SEO Google Analytics: A Detailed Guide on Tracking SEO Efforts for Optimization

 11 Mar, 2024

seo-ranking-with-google-analytics

Have you ever heard of SEO Google Analytics? Everyone in the marketing game uses Google Analytics, but not all know the intricacies of using Google Analytics for SEO.

So you have successfully made pace with effective SEO methods, complementing Google’s crawling and search patterns. Congrats! But are you putting enough effort at doing a consistent and well-timed SEO rankings check? No? Thought so. Only plotting and implementing “one size fits all” white-hat SEO activities won’t get you desired results, you require additional efforts as well to support your top SEO rankings stability & improvement.

Performing SEO ranking tracking is compulsory if you want to attain/stay intact on Google's first page's top results. This tracking process will help to highlight the factors that aren't working anymore and give scope to analyze new measures before your business completely zones out from the initial search pages.

So the real question is: Which is the best & free tool for SEO ranking & on-site metrics tracking? The answer is “Google Analytics (GA)”

The other real question is: How does using Google Analytics for SEO help track SEO performance? Google Analytics is an effective tool for on-site metrics monitoring, as it contains valuable data that gives a complete dissection of your SEO activities - from analyzing the SEO ranking for keywords to distilling the organic page views, bounce rates, and much more important stuff.

In the following blog, we will refine the critical factors you need to consider to track the SEO rankings of your website using Google Analytics for SEO. Take your reading glasses along and sit comfortably because it will be a long but worthy read.

"Unlock Your SEO Success: Track for Free with Google Analytics Now!

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  • Analyze the User Behavior
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Step-By-Step Process To Follow For Tracking Google\'s Seo Ranking

Log in to your Google Analytics account and perform the following actions:

Link Your Google Analytics With A Search Console Account

 

By linking your Google Analytics account with the Search console account, you will quickly identify the keywords that people are using to search your content, what content they are interested in looking for, and where that content is ranking in the SERPs.

This linking will bring a clear picture to you - giving scope to improve your target keywords and optimize the pages you want to rank on those target keywords.

On gaining insights into keywords and content rankings, you will easily take the steps that will help you rank on top of Google’s first page.

Search For Your Most Popular Content And Regularly Update Them

best way to track and improve your SEO rankings

Another best way to track and improve your SEO rankings would be to run down a report to analyze your top-performing content pieces. Chalk a plan on how you can optimize such content pieces for broader reach. 

With this web analytics service (Google Analytics), you can easily track the performance of every page specifically. You will be able to track the total page views, retention time on each page, and internal links that got the most clicks - All these metrics will help you analyze which content needs your dedicated time to bring in the new optimization/updates.

Few things that you can do to further optimize your top-performing content:

  • Update them with the additional resourceful & updated information 
  • Put the keywords you didn’t inscribe earlier
  • Put more convincing CTAs (call-to-action) statements throughout the content

Doing all this will help your content in maintaining the top position in the SERPs.

Track Search Terms People Are Using To Find You

SEO experts say, “ To measure & track SEO rankings accurately, checking the top search terms on Google daily is immense”.

The biggest drawback with Google Analytics is - the keyword field is not provided here. So here, it gets tough to combine the keyword list that people are using to find you.

But if you happen to have a URL and on-page SEO implementations, you can somehow identify the landing pages people are heading on right after doing their Google searches. So this landing page identification will help you jot down the search terms or keywords your visitors are most using to find you.

But if you want an exact compilation of keywords or search terms that people are using to find you, you can use an additional comprehensive SEO tool like “Keyword Hero”. This tool will integrate well with your GA account and will fetch the required data from it, to collate a list of the most searched keywords for your every organic session.

Find The Category Google Is Putting In Your Business Website

category Google is putting your business website in

“Sites that have defined category or niche type tend to rank better than those who don’t have ventured on an explicit business category.”

For Google, your website’s category is very important, because the search engine is only interested in ranking a website in the #1 position that’s sure of its niche or business category.

Google Analytics can easily help you identify the interest category of your site users. By getting the list of categories, you can opt for the common categories that define your business. This category list will further help you resurrect your content game and improve your E.A.T ( Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) score, which is a subset under Google Search Quality Guidelines. 

