Google provides a free tool for website owners to see potential issues and gain insights not available in Google Analytics. It’s called the Google Search Console. We’re going to walk through how to setup Google Search Console on your website.
Why Should You Use Google Search Console?
Before we discuss how to setup Google Search Console, let’s discuss why you should. Or maybe the real question is: why wouldn’t you use Google Search Console? The Google Search Console contains data and utilities meant to increase your website traffic and visibility on Google. This information is coming directly from Google. That same search engine that you are working hard to rank on. So, why wouldn’t you listen to the personalized advice they are offering your website?
The Search Console is what Google uses to communicate issues and errors to website owners and administrators. This is the tool Google uses to contact you and give you free advice, just take some time to listen and maybe you’ll see some search improvements.
What’s the Difference Between Google Search Console and Google Webmaster Tools?
Google Search Console was previously named Google Webmaster Tools. You may still see references to the old name around the internet, they are really interchangeable. Google Search Console and Google Webmaster Tools are the same thing, but Google Search Console is the new and current name.
Setting up Google Search Console
Setting up Google Search Console for your website is pretty straightforward. Before you start, make sure you’ve already setup Google Analytics. That makes the process super simple. Then, follow these steps:
Click Start Now and login to your Google account. (Make sure it’s the same Google account you used for your website’s Google Analytics account.)
Under URL Prefix enter in your website URL and click Continue.
You can enter the URL under Domain instead. This is preferred because it allows you to set it up once and see all variations of the domain (https, www, etc.) but it requires DNS verification. The other method allows you to verify with several different methods including Google Analytics. If adding a DNS record isn’t a problem for you then go that route. If you want the easiest possible set up though then just stick with URL Prefix. You’ll have to set it up multiple times to see data from every variation of the URL but setup is super simple and is finished in seconds.
You’ll need to verify your website. If you have Google Analytics setup, and you chose URL Prefix, then using Google Analytics to verify is the easiest option. Otherwise, you can choose HTML file upload or HTML tag and follow the prompts to verify within minutes.
Unless you choose the Domain configuration instead of URL Prefix, you’ll want to repeat this process for both the www and non-www versions of your website. If you use https, then those versions should also be added for both https and http. Which means there would be a total of four site variations added to Google Search Console. Google sees all of these versions as separate sites and adding them all to Google Search Console will give you full visibility. Seeing data for all of them will allow you to verify everything is configured properly.
When you add a new web property, Google will send you a message outlining some steps you can take to improve the search presence of your website. Go through those steps and implement the ones that make sense for your web property. They include items such as adding all website variations and adding a sitemap.
Check Your Google Search Console Monthly
Setting up the Google Search Console is only the first step. It won’t do you much good if you never look at it. Try to login monthly to confirm there are no issues.
When you first start the account you may find several issues and recommended improvements. Invest the time to get those cleaned up. Once you get the initial issues taken care the monthly checks won’t take long.
If you need help staying on top of the different tasks you need to perform within the Google Search Console you can leverage the ClearPath Online DIY SEO Tool. It’s prepopulated with prioritized digital marketing tasks, including everything you need to monitor within the Google Search Console. And it’s already set up to stagger them out so you have a short list each day based on your personal digital marketing needs.
Do you want to listen to this article? Here’s the podcast episode:
It’s important to have a strategy for WordPress categories and tags so you are using them in a manner that makes sense for your readers. The technical aspect of adding categories and tags to a post in WordPress is straightforward. What’s much more complicated is understanding when and why to do it. So, I’m going to talk about strategy and how to decide which categories and tags to add to each article. Here’s a strategy for how to use categories and tags in WordPress.
Think of Categories and Tags as Collections
Both categories and tags should be thought of as collections. You’re creating collections of content. Once you think of them in that manner all of the other decisions are simpler and make more sense.
Don’t Duplicate Categories and Tags
Now that we’re thinking of both categories and tags as collections, there is no reason to duplicate them. A collection of cookies is a collection of cookies whether it’s a category or a tag. Having two identical collections isn’t a benefit for the reader. It makes no difference to the reader that you consider one to be a category and one to be a tag. It doesn’t add any value. So, there’s no need to have both.
Aim for One Category
Try to only add one category to each article. It should be the one category that best describes the article. This is sometimes easier when you leverage parent and child categories. If you can assign a post to a child category, it can be part of the larger parent category as well without needing to assign it to multiple categories.
