Google is a universal marketing platform that provides unparalleled analytical tools and search abilities for businesses that want to get ahead. Among the tools it offers are Google Analytics (GA) and Google Search Console (GSC).
When used together, they can help you increase your website's ranking with complementary data. Let’s delve into what GSC and GA are and how you can use them to your site's advantage.
Every business owner, SEO specialist, or marketer trying to optimize their site has probably heard about and maybe even used Google Search Console (GSC). If you haven't, you are definitely missing out on the tool's power to help you monitor the health of your website in Google’s index.
GSC, previously known as Google Webmaster Tools, has undergone some significant updates. The initiative was to acknowledge the broader audience that relies on the tool to increase their site's organic traffic. With the metrics they obtain from GSC, they can improve their website's appearance on search results. They would then be able to attract more relevant traffic to their sites.
GSC is a free platform that anyone with a website can leverage to monitor their site's Google views and optimize it for a more robust organic presence. That includes viewing rich search results, mobile site performance, referring domains, and highest-traffic pages and queries.
Unlike Google Analytics, however, the platform only provides information on traffic coming from web searches. It doesn't capture traffic from ads and direct traffic.
While GSC is an incredibly powerful program, its interface requires some practice. You can find guides on how to use the service to help you better navigate the tool.
While you can't use GSC to make changes to your site directly, you can use it to list your website's pages on Google’s index. Doing this shows you which URLs on your site are functional and performing as they should. It also checks for inaccuracies within your domain and suggests fixes for you to implement.
For search engine optimization (SEO) purposes, GSC is an excellent tool for adjusting your strategy. The data you collect from the platform can help you discover new ranking opportunities, boost existing performance, and find out exactly who is coming to your website. Overall, it is an essential tool for any company that relies on its website to generate leads and sales and is looking for new ideas to help improve their site.
Setting up a Google Search Console account for a professional search optimization campaign can go a long way in helping your business grow in the long run.
Google Analytics provides you with the tools you need to analyze your business data in one spot. With the statistics you collect, you can enhance your SEO efforts. The service forms part of the Google Marketing Platform, and anyone with a Google account can use it.
It also helps you track your website's performance and gain a deeper view of your visitors' interactions with your site. You can:
Most small and medium-sized retail companies rely on Google Analytics to track and analyze various customer behavior analytics. These are useful in driving website traffic, improving marketing campaigns, and improving customer retention.
How do Google Search Console and Google Analytics work together? They both allow you to determine how much traffic comes to your website and break it down by URL. They can also segment this information into mobile and desktop activity.
However, Google Analytics is more user-oriented. It provides data about the people who visit and interact with your website. GSC is search-engine focused. It provides you with insights and tools to help you improve your site's visibility and presence in SERPs.
Every time you log into your GSC account, pay attention to the dashboard. It contains metrics that you can take advantage of to increase your site's potential. Here's how you can maximize the platform's value by transforming the data into decisions that can help you with optimization:
To increase the number of keywords your website ranks for, ensure you incorporate them in the content you publish. Publishing high-quality content regularly while targeting specific keywords highlights your brand's expertise in the niche.
If your content doesn't rank well for the target keywords, it indicates that Google doesn't perceive your content as high quality or relevant to the keyword. You could:
Search engine “spiders” must crawl and index your pages correctly before ranking for relevant search queries. GSC provides the best way to check the indexed pages, when Google last crawled them, and any possible enhancements.
This information is vital if you want to improve your overall SEO performance because:
Ranking high on Google results from a combination of factors, one of them being the technical performance of your website. It significantly influences the level of trust Google and your site visitors place in your website, as well as their perception of your business.
Google crawlers are interested in responsive, fast-loading pages that provide a high-quality page experience for the users.
Troubleshooting your site for issues can be an intimidating task if you don't have the relevant knowledge. GSC simplifies the process to help you identify problems that could affect your keyword rankings and rectify them quickly.
Some signals the platform weighs to understand the quality of your page's overall experience include:
The GSC platform will point out any of these issues and will alert you to any problems. You can check this out in the “Experience” feature of your account.
Once you ensure that your web pages rank for relevant keywords and that their security, performance, and mobile usability are up to par, you can conduct A/B testing. GSC helps you test specific optimizations to improve average positions across all the keywords. The keyword tracking feature on the platform can quickly confirm the success of the optimizations.
To run a split test in GSC:
GSC provides the best way to narrow in on the most valuable optimizations in your SEO testing for better rankings and impressions. You can borrow from these optimizations to improve the other web pages.
If you're not already actively using GSC and Google Analytics, you're not getting in-depth insights into your website's standing. You are also missing out on an opportunity to optimize your site for a better ranking on SERPs.
If GSC sounds like more work than you have time for, an expert can lend a helping hand. At Steel Croissant, we help brands grow by discovering who they are and where they want to go. This includes SEO and website heavy lifting. Contact us today for a consultation or with any questions you have about GSC and Google Analytics.
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