Knowing what data matters and figuring out strategies to obtain and analyze that data is a long process, but there are a few basic things that can help you stay organized. Every company has their own way of working with data, but the sooner you can put some of the more basic tips in place the faster you’ll be able to start using those metrics and making decisions. One of the best ways to manage data: Connecting your Google Webmaster Tools and Google Analytics accounts. Fortunately, it’s easy to get started.
Link Your Google Webmasters Tools to You Google Analytics
Linking these two accounts can help you make sure you’re in good standing with Google and your website is staying up to date and optimized. It helps you keep everything in one place and is almost becoming a necessity for businesses that want to succeed online. To be specific, integration means showing your Google Webmaster Tools (GWT) data in your Google Analytics (GA) reports. You can also see your GA in your GWT under the Search Queries tab, but generally businesses use the integration the other way around.
You can make the integration between the two in just a few easy steps:
- Make sure you are logged into both the GA and GWT admin accounts.
- Visit your GWT homepage and select Manage Site next to the website that you want. This can be found in the GA admin tab.
- Click on Google Analytics Property. If you are using the same Google account that you already use for GA, GWT will find the GA data for you.
- Choose the property, or website from your list of GWT sites, that you want for the integration and click Save.
Once you have merged the two accounts, you can see all of your search data in GA very obviously throughout. A great SERPs article detailed the importance of seeing keyword data that was missing from Google Analytics, which you can find via Acquisition, then Search Engine Optimization, and then Queries.
A Few Things to Consider Before Making the Integration
Keep in mind that you can only connect one GWT to one GA property in your GA account. According to a HigherVisibility article, “if you have multiple subdomains that you’re tracking and managing, one GA view is only going to show some of your GWT query data as opposed to tall of it.” This is something to consider if you have quite a few different accounts or subdomains you’re tracking because only seeing half of your data may not be helpful to you.
Finally, it’s also important to remember that you cannot view Search Query data by landing page once you make this integration, so that’s also something to keep in mind. If you use this metric often on GWT, making the connection may not be best. I recommend visiting this page from the Google Support center for more detailed information if you’re concerned.
The Takeaway
If you have not already taken this step to get more advanced, don’t sweat it. You can make the connection between your two accounts at any time and you will be able to enjoy the benefits right away. Your competition may have been doing this for a while, but because the integration makes it so easy it won’t take long to catch up on how to find trends and correlations between the two platform data points.
Do you have your GA and GWT accounts synced up? What have you found to be the most helpful? Let us know your thoughts and questions in the comment section below.