Only Create Tags for Items Worthy of a Collection
When creating tags remember you are creating a collection. Don’t create a tag if it’s so specific that there will only ever be one article in it. What happens then is that the tag page will be competing with your article. Since it would make more sense for the reader to go directly to the article than viewing a collection of one article, just skip the tag so it’s more likely the article will be found instead.
Do What’s Best For Your Readers
The primary strategy to follow when creating categories and tags in WordPress is to always do what’s best for your readers. If multiple categories make sense for your site and help your readers, then do it. But, likewise, don’t add as many tags as possible because you think it’s helping SEO. Add them only if it makes sense for the people you want to attract.
Do you want to listen to this article? Here’s the podcast episode:
Everyone makes mistakes. And when it comes to SEO, it’s no different. There are ways you can self-sabotage your SEO efforts. Here are ten common SEO mistakes to avoid so you don’t hurt your search rankings.
Talking to Everyone
The first mistake is writing content that speaks to everyone. When you talk to everyone, you talk to no one. You need to write in a way that resonates with one particular person. This is your target audience. If you write to one person, you will attract many more like-minded individuals. To make this easier, create a persona so you have a clear idea of who you’re talking to.
Creating the Wrong Content
When you create content, it’s important to focus on topics you want to be known for. You don’t want to write an article about a one-off thought that isn’t related to the focus of your website. You want to make it easy for the reader and search engines to know what your site is about and what you want to be known for.
Not Having Meta Descriptions
Most bloggers understand the basic on-page optimizations that improve SEO. The one optimization that is frequently forgotten is the meta description. The meta description doesn’t directly impact search rankings but it does play an indirect role.
The meta description is the snippet of text that appears below the title and URL in the search results. It helps the reader better understand if your site is a good match for their query and it can help increase click-through rates.
Too Much Fluff
When writing content remember to focus on quality over quantity. You don’t need every article to be 3,000 words long in order to rank. Don’t add a bunch of extra fluff just to try and increase word count. Write as much as you need to fulfill the promise of your headline. Stick to the topic. It’s okay to link out to other articles with more information. Don’t waste your readers’ time by adding unnecessary content to the article so they have to hunt to find the information they are interested in.
Generic Anchor Text
When you add an internal link in your blog articles don’t add generic text such as click here for the link. Use relevant text in the existing article text to add the hyperlink. This is another signal to search engines explaining what the page is about.
Not Targeting a Primary Keyword
This is the number one issue I see when I do SEO audits for other bloggers. You need to have a primary keyword in mind for each page and optimize accordingly. Perform keyword research to make sure the keyword you are targeting isn’t too competitive. You want to find keywords that have low competition and still have some monthly search traffic.
Not Refreshing Old Content
There are multiple reasons to keep your content updated. First, Google wants to rank fresh content so if an article hasn’t been updated in years it will be harder to rank. Second, if an article is popular you want to make sure it’s still accurate so readers will have the best experience possible. If a reader goes to your site and finds outdated information they won’t be as likely to return or trust your brand.
On an annual basis you want to review your most popular pages. Review the most popular pages and make sure the content is up to date. This is also a good time to add images, charts, or videos if it adds value. Sometimes when trying to meet a posting deadline it’s easy to not add extra media items. Once the post has proven to be popular and a good source of traffic it’s a good time to revisit it to see how you can improve the experience.
Not Performing Daily Digital Marketing Maintenance
SEO is not a one-time task. To continue to grow with digital marketing and improve search rank you need to keep working on it. You need to check for crawl errors, broken links, and indexability issues. All of this can be simplified with the ClearPath Online DIY SEO Tool. It’s prepopulated with prioritized digital marketing tasks. And it’s already set up to stagger them out so you have a short list each day based on your personal digital marketing needs.
Not Using Free Tools
Another mistake is not using the free tools provided by the search engines. The most popular tool is Google Analytics which tracks data from your website. The less well known, but equally important tools, are Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools. These tools are also free and they are where the search engines attempt to communicate issues about your site.
None of these tools pull in historical data. The data begins the day you set it up. So even if you aren’t sure how you’ll use the data and worried you won’t understand it, it’s still a good idea to set it up. That way it can start collecting data so it’s there for you when you are ready for it.
No Call-to-Action
The last mistake is having no call-to-action (CTA). Getting traffic to your site through SEO is great. But ultimately you want that traffic to do more than read your article, right? Maybe you have a newsletter signup, maybe there’s a book you have for sale, maybe you have a course. Whatever your goal is, you need to have a call-to-action button that asks readers to take that next step.
