SwiftWebDev Dashboard documentation

SwiftWebDev Dashboard gives your WordPress site a clean, modern dashboard with visitor stats, speed scores, site health and quick links in one place. It needs WordPress 6.5 or later and PHP 7.4 or later. Everything in the free plugin works without a license key or time limit.

Install the plugin

1. In your WordPress admin, go to Plugins > Add New Plugin and search for SwiftWebDev Dashboard.
2. Choose Install Now, then Activate. You can also download the plugin from WordPress.org and upload the zip file under Plugins > Add New Plugin > Upload Plugin.
3. Open SwiftWebDev in the left admin menu.
4. Optional: open your user menu at the top right, choose SwiftWebDev Dashboard settings and set your own menu logo and name.

Your first visit

SwiftWebDev Dashboard is for administrators. When you open it, you see your dashboard right away. Visitor stats start with the next visit to your site, so the numbers fill in over the coming days.

For administrators, SwiftWebDev Dashboard also gives the WordPress admin menu a matching modern style on every admin page. Other users see the normal WordPress admin.

Find your way around

• Left admin menu: SwiftWebDev opens your dashboard. With an active SwiftWebDev Dashboard PRO license, it has two items: Dashboard and Analytics.
• Header: search your posts, pages and tools, see update notifications, and open Speed & Optimize, Quick Links, Updates and this help page with one click.
• User menu at the top right: Speed & Optimize, Quick Links and SwiftWebDev Dashboard settings, plus Your profile, View site, Classic WordPress dashboard and Log out. With the PRO add-on installed, License is here too.

Open SwiftWebDev Dashboard after login

By default, WordPress opens its normal dashboard after you log in. To open SwiftWebDev Dashboard instead, open your user menu at the top right, choose SwiftWebDev Dashboard settings, turn on Open SwiftWebDev Dashboard after login and choose Save changes.

Classic WordPress dashboard

The WordPress Dashboard menu item is not changed, so you can use the normal WordPress dashboard at any time. You can also open your user menu and choose Classic WordPress dashboard.

The cards

Your dashboard is made of cards. The free plugin shows:

• Visitors, Page Views and Sessions: three cards with the total for the period, a small daily trend line and the change compared with the previous period.
• Visitors over time: visitors and page views for each day of the period.
• Busiest days: average visitors on each day of the week, with your busiest day highlighted.
• Engagement: pages per visit, visits per visitor, visitors per day and your best day.
• Speed scores: your latest mobile and desktop performance scores for your homepage.
• Potential speed improvement areas: the three changes that would help your mobile score the most.
• Quick Links: the shortcuts you pinned.
• Updates & Health: pending WordPress, plugin and theme updates, your PHP version and your Site Health status.
• Recent Activity: published posts and pages, new users, WordPress, plugin and theme updates, plugins turned on or off, and new WooCommerce orders.

There are no locked or blurred cards. Every card in the free plugin shows your real data.

Choose the period

Use the period menu at the top of the dashboard to pick Last 7 days, Last 30 days or Last 90 days. All six visitor cards follow the period you pick. The dashboard opens with the last 30 days.

Drag to reorder

Drag any card to a new spot. With a keyboard, move focus to the card’s move handle and press the up and down arrow keys. Your order is saved for your user account. Cards change order only; they cannot be resized.

Customize and hide cards

Choose Customize to pick which cards appear on your dashboard, then choose Save. This only changes your own view. Choose Show all to bring back every hidden card.

Reset layout

In the Customize panel, choose Reset layout to put the cards back in their default order.

The PRO add-on banner

At the end of the dashboard, one banner describes the optional SwiftWebDev Dashboard PRO add-on. Choose Maybe later or the close button to hide it for 30 days. It appears only on the dashboard, and never while a PRO license is active.

What is counted

• Visitors: unique people who visited your site in the period.
• Page views: every page that was opened, including repeat views of the same page.
• Sessions: separate visits to your site. A visit ends after 30 minutes without activity, so one person can have several sessions.

Each number shows the change compared with the previous period of the same length. Switch between the Last 7 days, the Last 30 days and the Last 90 days at the top of the dashboard.

How visits are counted without cookies

SwiftWebDev Dashboard does not use cookies or browser storage. Each visit is identified by a one-way hash of the IP address and browser, combined with a random value that changes every day. This means a visitor cannot be followed from one day to the next. IP addresses and browser details are never saved, and the free plugin does not store which pages were visited.

Raw visit records are deleted after 48 hours. Daily totals are kept for 180 days: the longest period shown (90 days) plus the 90 days before it for the comparison. All of this data stays in your own WordPress database.

Logged-in users are excluded

Visits by anyone logged in to WordPress, such as you and your team, are left out by default. You can change this in SwiftWebDev Dashboard settings with Do not count logged-in users.

