How to Track Your SEO with Google Analytics 4

Google Search Console shows how your site appears in results. Google Analytics 4 (GA4) shows what visitors do on your site afterward. The two complement each other: the first measures visibility, the second results.

Note: the GA4 interface changes regularly, and menu labels may differ slightly from those shown here.

1. Isolate traffic from organic search

GA4 groups traffic sources into channels. The "Organic Search" channel corresponds to visits coming from search engines, excluding advertising. You can compare this channel with the others: direct, social, email, advertising, referral sites.

2. Analyze landing pages

The landing pages report shows which pages visitors arrive on. Filtering it on organic search, you see:

• which pages attract the most traffic from Google;
• which pages have high traffic but low engagement, a sign of a mismatch with visitors' expectations;
• which pages convert best.

3. Understand engagement

GA4 measures the engagement rate: the share of sessions where the visitor stayed a minimum time, viewed several pages or completed a tracked action. It is the inverse of bounce rate. It helps spot content that holds attention, with the usual caveats: a page that answers a question very quickly may have low engagement while still being useful.

4. Measure conversions

This is the most important part. Define the actions that matter for your business: form submission, call, button click, sign-up, purchase. GA4 records them as events, which you can mark as key events (formerly "conversions"). You can then measure the number and conversion rate of organic traffic, and the value generated.

5. Link Search Console to GA4

You can associate the two tools in GA4's settings. This gives access to reports that combine queries, impressions, clicks and position with on-site behavior. Check that the Search Console property matches your site's.

6. Compare over time

• Use period comparison, preferably against the same period last year to account for seasonality.
• Segment by device, country or page type.
• Build a simple dashboard with five to ten indicators tied to your goals.

Limits to know

• Cookie consent: depending on your setup and visitors' choices, part of the traffic may not be measured.
• Query data comes from Search Console, not GA4: GA4 doesn't detail the words visitors typed.
• Gaps between tools: GA4 and Search Console figures don't match exactly, since they measure different things.
• Privacy thresholds and sampling can hide some data in detailed reports.

Common mistakes

• Not setting up conversions and limiting yourself to visits.
• Mixing internal traffic (your own visits) with real traffic.
• Interpreting a variation over a few days as a trend.

Good use of GA4 for SEO comes down to one question: does the traffic Google sends me produce results for my business?