How to view the user-interested category list in my Google Analytics account?

  • Go to the “Audience” section on your GA dashboard
  • In the “Audience’ section, select “Interests”
  • Inside “Interests”, select “Overview”
  • There you will have a list of - Affinity category, In-market segment, and other categories.

With these user-interested categories data, you will be able to plan your content marketing game head-on.

Look At Your Content Drilldown Section

To make your mission “SEO rankings check” successful, you can utilize the GA’s Content Drill down section. This section will chalk out a brief taxonomy of your site’s structure, and the type of people who are interacting with your website.

The section will give you a detailed report, defining the:

  • Pageviews your URL is getting
  • Bounce rate 
  • Each session’s exit rate
  • Retention rate on every page
  • Sections of the site that are working
  • Duplicate content

By having all these above real-time pieces of information, you will pull off successful SEO ranking tracking to improve the factors causing poor rankings.

Use Referrals Feature In Google Analytics

The referral feature in Google Analytics shows you the compilation of other third-party sites that referred visitors to your site - on clicking upon a link featured on third-party websites.

If you are strongly playing with off-page SEO activities, there, it becomes important for you to know which websites are helping you with great link building to further improve your website’s performance.

How to view “Referral sites” in your Google Analytics account?

  • In your GA dashboard, Go to the “Acquisition” section
  • Under “Acquisition”, select “All Traffic”
  • Inside “All Traffic”, you will find “Referrals”
  • Inside referrals, you will find the list of third-party websites that referred visitors to your website.

The referral report you will see will show you - session volume, Avg. session duration, the volume of traffic, engagement, and conversion data which will help you evaluate the current performance of the website.

Use Your GA Account To Manage Your PPC Spendings

GA is a proven tool to support your PPC data. By using GA, you can easily test for the keywords that are or aren’t likely to convert into sales.

By closely evaluating the surely converting search terms, you will be sure of which keywords deserve your precious dollar spending.

Since most of the paid advertising returns come from the Google platform, the GA platform will work wonders in accessing the right keywords that are worthy of your investments for the next PPC Ad run.

Keep “Custom Alerts” Mode On

Keep “Custom Alerts” Mode On

Google Analytics Custom Alert can help you stay afloat in the SEO rankings game. 

You can set up custom trigger alerts in your account like “If website traffic falls down by 7% and bounce rate increases by 8%”.

And these custom alerts will shoot down in your mailbox, after their real onset - to keep you aware of the alarming situations.

Check The Pages With High “Bounce Rates”

Check The Pages With High “Bounce Rates”

Google doesn’t take bounce rates into account while enlisting ranking factors. But bounce rates are the indirect indicators that stop your website from winning that massive traffic base and rankings.

So the bounce rate is somewhere a predominant factor that defines the number of people who have visited your website for a few seconds or minutes but left the session without taking the next-best step.

The reason why the bounce rate is important is that it defines the quality of traffic and the page. If people are hurriedly jumping back to the search engine after having a deep glimpse of your landing page, this means they haven’t found the information searched over certain, to be relevant.

So, you definitely can’t ignore each page’s bounce rate. With these realistic bounce rate percentages, you will know which page needs a more stringent optimization process.

Analyze What People Are Finding Inside Your Internal Site Search Bar

Every website these days has an internal site search bar option where end-users put certain keywords to find the desired information - from the whole website.

On using your website’s internal site search option, users are likely to encounter the following two conditions:

  • The first condition - On putting the desired keyword inside the internal search feature, they get directed to the relevant page.
  • The second condition - On putting the desired keyword inside the internal search feature, users encounter a message “oops… cannot find page matching to your search terms”.

Whatever the condition may be, wouldn’t you want to know the search terms that people are actively searching for inside your website? Of course, you do!

In your GA account, on clicking upon - Behavior> Site Search > Overview, there you will land up on a list of search terms people are searching inside your website.

Finding the internal site search terms will help in:

    • Analyzing the information, users are willingly asking
    • If your website doesn't host pages similar to those search terms, there you will have a greater chance to create that information page before the competitors - to improve your SEO ranking for keywords users are looking for.