Will it slow down my site? The counter is a small script that sends one request per page view after the page has loaded. SwiftWebDev Dashboard adds nothing else to your front end.

Test your homepage or any page of your site

Open Speed & Optimize from your user menu at the top right and choose Run test. SwiftWebDev Dashboard tests your homepage with Google PageSpeed for mobile and for desktop.

To test another page, enter its full address under Test another page and choose Test. After that, use Showing results for to switch between your homepage and that page.

Scores and Core Web Vitals

For each test you see the Performance, Accessibility, Best practices and SEO scores, and your Core Web Vitals from the lab test. When Google has enough Chrome visitors for your site, real-user data from the Chrome UX Report is shown as well. Your latest homepage scores also appear on the dashboard.

Potential speed improvement areas

Below the scores, Potential speed improvement areas lists what to fix, ranked by impact, to reach 90 or more on both mobile and desktop.

SwiftWebDev Dashboard does not change your site. It measures and shows you what to improve. It does not optimize images, clear caches, clean your database or change any file or setting.

No API key needed

Tests run through the SwiftWebDev Dashboard service (swdashapi.swiftoutbox.com). It checks that the page belongs to your site, then asks Google PageSpeed Insights to test it with our Google API key. A request is sent only when an administrator runs a test. It contains your site address, the address of the page to test and the test type. No visitor data is sent, and the service does not store the result.

Why local sites cannot be tested

Google can only test websites that are reachable on the public internet. A site that runs only on your own computer cannot be tested. Run the test on your live site.

You can run up to 10 tests per 10 minutes. Only pages of your own site can be tested.

Quick links are shortcuts to the WordPress tasks you use most. Open Quick Links from your user menu to see them all. Each user keeps their own list.

• Pin: choose Pin to dashboard on a shortcut. Pinned shortcuts appear in the Quick Links card on your dashboard. Choose it again to unpin.
• Reorder: drag pinned shortcuts into the order you want, or move focus to a move handle and use the arrow keys.
• Hide: choose Hide to move a shortcut to Hidden shortcuts. Choose Show to bring it back.
• Search: type in Search shortcuts to find a task quickly.
• Restore: choose Restore defaults to show every shortcut again and pin the recommended ones.

Your brand appears at the top of the left admin menu. Open SwiftWebDev Dashboard settings from your user menu:

• Menu logo: the image at the top of the left menu. Your site icon is used by default. Choose Choose image to pick your own, or Use default to go back. A square image works best.
• Menu name: the name shown next to the logo, up to 40 characters. Your site title is used by default.

Choose Save changes when you are done. Only administrators see the styled menu. Other users see the normal WordPress admin.

SwiftWebDev Dashboard PRO is a separate add-on plugin. It adds an Analytics screen with detailed reports, extra dashboard cards, session recordings, CSV export and weekly scheduled speed tests with email alerts. The free SwiftWebDev Dashboard plugin works fully on its own.

Activate your license

1. Sign in to your account page, copy your license key and download SwiftWebDev Dashboard PRO.
2. Keep SwiftWebDev Dashboard & Analytics active, because PRO needs it. Then go to Plugins > Add New Plugin > Upload Plugin, upload the PRO zip file and activate it.
3. Choose Enter license key in the notice that appears, or open the user menu at the top right and choose License.
4. Paste your license key. It looks like SD-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX.
5. Choose Activate.

After activation, Analytics appears under SwiftWebDev in the left menu and the PRO cards appear on your dashboard. Pro tracking starts after activation. Your Pro history starts from that day; earlier visits are not added.

What Pro adds to your dashboard

• New Visitors: visitors who came to your site for the first time.
• Visitors & Page Views: visitors, page views and sessions day by day. It takes the place of the free Visitors over time card.
• Top Pages: your most visited pages.

These cards cover the last 30 days. With an active license, the Visitors, Page Views and Sessions cards also show Pro data for the last 30 days. For other periods, use the Analytics screen.

The Analytics screen

Open SwiftWebDev > Analytics. The screen has these tabs:

• Overview: visitors, page views, sessions and new visitors, visitors and page views day by day, traffic sources (search, social, other sites or direct), top pages, top referrers, device types, visitors by country, form submissions, clicks and conversion rate. Choose Customize to hide cards, and drag cards to reorder them.
• Real-time: active visitors now, visitors per minute, pages being viewed and the latest activity.
• Audience: countries, new and returning visitors, device types (desktop, mobile and tablet), browsers and operating systems.
• Behavior: average visit length, bounce rate, visit length and pages per visit.
• Pages: all your pages with their views and average time on the page.
• Forms: successful submissions for each form. Only form names and submit events are recorded, never what visitors type.
• Clicks: links to other sites, downloads, email and phone links are counted automatically. To count any other element, add the attribute data-swiftdash-track="label" with a short label.
• Session recordings: replays of real visits, with private fields hidden.
• Bots: known crawlers and suspected bots. Bot visits are left out of your other reports.
• Events: on-site searches, videos and your own custom events. Send a custom event from your site with window.swiftdash.track('event_name', value). Names use lowercase letters, numbers and underscores, up to 40 characters.

