{"id":5681,"date":"2022-08-23T12:52:51","date_gmt":"2022-08-23T12:52:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/23\/3-valuable-google-analytics-4-reports-for-seos\/"},"modified":"2022-08-23T12:52:51","modified_gmt":"2022-08-23T12:52:51","slug":"3-valuable-google-analytics-4-reports-for-seos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/23\/3-valuable-google-analytics-4-reports-for-seos\/","title":{"rendered":"3 valuable Google Analytics 4 reports for SEOs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As an analyst, marketer, or SEO, you probably have some go-to reports you are used to looking at in Google Analytics. You may have them bookmarked or have memorized the three or four clicks you need to get the right report from Universal Analytics.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Now that it will soon become Google\u2019s default analytics tool, let\u2019s look at how to create three common and useful reports for SEO in Google Analytics 4.<\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_81 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/23\/3-valuable-google-analytics-4-reports-for-seos\/#1_Traffic_acquisition_report\" >1. Traffic acquisition report<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/23\/3-valuable-google-analytics-4-reports-for-seos\/#2_Google_Search_Console_reports\" >2. Google Search Console reports<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/23\/3-valuable-google-analytics-4-reports-for-seos\/#3_SEO_landing_page_report\" >3. SEO landing page report\u00a0<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"1_Traffic_acquisition_report\"><\/span>1. Traffic acquisition report<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>This one is quick and straightforward \u2013 only one click in the GA4 interface will get you the Traffic acquisition report, aka the session acquisition report (there is acquisition by both user and session in GA4). <\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s where you can quickly analyze the different channels bringing traffic to your site.<\/p>\n<p>In the reporting UI, you\u2019ll find this report under<em> Life cycle<\/em> &gt; <em>Acquisition<\/em> &gt; <em>Traffic Acquisition<\/em>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"457\" src=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2022\/08\/Traffic-acquisition-1-800x457.png\" alt=\"Google Analytics 4 Traffic acquisition report.\" class=\"wp-image-387369\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Note that this report initially defaults to use the <em>Session default channel grouping<\/em> as the primary dimension. Still, you can change this to a different view of traffic acquisition if preferred.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>For example, you can select <em>Session source \/ medium <\/em>which was a default report in the UA navigation.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"457\" src=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2022\/08\/Traffic-acquisition-2-800x457.png\" alt=\"Changing the primary dimension in the Google Analytics 4 Traffic acquisition report.\" class=\"wp-image-387370\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>You can also break this report down by additional dimensions, including custom dimensions. <\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s say you collect custom dimensions on your blog for things like article title, article tag, article date, and so on. This then gives me the ability to analyze article performance by channel.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"494\" src=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2022\/08\/Traffic-acquisition-3-800x494.png\" alt=\"Adding secondary dimension in the Google Analytics 4 Traffic acquisition report.\" class=\"wp-image-387371\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Finally, you can use the filter box above the table if you want to filter this report for just <em>Organic Search<\/em> as a channel.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Note that the filter box currently references both the primary and secondary dimensions. Unlike UA, there is not (yet) the ability to filter on a single dimension in a table.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"524\" src=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2022\/08\/Traffic-acquisition-4-800x524.png\" alt=\"Table filters in the Google Analytics 4 Traffic acquisition report.\" class=\"wp-image-387372\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-background has-cyan-bluish-gray-background-color has-cyan-bluish-gray-color\">\n<p><!-- START INLINE FORM --><\/p>\n<div class=\"nl-inline-form border py-2 px-1 my-2\">\n<div class=\"row align-items-center\">\n<div class=\"col-12 col-lg-3 col-xl-4 pe-md-0 pb-2 pb-lg-0\">\n<p class=\"inline-form-text text-center mb-0\">Get the daily newsletter search marketers rely on.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"col-12 col-lg-7 col-xl-6  pe-lg-0\">\n<div class=\"form-nl-inline\">\n<div class=\"row g-0\">\n<div class=\"form-group col-12 col-lg-8 mb-0\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"col-12 col-lg-4 col-xl-4 mb-0\">\n<div class=\"d-none\">\n<p>Processing&#8230;Please wait.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<button class=\"btn btn-dark inlineButton w-100 rounded-0 font-weight-bold\" type=\"submit\" name=\"submit_button\">SUBSCRIBE<\/button>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"col-12 col-lg-2 col-xl-2 ps-1\">\n<p class=\"text-center mb-0\"><a class=\"nl-terms\" href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/termsofuse\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">See terms.