Don’t Miss Out On Mobile Traffic

Don’t miss out on mobile traffic

“Google is making responsiveness a true ranking factor in mobile search results.” Thus, it is immense for websites to stay focused on the mobile-first approach of their website as well.

Google is clear about ranking the websites based on mobile interfaces rather than desktop ones. Your GA account has insights into your mobile traffic as well.

In your GA account, click on Audience> Mobile> Overview, there you will get a dataset explaining how many people are visiting your website using mobile phones, desktops, or tablets.

The dataset will help you analyze the metrics like bounce rates, user sessions, and traffic rates specifically on mobile devices. There you will scope to analyze and improve the factors that are stopping your website from becoming mobile-friendly.

Look Out For Your Top-Performing Landing Pages

Tracking your landing pages is essential for SEO ranking checks and SEO Google Analytics. The top landing page data will help you determine the page views, bounce rate, and conversion rates.

On finding your top landing pages and optimizing them with the following will help in improving your ranking game:

  • Making them readable and user-centric
  • Putting in the effective CTAs and conversion elements 
  • Keeping them well-tuned with Google’s updated algorithms

What To Do With Your Top Landing Page?

The dataset of topmost landing pages will help you identify the content type that people are most looking for. With this, you can easily tweak and set your content strategy on the basis of your most visited landing pages.

Know what metrics you must evaluate via SEO Google Analytics to track your SEO ranking correctly!

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Six Important SEO ranking metrics

Six Important Seo Ranking Metrics

The SEO efforts are greatly dependent on the following metrics. If these metrics aren't all right, there will be a high chance of losing desired search engine visibility.

1. User Dwell Time

Knowing the dwell time lets you easily identify which page attracts users' attention. If some page has less dwell time, you will have scope to optimize that page with the right resources to bag the chances of ranking high in the SERPs.

Pro Tip: Use engaging multimedia elements like interactive graphics, videos, and infographics within your web pages. The more engaging the content the more the user dwell time. Get help from an SEO specialist if you need help executing the desired SEO-friendly content.

2. Bounce Rate

Tracking the website's bounce rate defines how much useful your users find your website to be. So what is the percentage of alarming bounce rate? A bad bounce rate can be too high or too low. If your bounce rate is 0%, chances are your GA cannot record any, and if your bounce rate is 80%, it makes sense that either the user experience/interface is disturbing or the content users expected to find wasn't there.

Thus, by having the bounce rate numbers by your side, you will know which landing page needs rigorous optimization and modifications to bring in ongoing engagement.

If you feel the content could be the reason, update it, if you feel the web layout is non-appealing, try redesigning the website.

Pro Tip: Provide high-quality and relevant content. Make sure your story matches what people search for on the internet and gives helpful, engaging, and complete details that make visitors stay longer. Adding pictures and videos, links to similar content within the site, and a straightforward layout can help keep visitors on your page longer. You can easily get SEO services from a good SEO company, including content services.

3. Website Loading speed

Make sure to notice your website’s speed at a timely interval, as this in most cases is the direct cause of poor traffic and conversions. People like websites that load faster and don't take an eternity to load their individual pages.

Over your GA account, you can visit Behavior> Site Speed> Page timings, this information will give you a brief idea of components that are taking up heavy space and resulting in loading speed.

There you will know which image needs compression, and which element needs rework to minify its huge spacing over the website.

Knowing what pages are falling behind in the fast-loading race can help in streamlining the SEO goals and track SEO rankings with ease. 

Pro Tip: Make sure images are sized right and in a suitable format. Compressing images but keeping their quality high is crucial with website speed. If website speed becomes a constant problem, get professional SEO services to deal with it at the soonest for a better loading speed.

4. Mobile Traffic

With Google rolling out its mobile-first indexing in 2008, the need for tracking mobile traffic and experiences became more serious business for website owners.

Since we are driving in a mobile-first generation, tracking and monitoring your website viewing over mobiles will directly contribute to positive search engine rankings.