In Summary
Mistakes will happen. The important thing is being able to recognize where you can make improvements. Use this list as a guide to set some goals on areas where your blog can be improved so you can continue to improve your search rankings.
Do you want to listen to this article? Here’s the podcast episode:
We all know writing content based on keyword research is important. But, once you have your desired keyword, how should it be used in your content? Here’s how to optimize keyword placement in content.
Don’t Optimize Too Many Keywords
First, don’t try to optimize several terms on one page. You want to have a primary keyword to focus on. You can have secondary keywords but they should be natural variants or related to the primary. To find out more about secondary keywords and the ideal number of keywords you can view the guide on how many SEO keywords to use. The important thing to remember for the following advice is you want to focus on one primary keyword when optimizing for SEO.
Add the Primary Keyword to Title, H1, and First Paragraph
Go through the on-page optimization checklist and make sure your primary keyword appears in the key text elements of the page. This includes the title tag, the H1 tag, and the first paragraph. The earlier the keyword appears in the tags the better, but it’s important to make sure it’s optimized in a way that makes sense to the reader. You never want to compromise usability to improve SEO.
Write in a Natural Voice
It’s important to write in a natural language. Use your own voice and tone. Write in a way that will resonate with your audience. Keywords shouldn’t play a role here. If the content is about the keyword you’ve chosen, it will naturally come up. The word or phrase and it’s variant will appear in your writing if that is what the article is about. You don’t have to put extra effort in including them in the article.
So, there isn’t a firm number of times you’ve used your keyword to determine if it’s too much or too little. If you feel you need to figure out if your keyword appears enough, here are some guidelines.
Your keyword may appear too often if:
The content isn’t enjoyable to read
The content doesn’t make sense
The same phrase appears in every other sentence
The wrong tenses are being used throughout the article
All of these issues can occur when the writer is determined to use the one primary keyphrase exactly letter for letter in every possible instance of the article.
Your keyword may NOT appear often enough if:
Your keyword is not in any of the headings on the page
Your keyword is not in any of the paragraphs on the page
Although these issues listed could indicate you need to use the keyword more, it’s also possible you are okay. If the exact keyword wouldn’t be as meaningful to the reader it’s okay to use synonyms and close variants.
You need to use your judgement. Make sure the content makes sense for the reader and worry less about how many times the exact keyword appears in the article.
Do you want to listen to this article? Here’s the podcast episode:
Creating consistent blog content is important. You know you need to create a content plan and write your content in batches. But, scheduling your blog post doesn’t mean it’s done. Once the article is published there are a few tasks you’ll want to do to further optimize your content. Here’s what to do after publishing a blog post.
I like to break up my post publishing blog routine into four different categories. They are grouped into: site improvements, internal linking, social outreach, and SEO.
Post-Publish Site Improvements
After you publish a blog article there are a few places on your website that can be modified to help optimize the new post.
Disable and Redirect Any Outdated Version
First, if the article is an update instead of an entirely new article, make sure to disable the old article and add a 301-redirect. Of course, this only applies if the updated version is a completely separate page from the original version.
Embed Media
If there are any additional media sources that can be embedded now that the article is live, such as a podcast or YouTube video, then add them.
Add to Category Pages
Add the article to any relevant category or resource pages. It’s possible your site is set up to do this automatically. If not, just take care of it manually.
Post-Publish Internal Linking
Add Internal Links FROM Related Articles
Review any existing articles on your site that can be related to the new post. If there’s an opportunity to add an internal link to the newest article, do it.
Add Internal Links TO Related Articles
The opposite is true as well. Look at the new blog article. Make sure you are linking out to any existing articles wherever you have relevant content.
Use a tool such as Canva to create a graphic to use for a social media post. Whether your primary network is Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn; a nice graphic will increase the chance people will stop scrolling to read the post.
Schedule Social Media Shares
Schedule out as many social media shares as reasonable for the article. You don’t need to use as many social networks as possible, but schedule shares on the social networks that you have decided work for you and your audience.
The trick is to not share the identical post every time. Instead take a quote from the article, change the headline into a question, or share different subheadings. Find different pieces from the article to share. That way, you can share the same article multiple times, but it isn’t annoying for your biggest fans. And if someone wasn’t interested the first time, maybe they will resonate with a different part of the article and decide to click on a later post.
Space out the shares however you feel comfortable. I normally share about two weeks after the first post and then monthly after that.
Send to Email List
Make sure to send the new article to your email list. Either send it as a one-time blast or add it to a sequence. If you already have a sequence of content you use as your newsletter then add it where it makes sense in your sequence.