Date ranges and export

Pick Last 24 hours, Last 7 days, Last 30 days, Last 90 days or a Custom range. Choose Export report to download the current tab as a CSV file. Export is available on every tab except Real-time and Session recordings.

Session recordings

Session recording is off until you turn it on. Open License from your user menu, turn on Record visitor sessions and choose Save changes.

Every form field is masked in the visitor’s browser, so typed text never leaves it. Password fields are never recorded. To hide anything else, add the class swiftdash-block to that element. Each recording stops after 15 minutes per page view.

Check consent first. Recordings can need visitor consent in some countries. Check your privacy policy and cookie notice before you turn recordings on.

Scheduled speed tests and alerts

On the Speed & Optimize screen, the Scheduled tests and score history card lists your monitored pages. Choose Add page to add a page of your site, up to 10 pages. Each monitored page is tested every week on mobile and desktop, and you can see its score history. Choose Test now to test a page right away. We email you when a performance score drops by 10 points or more, or falls below 90.

Plans

SwiftWebDev Dashboard PRO is sold as a yearly license: Personal $25 for 1 site, Business $100 for 5 sites, Unlimited $299 for unlimited sites. VAT or sales tax is added at checkout where applicable. See the plans.

Get your license key

We do not send license keys by email. After you buy, you get an order confirmation email. Then:

1. Open the account page and enter the email you used at checkout.
2. Open the one-time sign-in link we email you.
3. Show and copy your key, and download SwiftWebDev Dashboard PRO.

Replace a leaked key

If someone else has your key, sign in to your account and choose to generate a new key. The old key stops working at once, and sites that use it are deactivated. Activate the new key on your own sites.

Move a license to another site

1. On the old site, open License from your user menu and choose Deactivate on this site.
2. On the new site, enter the same key and choose Activate.

Payments and renewals

Payments are handled by Creem, our merchant of record. Creem sends your receipts and invoices. Your license renews automatically each year until you cancel. You can cancel any time from your account page, and Pro keeps working until the end of the term you paid for. If a renewal is due, the Renew license button takes you to your renewal page.

Refunds

You can get a full refund within 14 days of purchase, or within 14 days of a renewal or upgrade charge. Read the refund policy for how to ask.

When a license expires

• Data collection and session recording stop on the day the license expires.
• The Analytics screen and the PRO dashboard cards are removed, and a notice in your WordPress admin offers a Renew license button.
• Your stored Pro data is kept for 30 days. Renew within 30 days and all of it comes back.
• After 30 days without renewal, the data is deleted.

The free plugin keeps working as before, including its own visitor stats.

• Free plugin: visitor counts stay in your own WordPress database. No cookies, no IP addresses or page addresses saved, raw records for 48 hours and daily totals for 180 days.
• Speed tests: your site address and the tested page address go to the SwiftWebDev Dashboard service, which asks Google PageSpeed Insights to test it. The result is not stored.
• SwiftWebDev Dashboard PRO: visitor events are sent to our server only after you activate a license. Country is looked up from the IP address with MaxMind GeoLite2 when the visit is collected, then the IP address is discarded. Form values are never sent, and session recordings run only if you turn them on.
• After a license ends: collection stops, and data is kept for 30 days, then deleted unless you renew.

You are responsible for the cookie and consent notices on your own site where the law requires them. Read the full details in our privacy policy.

No visits are showing

• Stats start with the next visit after you install SwiftWebDev Dashboard. Give it some time.
• Logged-in users are not counted by default. Log out or use a private browser window to test.
• Pro reports start on the day you activate your license.

A speed test shows an error

• Too many tests: you can run up to 10 tests per 10 minutes. Wait a few minutes and try again.
• Local site: Google can only test sites on the public internet. Run the test on your live site.
• Outside your site: only pages on your own site address can be tested. Enter the full address of a page on this site, for example https://example.com/about/.

I cannot find Analytics in the menu

The Analytics screen is part of SwiftWebDev Dashboard PRO. It appears under SwiftWebDev only while a PRO license is active on the site. Open License from your user menu to check its status.

A notice says my PRO license has expired

Your license has expired, so Pro reports and tracking are switched off. Choose Renew license. If you renew within 30 days, all your data comes back.