Millions of online brands and businesses use Google Analytics to complement their search engine optimization (SEO) efforts. Sadly, less than 20% use the powerful analytics tool to its full potential.
Make changes to your website, blogs, or digital estate before making half-informed decisions. Instead, understand what data charts Google Analytics shows, techniques for accurate data interpretation, and finally, make iterations to boost your visibility.
SEO experts know the vitality of data-driven insights in enhancing their website performance on search engines. But you’ll be amazed when you discover the full potential of Google Analytics in helping businesses gain the #1 ranking spot on search engine result pages (SERPs).
The tool releases golden nuggets of wisdom to maximize the ROIs on your SEO campaigns.
Here’s a comprehensive guide on 11 ways to deploy Google Analytics for better SEO execution.
What is Google Analytics in SEO?
Google Analytics (GA) is a popular web analytics tool supporting SEO endeavors through high-level statistics for optimizing and marketing your digital footprints. Users can study real-time data on website visitor behavior, page speeds, keyword performance, and a string of parameters that complete on-page and off-page SEO checklists.
The tool presents individual reports categorized by headings like audience, acquisition, conversions, etc. These well-presented charts and numbers highlight two essential variables – dimensions and metrics.
For example, if your dimension is site speed, GA displays several metrics relating to this attribute. Expect columns such as sessions, page loading time, bounce rate, etc.
Even better, SEOs can combine secondary dimensions to these reports and generate granular data for more specific insights. For instance, you can check the site speed in different countries and assess their individual page scrolling periods.
You can further dissect this data through segments and filters. Such analytical facilities simplify user data acquisition across target audience segments and behavioral patterns.
Can Google Analytics Improve My SEO Metrics?
Yes, GA holds tremendous potential to boost your SEO game. Since the tool comes from the globally-acknowledged number 1 search engine creators, they partner well for SEO.
Feel free to track user behavior through a few metrics, such as:
- Organic clicks by queries
- Organic clicks by page
- Organic sessions
- Views per channel
Additional GA features enhance minute SEO results, allow users to monitor SEO checkpoints, study user engagement patterns, and review the conversion rates of ongoing marketing activities.
The constant inflow of valuable data educates SEOs on necessary website architecture and functionality changes. To add, GA provides the tools to bridge the gap between the content and user experience that customers desire and your pre-established offerings for various customer personas.
GA’s capabilities for SEO stretch far beyond merely tweaking marketing campaigns for multiple demographics. Moreover, it formulates trending search intent to publish posts relevant to search queries.
As the better half of clicks on SERPs fall in the lap of top-ranking results, using GA to grow your organic visibility only brings you closer to digital success.
11 Ways to Implement Google Analytics For SEO
GA offers brands over a dozen unique SEO improvement opportunities to win a record SEO visibility score. Whether through optimized landing pages, link juice, or low and high-converting pages, the scope for establishing reputable SERP ranking positions is unparalleled.
Here are 11 ways to combine GA into your SEO roadmap and lead the race for top SERP rankings in your niche:
1. Identify High-Conversion Webpages
GA’s dashboard presents numerous data points to study organic search metrics. Expect data on individual pages, including metrics such as incoming traffic, CTA conversions, and keyword competition.
Since SEOs primarily drive greater revenue through organic visibility, GA continues to feed relevant data points.
Check which of your pages offers the most value through either actionable content or resolving multiple search queries. Once you identify the high-value metrics of this page, use GA to improve its rankings.
Check the keywords the webpage ranks for and use filters to discover other URLs outranking you. GA provides data on backlinking domains, keyword density suggestions, and your competitor’s domain authority (DA) scores.
After identifying the webpage’s shortcomings, implement new short and long-tail keywords across similar search query resolutions.
2. Track Keyword Gaps Competitors Don’t Address
Search engine optimizers can scan competitor websites and individual blogs to spot potential keyword gaps. GA offers data on keywords that your competitors don’t address.
Leverage this information and modify your topic clusters to create a new batch of articles serving relevant search intent.
For example, suppose a gardening website writes about planting apple seeds in a pot but doesn’t give details on the soil content, watering cycles, and type of pot.
In this case, create additional blog posts resolving these three prospective search intent blocks.
Such practices create more ranking opportunities as you can still find a top spot on SERPs despite niche competitors boasting a higher DA.
3. Search Keyword Opportunities by Tracking Internal Site Search
Consider digging into your website’s internal search engine to identify room for targeting keywords not addressed through content. GA can tap into internal site searches and point out the following:
- Keywords not matching search intent
- Keyword ranking opportunities
- Scope for prospective search queries
GA has facilities to analyze user search behavior by displaying the percentage of search exits. High values indicate that users were dissatisfied with the results of their queries.
Web admins can access this GA data to address the searched terms not displaying relevant answers, thus, enhancing internal site search engines.
You can create comprehensive keyword opportunity reports with data on search volumes, exact match keywords, and prospective queries to address.
4. Leverage The Content Drilldown Report
Granular data on your content’s SEO performance opens countless optimization gateways. Google Analytics makes this possible through highly valued content drill-down reports.
As the term suggests, you can drill down the report on a directory or sub-directory level. One-click navigation across levels releases vital engagement metrics on the key performance indicators of your content pieces.
Compare several website segments within your digital footprint. Be it URL page views, exit rates, or bounce rates, you also get access to non-sales page engagement data.
Such minute analysis can discover visitor behavioral traits to recreate new SEO strategies and tweaks.
