Common questions that I get asked by SEOs.

1. Google Analytics Conundrums
for SEOs

2. Nikki Rae
GOOGLE ANALYTICS CONSULTANCY
Google Analytics Specialist
Agencies and Clients
Google Analytics Trainer
@analyticsgirl

3. Lack of Formal Training

4. What you See is Not Always What You Get

5. When is Organic Search not Organic
Search?
When paid search campaigns are not tracked
Symptom
Keywords that you know you don’t rank for appear in
GA Organic report
Cause
Untracked paid search campaigns including Adwords,
Bing and Yahoo
Fix
Check Adwords is auto-tagged/ manual tagged
Check any other paid search source is manual
tagged

6. When is Direct Traffic not Direct Traffic?
When paid search campaigns are not tracked
Symptom
Direct traffic landing on varied pages with difficult to
remember URLs
Cause
When campaigns are not tracked
When server redirects strip manual tagging
Fix
Social Media tagged?
Email Campaigns tagged?
Any links in offline docs tracked?
Server set to carry over query parameters in URLs?

7. Example
Obscure Landing Pages

8. When a referrer is not a referrer #1?
When paid search campaigns are not tracked
Symptom
Your site is showing as a referrer to itself
Cause
When sub/ cross domains are using incorrect or inconsistent code
Two or more sets of GA tracking on a page
Redirect is stripping away cookie information for cross domain URLs
Fix
Use Google Tag Assistant
Manually view the source code
Test the code using GA Tracking Code Debugger

9. Example
Sub domain e.g. blog.futureinsightanalytics.com
Cross Domain e.g. analyticstraining.co.uk and
futureinsightanalytics.com
View tracking source to
see if code has been
amended

10. When a referrer is not a referrer #2?
When paid search campaigns are not tracked
Symptom
Search engines are showing as referrers
Cause
When Google Analytics recognises a search engine as
a website
Fix
Manually view the referrers report for any potential
new/ obscure search engines
Add the search engine by using code

11. Example
Use _addOrganic() method
_addOrganic(newOrganicEngine, queryParamName, opt_
prepend)

12. When Google shows as a referrer #3?
When paid search campaigns are not tracked
Symptom
Google shows in referrer report
Cause
The acquisition source Google does not mean a visit
has come via organic search or Adwords
Fix
Manually view the referrers report
Ensure that if looking to view organic or paid traffic,
the medium is organic or cpc

13. Example
Actual Links on Google Sites

14. When a Keyword is not your Keyword #1?
When paid search campaigns are not tracked
Symptom
Keywords are showing in GA that you don’t rank for
Cause
Your tracking code is on someone else's site
Fix
Manually view the hostname report
Use filters to ensure only traffic on your domain is
going into the report

15. Example
This should be your
domain name

16. When a Keyword is not your Keyword #2?
When paid search campaigns are not tracked
Symptom
The keyword report and matched query Adwords
report are different
Cause
You are viewing the Adwords Keyword report rather
than the matched queries report
Fix
If looking for keyword inspiration from Adwords, view
the matched search query report

17. Example
Actual Keywords Typed
Broad/ Phrase
Matched Keywords

18. When a Keyword is not your Keyword #3?
When paid search campaigns are not tracked
Symptom
You have not segmented out brand traffic
Cause
You are viewing brand search traffic in silo
Fix
Brand traffic is direct traffic, or direct traffic is
brand traffic so ensure analyses recognises that

19. Key Takeaways
When paid search campaigns are not tracked
What you see in Google Analytics is
not always what you get
• Check tracking code is on every page of the site
• Check the tracking code contains correct methods
for sub /cross domains
• Ensure all campaigns are manually tagged
• Ensure redirects are passing query parameters
• For Adwords, use matched queries report
• Check hostname report for rogue domains
• TEST TEST TEST!

20. Tools
When paid search campaigns are not tracked
Screaming Frog SEO Spider
Google Analytics Debugger
Google Tag Assistant
Google Analytics URL Builder

21. Further Education
When paid search campaigns are not tracked
Google’s Analytics Academy
Google Analytics Help Center
Google Analytics Blog
Google Analytics Forum
Google Analytics Solutions Gallery

22. Thank You