How to Use Google Analytics for SEO: 6 Best Practices

3 weeks ago

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) lets you way your contented performance. To uncover information you tin usage to amended your website.

In this guideline you’ll study really to usage Google Analytics for SEO. So you tin get amended results from your SEO efforts.

But first, you request to do a spot of preliminary work.

Set Up Your GA4 Account to Collect nan Right Data

The first measurement is making judge you’re collecting nan correct data. With enhanced measurement events and Google Search Console (GSC).

Start Using Enhanced Measurement Events

Google Analytics records visitant information arsenic “events.” And enhanced measurement events are a type successful Google Analytics 4 that provides much broad SEO data.

They do this by signaling visitant activity for illustration outer nexus clicks, scrolls, and tract searches.

Here’s really you tin make judge you’re collecting this enhanced data:

First, click connected nan cogwheel icon successful nan bottommost near of nan surface to entree nan “Admin” section. Then, click connected “Data streams” nether “Data postulation and modification.”

And click connected nan information watercourse for your website.

In nan “Events” settings, click nan toggle beside “Enhanced measurement” to move it on. Then, click connected nan cogwheel to reappraisal your individual settings.

Make judge that “Site search” is toggled on. We’ll usage tract hunt information to stitchery SEO insights later.

Further reading: Google Analytics 4 Events Guide

Connect Your Google Search Console Account

Connecting GSC to Google Analytics lets you spot which hunt queries thrust visitors to your website. And position your site’s top-ranking landing pages.

To link GSC to GA4, click nan cogwheel icon to spell to nan “Admin” section.

Then, click connected “Property settings” > “Product links” > “Search Console links.”

Click nan “Link” button.

And past click “Choose accounts” to prime your Search Console property.

You’ll spot a database of Search Console properties that you’re a verified proprietor for.

Choose nan correct spot utilizing nan checkbox. Then click “Confirm.”

Click “Next” to brace your spot pinch your GA4 web information stream.

Click “Select” adjacent to Web Streams.

You’ll spot nan web information watercourse for your GA4 property. Select your information watercourse and past click “Next” erstwhile again.

And finally, click “Submit.”

You’ll now person entree to 2 caller reports related to GSC. So, you’re fresh to usage Google Analytics for SEO.

6 Best Practices to Using Google Analytics for SEO

1. Discover Keywords Visitors Search For connected Your Site

Most websites person hunt functionality. Like this:

Google Analytics tin way what your website visitors are typing into that hunt bar. So you tin optimize aliases create contented to much straight reside those queries.

To usage Google Analytics for SEO contented ideas for illustration this, you request to modify an existing report.

Go to “Reports” > “Engagement” > “Events” wrong nan left-hand navigation.

Click nan pencil icon astatine nan apical correct to customize nan report.

Then, click “Dimensions.”

Click “Add dimension” to unfastened a hunt bar.

Begin typing “search term” successful nan hunt field. And click connected “Search term” erstwhile it appears arsenic an option.

Then click “Apply.”

Now, prevention your customized study by clicking “Save” > “Save changes to existent report.”

And click “Save” 1 last clip to confirm.

Your hunt word information is now disposable successful nan customized report.

To spot it, click nan drop-down arrow to nan correct of nan “Event name” file header.

You’ll spot nan action to alteration nan dimension.

Click “Search term” and nan study will refresh to see that tract hunt information.

You tin now spot what group hunt for connected your site.

You now person a database of keywords your visitors really usage connected your site.

Let’s return it a measurement further and look into those hunt terms. To spot whether they’re viable contented ideas.

Let’s opportunity GA4 shows you that your visitors are searching your tract for “looker studio." But you don't person immoderate contented connected nan subject.

You mightiness determine to statesman penning astir Looker Studio since it's absorbing to your visitors.

But what circumstantial topics wrong that taxable person nan champion keyword potential?

You tin find applicable taxable ideas successful conscionable a mates of clicks pinch nan Keyword Magic Tool.

Type successful “looker studio” and click “Search” to make a database of keywords.

Look done nan options and create your ain database pinch keywords that person nan following:

Appropriate search intent: Search intent (“Intent”) is nan information down immoderate search. Make judge nan hunt intent of nan keyword aligns pinch nan goals you person for nan contented you scheme to create.
High search volume: Search measurement (“Volume”) is nan estimated number of times a keyword is searched each month. Look for a keyword pinch a measurement of astatine slightest 100.
Low keyword difficulty: Keyword trouble (“KD %”) is simply a percent that indicates really easy aliases difficult it is to rank for a keyword. Look for keywords pinch a people of 49% aliases below.

