Google Search Console & Analytics: A Match Made in Data Heaven

Google Search Console (formerly known as Google Webmaster Tools) is yet another free tool offered by Google that aggregates search data for your website and lets you maintain the appearance of your site in search results. When integrated with Google Analytics, digital marketers gain a more comprehensive view of what customers are seeing on search engine results pages (SERPs), different landing pages organic click-through rates, and more.

But first you need to get set up with Search Console: 

1. It is highly recommended, although not necessary, that you first link Google Analytics to your site
2. Once Analytics is set-up, go to the Search Console website
3. Click create a new property
4. Input your site’s URL 
5. Select the option to verify your site’s ownership using the Google Analytics tag 
6. If done correctly, you're all set.

Great, I have Search Console set up. So what?

Some of the most useful data found in Search Console is in the Search Analytics section. Even with rigorous A/B testing of creative, it can be difficult to determine what exactly was the cause of an increase or decrease in engagement. So why not hear from the customer directly?

In the Google Analytics, in the Search Console > Queries section, you can see a complete list of which search terms customers put into Google, which of your landing pages showed up in the results for those terms, and what the CTR was. In short, you have a full list of questions, terms, and content that customers already associate with you.

Creatives may balk at being told to craft messaging around cold, unemotional data, but they can’t argue facts. The customer is literally telling you what they want – and incorporating that into your digital marketing analytics strategy is a critical part of optimizing your brand’s online presence.