Google Search Console vs Google Analytics (2017 Edition)
12SHARESFacebookTwitter Russ Jones at Moz recently came out with an article around the reliability of Google Search Console data – listing examples of where they had tested some of the platform’s features versus what they saw as the realities. It’s a really interesting read, and it poses the question whether SEOs should even be using the data from Search Console if we aren’t getting the correct information from the tool in question. I am an extensive user of Google Search Console, but also use other tools to validate the work that I do, so reading Russ’ article really does pose many questions. However, in this article, I am purely going to focus on the aspect around the reliability of Google Search Analytics data – the part of the tool that provides web owners with what I consider to be highly valuable keyword data. I am going to keep things really simple, and will compare Google Analytics session data with Google Search Console click data. Comparing Sessions and Clicks If we take Google’s article on comparing AdWords data with Analytics data, then comparing these two metrics, Sessions and Clicks, they will never match 100%, as the two metrics are calculated differently. And that’s just from an AdWords click and Google Search Analytics click comparison, not an Google Organic Click perspective. I think it is safe to assume that PPC Clicks and Organic Clicks might be measured similarly in nature, but perhaps there might be more filtering in PPC to remove fraudulent clicks etc. Either way, comparing Search Analytics Clicks to Google Analytics Sessions, should show a fairly close correlation between the two data sets. In short: Google Analytics Sessions data records when a user enters a site, but the browser must first download the Google Analytics JavaScript file, then that must be interpreted by the browser. A session also lasts for 30 minutes, so if a user does a search, lands on a site, then does the same search again, and lands on the same page, then that counts as 1 session. Google Search Console records a click whenever a click is conducted on a listing in the search results – pretty straight forward. Unlike sessions, there are no 30 minute timers, and a Click is classifed as multiple clicks, if even from the same person. From this, you’d expect any data in Google Search Analytics to be higher than Google Analytics. Source: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/7042828#click Examples of high correlations First comparison – a relatively low volume page: I decided to pick and compare a page with a low click count, as Russ mentioned that in their tests, they did analysis that looked at a...
Lesson 3 of Google Analytics – Notes
9SHARESFacebookTwitter Lesson 3 – Setting up Google Analytics This video details how to create a Google Analytics account, placing the Analytics tracking code, website setups that require certain customisation and how to verify an installation. Getting Started With Google Analytics Sign up Add the tracking code Link to AdWords (To report costs and click data) Create a New Account Google.com/Analytics – Sign Up You can create a new Google Analytics account in your Google AdWords account under the “Reporting” tab. Google Analytics Tracking Code (GATC) Uses JavaScript to gather first-party cookies to gather anonymous information about your visitors. As you setup your Google Analytics account you’ll be provided with a tracking code. The tracking code needs to be setup on all pages of your site in order to track use throughout the entire website. The data will be collated and then used throughout your Google Analytics account. Finding your tracking code Go to “Analytics Settings”. (Now “Admin” Settings) Click on edit for the appropriate profile. Click “Check Status” in the top right hand corner. Your tracking code and instructions for how to add to your site will be displayed. Asynchronous tracking code The asynchronous tracking code allows your site to render the tracking code as fast as possible. Google recommends that this should be used for faster page loading time. Using Google Analytics with AdWords and Other Google Products If you are using Google AdWords you can see how your paid keywords perform in terms of ROI, conversion rates and revenue. Ad performance Checking Reports for Data Once you’ve installed the tracking code it can take up to 24 hours for data to show up in your reports. Best way to verify data is by checking your reports. Check your pages’ source code for the tracking code – to ensure that it has been installed. Search for ga.js in the source code to search for the tracking code. Understanding the tracking code <script type=”text/javascript”> var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push([‘_setAccount’, ‘UA-27159470–2‘]); _gaq.push([‘_trackPageview’]); (function() { var ga = document.createElement(‘script’); ga.type = ‘text/javascript’; ga.async = true; ga.src = (‘https:’ == document.location.protocol ? ‘https://ssl’ : ‘http://www’) + ‘.google-analytics.com/ga.js’; var s = document.getElementsByTagName(‘script’)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })(); </script> Unique Google Analytics Account Number Property Index – in this case, the 2 represents the the 2nd most account/property that I’ve added to my Google Analytics account Detects secure (https) vs non-secure pages (http) Custom Website Setups The basic tracking code works with most site setups There are certain situations where small changes will need to be made with the tracking code Examples: Track multiple domains in one profile (Main site as well as...