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- END INLINE FORM --><\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-background has-cyan-bluish-gray-background-color has-cyan-bluish-gray-color\">\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"2_Google_Search_Console_reports\"><\/span>2. Google Search Console reports<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>If you are using the <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/you-can-now-link-google-analytics-4-to-google-search-console-377398\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Google Search Console integration<\/a> (and you should be!), you will have a new collection of reports available to publish to your reporting navigation menu. <\/p>\n<p>Once you have this setup, you\u2019ll see two reports:\u00a0<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Google organic search traffic report.<\/li>\n<li>The Queries report.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Note that in my screenshot below, I\u2019ve renamed these reports (via the customization feature) to be a bit more meaningful to me, so they are called \u201cSC: Organic Keywords\u201d and \u201cSC: Landing Page.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"457\" src=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2022\/08\/GSC-reports-in-GA4-800x457.png\" alt=\"Google Search Console reports in Google Analytics 4.\" class=\"wp-image-387373\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>These reports show pretty much what you\u2019d expect. The Landing page report displays SEO-specific metrics such as:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Organic Google search clicks.<\/li>\n<li>Organic Google search impressions.<\/li>\n<li>CTR.<\/li>\n<li>Avg Position.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"398\" src=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2022\/08\/Search-Console-1-800x398.png\" alt=\"GSC landing page report metrics in GA4.\" class=\"wp-image-387374\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>The Queries\/keyword report shows the same metrics against the actual search query (as opposed to the Landing page in the previous report).<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"396\" src=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2022\/08\/Search-Console-2-800x396.png\" alt=\"GSC Queries\/keyword report metrics in GA4.\" class=\"wp-image-387375\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>While these reports won\u2019t replace your GSC data, they are a nice addition to GA4, especially when you add secondary dimensions of web traffic when analyzing organic search data. <\/p>\n<p>For example, I can break down my search queries by Device category.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"435\" src=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2022\/08\/Search-Console-3-800x435.png\" alt=\"GSC Queries\/keyword report with Device category dimension in GA4.\" class=\"wp-image-387376\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"3_SEO_landing_page_report\"><\/span>3. SEO landing page report\u00a0<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>I saved the best for last \u2013 building a customized SEO landing page report.<\/p>\n<p>In a previous article, I covered a quick 10-step process for <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/make-ga4-landing-page-report-385133\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">creating a landing page report in GA4<\/a>. The landing page dimension is available out of the box, but there isn\u2019t (yet) an out-of-the-box report specifically for landing pages, so you\u2019ll need to create it yourself.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Now, I want to show you how to tailor your landing page report to just show organic traffic. <\/p>\n<p>Sure, you could just add either default channel grouping or source \/ medium to your current landing page report. But taking a few moments to further customize will save you that click and allow you to then break down your SEO landing page report by an additional dimension in the reporting UI.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Step 1<\/strong>: Via the Library section, create a new detail report.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"457\" src=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2022\/08\/Create-detail-report-800x457.png\" alt=\"Steps for creating an SEO landing page report\u00a0in GA4.\" class=\"wp-image-387377\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Step 2: <\/strong>Next, you\u2019ll need to choose a template to start from. You can select a blank template or one of the pre-populated templates. These will all start as a copy of the basic report for the subject area.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>For example, the Traffic acquisition template will be a copy of the Traffic acquisition report. For this scenario, we\u2019ll start with the Pages and screens template.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"460\" src=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2022\/08\/Pages-screens-template-800x460.png\" alt=\"Steps for creating an SEO landing page report\u00a0in GA4.\" class=\"wp-image-387378\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Step 3: <\/strong>Once in the report template, click on the <em>Dimensions<\/em> tile in the upper right corner to select additional dimensions to add to the primary dimension column. <\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"457\" src=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2022\/08\/Add-dimensions-1-800x457.png\" alt=\"Steps for creating an SEO landing page report\u00a0in GA4.