Pro Tip: Ensure swift loading times, streamlined content, and responsive design to significantly enhance user experience, which makes a website mobile-friendly. Any good SEO company can help you make your website mobile friendly thus helping you rank higher on SERPs.

5. Organic Conversion Rate

The struggle you pulled off to rank high in the SERP is ultimately for the “Conversions”. You carefully need to access your web’s elements that helped you bring in the right and heavy conversions

There is no rule of thumb defining - what should be the percentage of conversions. It’s simple, that conversions should only go up every month. Declining conversions signifies you are doing miserably. Comparing the converting pages with the non-converting ones will help you highlight the trends and reasons for no high conversions.

Pro Tip: Have easy-to-find information with clear call-to-action (CTAs) and quick loading times so users can enjoy everything smoothly (and not get frustrated). When you offer a top-notch experience to users, they will spend more time on your site and even become customers. A best SEO company will also offer conversion rate optimization and will leave no stone unturned to increase organic conversions.

6. Retention Time On Each Page

By knowing the average time of users on a page, you will have clarity on how engaged your visitors are with your website and its internal pages. From the expert’s point, if the average time on page is less than 2 minutes, that means your page needs more improvements and optimizations to make it valuable for your visitors.

Pro Tip: Use videos and engaging and interactive content and elements to keep users engaged. The more interactive the website, the more the retention time increases. With the hep of an SEO consultant you can get a highly interactive website with an intuitive design.

FAQs

1. What is SEO Google Analytics?

Google Analytics is a tool that we use for SEO. We use it to make our search engine optimization better and more effective. The goal is to use Google Analytics to understand website performance and visitors' actions. It also looks at how different SEO strategies affect traffic from searches not paid for with ads.

2. How to use Google analytics for SEO?

How to use Google Analytics for SEO involves several steps:

  • Set Up Goals: Define SEO-related goals like tracking organic traffic, conversions, or engagement metrics.  
  • Monitor Organic Traffic: The "Acquisition" tab tracks organic search traffic. Analyze keywords driving traffic and landing pages to identify top-performing content.
  • Behavior Analysis: Explore the "Behavior" section to understand user interaction. Check bounce rates, session durations, and popular pages to refine content strategy.
  • Conversion Tracking: Evaluate conversions related to SEO efforts. Monitor how organic traffic leads to desired actions (e.g., form submissions, purchases).
  • Page Performance: Analyze page load times using the "Site Speed" section. Optimize slow-loading pages for better user experience and SEO.
  • Link Tracking: Utilize campaign tracking parameters to monitor the effectiveness of inbound links from different sources.
  • Custom Reports & Segments: Create custom reports and segments to focus on specific SEO metrics or user segments for deeper insights.
  • Regular Analysis & Iteration: Continuously review data, adjust strategies, and iterate based on insights to refine SEO efforts and improve website performance.

3. How to improve seo with Google Analytics?

First, to use Google Analytics well for SEO, set clear goals that match the search engine optimization goals. Use goal tracking and online shopping tracking to track changes. Look carefully at the data, pay attention to where traffic comes from, how people use it, and which words perform best. Use these tips to improve strategies for improved search results on SEO.

4. How does an SEO agency effectively use Google Analytics for SEO?

Google Analytics helps SEO by looking at user behavior stats like how long they stay, the pages they see, and their leaving rate. Smart choices can be made by looking at what's popular - like words used often or how people use a website. Make changes using data. This means tweaking ways to share content, improving things for users, and changing efforts to get more visitors from search engines without spending money.

5. How to do seo with google analytics?

Using Google Analytics for SEO means using its information. Look at important numbers like where the visitors are coming from, what they do on your site, and how well certain words work. Use this information to fix your content plans, improve your website's structure, and go after keywords that perform well. Using information from these findings to change data will improve SEO and increase organic traffic.

6. What distinguishes professional SEO services from others?

Professional SEO services are very good because they make plans just for you. This is based on much work and understanding of how search engines understand information. This skill helps them make plans for every business and deal well with changing search engine rules.

