There are many tools out there for search engine optimization. Two that we utilize often for the search engine Google specifically are Google Search Console and Google Analytics. Despite both of these tools being developed and optimized for Google, they measure search traffic differently and have their own benefits. That is why we use both of them when monitoring and trying to understand our website’s analysis.
Google Search Console
Google’s Search Console monitors the website more generally and performance in search results. It is also how we connect a website to Google so that it is discoverable when people perform a search in their search engine. As a part of what this website tracks, it provides you with analysis on top queries and pages. This information can then influence both marketing and web design decisions. The top queries are what people are searching for related to your site (where you pop up) and the tool provides insight into what people are searching the most in correlation to you, as well as the number of clicks and impressions. Top pages are where visitors are landing the most. It also provides insight into decreased queries and pages.
There are other components to this tool that will provide more insight into performance as well as inspections into the user experience, pages, mobile usability, URLs, etc. Taking your time to really peruse the data Google Search Console provides can provide direction and lead to better results for your SEO strategy.
Google Analytics
Whereas Google Search Console provides more information about your website and its relation to Google, Google Analytics provides more information about your visitors. This goes deeper than providing information about total users to new users. You can see how users found you (where they came from: direct, socials, etc), who they are (demographics), and how their flow on your site (pages they land, screen time, etc). This is a great resource to understanding who you are attracting and seeing if it aligns with the target market / customer you previously identified. The more actual data you have on your customer, the better.
Conclusion
Google Search Console is what website’s are connected to in order to show up on Google, provides information on your website, and search result traffic. Google Analytics provides more information into the user, from who they are, how they found you, to how they are interacting on your website. Each tracks some form of traffic, but in a different manner. That is why we use both of them. Together, we are able to dive deeper into our SEO strategy and find flaws as well as what is working to better optimize every time.
Resources
https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-search-console-google-analytics-data/358206/#:~:text=A%20major%20cause%20of%20the,into%20the%20category%20of%20Search.
https://kinsta.com/blog/google-search-console-vs-google-analytics/#:~:text=Google%20Search%20Console%20helps%20you,they%20interact%20with%20your%20website.
https://search.google.com/search-console/about
https://marketingplatform.google.com/about/analytics/