Use your keyword database to create your caller pieces of content.

2. Find Declining Content to Refresh

Most websites person contented that utilized to execute good but doesn’t anymore.

And mini changes to those pieces—such arsenic updating outdated accusation aliases better optimizing for on-page SEO—can drastically amended SEO performance.

They whitethorn beryllium underperforming now because they’re outdated, they’ve been outperformed by a competitor article, location was an algorithm update, etc.

For example, our “What Is SEO?” article started losing postulation successful January of 2022.

So, we updated and optimized it later that year. Which helped nan article execute moreover amended than it did before—as you tin spot successful Organic Research.

Finding these underperforming pieces is simply a awesome measurement to usage Google Analytics for SEO.Then, you tin scheme contented updates and get your top-ranking pieces backmost connected track.

Here’s really to do it.

Go to “Reports” > “Search Console” > “Google integrated hunt traffic.”

Next, look astatine your content’s capacity complete a play of time. By clicking connected nan dates successful nan precocious correct area of your surface and mounting your desired range.

We urge looking astatine contented capacity complete nan past six months. And comparing it pinch nan erstwhile six months by clicking connected nan toggle beside “Compare.”

To do this, click connected “Custom” and take nan astir caller six-month period. And compared it pinch nan erstwhile six months.

When you’ve selected your dates, click “Apply.”

Now, you should spot your top-ranking landing pages, stats for some clip ranges you selected, and nan percent alteration betwixt nan two.

Look astatine nan “Organic Google Search mean position” file to spot really your rankings person changed. The study beneath shows a website pinch improved rankings—average position went from 18.36 to 15.17.

Sort nan array to show pages pinch nan astir clicks from hunt results by clicking nan arrow adjacent to “Organic Google Search clicks.”

If you return a person look, you’ll spot nan page pinch nan 4th astir clicks has dropped successful rankings.

The mean hunt position went from 14.45 to 15.81 complete nan past six months. And clicks from Google are down by 55.68%.

Which intends that this portion is simply a awesome campaigner for updating. To get clicks and rankings backmost up.

Next, usage Semrush’s Organic Traffic Insights instrumentality to get information that this GA4 study doesn’t provide:

What circumstantial keywords nan page is ranking for
Keyword hunt volumes and nan trouble scores for those keywords

Organic Traffic Insights combines information from GA4, GSC, and Semrush. So you tin easy spot page information wrong a azygous dashboard.

Let’s analyse nan 4th page from our GA4 study utilizing nan tool.

Click connected nan hyperlinked number nether nan “Semrush” file successful nan “Keywords” section.

You’ll get a database of keywords nan page is ranking for. Along pinch information like:

Position: Where you rank successful hunt results
Volume: The estimated number of monthly searches
Keyword Difficulty: How difficult it is to rank for a fixed word expressed arsenic a percentage, pinch 100% being nan astir difficult to rank for
Traffic Share: The percent of postulation that each keyword drives

Go done nan database and look for keywords pinch precocious volumes that person declined successful position.

For example, nan 4th keyword connected nan database could beryllium a awesome opportunity. Since it declined 5 spots, dropping from #1 to #6.

It besides has a batch of postulation potential, pinch 6,600 searches each month.

Updating your contented and re-optimizing it pinch that circumstantial keyword successful mind could summation your ranking for it. And boost traffic.

3. Identify High-Traffic Pages to Improve

High-traffic pages person immense potential. Because moreover mini improvements tin boost capacity to thief you execute trading goals.

You tin spot these high-traffic pages successful GA4 by looking for pages your assemblage doesn’t prosecute pinch for long.

Go to “Reports” > “Engagement” > “Pages and screens” wrong nan left-hand navigation.

You’ll spot a study showing your astir visited pages. Look for pages wherever nan “Average engagement time” metric is beneath nan tract average.

For example, successful nan study below, nan “/Google+Redesign/Stationery” page accounts for 11.8% of each views (63,454 / 536,606). But it has nan lowest mean engagement clip of each nan apical pages.

This intends group are seeing nan page and leaving wrong only 3 seconds of engagement.

Flag this page for your creation squad to review.

Or, make a statement to behaviour deeper study yourself. So you tin spot if location are problems for illustration deficiency of alignment pinch hunt intent, distracting elements that return group disconnected nan page, etc.