\" class=\"wp-image-387379\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Then click <em>Add dimension. <\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"457\" src=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2022\/08\/Add-dimensions-2-800x457.png\" alt=\"Steps for creating an SEO landing page report\u00a0in GA4.\" class=\"wp-image-387380\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>From the dropdown list, choose <em>Landing page<\/em>.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"457\" src=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2022\/08\/Add-dimensions-3-800x457.png\" alt=\"Steps for creating an SEO landing page report\u00a0in GA4.\" class=\"wp-image-387381\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\"><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Step 4: <\/strong>Once you\u2019ve added the Landing page dimension, you\u2019ll want to make it the primary dimension in the report. <\/p>\n<p>To do so, click the three dots menu and select <em>Set as default<\/em>. Then click <em>Apply<\/em> to save changes.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"457\" src=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2022\/08\/Add-dimensions-4-800x457.png\" alt=\"Steps for creating an SEO landing page report\u00a0in GA4.\" class=\"wp-image-387382\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Step 5: <\/strong>Now comes the fun part (everything up until now was just a walk-through of making the landing page report from scratch!). <\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re going to use a brand new feature in GA4 called <em>Report filter<\/em> to filter this landing page report to only show us data that came from organic traffic.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"457\" src=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2022\/08\/Report-filters-1-800x457.png\" alt=\"Steps for creating an SEO landing page report\u00a0in GA4.\" class=\"wp-image-387383\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Step 6: <\/strong>When you click the <em>Add filter<\/em> button, you\u2019ll find a condition builder for your filter settings. For this particular filter, we want to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Choose <em>Include,<\/em> which acts as an include-only operator.<\/li>\n<li>Select the dimension we want to filter on. In this case, the <em>Session default channel grouping<\/em>. Then select from a dropdown list which channels to include. We\u2019ll choose only <em>Organic Search<\/em>.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Hit <em>OK<\/em> and apply.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"314\" height=\"548\" src=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2022\/08\/Report-filters-2.png\" alt=\"Steps for creating an SEO landing page report\u00a0in GA4.\" class=\"wp-image-387384\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>This will now filter the landing page report to only show traffic that has come from organic search.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A couple of other quick things I like to do with custom reports is to change the visuals. I prefer to hide the scatter plot and change the bar chart to a line graph. You can do this in the <em>Charts<\/em> section of the editor.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Once you\u2019re done, save the report and give it a name. I\u2019ll call this one my \u201cSEO Landing Pages report.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>You\u2019ll also know this is a filtered report because it shows a little filter icon in the upper left-hand corner of the report.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"457\" src=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/wp-content\/seloads\/2022\/08\/SEO-landing-page-report-in-GA4-filtered-800x457.png\" alt=\"Steps for creating an SEO landing page report\u00a0in GA4.\" class=\"wp-image-387385\" title=\"| Craig Hordlow\"><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Don\u2019t forget to add this new report to one of your report collections in the Library so it will appear in your left-side navigation bar.<\/p>\n<p>Hopefully, these quick examples of common SEO reports are a helpful way for you to get more familiar and comfortable with GA4. <\/p>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/3-valuable-google-analytics-4-reports-for-seos-387368\" target=\"_blank\">3 valuable Google Analytics 4 reports for SEOs<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Search Engine Land<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As an analyst, marketer, or SEO, you probably have some go-to reports you are used to looking at in Google Analytics. You may have them bookmarked or have memorized the three or four clicks you need to get the right report from Universal Analytics.\u00a0 Now that it will soon become Google\u2019s default analytics tool, let\u2019s look at how to create three common and useful reports for SEO in Google Analytics 4. 1. Traffic acquisition report This one is quick and straightforward \u2013 only one click in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"h5ap_radio_sources":[],"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-best-seo-blogs"],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":false,"author_link":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/author\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5681\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}