If it is timely content related to a current event or if you don’t have an email service provider that allows sequencing, then just send it as a one-time email.
Post-Publish SEO
Confirm Keyword Placement
Confirm the primary keyword appears in the Title, H1 tag, and first paragraph.
Write Meta Description
Confirm there is a meta description with the keyword included.
Track Rank
If you use a tool such as Ubersuggest to track rank, add your new keyword so it is easy to monitor.
That’s it, that’s the routine! Writing content can be time consuming. So, you want to make sure you’re getting as much value out of the content as possible. Following this post-publish task routine will help ensure your content starts ranking and bringing in traffic.
Do you want to listen to this article? Here’s the podcast episode:
You don’t have to spend much time researching SEO before you come across advice to create meta descriptions. But what is a meta description, how do I write one, and how does it affect SEO? Here’s how to write a meta description for SEO.
What is a Meta Description?
Before we can dig into how to write a meta description, we need to understand what it is. A meta description is one of the available meta tags that can be added to provide more information about the content. It is the snippet of text that appears below the title and the URL in search results.
It’s a short paragraph that helps explain what the page is about and tries to convince someone to click from the search results page.
How to Write a Meta Description
Explain what the Page is About
The meta description should answer the question “What is the page about?” It should describe what readers will learn when they visit the page.
Make sure the description is relevant to the content on the page. Don’t try to trick people. You want the meta description to create a clear expectation so it will attract the right people who stick around when they see your website.
Include Your Keyword
Add your primary keyword to the meta description. This way, when it appears in Google the keyword within the description will be bold. Including the keyword signals to both the search engines and readers that your site is a good fit for the query.
Include a Call-to-Action
Towards the end of the meta description include a call-to-action. This should be fairly subtle. It won’t be your primary call-to-action, but instead just try to get them to click. Make it clear how the page will benefit the reader.
Here are some examples of call-to-actions for the end of meta descriptions:
Let’s dig into …
Learn more about …
We’ll go over …
Follow this guide to …
Write a Meta Description for Every Page
If possible, write a meta description for every page on your site. If this isn’t possible, prioritize the most popular pages on your site.
Keep Meta Descriptions Unique
Don’t duplicate your meta descriptions. Each page should have a unique meta description.
Keep Meta Descriptions Under 160 Characters
Make sure your meta descriptions are below 160 characters. This will help make sure they aren’t truncated in search results.
How to Add a Meta Description on WordPress
The easiest way to add meta descriptions on WordPress is with a plugin. There are several different plugins you can choose from. I choose to use the Yoast SEO plugin. Yoast adds an interface at the bottom of every page and post that allows you to create a meta description.
It even adds the same interface to tags and categories so you can create a meta description for those pages as well. And to add a meta description for the homepage you can navigate to Search Appearance under the Yoast SEO settings.
Do Meta Descriptions Affect SEO?
Meta descriptions don’t directly improve search ranking. However, they can play a role indirectly.
A persuasive meta description can increase click-through-rate (CTR). And CTR can impact rankings. So, you want to give people the information they need to convince them to click on the link to your site.
Warning: Sometimes Google Rewrites Meta Descriptions
When you go through so much effort to write unique meta descriptions on every single page, it can be disheartening to learn that sometimes Google rewrites meta descriptions.
Depending on the search query, Google may rewrite the description. It happens when the meta description doesn’t seem relevant to the particular search query. Instead, they use a snippet of text from the article. This happens more often with long-tail keywords (the longer more specific queries).
Google ends up rewriting about 60% of meta descriptions. But, meta descriptions are still worth writing for the other 40% of the time. Especially since when they do display meta descriptions it tends to be on the most popular pages ranking for broad terms with high search volume.
In Summary
Write meta descriptions that are clear, persuasive, and unique. Even though Google will sometimes rewrite them, they do play a role in improving search rankings. They improve the user experience in search results and in turn increase the chance of people visiting your website.
Do you want to listen to this article? Here’s the podcast episode:
So, here’s the problem. You’re doing all the things. You’ve done your on-page optimizations, you have a sitemap, you added internal links. But, you still have basically no traffic. Your numbers are embarrassing. How long does it take for SEO to start working?
The sad truth is SEO takes a while before you start seeing results. Of course there are several variables that can impact the speed but it’s important to be realistic about how long it should take going into it. As I outlined in the article about how long it takes to learn SEO, it can take anywhere from six months to two years to start seeing results. This can fluctuate quite a bit depending on how competitive your particular industry is, but this is a good estimate to go by.