4. Find Opportunities to Improve Your Conversion Rate

Conversions (called “key events” successful GA4) are nan astir important actions visitors return connected your website. And nan much often they occur, nan much businesslike your website is astatine driving business value.

For example, a conversion for an ecommerce tract could beryllium a completed purchase. For a blog proprietor pinch an email newsletter, it mightiness beryllium a caller email subscriber.

To find your conversion rate, spell to nan “Reports” > “Engagement” > “Pages and screens.”

Click nan arrow to nan near of nan “Key events” file header to benignant it successful descending order.

Then, click connected nan “All events” drop-down.

Select an individual cardinal arena (conversion action) to analyze. Let’s take nan “add_to_cart” event. Which is important for ecommerce sites.

Now, you’ll spot a database of nan apical pages wherever nan “add_to_cart” arena occurs.

You tin comparison nan number of “add_to_cart” events to nan full number of views. To get your conversion complaint and find page-level opportunities for improvement.

Here’s an example:

The first page connected nan database has a conversion complaint of 19.7% (2,349 “add_to_cart” events / 11,909 views). That’s much than doubly arsenic precocious arsenic nan conversion complaint for nan ninth page connected nan list, which has a conversion complaint of 9.4% (251 / 2,664).

If you do a comparative study of nan 2 pages, you whitethorn spot opportunities that tin boost nan conversion complaint of that second page.

5. Discover Site Issues

You tin usage Google Analytics for SEO postulation alerts that nonstop email notifications if your visitant counts autumn aliases emergence extracurricular of your expected range.

This keeps you informed astir caller postulation gains. And shows you signs of imaginable SEO issues, truthful you tin respond.

First, you request to group up civilization alerts from nan “Home” screen.

Scroll down to “Insights & recommendations” astatine nan bottommost and click “View each insights.”

Then, click “Create.”

You’ll spot 5 suggested civilization insights. You tin commencement mini by only monitoring your regular users.

So, uncheck nan boxes from nan insights different than “Anomaly successful regular users” and click “Create selected.”

You’ve now created an penetration that will show connected your homepage erstwhile Google Analytics detects an anomaly successful your data.

You tin group up email alerts arsenic well.

To do that, click “Manage.”

Turn connected email notifications adjacent to nan Custom Insight you created and adhd different group to nan notification database (if needed) by clicking nan 3 dots and selecting “Edit.”

Scroll down and adhd email addresses for users pinch entree to your GA4 spot who should person notifications.

And click “Save.”

You tin now enactment connected apical of postulation changes that propose a problem needs to beryllium fixed.

When you get a notification for illustration this, usage Site Audit—free SEO audit tool that shows method and on-page errors.

For example, it will show if your tract has 404 errors. Which hap erstwhile nan server can’t find nan assets astatine a peculiar URL.

Once you configure Site Audit, fto nan instrumentality run, and past click connected nan “Issues” tab. And hunt for “4xx” successful nan hunt barroom provided.

You’ll spot a database of errors related to your search. Click connected nan hyperlinked matter to get much specifications astir nan rumor and really to reside it.

You tin besides spot different SEO problems successful nan “Issues” tab. Like:

Images without alt text
Duplicate H1 and title tags
Broken outer links

For example, this study shows 2 instances of surgery outer links.

You tin support your site’s SEO successful bully style by re-running your audit erstwhile you person alerts astir antagonistic postulation changes.

6. Track What Impact Your Changes Have

You tin expect to spot capacity improvements erstwhile you usage Google Analytics for SEO. And you tin representation your results to your actions by signaling what you’ve done.

Reviewing notes complete clip will show you what useful champion for your site. So you tin stock SEO wins pinch nan remainder of your organization.

GA4 doesn’t see an annotations feature, but you tin usage Google Sheets to create a elemental search archive for illustration this:

Be judge to grounds nan day accurately. To spot nan capacity effect successful your Google Analytics reports.

To way these important updates successful Semrush tools, usage Semrush Notes.

Let’s opportunity you wanted to log erstwhile you refreshed your “/what-is-seo” article.

First, click “Notes” successful nan left-hand Semrush navigation.

Then, click nan greenish “Compose note” button.

Compose your statement by entering a title, date, and description.

Click nan drop-down arrow successful nan “Tool” section to prime each nan places you’d for illustration to people nan note.

Add nan Position Tracking instrumentality by clicking nan checkbox to nan near of nan tool’s name.

Then, click “Save note.”

Now, you’ll spot a reddish emblem marking nan day of your statement erstwhile you entree Position Tracking.