Google Analytics is a free web analytics tool from Google that lets you track and measure user traffic and behavior on your website. By using Google Analytics, you can gain valuable insights into your SEO performance and identify areas for improvement.
How to Use Google Analytics for SEO
There are many ways to use Google Analytics for SEO, but here are some of the most common and useful ones:
1. Set Up Goals and Conversions
Goals are actions that you want your users to complete on your website, such as signing up for a newsletter, downloading an ebook, or making a purchase. Conversions are the number of users who completed a goal.
By setting up goals and conversions in Google Analytics, you can track how well your SEO efforts are leading to the desired outcomes. You can also assign a monetary value to each goal to measure the return on investment (ROI) of your SEO strategy.
To set up goals and conversions in Google Analytics, go to Admin > View > Goals > New Goal and follow the instructions.
2. Link Google Analytics with Google Search Console
Google Search Console is another free tool from Google that helps you monitor and optimize your website’s presence on Google Search. By linking Google Analytics with Google Search Console, you can access more data and reports on your SEO performance, such as:
- Queries: The keywords that users searched for and saw your website in the search results.
- Impressions: The number of times your website appeared in the search results.
- Clicks: The number of times users clicked on your website from the search results.
- CTR (Click-Through Rate): The percentage of impressions that resulted in clicks.
- Position: The average ranking position of your website for each query.
To link Google Analytics with Google Search Console, go to Admin > Property > Property Settings > Adjust Search Console and follow the instructions.
3. Analyze Organic Traffic
Organic traffic is the traffic that comes from users who find your website through search engines. By analyzing organic traffic in Google Analytics, you can measure the effectiveness of your SEO strategy and identify opportunities for improvement.
To analyze organic traffic in Google Analytics, go to Acquisition > All Traffic > Channels > Organic Search. Here you can see various metrics and dimensions related to your organic traffic, such as:
- Users: The number of unique visitors who came to your website from organic search.
- Sessions: The number of visits that users made to your website from organic search.
- Bounce Rate: The percentage of sessions that ended after one page view.
- Pages/Session: The average number of pages that users viewed per session.
- Avg. Session Duration: The average length of time that users spent on your website per session.
- Goal Completions: The number of conversions that occurred from organic traffic.
You can also use the Secondary Dimension feature to segment your organic traffic by different criteria, such as:
- Landing Page: The first page that users saw when they came to your website from organic search.
- Source: The search engine that referred the user to your website, such as Google, Bing, or Yahoo.
- Device Category: The type of device that the user used to access your website, such as desktop, mobile, or tablet.
- Country: The country where the user was located when they accessed your website.
4. Monitor SEO Metrics
SEO metrics are indicators that help you evaluate the quality and performance of your website’s SEO. By monitoring SEO metrics in Google Analytics, you can track how well your website is satisfying user needs and expectations, as well as how well it is complying with Google’s guidelines and best practices.
Some of the most important SEO metrics to monitor in Google Analytics are:
- Page Speed: The time it takes for your web pages to load fully. Page speed affects user experience and satisfaction, as well as ranking factors such as mobile-friendliness and Core Web Vitals. To check page speed in Google Analytics, go to Behavior > Site Speed > Overview or Page Timings.
- Site Content: The content of your web pages, such as text, images, videos, etc. Site content affects user engagement and retention, as well as ranking factors such as relevance, quality, freshness, and E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness). To check site content in Google Analytics, go to Behavior > Site Content > All Pages or Content Drilldown.
- Site Structure: The organization and navigation of your web pages, such as URLs, headings, menus, links,
- etc. Site structure affects user experience and satisfaction, as well as ranking factors such as crawlability, indexability, and usability. To check site structure in Google Analytics, go to Behavior > Site Content > Landing Pages or Exit Pages.
- Site Health: The technical aspects of your website, such as errors, redirects, security, etc. Site health affects user experience and satisfaction, as well as ranking factors such as accessibility, reliability, and safety. To check site health in Google Analytics, go to Behavior > Site Content > Behavior Flow or Events.
- Conclusion
- Google Analytics is a powerful tool that can help you track and improve your SEO performance. By using Google Analytics, you can set up goals and conversions, link with Google Search Console, analyze organic traffic, and monitor SEO metrics. By doing so, you can gain valuable insights into your SEO performance and identify areas for improvement.