Although it can take a while to start building some momentum, once it starts it generally continues. If you get a good routine down and regularly build content that creates a wonderful foundation. When you finally start seeing the traffic you want you just need to keep doing more of what you’re already doing.
If you are getting tired of waiting for your traffic to get to where you want it to be, here are a few ways you can speed up the process.
4 Ways to Make the SEO Process Faster
Revisit Blogging Frequency
Adjusting your blogging frequency is one of the best ways to adjust the length of time it takes to see SEO results. The more content you create, the faster you’ll see results. (Of course, this does need to be high-quality content.)
As a rule of thumb, you should aim to create weekly blog content. If you can’t, that’s fine! You can choose to post bi-weekly or monthly content. You just need to understand that it will take longer to see results. And if you already post weekly and want to see results faster then post even more often. Post daily if you can, or three times a week. Post as often as you can comfortably post high-quality content.
You have to find a balance between how much time you can find to spend on content creation and how fast you want to grow your website.
Perform Keyword Research
To grow traffic to your website you need to create content people are searching for. You need to perform keyword research. Find terms that have some traffic and are low competition. Don’t get too carried away about search volume. As long as people are searching for it and it isn’t crazy competitive it’s worth writing content for. If it starts ranking for that one keyword, chances are there are a handful of much longer phrases that it will rank for as well. So don’t get too caught up on low traffic. Those are just estimates and when you’re starting, low traffic is better than no traffic.
Look at Impressions
It can feel discouraging in the beginning. It can also feel discouraging a year or two into the project. It feels discouraging the entire time you aren’t seeing traffic where you want it. When this happens, look at your search impressions. You can find this data in Google Search Console (not Google Analytics). Search impressions do not all result in clicks. The clicks are the site visitors that show up in Google Analytics. But before they clicked, they saw the result in Google, and that registers as a search impression.
Since you get many more impressions than clicks it is a much prettier metric to look at when your numbers are low. More importantly, it gives you an idea of how you are trending. If you only get a few visitors here and there it’s very difficult to figure out a trend. Since there are a larger number of impressions, you can see how you’re trending. If your impressions are improving that means you are going in the right direction. Next, clicks will improve and then you’ll start seeing the traffic in your Google Analytics account you’ve been wanting.
Leverage ClearPath Online
If you’re looking for an SEO shortcut, the ClearPath Online DIY SEO Tool can help. It’s pre-populated with digital marketing tasks so you can grow an organic audience – step-by-step without getting overwhelmed.
In Summary
SEO does take time to see results. Be patient. Work on creating a good routine for content creation and then stick with it. If you are consistent, you will start to see results.
Do you want to listen to this article? Here’s the podcast episode:
What is the difference between new and returning users in Google Analytics? What do these metrics mean and what should you do with that data? Here is everything you need to know about new vs returning visitors in Google Analytics.
The Difference Between New vs Returning Visitors
New visitors (or new users) are people who have never been to the website before. Whereas, returning visitors (or returning users) are people who have visited the website previously and have come back.
That’s the idea behind the metrics. Yet, there are times when the data may not be a perfect representation of new vs returning.
When the Data Could Be Wrong
There are four instances where the tracking could incorrectly assign a returning visitor as a new visitor.
User Switches Devices
If someone switches devices, such as laptop to mobile phone, it is likely the tracking code will identify both sessions as new visitors. GA4 has addressed this issue but it is still imperfect. It works best when people log into the website and are tracked with a user ID. In most cases, one person using multiple devices will appear as a new user for each device.
User Switches Browsers
Similar to switching devices, switching browsers will also cause Google Analytics tracking to assign a new user for each browser. Even if it is the same person.
User Deletes Cookies
This tracking relies on cookies. So, if people delete their cookies the next visit would count as a new user even if they had visited before deleting the cookies.
User Uses Private Browsing
If someone uses incognito mode or private browsing then no cookie is set. Because of that, each visit counts as a new visitor.
Other than these four instances that could cause the tracking to be off, there are a couple other discrepancies to be aware of.
These Numbers Aren’t Unique
The new vs returning visitors numbers do not equal the total number of unique users to the site. A person can count as a new or returning user many times in the same reporting period. This happens if they have visited the site more than once so there are multiple sessions for that person. One person can count in the new visitor metric, and then also have several sessions that count in the returning visitor metric.
These Numbers Likely Have Duplicates
It’s important to understand that some of those new users are likely duplicates. If any of the four scenarios above happened, people can count multiple times in the new visitor metric.
