Fast and accurate SEO reporting and diagnostics with Google Analytics - Cardiff SEO Meet - Emma Barnes

@ejbarnes89#CardiffSEO
Ready, Aim, FIRE!
Fast and accurate SEO reporting and
diagnostics with Google Analytics
E M M A B A R N E S @ E J B A R N E S 8 9

Me IRL
I’m Emma, I like graphs,
and drawing at networking events.

I love video games

😍
😍
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😍
😍
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I love web analytics

😥
😥
😥
😥
😥
😥
😥
😥
But not everyone else loves web analytics

Most people just want to do their job…

…not spend all day reporting

Less time reporting = More time doing job/learning

More time doing job = More value to business
More time learning = More value to yourself

“What does that even mean?”
B E F O R E Y O U O P T I M I S E Y O U R T I M E

Imagine your website is a country
https://azgaar.github.io/Fantasy-Map-Generator/

Google Analytics is the person who checks the passports

Source: Where did they come from?

Medium: How did they get there?
Organic
Paid
Social
Referral

Campaign: Additional info specified
before they come to your site

“This is an SEO meet so tell me about
organic.”

@ejbarnes89#CardiffSEO https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/2795821?hl=en

How does Google Analytics understand traffic?
Is the link
someone
clicked tagged
with UTM
parameters?
Is the traffic
from a search
engine?
Is the traffic
from another
website?
Is it none of
the previous?
Use whatever
those
parameters say
Organic Referral Direct

??? “Tagged with UTM Parameters” ???

https://www.branded3.com/blog/showing-love-virgin-
atlantic-kfc-uber-
eats/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_camp
aign=b3blog
https://ga-dev-tools.appspot.com/campaign-url-builder/

“Will you please tell me about organic?”

“What does GA consider to be a search
engine?”

Look at all these search engines!

Traffic
came from
a website
Website
not a
search
engine
Referral

Traffic has
no UTM
tagging
Traffic
didn’t
come from
a website
Direct

What should I measure?
M I S S I O N

What are your business/campaign objectives?

Create a measurement plan

What is in GA by default?
Acquisition>All Traffic>Channels

Something you need to specify
Acquisition>All Traffic>Channels

What about measuring links?
Links built
Free co-branded content
opportunities

What about measuring social performance?
Shares from suspects

What does GA tell me about links and social media?
Acquisition>All Traffic>Referrals

(Filter for whatever website you’ve built a link on)

Conversions>Multi-Channel Funnels>Assisted Conversions
Click “Source” and filter for that website

What about measuring brand awareness?
Brand awareness

What does GA tell me about brand awareness?
Acquisition > All Traffic > Source / Medium
Click “Direct / (None)”

How do I make my data more
accurate?
N o w I u n d e r s t a n d m y d a t a

People at your office/agency
do not behave like a typical user -
get rid of them!

It is not a complete list…
https://www.branded3.com/blog/track-duckduckgo-organic-referrer-google-analytics/

@ejbarnes89#CardiffSEO https://www.branded3.com/blog/track-duckduckgo-organic-referrer-google-analytics/

@ejbarnes89#CardiffSEO https://www.branded3.com/blog/track-duckduckgo-organic-referrer-google-analytics/
Make sure organic traffic is counted as organic

@ejbarnes89#CardiffSEO https://www.branded3.com/blog/how-to-get-rid-of-referrer-spam-in-google-analytics/
Ever seen spam traffic like this?

@ejbarnes89#CardiffSEO https://www.branded3.com/blog/how-to-get-rid-of-referrer-spam-in-google-analytics/
Remove spam traffic

Goals attributed to a payment provider not your campaign
https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/2795830?hl=en

Add them (and your own site) into referral exclusion

How do I spend more time doing SEO?
H o w d o I s p e n d l e s s t i m e r e p o r t i n g ?

Segments for quick analysis
https://bit.ly/2KNE9rW

Custom Reports for regular reporting
https://bit.ly/1GlrDw9

Google Analytics Dashboards

Google Data Studio Dashboards
datastudio.google.com

Connect GA (and more) to Excel/Google Sheets

How to diagnose problems using
GA
C a n I u s e G A t o d o S E O ?

Monitor your 404 pages
Behaviour > Site Content > All Pages
Click “Page Title” and search for your 404 title

Look at Page Timings
Behaviour > Site Speed > Page Timings
Change table type to “Data”

Traffic Analysis by subfolder
Behaviour>Site Content>Content Drilldown

Navigation summary
Behaviour>Site Content>All Pages
Click ‘Navigation Summary’ and select the page you want

Goal Funnel Tracking
Conversions>Goals>Funnel Visualisation

Why did my traffic/conversions drop?
Did it drop everywhere, or in a specific:
• Channel
• Page/Subfolder
• Device Type
• Country/City
• Browser
• User Type
• Check your tracking code
• Check recent site updates

How to find opportunities using GA
C a n I u s e G A f o r o u t r e a c h ?

Referrals Report: Sort by goal value

Ever thought about pushing content to Reddit?
Click reddit.com

What are your audience interested in?
Audience>Interests>Overview

QUESTIONS?
https://www.branded3.com/blog/category/analytics/
https://www.branded3.com/blog/author/emma-barnes/
@ejbarnes89
emma.barnes@branded3.com

Fast and accurate SEO reporting and diagnostics with Google Analytics - Cardiff SEO Meet - Emma Barnes

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