Dumb SEO Questions

(Entry was posted by Chris Greene on this post in the Dumb SEO Questions community on Facebook, 07/23/2020).

Clicks, impression and sessions in Google Analytic

Hey Guys, we had a request for clicks and impression data for SEO, the only option is Google search console data. However the data e.g. clicks can be completely different to what we`re seeing in GA such as sessions. Why is this case?
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YOUR ANSWERS

Selected answers from the Dumb SEO Questions Facebook & G+ community.

  • Greg Jensen: Sessions and clicks will always differ by a little bit because clicks are reported the moment someone clicks on a link, whereas sessions are recorded after a page view hit is recorded by Google Analytics. If they`re vastly different, however, you`ll want to double check that your GA is implemented properly. This could be GA not firing on all of your pages, redirects causing you to lose parameters in certain instances, etc. It could be any number of things, and there`s no established margin for error between GA and Search Console. I`d say if you see a 15%+ difference, it`s probably time to take a closer look.
  • Michael Martinez: Google Analytics data can be very misleading because of:

    1) Classification errors
    2) Traffic faking bots
    3) Differences in reporting windows
    4) Filters
    5) Improper or incomplete implementation (as Greg notes above)
    6) Users` devices don`t execute the Javascript (various reasons)

    So always trust the Google Search Console data more.
  • Chris Greene: No revenue, or goal data though.

View original question in the Dumb SEO Questions community on Facebook, 07/23/2020).