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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SearchCap: Google News updated, standout tag gone & e-commerce SEO
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 new and AI-improved Google News now available for iPhone and iPadMay 15, 2018 by Greg Sterling Google News redesign in more than 120 countries on the web, Android and iOS. […]
Old AdWords interface will be phased out by year-end
Google will notify advertisers ahead of the final switch to the new AdWords experience.
SearchCap: Local search ads, Intent keywords & The Flying Housewife
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Look Ma, no keywords! Phrase-free AdWords campaigns are hereApr 26, 2018 by Andy Taylor Contributor Andy Taylor discusses Google’s new Local Search Ads Experiment in AdWords, which uses address and location […]
SearchCap: PPC branded content & bad local reviews
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 use good ol’ PPC to support fun and creative branded contentApr 25, 2018 by Kevin Lee Contributor Kevin Lee looks at creative synergies and the power of collaboration to […]
To comply with GDPR, Google asks publishers to manage user-data consent for ad targeting in EU
Publishers are being asked to manage the consent process on behalf of Google.
Google News Initiative kicks off with Subscribe With Google, other efforts
Subscribers will see articles from their subscribed publications higher in the search results and be logged in to those publications across devices.
SearchCap: Google My Business update, AdWords ad grants & voice search
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Spring Equinox Google doodle introduces Quinn, an animated flower fairy & musicianMar 20, 2018 by Amy Gesenhues Designed by Google doodler Sophie Diao, the image leads to a search for Spring […]
Notes are coming to AdWords, plus Recommendations & an Account Performance Score
Google has announced several productivity updates for the new AdWords interface, including the ability to note important changes right in the UI.
SearchCap: Google AMP render on idle, spidering & Google 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: International Women’s Day Google doodle honoring females around the world arrives a day earlyMar 7, 2018 by Amy Gesenhues The doodle is a collective of 12 stories from female artists, each […]
SearchCap: Mastering mobile SEO, Google sells Zagat to The Infatuation & 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: Last chance: SMX West kicks off next week. Be there! Mar 5, 2018 by Search Engine Land SMX West is coming to sunny San Jose in just a few days, and […]
SearchCap: Bing Entity Search API, Yelp’s new ad customization & Google’s Holi 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: Community Corner: Spotlight on Search Engine Land Award Winners Brainlabs & Trimark Digital Mar 2, 2018 by Amy Gesenhues An interview series highlighting 2017’s Award winners: A look at the work […]
SearchCap: Linking law, Google crawl change & map directories
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Keyword infringement: Edible Arrangements files $209M trademark suit against GoogleFeb 19, 2018 by Greg Sterling While use of trademarked keywords has been allowed by courts, this case may be more complicated […]
SearchCap: Google Images changes, Google Maps iOS app update & SEO ROI
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 Image Search removes View Image button and Search by Image featureFeb 15, 2018 by Barry Schwartz After making a deal with Getty Images, Google has revamped some of their image […]
SearchCap: AMP Stories, Google Shopping links & more search refinements
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: AMP Stories: The new Accelerated Mobile Pages format from GoogleFeb 13, 2018 by Michelle Robbins Does this doubling down on the mobile framework by adding the new, heavily visual and interactive […]
SearchCap: Google EU rivals, Bing Ads tracking fix & Google speed index update
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’s Page Speed Update does not impact indexingJan 31, 2018 by Barry Schwartz In response to questions raised in the community, here’s clarification about how indexing is impacted by the Google […]
Bing Ads has a conversion tracking fix for Apple’s Intelligent Tracking Prevention
Advertisers must enable auto-tagging of the Microsoft Click ID in their accounts to get consistent ad conversion tracking from Safari.
SearchCap: Google local news, voice search usage & Facebook content
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 Bulletin: Hyperlocal news, Nextdoor competitor or both?Jan 26, 2018 by Greg Sterling Google has already proven it can crowdsource local content at scale through its Local Guides program. Survey: People […]
Search in Pics: Google bison, bowling balls & game controller tables
In this week’s Search In Pictures, here are the latest images culled from the web, showing what people eat at the search engine companies, how they play, who they meet, where they speak, what toys they have and more. Meet the Google bison: Source: Twitter Game controller tables at Google office: Source: Instagram Google Chrome […]
PPC 2017: Epic review of the biggest trends & updates in paid search
This year, artificial intelligence and machine learning underpinned nearly every paid search update.
