Recently coming out of the beta stage and now available to the public, Google has just announced the launch of a set of reports called “Search Engine Optimization”. Located just under the “Traffic Sources” section, Google’s reports on search engine optimization is relatively new. Cyrus Shepard of SEOmoz.org analyzes this latest feature from Google Analytics and how it will affect search engine optimization campaigns.
1. Query reports – This feature offers the top 1000 queries, number of impressions, clicks, average position, and CTR. One thing to keep in mind, however, is that the average position does not necessarily reflect to “rank”. This actually reflects the position of each impression for a particular result. Shepard prefers that Google display the highest position which could help webmasters more in terms of metrics.
2. Landing pages reports – Along with the average position and CTR, Google Analytics now show how many times the landing pages were shown in search results. Through advanced filters, you can identify which landing pages have the most number of impressions, highest average position, and low click-through rates.
3. Geographical summary – Perfect for companies practicing international SEO, this feature of the search engine optimization report includes the impressions and click-through rate by country.
4. Google properties report – Somewhat obscure from plain view, this feature of the search engine optimization report can be found just within the Geographical Summary. The Google properties listed are web, image, mobile (smartphone), unknown, video, and again, mobile. It paints a picture of how well the site performs in different search results.
While still in its infancy, the Search Engine Optimization Report in Google Analytics can still help in SEO campaigns, with the information it displays though extra work is needed in your part. It gives transparency and helps websites improve, granted that the data is read correctly.
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