Google Analytics
Stay up to date with the latest news, tips, and insights about Google Analytics on Search Engine Land, including strategies to optimize your use of Google Analytics 4 (GA4), which replaced Universal Analytics in mid-2024. and the forced migration to Google Analytics 4, starting July 1, 2023, from Search Engine Land.
You’ll find a variety of up-to-date and authoritative resources, including the latest news, tutorials and data to help you work smarter and make better decisions.
Navigating Google Analytics 4 and beyond
The transition to Google Analytics 4 (GA4) marks a significant change in how businesses track, measure, and analyze their website and app data. Search Engine Land offers in-depth insights and strategies to help you adapt to GA4 and leverage its new features for actionable results.
Discover tutorials on using GA4, creating custom reports, and getting the most out of the platform. Stay updated on understanding GA4’s new interface and interpreting its improved insights into customer behavior.
We also cover GA4’s expanded cross-platform tracking capabilities and its emphasis on privacy-focused measurement.
What you read here is written by our experienced in-house team, and subject matter experts from leading brands and agencies.
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Google Chrome to crack down on battery- and data-sucking display ads
The move follows other efforts to block "annoying" ads from loading on the browser.
Video: Aaron Friedman on content generation ideas and do small things in SEO matter
Aaron and I had many meals together, kosher meals that is, at SEO conferences over the years.
What SEOs can learn from COVID rankings volatility [Video]
Google’s prior work to prioritize EAT signals for YMYL queries, in tandem with shifting search behavior, may explain over two weeks of rankings fluctuations.
TapClicks buys AdStage to expand marketing intelligence, predictive campaign optimization capabilities
The companies share a vision of a unified marketing platform. AdStage founder will head up intelligence group.
Google intros open testing ads, new asset reporting and more for App campaigns
The slate of ads and analytics features specifically aimed at mobile gaming marketers will roll out over the coming months.
How to optimize paid search and Amazon campaigns for seasonality success
Planning ahead (even in a time that's anything but "normal") can help ensure your business is best positioned for your peak periods.
Several WordPress SEO plugins are on the fritz
Site owners using Google Analytics Dashboard for WP, Yoast SEO and Rank Math should check for the following issues.
What are analytics experts looking to in 2020 with data and privacy?
Logan Gordon, Simo Ahava, Astrid Illum, Abby Matchett and Sayf Sharif share insights to help you gain executive buy-in about privacy policy issues this year.
Smart Shopping campaigns: How to test and extract more value from automated campaigns
Kirk Williams of Zato Marketing says Smart Shopping campaigns are worth testing when you understand how they work.
Google Search Console fixed a bug with Google Tag Manager verification
Check to see if your properties are still verified in Google Search Console.
Will the Discover feed be Google’s next cash cow? What advertisers are saying about Discovery campaigns
Early looks at the new campaign type and native ad formats that have had little fanfare since launching in beta last year.
Google Ads testing custom dimensions to enable reporting based on your business structure
Group and report on campaigns with a hierarchical structure to see performance by business category or marketing strategy.
The dangers of misplaced third-party scripts
Most SEO tags like the title, canonical, etc. belong in the HTML HEAD but if placed in the BODY, Google and other search engines will ignore them. Here's how you fix it.
6 of the best social listening tools for 2020
As more brands turn to social media for customer insights, social listening tools are gaining momentum. Here are our top 6 picks for 2020.
Bug in Google Search Console performance reports impact Google Discover reporting
The bug affected reporting between December 8 and December 13, 2019.
5 audiences you should exclude from your PPC campaigns
Negative audiences help reduce wasted spend and prevent shoppers from being retargeted with products too many times.
Google Ads intros ‘restricted data processing’ capability for CCPA compliance
Here's how to enable restricted data processing measures in Google Ads, Google Analytics and Firebase SDK.
Local business study finds 0% of site traffic coming from email, paid media
Are small businesses not using email or digital advertising? The 'Google Analytics for Local Businesses Study' looked at 11K local businesses.
Google launches Site Kit plugin for WordPress
WordPress users can see data pulled from various Google products.
Google Sept. 2019 Core Update ‘weaker’ than June core update
A detailed look at the early impact from the latest Google core update.
Getting started with Google Tag Manager
Here's how you set up a GTM account, create your first tags and triggers, and use the platform to streamline your tracking setup process.
Social listening: what it is, why it matters, and how to do it
What is social media monitoring? Why is it important? What are the best social listening tools? Find out with this quick guide for 2020.
SMX Overtime: Your questions answered about Google penalties and their impact on websites
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Simplifying Google Analytics configuration with Google Tag Manager
Using analytics through GTM allows you to simplify the code in place on your site and quickly set up advanced features like cross-domain tracking.
SMX replay: Create dashboards that inform and persuade
Sam Marsden of DeepCrawl explains how to use data visualization to get faster buy-in from management and stakeholders.
Leaning into SEO as Google shifts from search engine to portal
How to prepare your company for Google's new customer journey for search.
Why search needs to be combined with awareness for maximum impact
TV and display will drive better performing search queries, which in turn can indicate the effectiveness of those channels themselves.
Here’s how you align marketing strategy with your customer’s journey
SMX Advanced presenters Amy Bishop and Michelle Morgan outline tactics for paid media channels to effectively guide users from discovery to conversion.
Google tests showing weekly site visits in automated ad extension
The extension is further highlighted with a people icon.
Frederick Vallaeys on why digital marketers will still have jobs and what they’ll look like in an AI world
"I think that this is full of opportunities for PPC, but it's going to be different from what we've been doing for the past 10 years."
4 website actions you can track with Google Tag Manager
There are limitless actions you can track to improve data gathering. Here is a step-by-step guide with website actions important to digital marketing measurement.
Google announces new ‘discovery’ ad formats, revamped Shopping experience, native placements at Google Marketing Live
The company also announced a new Google Shopping experience that aspires to be more competitive with Amazon.
7 best social media monitoring tools for any business
Social media is an enormous pool of insights on your market and competitors. These social listening tools bring those insights right to the surface.
Apple News, Google News, Google Newsstand: What marketers need to know
What they are, how they work and how to optimize for Google News and Apple News.
Here’s how to use Google Tag Manager’s new Trigger Groups
This update offers a new way to manage how often, and under what circumstances, a tag will fire in GTM.
5 additional data blending examples for smarter SEO insights
Once you preprocess columns to consistent formatting, additional data blending options include prioritizing pages with search clicks, mining internal site search for content gaps, analyzing traffic issues with 404 pages and more.
SMX Overtime: How to use customer segmentation to test new value propositions
SEM expert Seth Meisel shares a real-time reason why stakeholder diplomacy is important. He also delves into 'proof of concept' with testing customer segmentation in Google Ads Customer Match.
SMX Overtime: Learn the difference between mobile-first indexing and mobile-friendly SEO
SEO expert Eric Enge explains that displaying information on responsive sites is not enough in for mobile strategy. Here's what you need to consider.
SMX Overtime: Enterprise SEOs explain tactical approaches for large implementations
Senior Director of SEO at Apartments.com offers advice about managing taxonomy changes, keyword research, event tracking and the importance of industry collaboration.