7. How does an SEO company track seo efforts with Google Analytics?

An SEO company tracks efforts in search engine optimization. They use Google Analytics to set up goals, events, and custom tracking details that match their SEO aims. They watch measures inside Google Analytics like visitor use, keyword action, page levels, and user attitude. Then, this information is checked to see how well SEO plans are working. It also helps find ways to improve them and improve how the website appears in search engines. This will also help with overall online visibility and rankings on those platforms.

8. How does an SEO company measure seo performance in Google Analytics?

A search engine optimization (SEO) company measures SEO results in Google Analytics by watching different important numbers. This includes how many people visit organically, user interest signs (like the headway rate and time spent on a page), changes from organic searches, and how well words are doing. They also look at how people behave on sites, the success of landing pages, and whether goals or events caused by SEO work well. These understandings together help in checking how well SEO is doing and make it possible to improve plans for better results.

9. How does an SEO agency track your seo using Google Analytics?

A company that does SEO watches how well it using Google Analytics for SEO. They put certain targets and measures in place to match the client's goals. They set up the tool to watch organic traffic, the position of keywords in rankings, user engagement, and turning rates into sales. With special reports, they look at this information and see patterns. Then, they make smart choices to get better SEO ideas for their websites, aiming to boost performance levels and search rankings.

10. What SEO services does the best SEO company provide?

Some of the most common SEO services that SEO providers and best SEO companies provide are:

Keyword Research: Finding important and strong words for optimization.

On-Page Optimization: Improve parts of a website, like titles and descriptions, for SEO in the search engine.

Off-Page SEO: Making good links to your site and increasing its power.

Technical SEO: Make sure your website is built correctly and fast, works well on phones, and follows the rules set by search engines.

Content Creation: Making content that attracts people and is easily found on search engines.

Analytics and Reporting: Using tools like Google Analytics to watch how well things are going and give information.

Strategy Development: Making and carrying out complete SEO plans that match company aims.

Monitoring and Optimization: Regularly look at data and make changes to improve SEO.

11. Can I learn SEO Google Analytics online?

Yes, there are plenty of resources available online from where you can learn SEO Google Analytics. You need to make sure that you research well when choosing the platform or the resoyrce to learn SEO google analytica from. If you are having trouble finding the right resource you can use the below keywords for more precise results.

  • Learn How To Use Google SEO Analytics 
  • Learn How To Use Google Analytics To Improve SEO
  • Learn How To Improve SEO With Google Analytics
  • Learn How To Do SEO With Google Analytics
  • Learn To Track SEO Efforts With Google Analytics 
  • Learn To Measure SEO Performance In Google Analytics   
  • Learn To Track Your SEO Using Google Analytics
  • Learn SEO Google Analytics For Website Performance  
  • Learn Google Analytics Link Tracking
  • Learn Google SEO Analytics 
  • Google Analytics Tracking

12. How to find the best SEO services near me?

You can do a quick internet search to find an SEO agency that provides professional SEO services near you. For more accurate results use below keywords for your search

  • SEO Services Near Me
  • Best Seo Agency Near Me
  • Good SEO Company Near Me
  • Professional Seo Services Near Me
  • Best SEO Company Near Me
  • SEO Providers Near Me
  • SEO Consultant Near Me
  • SEO Expert Near Me
  • SEO Specialist Near Me

Final Thoughts

With this, we are done explaining why tracking SEO ranking for keywords and other metrics is so immense to "UP" the SEO game --- with SEO Google Analytics, to be precise a free tool for SEO ranking checks like Google Analytics.

While using SEO Google analytics, keep your target group's mindset in focus. Knowing your customers closely will help you create powerful insights to run your search engine optimization efforts. 

The more well-timed data or insights into your target group’s behavior and the expectation you have, the more you will know which actions will be fruitful to accelerate your SEO efforts.

The moral of the story is: If you are not willingly taking continual efforts to improve your SEO patterns compatibility with your audience and search engines, achieving or maintaining the desired rank and visibility will be just a dream.

If your business website is struggling to make pace with search engine trends and virtual audience requirements, JanBask Digital Design has complete digital marketing solutions to embark you on massive Brand Visibility> Conversions> ROIs.

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