How to use Google Analytics to Track SEO Rankings

Tuesday, January 6th, 2009 by Taylor Pratt

How to use Google Analytics to Track SEO Rankings

With Google and other search engines continuing to roll out personalization updates, it is becoming increasingly difficult for SEOs to get an idea of their true ranking position. A personalized search result page can look completely different than the results a ranking tool would provide.

André Scholten wrote a guest post on Yoast explaining how Google Analytics users can get a better idea of where they rank for specific keywords. Although users will not be able to get the exact position, they will be able to figure out what page of the SERPs they rank on.

How do you do it? Google Analytics allows you to create custom filters for your analytics data. In this case, an advanced filter. I don’t want to steal André’s thunder, so head over to Yoast and read how you set it up.

Here is the screenshot he put up on Yoast that shows the effects of the filter:

Google Ranking Example

The key to understanding your rankings lie in the data in the parenthesis. The result (pagina: 50) indicates that a user clicked through to your site from your listing on the sixth page of the Google SERPs. André also goes on to tell you how you can filter your keyword list to only display the keywords listed on a specific page of the SERPs.

Great post, André, and thanks for the tips!

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28 comments on “How to use Google Analytics to Track SEO Rankings”

Aleksandar M. Velkoski Says:

January 6th, 2009 at 6:45 pm

I love Google Analytics. I use it to understand my returning visitors, new visitors, key words, etc. I also use a second analytics software for the purposes of comparing the data. Overall, I give Google Analytics a 9. Use it if you can.
PS3 Says:

January 6th, 2009 at 6:59 pm

I am probably not looking at enough keywords to make this worthwhile but a great post nonetheless. I too love Analytics but struggle with the “goals” feature. How easy is it to determine which links are being clicked through by visitors on exiting a site?
tarot Says:

January 6th, 2009 at 8:26 pm

Great tips … Trying your method in google now.
David King Says:

January 6th, 2009 at 9:29 pm

Thanks I appreciate it!

this will be helpful and useful!

David King

David King’s last blog post..Becoming a ferrari Entrepreneur? Video #1~
Featherstone Says:

January 6th, 2009 at 10:11 pm

A very nice tips, specially for those who uses GA.
Silvia Says:

January 6th, 2009 at 11:06 pm

I think highly of your recommendations, they are of great help and worth of using.
Jason Kuiper Says:

January 7th, 2009 at 12:06 am

I am with GA myself, and LOVE this ability. Thank you for the heads up!
Quilmes Verano Says:

January 7th, 2009 at 5:52 am

Sweet! Now we won’t be needing to rely 100% on frowned-upon-by-Google Rankings Software. Thanks for the post!
Jacques Seoman Says:

January 7th, 2009 at 7:41 am

Google analytics is awesome. It never ceases to amaze me when customers get their first monthly analytics report. The look on their faces is priceless! Nobody can actually believe how powerful analytics actually are. This is a great tip to alleviate the personlization issue to a certain degree, and the best of all is that analytics are free!
Patrick Says:

January 7th, 2009 at 8:32 am

Nice. I just went through the instructions and set this up. This could really save me tons of time and help me optimize my keyword rankings.

Patrick’s last blog post..Pays to Live Green Up for 6 Months!!!
R&B Love Songs Says:

January 7th, 2009 at 9:23 am

Wow that’s really a great idea. I always see keywords on Analytics that I hadn’t known I was ranked for, and am never able to find them. This will really help narrow the search.

Thanks for the suggestion!
Nicole Price Says:

January 7th, 2009 at 9:28 am

This is amazing information. Thanks for an excellent presentation of a difficult subject.

Nicole Price’s last blog post..New Year Resolutions to Help You Save Money
Kate Morris Says:

January 7th, 2009 at 9:35 am

Nice one Taylor – thanks for the tip!

Kate Morris’s last blog post..Merry Christmas
sheppy Says:

January 7th, 2009 at 9:56 am

This is brilliant. I stumbled upon his post from somewhere else and it’s just genius. Going to give it a try today on a different GA profile…
Utah SEO Pro Says:

January 7th, 2009 at 3:30 pm

A good tip. I’ll give it a shot today to play with it. A bit easier to look in GA than run mass SERP reports.

Utah SEO Pro’s last blog post..An Interview with Utah SEO Pro (Jordan Kasteler) by Martin Bowling
Genel kultur Says:

January 7th, 2009 at 6:17 pm

Google analytics is realy greate but is it the best? i used diffrent counter programs and all of them show me different results that i confused which one is exactly true! i think google analytics is more believable

Genel kultur’s last blog post..İNSANIN KÖKENİ
Silvia Says:

January 7th, 2009 at 11:22 pm

Google analytics is nice, if it is set up,it’ll give one the chance to be more productive.
Saad Kamal Says:

January 8th, 2009 at 4:16 am

This is gr8! I’ll will definitely try this out.

Saad Kamal’s last blog post..Saad’s Hot Picks – Jan 7, 2009
Milo Says:

January 8th, 2009 at 11:10 am

ooh, looks very useful!
especially as none of those “track your keyword rankings” tools work…
André Scholten Says:

January 8th, 2009 at 5:12 pm

Great you people like it. It’s good to know Google launched their own ranking software

André Scholten’s last blog post..SEO Rankings meten met Google Analytics
Goran Web Design Says:

January 12th, 2009 at 6:07 am

I can’t say much more than that Google Analytics is absolutely superb!! Definitely a great example of a true Google success!!
Tony Says:

January 12th, 2009 at 12:22 pm

Thanks for this post. I followed the steps at yoast and now have it up and running. It’s proving to be very useful.
Lily Bent Says:

January 12th, 2009 at 2:16 pm

Thanks for these pointers. I am going to try them right now. Google Analytics is perfect.
Wii Says:

January 13th, 2009 at 4:57 am

I use analytics a lot and notice that people search for some weird terms. I don’t even know why my site even ranks for those terms never mind so highly.
John Says:

January 13th, 2009 at 9:33 am

nice little trick on analytics, was pagina =page?

John’s last blog post..Busby SEO Test the hard way
DF Marketing SEO Says:

January 16th, 2009 at 9:47 am

I love it! Great post! I use Google Analytics for all of my customers websites – it provides honest results that aren’t inflated.
Plaveb Says:

January 29th, 2009 at 6:57 am

Hi,
Great insights,
You have given good tips of google analytics.
It is very useful to all and newbie too.
It will helpful to those who have no idea about it.
Chaunna Brooke Says:

February 6th, 2009 at 2:26 am

Google Analytics or any form of analytics are necessary tools for any serious website owner who wants to track the ups and downs of his online business.

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