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 Ads announces new click-to-message ad features and store visits updates
The features, aimed at helping advertisers "work smarter and exceed your omnichannel goals," were announced at SMX East.
SearchCap: DuckDuckGo growth, Voice search and Salesforce tools
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: DuckDuckGo reaches 30 million queries per dayOct 12, 2018 by Barry Schwartz DuckDuckGo, the privacy focused search engine, keeps growing steadily. Voice search isn’t the next big disrupter, conversational AI IsOct […]
SearchCap: Moz with STAT & marketing automation
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: The Open Marketing Cloud: Mautic’s flexible, budget-friendly marketing automation platformOct 10, 2018 by Digital Marketing Depot Are you unhappy with your experience or results using one of the legacy marketing automation […]
Updated: The big list of Google Easter eggs
A surprise with each search.
SearchCap: Google’s ad chief exits company, Google Analytics 360, SMX West 2019
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Google Ads chief Sridhar Ramaswamy leaves to join venture firm Oct 2, 2018 by Greg Sterling Ramaswamy will be replaced by Prabhakar Raghavan, Google VP of Engineering for Google Cloud Apps. […]
SearchCap: Common SEO mistakes, Facebook outage impacts news site traffic & remarketing lists
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Are you guilty of these common SEO mistakes? Sep 24, 2018 by Sherry Bonelli Mistakes happen. When they do, the best response is to learn from your errors, and those made […]
SearchCap: Shoppable Image ads debut at Google, GMB testing new feature, building citations & more
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: New report from MarTech Today: Enterprise Customer Data Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide Sep 14, 2018 by Digital Marketing Depot The customer data platform (CDP) market is expected to generate $1 billion […]
SearchCap: Google’s exact match close variants, EU copyright, Google goofs on hurricane Florence & more
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Play ‘Brand Offense’ to win at search Sep 12, 2018 by Digital Marketing Depot Your brand is constantly under attack by competitors that bid on your branded keywords, interrupting the customer […]
SearchCap: Responsive display ads roll out on Google, Bing Ads update, register for SMX East & more
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Google responsive display ads roll out as new default display format Sep 11, 2018 by Ginny Marvin Advertisers upload their assets and leave the ad creation to Google’s algorithms. Why isn’t […]
SearchCap: Google launches Google Dataset Search, insider look at SMX East & more
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Here’s an exclusive insider look at SMX East Sep 5, 2018 by Chris Sherman Search Engine Land’s SMX® East returns October 24-25. We’re bringing a revamped, updated agenda and more than […]
Google Chrome now shows search result answers in the omnibox by default
Chrome 69, Google's latest browser version, also removes the green label for HTTPS URLs.
SearchCap: Google’s deal with Mastercard not ‘deceptive’, small business SEO & more
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: How small businesses can see big results with foundational SEO Aug 31, 2018 by Marcus Miller Where can you put 20% effort for 80% SEO return? Contributor Marcus Miller outlines SEO […]
SearchCap: Reports change in GSC, wasting SEO budgets, bid management & more
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Planning and creating the perfect landing page Aug 29, 2018 by Digital Marketing Depot Landing pages can make or break your digital marketing. This guide from SharpSpring is written for any […]
Google clarifies Search Console query report data changes from August 19th
After much confusion, Google has issued a statement clarifying the changes made to the query reports in Google Search Console.
SearchCap: Managing multiple GMB listings, malicious content take down & more
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: How to manage multiple GMB listings for service area businesses Aug 24, 2018 by Brian Smith Contributor Brian Smith offers insights on how service area businesses can use GMB’s bulk syndication […]
SearchCap: Ask an SMXpert, Google HTTPS site migration, GSC news & more
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Report shows YouTube and Google video ranking algorithms differ widely Aug 22, 2018 by Barry Schwartz A new report shows that there’s little correlation between ranking well in YouTube search and […]
Google to automatically verify your Google Search Console account if you are the property’s owner in Google Analytics
Google is opening up Google Search Console automatically, so countless webmasters and site owners will have more access to data and important website alerts.
