How to use Google Analytics to track and improve your SEO performance
A bunch of valuable data can be produced by Google Analytics that can feed into ideas for improvement to your SEO strategy, or to help SEO reporting by tracking current performance.
You could put all your efforts into SEO, optimising your site to fight for the top spot in the SERPs. There’s just one problem- how do you know if it’s working? That’s where Google Analytics comes in. In this blog post, we’ll tell you how Google Analytics and SEO can work hand in hand, then give you 10 ways you can use it to your advantage.
Google Analytics and SEO: How do they work together?
Google Analytics (GA) is a tool that gives you a whole host of SEO data and analytics about your website. Here are some of the features of GA that work together with an SEO strategy:
- Tracks patterns in user behaviour
- Identifies bounce rate
- Creates custom dashboards
- Provides information about your target audience
- And many more!
As you can see, there are plenty of ways to reap the benefits of GA and utilise the tools they have on offer. Combining Google Analytics with your usual SEO tools is bound to give you excellent results to put towards your campaign. Aligning with the needs and intent of your users is key, and GA is here to help you do just that. After all, a good customer experience improves overall SEO.
Not only can problems be immediately recognised and resolved, but you also have the option of checking your data daily, weekly and monthly- whatever suits your strategy is possible!
5 key ways to use Google Analytics for SEO
While there are plenty of things you can do with this powerful tool, we’ve provided 5 key ways that are sure to improve your SEO in no time. Let’s take a look:
Identify page loading times/site speed
The speed at which pages load on your site (and the time it takes for your site as a whole) can have a huge effect on users. They’re likely to click off, therefore increasing bounce rates and having detrimental effects on rankings. So with GA identifying those slow-loading pages, you can take action swiftly to avoid the issues that may arise.
To see this piece of data, you click on ‘behaviour’ and then ‘site speed report’. Once identified, the specific pages can be optimised for the most efficient loading time; techniques such as image compression and optimising code can be used for this.
Create custom SEO dashboards
Creating custom dashboards for any specific SEO data is a handy way to keep track of and report the analytics most important to your strategy. The dashboards allow you to hone in on a specific area, so the most valuable pieces of data can be detected as well as any areas of improvement.
A dashboard is also an easy way of seeing everything in an accessible, digestible format. With everything in one place, both time and effort are saved so SEO experts can get on with other important jobs too rather than trying to gather lots of various information- the dashboards can do it for you, it’s that simple!
Identify user demographic
Another valuable feature of Google Analytics is that you can have a look at who your users actually are. This helps personalise content and gear SEO techniques in certain directions, optimising for a positive user experience.
The software shows you the gender, age, location, and even their interests. Not only can this help you develop audience personas, but you can see whether previous SEO efforts have worked in reaching the people you intended to, or whether optimization needs to shift in a different direction to reach your target audience.
Identify new keyword opportunities
Google Analytics has the ability to show what keywords are commonly typed into your site’s internal search engine. Therefore, if you’ve got no content that corresponds to these topics, you now know that creating this content can help users find what they’re looking for.
You can even connect GA to Google Search Console to access all the relevant keyword data, including user behaviour and the most popular search queries relating to your page. From this, you can create sub-topics and cluster your keywords in order to boost overall authority. In turn, this improves your SEO by telling Google that your site is trustworthy and worthy of ranking highly in the SERPs.
Improve SEO for your most important pages
By clicking on ‘behaviour > top landing pages > filter by organic’, you can identify which pages are most valuable to your site as they’re the most visited. Any opportunity to optimise these pages can be recognised and actioned to make sure their top spots are solidified and guaranteed.
Important pages, such as those that gain lots of traffic, could be optimised to increase conversions and overall business- convincing CTAs can help drive users to perform a desired action. It’s vital to check for those important pages that have dropped in rankings so you can immediately optimise them to gain more organic traffic.
Want to know more about SEO? We’re here to help
Our team of SEO experts are on hand to answer any question you may have about all things SEO. If you have a question for us, feel free to call 0161 327 2635 or email [email protected].
At Embryo, we use a fine-tooth comb when approaching your optimisation strategy, making sure nothing goes unnoticed. Our team are people who you can trust and who can tailor strategy to your specific industry needs.
