accountId": "TRACKER_ID"}}
    </script>
</amp-analytics>

4. Verify incoming data

After publishing the snippet, open the website in a normal browser tab and then check the NowMetrix dashboard. New activity should appear within a few seconds.

Check	Expected result
Realtime users	The active user count increases when pages are opened.
Top pages	The opened page appears with its path, title, and active user count.
Sources	Direct, referrer, search, social, or UTM sources are grouped in the sources view.
Overview	Daily pageviews and visits start accumulating for the tracker.

Privacy model

NowMetrix tracking is cookie-free and does not rely on local storage. Unique visitors are identified with anonymized hashes over a 24-hour period, which allows daily unique visitor counts while keeping the setup privacy-friendly.

Anonymized user data is kept for 24 hours only. After that, the hashed salts are removed, so monthly visits are calculated from daily unique visitor totals.

5. Configure your first workflow

Dashboard monitoring

Use the realtime and dashboard views to monitor active users, top pages, sources, devices, countries, and today's pacing.

API access

Account admins can create API keys under Settings -> API. See the REST API reference for endpoints and examples.

Browser extension

If your team uses the Chrome extension, make sure users are logged in to NowMetrix so the extension can read their allowed tracker list.

Team access

Team members should only receive access to the trackers they need. Admin users can manage API keys and broader account settings, while regular team members can use the dashboard for their assigned trackers.

If a team member cannot see a tracker, check their assigned tracker list before changing the tracking installation.

If data does not appear

Confirm that the snippet is present in the rendered HTML of the live page.
Check that the tracker ID matches the tracker selected in the dashboard.
Open the browser developer tools and look for blocked network requests.
Verify that the page is not served from a cached template that misses the snippet.
Ask NowMetrix support to check whether the tracker is receiving events.

Set up NowMetrix for your first tracked website.