Learn how to better analyse user behaviour and conversions

Irina says: “My number one SEO tip is to learn analytics to analyze better user behavior and conversions.”

What aspects of analytics do SEOs have to master?

“I think there are two things. The first part is to understand their implementation of the analytics. When we work with a website, as an SEO, we are usually not responsible for the implementation of analytics. But we are responsible for the results from the analytics, and we need the numbers that can prove that we are doing the right thing. And we are bringing conversions, users etc. So I think the first thing is to invest, understand that analytics is correctly implemented on the website, and you have the data, which you can use to back up your actions and investment.

The second thing for sure is to understand how to read this data. And in most cases, now, it's Google Analytics 4, but it can be something else like Piwik, Matomo, or some other tools, which are different. But the goal of all of them is to understand how to actually you can prove that you are doing the right thing and that SEO is bringing good users who are converting and engaging with the content and the website. And it's super important for us as SEOs to understand what reports we can use, what metrics we can use, what dimensions, and how to actually visualize this data to show yourself and the client or in-house that they saw bringing results that are expected from this channel.”

What does an SEO need to do to ensure that the analytics have been implemented correctly, and compare GA4 with the previous version?

“I would say the first thing is that we need to be sure that it's implemented and collecting the traffic. So the easiest thing is to go to Google Analytics 4 in real-time. And to check that you're visible in the real time reverting. And it's not double counting, for example. So you don't have double data, or some of the pages sometimes are missing. So it's nice to click through the website, for example, especially if a different CMS, for example, WordPress, is implemented for the blog. And for the main website, you have some customers. So, clicking through the website and seeing if the data is collected, and there is no duplication.

And the second thing, if you are a little bit more techie, you can use Google Tag Manager, also to analyze a little bit more of what data you can collect in GA4 using the implementation. So you can collect more information about specific categories, how the specific category of the blog is performing, or the specific category of an E-commerce website. You can implement some additional tracking, which can prove that what you are doing with the content site, for example, or maybe you're improving some technical SEO, you can use this data actually to show results.”

You mentioned tracking blog content and how you can track specifically how that content is used. You also talked about additional tracking that you can set up. Can you talk a little bit about the additional tracking that you have to set up there?

“It's possible to set up the tracking for specific category pages. So if you are using your writing blog, for example, and you have different categories, I don't know it's health, it's part, and it's some lifestyle, for example, if you're doing a blog for the company, and you can implement the tricky so you can then see data specifically for the health categories for specifically for the sports, and specifically for lifestyle and you can analyze what content you can produce more because sport is in the rice and it's much more engaging versus health. Usually, you can do this either using the URL or the category if you have a category in the URL structure. But if you don't have these in the URL structure, you still can collect this data using Google Tag Manager from the website code and you can use this action to build records specifically for this category.”

Do you think that an SEO should try and use GA4 specialist consultants to get things set up properly to begin with, and then perhaps run it themselves after that?

“Yeah, I think that idea of having some of the courses online is great because there are a lot of paid courses already there.”

What courses do you prefer, or recommend?

“There is one that was created by Kyle; I can then share the link somewhere if we can. So, he prepared the digital marketing course, specifically for digital marketers. He explained all the details about how you can use Google Analytics. Another option is to have personal coaching with a Google Analytics specialist who can actually answer your questions specifically for your website because sometimes you don't know what you don't know.

So it's a nice addition to having the course always to have some Q&A with specialists to ask, okay, I would like to have this data. Is it possible how we can visualize this? This will help you a lot because you will have much more data you can play with. And if the website is not changing a lot, it's a one-time thing. So you're doing this setup one, for example, for one year, it's a one-time investment. And then you can use this for your analysis for one year and maybe review this one time per year if there are some changes on the website.

You also mentioned Piwik and Matomo. What are the pros and cons of using GA4 instead of an alternative analytics software package?

“The first is, for sure, the cookies. In Europe, it's a little bit tricky with Google Analytics because it collects some data, stores data, or sends the data to the USA. Some companies specializing in big companies could not use Google Analytics, or they could not use all the functionality. Another thing is for sure Google Analytics 4 is a free tool, and Piwik and Matomo, you need to invest a little bit depending on how many metrics and dimensions you need to collect and how much data.

So, for example, for small businesses, it's sometimes easier to pay, I don't know, I think it's something like 15 euros per month to have this clear data versus to learn how to use Google Analytics because Google Analytics 4 especially is a little bit more advanced tool. So you need to understand it better. So you need, for example, the course you need to hire somebody who understands it versus, for example, Piwik, very, very clean, very, very straightforward. For small businesses, even if you're paying, you're paying to see the data you need. You don't need any customization, which is offered by GA4, but maybe you don't need them.”

I'm trying to look at the pricing for Piwik, but I can't find it on their website. It just talks about the core plan and enterprise plan. Obviously, they have a free plan as well. But is there a significant advantage to paying for a plan on their platform?