SearchCap: Google Assistant finds good news, GSC updates, Google Image search traffic & more
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: A checklist: Important SEO points to cover in a content campaign Aug 21, 2018 by Paddy Moogan Contributor Paddy Moogan shares a checklist of key on-page and analytical items and how […]
SearchCap: Google Drive rebrands, visual and voice search, Amazon’s ad opportunities & more
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: [Reminder] Ramp Up Your Amazon Ad Game: 5 tips for success Aug 20, 2018 by Digital Marketing Depot Amazon has emerged as the primary purchase channel of the US consumer. Nearly […]
SearchCap: Google’s latest algorithm update, local SEO myths & the Mary G. Ross doodle
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Google extends added character benefits of Responsive Search Ads to text adsAug 9, 2018 by Ginny Marvin The new text ad format will continue to roll out this fall. In the […]
SearchCap: Ask an SMXpert, Trump tops Google ratings for “idiot”, search in pics & more
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Ask the SMXpert – Optimizing for voice search & virtual assistants Jul 20, 2018 by Debra Mastaler SMXpert Upasna Gautam continues the Q&A from SMX Advanced and discusses a number of […]
SearchCap: Google Image search, Google AMP Stories, picking link partners & more
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: 15 checks you should make when choosing a link partner Jul 17, 2018 by Julie Joyce How can you best evaluate a site to determine whether it’s a good linking partner? […]
Google Image search updates referrer URL to help publishers track image search traffic
In coming months, the Google Image search referral URL will be changing. Make sure your software tools are ready.
Ask an SMXpert – Google Tag Manager
SMXperts Stephanie Wallace and Tom Bennet answer questions on how Google Tag Manager works, its key benefits and why you should be using it.
SearchCap: Google Search Console, negative SEO & more
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Webinar: Close the Online/Offline Data Gap with AI-driven Call Intelligence Jul 13, 2018 by Digital Marketing Depot With mobile search and voice interactions on the rise, it’s more important than ever […]
PPC’s #fakenews: 9 ways bad numbers might look good
Did you know it’s super-easy to fake your way to seemingly good PPC performance? Contributor Andreas Reiffen shares multiple ways to arm yourself against the pay-per-click version of “fake news.”
Google Marketing Live: Here come fully automated ads & campaigns for Local, Shopping & more
Google announces machine learning-loaded initiatives at its annual advertiser event.
SearchCap: #SMXperts, Google Analytics, cutting content & more
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Ask the SMXperts – Page Speed, Site Migrations & Crawling Jul 6, 2018 by Debra Mastaler Three #SMXperts answer questions from the Advanced Technical SEO session at SMX Advanced and share […]
SearchCap: YouTube video ads, AI-driven call intelligence, link building & more
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Internal links: Link building’s secret sauce Jul 2, 2018 by Andrew Dennis Contributor Andrew Dennis explains why you shouldn’t overlook internal links on your site: They leverage link equity from external […]
SearchCap: Adwords retired, SMX Advanced recap, Smart Campaigns launched & more
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Google Home and Chromecast device currently offline Jun 27, 2018 by Barry Schwartz Google can only respond “sorry, something went wrong, try again in a few seconds” at this moment to […]
Google is retiring the AdWords & DoubleClick brands in a major rebranding aimed at simplification
Welcome to Google Ads, Google Marketing Platform, and Google Ad Manager.
5 things to check if your traffic suddenly drops
No one’s immune to traffic drops, and the causes may be easy to overlook. Still, to avoid barking up the wrong tree, gather the evidence first: look closely at the overall stats for a long enough period in your Google Analytics to see if the traffic spike really looks out of place or if it […]
SearchCap: Google updates ad settings, negative SEO & more
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Google updates ‘Ad Settings’ to allow users to turn off targeting signals Jun 14, 2018 by Amy Gesenhues Google is also extending ‘Why this ad?’ notices to all services that display […]
SearchCap: Search Engine Land awards, Facebook gets serious about local & more
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: The 2018 Search Engine Land Award winners: The full roster of this year’s search rock stars & superheroes Jun 13, 2018 by Amy Gesenhues The SEO and SEM community recognized the […]
SearchCap: Google tests AMP labels, AdWords personalization & understanding user intent
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Google testing AMP label in Search ads Jun 8, 2018 by Ginny Marvin The label is showing on some text ads with AMPed landing pages. Advanced AdWords Strategies to Personalize Experiences […]
AdWords notes have arrived: How to get started
Easily add notes about changes, testing details and results and more in the new AdWords interface.
Search and direct mobile navigation surpass Facebook as traffic referrers
The shift is likely the result of Facebook algorithm changes, but other factors may also be at work.
SearchCap: Google’s new local search world, Abraham Ortelius Google doodle & more
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: How to survive Google’s new local search world May 21, 2018 by Wesley Young Google has made some significant changes in the area of local search. Contributor Wesley Young gives an […]
SearchCap: Bing Ads Editor, Chrome HTTPS, HomePod & Google Home
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Report: Google Home making gains on Alexa, Apple HomePod in 4th placeMay 18, 2018 by Greg Sterling Even if Apple’s smart speaker sales don’t grow, they could still generate $800 million […]
SearchCap: AdWords parallel tracking, negative SEO, Yext with TripAdvisor
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: AdWords sets parallel tracking deadline & will warn advertisers using HTTP landing pagesMay 17, 2018 by Ginny Marvin Advertisers using third-party click measurement systems need to prepare for parallel tracking. AdWords […]