Where Can You Find New vs Returning Users in Google Analytics?
New vs Returning Visitors in Universal Analytics
In Universal Analytics, navigate to Audience > Behavior > New vs Returning.
You can also use segments at the top of the Google Analytics interface to view any of the Universal Analytics reports with the new and returning visitors user segments.
To enable the new and returning user segments:
Select the Choose segment from list box at the top.
Then, select System.
Then, select New Users.
Next, repeat steps 1-2 and then select Returning Users.
You can even remove the All Users segment to view the data with only the new and returning user segments.
New vs Returning Visitors in GA4
In Google Analytics 4 (GA4), this report has changed a bit. Like the majority of GA4 reports, it has improved. But, since it is different, there is a learning curve. If we’re coming from the Universal Analytics version of Google Analytics, we need to better understand the new report before we can gain insight from it.
In GA4, find the new vs returning visitor information under Retention. The Retention Overview screen has multiple charts that help to visualize new vs returning users. Google provides more information about each of the retention charts so you can become familiar with them and gain more insights.
You can also create a table that resembles the data you would see in the Universal Analytics version of Google Analytics.
To create a new vs returning visitors table in GA4:
Go to Explore.
Then create a Free form report.
Under Dimensions select New / established.
New / established is like new vs returning. Instead of new meaning it is the first visit, it means the first visit is within the last seven days. And established is like returning. It means the first visit was more than seven days ago.
Select any Metrics you’d like to measure. I’d recommend Sessions, Conversions, and Engagement Rate.
Drag the Dimension into Rows and the Metrics into Values.
Look at the table to view and analyze your data.
View the video clip below to see how to create the New vs Returning report in GA4.
What to do with the New vs Returning Visitor Data
Okay, so now we know what new vs returning users are, and we know where we can find the data, but what insights can we learn from looking at this information?
Does your navigation have a learning curve?
Do new visitors spend more time on your site than returning visitors? If so, you’ll want to confirm that your navigation doesn’t have a learning curve. You want to make sure people are spending their time effectively and not spending extra time trying to find what they’re looking for.
To dig into the specific cause behind the difference in times you’ll want to leverage conversion optimization tools such as session recordings. The Google Analytics data can help you identify there could be room for improvement. Session recordings let you confirm and gain insight into that suspicion.
Do returning users convert higher?
If returning visitors convert higher, make sure you’re doing what you can to get more of your visitors to return. Revisit your lead magnet strategy. Make sure the lead magnet is bridging the gap between a new visit and completing the primary site goal. The lead magnet should help a new user get over a hurdle stopping them from converting. It should also be something that does not feel too overwhelming. A lead magnet should be a simple step onto the bridge that eventually gets them to the end goal.
If you can get more new users to sign up for your lead magnet, that will allow you to get in their inbox. Once they’re on your email list and become familiar with your brand, they are more likely to move into the returning users bucket.
Do returning visitors have a higher bounce rate?
Are new visitors more engaged than returning visitors? In Universal Analytics, check to see if returning visitors have a higher bounce rate. In GA4, check to see if new visitors have a higher engagement rate. If either of those are true, revisit your content strategy. Your audience could be learning with you and they could now be ready for more advanced topics.
Do new or returning visitors come from particular sources?
Check to see if there are particular traffic sources that bring in new or returning visitors. In Universal Analytics, use the segments on the Acquisition > All Traffic > Source / Medium report to view the data. In GA4, add the Dimension of Source / medium to the free form report. Then add Source / Medium to Columns.
If you notice a particular source brings in a particular type of user, you can try and create content to cater to that user on that channel. For example, if a particular social network only brings in returning visitors you can create content on that network that speaks to someone familiar with your brand.
Are new or returning visitors attracted to particular content topics?
Review content reports to see who’s looking at what content. In Universal Analytics, go to Behavior > Site Content > All Pages and use the segments to view the data by new and returning users. In GA4, add a Dimension of Page Title to the free form report. Use Page Title for rows and New / established for columns. If there are particular content topics that attract a specific type of user you can use that information to improve your content strategy.
In Summary
New vs returning visitor data can help you better understand how your website caters to different types of users. Google Analytics can help you identify some key differences so you can improve your site and adjust your strategy. That way you can move more new users into returning visitors.
Do you want to listen to this article? Here’s the podcast episode:
Let's start with a clear answer: no, social media is not essential for blogging success. Social media can promote your blog and expand your reach, but it is not the only way to attract a larger audience to your website. Here’s how you can grow your blog without relying on social media.Read More
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