How to generate links that drive traffic, not just ranking
Links are a crucial element of search engine optimization, and columnist Kevin Rowe believes that long-term SEO success relies on building links that drive real traffic.
SearchCap: Bing & Reddit, Google travel pricing & meta descriptions
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: Fundamentals of writing meta descriptions don’t change with longer search snippetsDec 14, 2017 by Barry Schwartz Google has officially commented about what webmasters should focus on when writing meta descriptions […]
Shopify meets call tracking
As we enter the 2020s, e-commerce is set to generate more than $480 billion in the US and nearly $2 trillion globally. And while Amazon takes a lot of credit for online everything, they’re hardly the only game in town. A significant chunk of online retail is generated by smaller players, thanks in part to […]
Search in Pics: Google Polish dress-up, old Urchin sign & Android winter statue
In this week’s Search In Pictures, here are the latest images culled from the web, showing what people eat at the search engine companies, how they play, who they meet, where they speak, what toys they have and more. A terrace at the Google Singapore office: Source: Twitter Urchin light up neon sign at Google […]
Google News adds new referral URL source that publishers should begin tracking
Google tells publishers to add news.url.google.com to the Google News referral tracking sources.
SearchCap: Google shows poor tweets, Yelp stops review solicitation & Bing Ads exact match
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 promises to improve accuracy of tweets shown in search resultsNov 7, 2017 by Barry Schwartz After misinformation surfaced in the Google search results under the Twitter section for the Texas […]
SearchCap: Bing shopping ads expand, Yext knowledge assistant & Acquisio acquired
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Creating a B2B and B2C overlap strategyNov 2, 2017 by Justin Freid How should you structure paid search accounts when your targets include both businesses and consumers? Columnist Justin Freid discusses […]
Google expanding Attribution beta to hundreds more advertisers
Google's anticipated multi-channel attribution product is rolling out to more advertisers.
Google Tag Manager now has a native scroll depth tracking plugin
The new feature lets site owners track vertical and horizontal scrolling on their website pages.
SearchCap: Capitalizing on Google Tag Manager, Google My Business & 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: Danny Sullivan joins Google, leaves advisor role at Third Door Media Oct 6, 2017 by Michelle Robbins Search industry veteran journalist begins new role at Alphabet’s core business division on Monday […]
Visually understanding your site structure and external link weight impact
Looking for insights not easily gleaned through spreadsheets and raw data? Columnist Dave Davies explains how to use Gephi, a data visualization tool, to create a visual representation of your site structure with regard to inbound link strength.
Tracking the Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) Project
AMP isn’t quite a household acronym yet, but it has big implications for virtually everyone with web access. The Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) Project, the brainchild of Google announced just two years ago, is already impacting millions of users’ experience. And it’s growing fast. The downside — arguably a temporary one — is that not […]
SearchCap: Bing Ads tracking, Google Home screen & Google Fred
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’s ‘Manhattan project’: Home device with a screen to compete with Echo Show Sep 29, 2017 by Greg Sterling Can Google Home emerge from Amazon Echo’s shadow? Targeting featured snippet and […]
3 ways to improve link equity distribution and capture missed opportunities
You've worked hard to accumulate as much link equity as possible from external sources, but is your internal linking structure diluting that equity? Columnist Chris Long details how to reclaim your lost link value.
SearchCap: AdWords extensions for call-only ads, SEO 101 & Bing Ads updates
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: 3 AdWords extensions now eligible for call-only ads Sep 21, 2017 by Greg Finn Account-level extensions will be eligible to display automatically with the ad type. 3 behavioral stats for retailers […]
Customizable, collaborative dashboards to arrive within AdWords
A new solution, dashboards, will allow advertisers to slice, dice and share their data to surface the most meaningful data and KPIs.
SearchCap: Yelp hits Google again, link building & SMX East preview
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on and from other places across the web.
SearchCap: Google EU appeal, goodbye fetch as Google for apps & award list
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on and from other places across the web.
SearchCap: AdWords AMP landing pages, Google & Apple tracking & SEO mistakes
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on and from other places across the web.
Google responds to Apple’s Intelligent Tracking Prevention with AdWords tracking update
A new Google Analytics cookie is designed to keep ad tracking from Safari intact for AdWords campaigns.
SearchCap: Google local business edits, AMP powered featured snippets & Bing Ads bid adjustments
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on and from other places across the web.