The sole downside of Google Analytics’ Content Drilldown report is accessing several distinct sub-pages to track performance parameters correctly.
5. Study The Multi-Channel Funnel Report
GA tends to categorize successful prospect-to-client conversions and sales on your eCommerce platform on whether you got the lead through campaigns, organic traffic, or paid advertisements.
The tool lets users assess entire conversion paths over 3 months, accounting for complete conversions and transactions.
Simply put, it creates data charts to study the interaction sequence. While some interactions resulted from clicks, others may be referrals from marketing channels.
Access a clear breakdown of where the leads poured in from and what factors led to more conversions. Once detected, increase monetary and time investment in these channels to boost sales.
In a nutshell, GA users are gifted with multi-channel funnel reports demonstrating the impact of referrals on one-time and recurring sales.
6. Filter Data For Better SEO Reporting
Instead of making SEO tweaks on the fly based on immediate assumptions, use GA’s filters and segmentation tools. Such added services separate non-relevant and spammy traffic, resulting in accurate analysis.
Look for two sources of spammy traffic: fake referrers (crawlers) and ghost spam.
Establish a customized dashboard with GA segments to keep spammy traffic from the display. Another option is to deploy regex codes and identify several iterations of popular spammy domains.
Beware, as they use unique TLDs. Use your personalized GA dashboard to catch absurd traffic spikes, research unusual campaign reports and bust traffic showing less navigation time.
7. Combine Google Search Console Account For Extra SEO Data
Considering Google continually updates its analytical tools for SEO support, combining Google Search Console and Google Analytics for premium SEO data is logical.
Connect both tools and exploit the added power to quickly spot room for SEO improvement. This improvement can appear as highly targeted keywords or data on must-rank pages within your niche.
Google Search Console allows a better understanding of frequently searched terms.
8. Design Custom Analytical Dashboards
The ability to design custom GA dashboards allows highly specific SEO enhancements to crucial areas. With GA4 on the rise, reporting is more effective now.
The transition from session-centric to event-centric information interpretation models increases the landscape of assessing user behavior.
You can choose from transactional data to device-based events, enabling minute optimization suggestions for better sales and visibility.
Use this feature to study your link-building game and how the website’s structure can contribute to improved page loading speed and user experiences.
9. Start Google Alerts
Though tracking several SEO metric fluctuations through Google Alerts can be troublesome, the perks of instant notifications make you a fast-response competitor.
Google Alerts directly land in your email, killing the need to access the GA interface each time you optimize your digital estate for search engines.
We recommend assigning specific triggers for Google Alerts. For example, choose parameters such as average session time, conversions, or bounce rates. You’ll receive instant updates if the present data meets your assigned values.
Like an easy-access SEO monitoring tool, take advantage of real-time updates on inconsistencies with your Wesbite’s SEO metrics.
10. Spot Low-Hanging Ranking Opportunities
Remember, all content doesn’t continue to hold high rankings. Topical changes and industry developments can demand periodic cycles of updating and republishing content. It beats the trap of outdated content.
The trick is to choose an intelligently calculated comparison time frame, i.e., ideally six months.
While the GA dashboard shows data on impressions, clicks, CTR, and average SERP positions, it’s up to you to identify patterns and deploy techniques for roping in greater organic traffic.
Factors such as topic freshness, navigational queries, and search volume fluctuations can turn low-hanging ranking opportunities in your favor.
11. Optimize Landing Pages Bringing in Conversions
The conversion funnel journey decides how probable your prospects are to become customers. Reoptimizing your landing page periodically is the first point of contact to sell your offer.
For example, suppose a person visits your website to learn about an overview of indoor gardening. The next time they visit, they’ll read other content, such as gardening equipment or the best seeds for planting microgreens.
Factually, they would only visit the 2nd time if their first visit offered value. Thus, boosting SEO for your landing pages contribute to attracting traffic in the long run.
Common Google Analytics Mistakes to Avoid
Amateur website builders and web admins are known to make common mistakes when setting up their Google Analytics gameplan. Here are a few setbacks you can avoid:
- Studying Data and Taking Faulty Actions: SEO data can be overwhelming for newcomers with no clue about all SEO tracking metrics. Avoid going down that rabbit hole. Instead, be sure of your monitoring and optimization objectives by setting mini-goals.
- Unaware of Data Interpretation: Just because your average session time is under 10 seconds doesn’t mean the webpage is altogether poor. Metrics such as account inactivity and poor loading speeds can contribute to such scores. Remember to understand the cause of these metric scores before making changes.
- Avoiding Granular Data: The secret to SEO success lies in implementing observations offered by granular page data. Leverage GA’s features like segments, filters, and dimensions to identify primary problems disrupting your SEO scores.
- Poor Google Analytics Setup: Simply studying data from GA doesn’t uncover suggestions for actionable steps. Look for issues like incorrect or multiple tracking codes, the absence of a referral exclusion list, and faulty setups for interaction events.
Conclusion
This guide is an SEO bible for brands and businesses trying to increase organic traffic through SEO expertise without analytical tools.
Lay the road to digital success with high-value analytical features on GA. Whether you need simple audience behavior monitoring or traffic source segmentation, GA provides users with tools for granular SEO analysis.
Even better, create weekly, monthly, or annual reports to study website traffic, viewing everything from page views to channels generating high traffic.
Lastly, remember to use annotations for pinpointing metric changes or periodic traffic alterations.