Lesson 2 of Google Analytics – Notes
9SHARESFacebookTwitter Notes – Interface navigation You can toggle to different accounts using the drop-down menu located on the top-right hand corner of the Google Analytics page. Dashboard The dashboard feature operates similar to the way you can create new specific dashboards like in BrightEdge. You can add widgets such as views, visits, unique visits, visits by browser, and the many other options that are available. You can set them to be private or shared among those logged into the same account. Active Date Range You can change the active date range on the top right hand corner of every report. (Using the calendar or timeline to set your active date range) You can see your site’s traffic trends in the Timeline. You can compare different dates by ticking the “Compare to Past” box and then by choosing the dates you want to compare. You’ll then see two date sliders – overlaying each other to visually see how you performed before to now. When you change the active date range then this will affect every other piece of data in Google Analytics until you change the date to the current date or when you close the browser. (Default is the current date) You can also compare other (2 at a time) metrics such as visits, pageviews, PageVisit, Avg. Time on Site, Bounce Rate and % of new visits. (Find the “Compare 2 metrics” option) Curriculum Links / Navigating Some reports contain additional links for reports (in some cases these re reports not shown in the main navigation) Provides a quick way to find information. — This may be out of date. I tried finding these Curriculum Links or anything similar to what the video is showing and I cannot find it. [Look into this] You can always see where you’re in a report by looking at the breadcrumb navigation to see where you are. Report Views 5 ways to view data in Google Analytics: Grid View Pie Chart View Bar Graph View Comparison Bar Graph View Summary Report View Report structure Visitors Visitor information such as loyalty, language and location. Traffic sources Natural and paid sources of traffic; includes AdWords reports. (As sub-reports) Content Pages viewed Goals Conversion rates and goal paths Ecommerce (If enabled) Commerce tracking, visitor loyalty, revenue sources, and product-specific information. You won’t see this option if you don’t have the ecommerce functions enabled. Exporting Report Data You can export data using 4 different formats: PDF, Excel, HTML, CSV and Tab-Separated. Email reports: You can schedule reports to be sent daily, weekly, monthly or quarterly. Additionally, you can choose which formats (One of the 4 above) to...
Lesson 1 of Google Analytics – Notes
9SHARESFacebookTwitter I’ll be going through each and every YouTube video on the Conversion University channel writing notes down on here. It’ll help me remember what I need to know when I eventually do the test! 🙂 These are my current notes along with Conversion University’s video underneath for the first lesson: Notes What does Google Analytics do? Informed decisions to improve your site’s content Monitor conversions Measure keywords Ad performance Track a wide variety of metrics Revenue Average order value E-commerce conversion rates Provides answers to difficult questions How are visitors using my site? How can I make my marketing campaigns more effective and accountable? Am I creating effective content? Where and why are visitors abandoning the shopping cart? How do I improve site interaction? A few features Map Overlay Where is traffic coming from? AdWords integration Are PPC campaigns performing? Internal Site Search Tracking how people use search on your site Bench-marking Do your site’s metrics perform or not perform in comparison to the industry your site is in? Funnel Visualisation Optimise your checkout, view conversion rate and click-paths. How it works When a visitor accesses a web page, a request is made to display the page. (POST & GET functions) Once the page is served the Google Analytics JavaScript code is activated. It calls the track_page_view method. The Google Analytics first-party cookies are read or written. Then the web page sends an invisible .gif containing that information to Google’s secure servers. That information is then captured and processed for use on the Google Analytics site. (Report data) Data is reported regularly throughout the day, so you’ll be able to see this data in your reports. What will stop/change Analytics tracking system If people block first party cookies. If someone deletes their cookies they will be counted as a new visitor when they access the website again. If someone disables JavaScript then they won’t be tracked. If there is another JavaScript element being executed and it fails or causes an error to occur before the Google Analytics JavaScript code then the tracking code will not function and will then not track new visitors. What won’t stop Analytics from tracking If people block third party cookies If people access your website via a cached page they will still be counted as a visitor so as long as they are connected to the internet. Data confidentiality Google Analytics does not collect or report on personally identifiable information. Google does not share Analytics data with any 3rd parties. Google staff may access your data with your permission. You may elect to share data from your site to improve Google products and you...
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