“I would say that what I have heard from clients is that because the data is very clean for them, it is easy to understand. That's why they are actually paying and because of the cookies. So there are two things which are beneficial for them. And I would say that's, that's mostly at all. So it's also some other preferences, because a lot of people are just, oh, I don't want to learn Google Analytics 4, for example. So it's I will move to some other tools for it. So it's kind of, and also because when Google Analytics 4 was introduced, and still now, there are some bugs, so people are complaining a lot about some bugs or some reporting is not working. So they are also checking what else is on the market. Before, when we got used to Universal Analytics, it was not a huge question; maybe I should choose something else, even if it's paid to.”

One advantage of GA4 is the content consumption, analysis, and user funnels. So, how do those work inside GA4?

“So in GA4, what I really like and what I think is the huge advantage of GA4 is that it's highly customizable. So you can build the analytics you actually need for each of the projects. So it's not something that is standing the stone because, in Universal Analytics, we couldn't customize that much. And for example, you can build the funnel for B2B. So you can see the funnel how that people are moving from, I don't know, visiting your blog page to actually make an inquiry or log in or sign up for the free trial.

So you can build this funnel using their free form in the exploration section, and it's quite intuitive. So I would say that when I showed this to the clients, they are like, it's quite easy to do. So it's not a complex thing. And it's super easy to visualize. And it's also very flexible. And the same with the content. So sometimes some of the things that we get used to doing in Google Sheets, for example, in Looker Studio, now you can do already inside GA4 also using freeform. So you can build something like something like the table of the analysis, and you don't need any third party tool, which is also really, really nice.”

Do you prefer analyzing your data in Looker Studio or an alternative? Obviously, with Looker, you can also take data from other sources.

“Yeah, this is a huge advantage. So if you need to combine the data from I don't know, Google Search Console, for example, or from Search metrics, Semrush keyword striking for sure, it does make sense to connect this in the Looker Studio, everything. But the nice thing is, if you need some quick analysis, you don't need to build a Looker Studio table. So you can do this inside GA4 and then already visualize on a monthly basis what you need to check and show your stakeholders.”

So feels like with GA4, we've seen a big earthquake with regards to analytics. And what we need to do and how it works is good to be fairly static now. Is GA4 good to evolve, and how much is good to change about the way that analytics has been done over the next few years?

“Yeah, I think that they are preparing you for a lot of changes, especially for a cookiesless future. So they are trying to incorporate AI already there. So it can predict if, for example, I as a user decide that I don't want to be tracked GA4 already can predict if the conversion came from me that it can be counted as a conversion based on the prediction that the users will actually convert doing this, this, but this data will not be recorded. So I think this is a huge difference.

And this is why they actually introduced this. And I think they even pushed this a little bit earlier than it's kind of public-ready. So a little bit earlier than maybe they would do this in other circumstances because they are preparing that otherwise, maybe they will be out of the market. And they need this data as a Google because they need clients actually to use Google Analytics because they need this data to be collected, I think, for internal usage. So it's not about the money directly because it's free, but it's about the data; they have access to the market.”

So SEO just needs to continue to embrace change with analytics.

“Yeah, I think embrace change, and also use this as an opportunity to invest into analytics, because I think when we, what I see a lot with the clients that we get used how Universal Analytics worked. And usually, some of the reports were created, like five years ago, seven years ago, and nobody knows what all of this dimension means. So this is a good thing, where you're like, you're pushed to learn the new tool, and you are pushed to invest into this in terms of mine in terms of time.

So I think this is the, this is good. But yeah, it's painful, especially when it's not your priority because, as an SEO, it's not your priority. When I worked as an SEO with retainer clients. It's not your priority to learn GA4 your priorities. I don't know how to do keyword research to have a content strategy or fix some technical issues. And this is something's kind of sidewise type thing. On the other hand, this helps you to understand better what you're actually achieving as an SEO.”

So GA4 is forced medicine for SEOs. It's good for you, honestly.

“Yeah, it's good. But you need to get used to this because for example, when I started, I was like, I don't understand anything on this. Because it's some. It's very, very different from NASA analytics. But when you get used and when you understand how you can play with this, yeah, just give you some time. And some of the SEOs already liked it, because of the flexibility.”

If an SEO is struggling for time, what should they stop doing right now, so they can spend more time focusing on analytics in 2024?

“I think that as an SEO, we are focusing a lot on content creation and new content strategies for the New Year and chatter, and I think that we have already produced a lot of content on the internet. So using the time learning Analytics and learning the content, how it's already performing on the internet. This is, I think, the combination you can use. Maybe it's not; you would not provide the content plan with, I don't know, 100 new articles; maybe you will find that you need to improve 50 articles on the page. This is where you can invest your time improving content using data and using Google Analytics to understand that actually, you need to do this.”

Irina Serdyukovskaya is an Analytics Consultant, and you can find her at IrinaKudres.com.