SEO Update: Google is the king of search. Almost 92% of ALL searches on the internet are done using Google, which amounts to almost 90 BILLION searches each month. Last year, 71% of consumers searched on the internet first for products or services. In one year this number has grown to 87%. SEO is constantly changing. As a business owner, one of your priorities should be to make sure that you are ranking high in a Google Search.
Google has always been great about giving a vast amount of data to business owners to help them target their marketing efforts by reporting data on who is searching for them, what they are searching for, etc. Right now, everyone has Universal Analytics. In 2023, Universal Analytics, or UA, will no longer be available and will be replaced with Google Analytics 4 (GA4). This article gives some ideas as to what the new GA4 does differently, such as providing more advanced insights into your customers behavior and engagement and new ways to track data across multiple devices and platforms. We will also suggest some ways you can prepare to take full advantage of this powerful new tool.
Events, Not Interactions
One of the biggest changes is how GA4 will track and report customer interactions. Universal Analytics (the one we have now that is going away in a couple of months) reported website visits and the interactions clients had when on the website, which were reported as a series of interactions that happened within a certain amount of time.
With the new GA4, interactions are tracked as events. Events are any user action, such as pageviews, clicks, and form submissions. The new GA4 can also give predictive metrics that can assist the business owner in anticipating future customer behavior.
seo bEST prACTICE: Review What You Have
Before you make the switch to GA4, we suggest that you take a look at what your current analytics setup is and make any changes necessary. For best SEO practice, make sure you review your current website tracking tags and double check that they are compatible with GA4.
Many businesses use Google Tag Manager to manage their website tracking tags. If you do, you may need to update your container to support GA4. Check out this link to see the detailed instructions from Google on how to update your container.
You should also review your existing goals and conversions to ensure that they are set up correctly in GA4. This is important because the concept of goals does not exist in GA4. This may involve creating new conversion events in GA4 or updating your existing ones to align with the new data model. In GA4 you can mark any event as a conversion.
SEO BEST PRACTICE: Identify Your Key Metrics and KPIs
One of the most important steps in preparing for GA4 is to define your key metrics and KPIs. You may recall that KPIs are Key Performance Indicators. That refers to a set of quantifiable measurements used to gauge a company’s overall long-term performance. KPIs specifically help determine a company’s achievements, and can be especially useful by using them compared to those of other businesses within the same sector. To do this in GA4, you will need to identify specific data points that you want to track and measure, as well as the goals that you want to achieve with your business.
When you are defining your key metrics and KPIs, make sure to use on the metrics that are most relevant to your unique business goals. E-commerce businesses may want to focus on metrics conversion rates and revenue per user, but content publishers may need to focus more closely on metrics such as pageviews and time on site.
Once you have defined your key metrics and KPIs, you can use GA4’s advanced reporting features to track and analyze these data points. This can help you identify areas for improvement and make data-driven decisions to optimize your online presence.
SEO BEST PRACTICE: Train your team
Lastly, you may want to involve all of the pivotal people on your team in GA4 training. Learning to use the GA4 platform, and having your team understand the new features and functionalities, as well as understanding how to use GA4 for tracking and analyzing customer behavior can be critical to your businesses future marketing and growth.
We hope that this article has helped make you aware of some ways you and your team utilize this new, powerful tool. If you need any help, and your looking for an SEO company near you, don’t hesitate to reach out to our team at 212 Creative, LLC. We would be happy to help guide your conversion from UA to GA4! Call us. Let’s begin.
