Using Google Analytics for local search

Google Analytics is a very effective resource for any business, especially smaller enterprises with limited budgets. The data that is generated by Google Analytics can be used to help your business make more effective decisions when it comes to marketing and to streamline the approach that you take to SEO. When it comes to local businesses there are some key measures that any organisation needs to put into place in order to make Google Analytics work for you.

Make sure you’re excluding bots and spiders

Figures vary but around a quarter of website traffic is estimated to come from bots and if you really dig into your analytics account you’ll probably be able to see this. There is a super simple way to stop bots and spiders from interfering with your analytics – just go to Admin – View – Settings and check the box for Bot Filtering.

Remove your own traffic from the mix

If your analytics numbers reflect all the visits you’ve made to your own website then this is going to significantly skew the numbers. So, the next step to take to ensure that you’re only getting good data is to filter out your own traffic. You can do this via Admin – View – View Filters and then set up a filter for your own IP address ( you can find this by Googling ‘what’s my IP address’).

Use goals for success tracking

When you set up goals then you’re establishing key milestones that you can use to see how your local business is doing online. You’ll find goals in Admin – View – Goals and then select New Goal to establish a fresh measure for success. There are a number of different options when it comes to goals. For example, you could set destination based goals, which could be something like the confirmation page after someone fills out a form on your website. So, every time someone actually lands on the confirmation page can be counted as a goal. You could also establish event based goals, such as someone clicking on a specific button on your website.

UTM Tracking Codes

These are incredibly useful when you’re looking at how effective a particular campaign has been. You’ll be able to see data, such as where users have come from and which sources or medium or campaigns were effective. For example you could use UTM tracking codes to see any users that come through from Google My Business and the categorisation of users that arrived via that channel. All you need to do is add the UTM tracking codes to your Google My Business link profile.

Link up Analytics and Search Console

These two Google tools can be used incredibly effectively together. Google Search Console can bring a lot of rich data about organic search to the table and it’s vital to make sure that this information is being sent to your Google Analytics account. You can ensure that these two are linked via Admin – Property – Property Settings and then select Google Search Console (as long as you’ve already set this up).

Google Analytics is a key part of local search and it’s not difficult to get started with it. Iconic Digital is a full-service digital marketing agency in London focused on transforming growth forecasts for clients from mediocre to majestic. To find out more about Iconic Digital’s award-winning digital marketing services get in contact today on 020 7100 0726.