Role of Google Search Console and Google Analytics in SEO

Google Analytic and Google Search Console both are the heart of any successful SEO strategy. Google Analytics help to give insight of user who visit your site no matter what channel they use. Google Search Console focuses on traffic in terms of Clicks and Impression from search result. Google Search Console also help in term of website errors.

In this blog, we will discuss about Google Analytics and Google Search Console that how both free Google tools play major role in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy.

What Is Google Search Console?

Google Search Console is a most important free tool offered by Google that help to website owners, digital marketers, and SEO professionals monitor and maintain the website. GSC also give the insight of Clicks, Impression and Click-Through Rate (CTR). These following data we can unlock from Google Search Console:

• Clicks, Impression, Click-Through Rate (CTR) and Average Position
• Queries by user of your site.
• Page wise Clicks and Impression
• Internal and External Backlinks of Your Website
• Website Errors Like Page Not Found (404), Redirect Errors, Crawling and indexing errors

Key Features of Google Search Console:

Search Performance: Google Search Console help with the how your website appears in Google search results, including metrics like the clicks, impressions, click-through rate (CTR), and average position for different queries and pages.

Core Web Vital Report: Google Search Console provide data of the matrix that affect your page experience website load time such as Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), Interaction To Next Paint (INP) and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS). It helps to improve your website performance and user experience.

Security Issues (HTTPS): Google Search Console notifies that your website has HTTP or HTTPS. HTTPS is more secure than HTTP, and a website with HTTPS will have an SSL certificate. That helps to secure your website.

Index Coverage: Google Search Console provide the data of Index and Non Index page.

Sitemaps: In Google Search Console, you can submit your XML sitemap to increase crawling and indexing pages of your website which can improve search visibility on Google search result.

URL Inspection Tool: GSC allows you to check how Googlebot sees a particular page of your website, including its index status and errors if any.

Links Report: Google Search Console give the information about your website internal and external backlinks that helps you to understand the structure of your site and its relationships to other pages.

Website Page Errors: Google Search Console shows the errors of your page that including Page with redirect, not found (404), 403 Forbidden, duplicate without user-selected canonical, Discovered - currently not indexed and Crawled - currently not indexed.

Also Read - Common Google Search Console Errors and How to Fix Them Quickly

What Is Google Analytics?

Google Analytics is a free powerful web and App analytics platform offered by Google that helps website owners and digital marketers to track and analyze website traffic and user behavior. It provides comprehensive data of web as well as Application like page views, sessions, new user, engagement rate and channel wise traffics. Google Analytics also offers e-commerce tracking, event tracking, and goal setting to measure specific actions and conversions on a website. Now Google Analytics 4 has replaced Universal Analytics in July 1, 2023.

Some Key Features and Functions of Google Analytics

1. All Channel Traffic: Google Analytic track how user enter your site, via organic search, paid ads, social media, referrals, or direct traffic. We can track channel wise user in acquisition part of GA.

Steps to View All Channel Traffic

In GA4, Reports > Business objectives> Lead> Traffic acquisition.

2. User Behavior: Google Analytics shows how users navigate your website, which pages they visit, how long they stay, and where they exit. That helps digital marketer to find the area which need to for improving user engagement. It also tracks the pageviews, engagement rate and bounce rate.

Steps to View All User Behavior

In GA4, Reports > Life Cycle> Engagement > Engagement overview.

3. Real-Time Overview: Google Analytics offers you real-time insights of user activity on your website or app. It displays the last 30-mint and last 5-minute active user on your website. Also track the user location where user is located (Country, region and cities) and page which is using on your website.

Steps to View Real-Time Overview

In GA4, Reports > Real-time.

4. Conversion Tracking: Google Analytics tracks the actions like purchases, form submissions, or downloads, helping to analyze the success of marketing campaigns.

Steps to View Conversion Tracking

In GA4, Reports > Life Cycle> Monetization> Ecommerce purchases or Checkout journey or Purchase journey.

5. Audience Insights: Google Analytics provides demographic data according to age, gender and interests. Also track the data of new user vs. returning user. It helps to understand the data of new user and existing user to monitor and improve performance of your website.

Steps to View Audience Insights

In GA4, Reports > User> Demographic details> Country or City or Age

6. Tech Details: In Google Analytics you can track data of mobile and desktop user. Also track data of Android, iOS, Windows, Linux, Chrome OS and Macintosh user.

Steps to View Tech Details

In GA4, Reports > User> Tech> Tech Details

7. Landing Page Insight: In Google Analytics you can also track the data of top landing pages of your website. It helps to analysis pages of your website to make some improvement if pages are low performing.

Steps to View Landing Page Insight

In GA4, Reports > Business objectives> Lead> Landing page

Integrating GA and GSC data for comprehensive SEO insights

GSC Data	GA Data	Combined Insight
Search Queries	Landing pages	Query-to-page mapping
Click-Through Rates	Bounce rates	User engagement analysis
Impressions	Time on page	Content relevance assessment

 

FAQs

1. Do I really need Google Analytics?

Yes, without Google Analytics you can't tracks the data of user visiting towards your website. You cannot find the data of user behaviors, engagement rate, session, channel wise data and bounce rate.

2. Is Google Analytics free?

Yes, Google Analytics is totally free tool offered by Google to understand the customer journey and improve marketing ROI.

3. Is Google Analytics 4 paid?

No, Google Analytics is totally free tool offered by Google.

4. Is Google Search Console paid?

Search Console is a free tool offered by Google that gives you data and tips to help you understand and improve your search traffic.

Conclusion

Google Analytics and Google Search Console are indispensable tools for anyone serious about improving their SEO strategy. They provide invaluable insights into user behavior, website performance, and search visibility. With Google Analytics, you can track how visitors interact with your site, allowing you to refine content and optimize user experience. Meanwhile, Google Search Console offers essential data on how your site appears in search results, helping you identify issues that may be hindering your rankings.

Utilizing both of these platforms together creates a comprehensive understanding of your digital presence. By leveraging the data from Google Analytics 4 alongside the insights from Google Search Console, you're equipped to make informed decisions that drive traffic and enhance engagement on your website.

Also Read - The Benefits of Social Media and Local SEO for Your Business