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Google Analytics and Google Webmaster Tools – Now Must Link to Retrieve SEO Data in Google Analytics

Services: Law Firm Website Design . SEO . Internet Marketing . Law Firm Marketing Guide . Content Marketing . PPC

Two of the major Google applications people talk about are Google Analytics and Google Webmaster Tools.  Due to recent updates in the Analytics Dashboard area, we are finding them to coincide more now than ever.

In the previous layout for Google Analytics the organic SEO information was scattered throughout random menu items in the dashboard area.  With the new updates, the majority of what you would like to look at in your Google Analytics is in the Acquisitions tab.

Under the Overview section of the Acquisitions tab you will see a newly designed table showing you how people are getting to your website.  The data is now separated into four categories: Direct Traffic, Social Traffic, Organic Search, and Referral Traffic.

  • Direct Traffic – people that got to your website by typing in your domain name directly
  • Social Traffic – people that got to your website by means of social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and Google+
  • Organic Search – people who got to your website by searching a keyword phrase in a search engine such as Google, Yahoo! or Bing
  • Referral Traffic – people who got to your website by clicking on a link on another website

Using Google Analytics to View Search Engine Optimization Keyword Generated Traffic

You will find all of your organic search data under Acquisition > Search Engine Optimization > Queries.  If, however, you have not linked your Webmaster Tools account to your Analytics account you will see something similar to this:

Need to connect webmaster tools and analytics

In order to get rid of this and see your organic search data in Google Analytics you need to link your Webmaster Tools account to your Analytics account.

How to Link Webmaster Tools to Google Analytics

To link your Google Webmaster Tools to your Google Analytics you first need to make sure you are signed up for both.  If you are not yet signed up for Google Webmaster Tools you can do so at google.com/webmasters/tools/.

Once inside in the top right corner you will click on the gear icon to see a dropdown, then select Google Analytics Property.

Linking Webmaster Tools to Analytics

On this page you would simply select the website to link with (must be on same Google Account) and press save.  It is that easy.  Now, when you log back into your Google Analytics account you will be able to see all the organic search data in the Acquisitions > Search Engine Optimization > Queries section of Google Analytics.

The new changes to Google Analytics look a little confusing at first, but once you have connected your Analytics to your Webmaster Tools account, you will see the Analytics Dashboard area is just more organized. If you are interested in working with PaperStreet on any projects be sure and Contact us today for a free evaluation and consultation.


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5 Responses to Google Analytics and Google Webmaster Tools – Now Must Link to Retrieve SEO Data in Google Analytics

  1. Adam Kielich
    1:02 pm on October 20th, 2013

    Google’s business practices are getting increasingly shady.

  2. Jerome
    7:55 am on February 4th, 2014

    Hello Brad.

    One question? After searching hours on the net for a solution I saw MANY people with the same question and no answer, so I hope you can answer it.

    I’ve got two websites, both on Google Webmaster Tools and Google Analytics, how can I associate them both??

    Google webmaster Tools only lets you associate one.

    Like they explain here: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/1120006?hl=en

    Associate a Webmaster Tools site with a Google Analytics web property:

    On the Webmaster Tools home page, click Manage site next to the site you want, and then click Google Analytics property.
    Select the web property you want to associate with the site, and then click Save.

    Note: A site can be associated with only one web property, and vice versa. Creating a new association removes the previously existing association.

    So there is no solution? Can you please confirm if this is correct?

    Am I forced to create another gmail account, and start there a new GA and GWT account? I hope not.

    I hope you can answer/help me/us please.

    Jerome

  3. Brad Randolph
    9:40 am on February 6th, 2014

    Hello Jerome,

    Excellent Question. No, you would not need to create a new Gmail account. You are able to set up multiple accounts on 1 email address. In order to start a new account, from Google Analytics you would go to ‘Admin’ in the top right. Then under the ‘Account’ section select the dropdown and select ‘Create new account’.

    From this screen you will easily be able to set up a new Google Analytics property in your account.

    Regarding Webmaster Tools – You would just need to be logged into your gmail account and visit http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/. In the top right there is a button for ‘Add a Site’. Selecting this will allow you to Add as many sites as you would like (you will, of course, need to verify your ownership of the site using one of the choices it offers you).

    Let me know if you have any more questions,

    Brad

  4. Audrey
    4:02 pm on February 12th, 2014

    Hi Brad, my question is very similar to Jerome’s. I basically have a multilingual site that has a french URL and an English URL. I capture the data for this website in one Google Analytics property. When I created the site in Webmaster Tools, I created it for the english URL, and I seem to only get data for English keywords. If I were to create a second site in Webmaster Tools, how can I then link my data for both languages to my one single GA property?

    I hope you can help me! I have several sites like this and the answer is nowhere to be found.
    Thanks!
    Audrey

  5. Ash
    4:44 am on June 4th, 2014

    I don’t think any one has actually addressed the issue here, there is a difference between properties, accounts and views. The only way to link WMT to GA is to create new accounts not properties – which you can do on the same email address. The problem is we for example have a ‘group’ of sites for EMEA which sits under one account with 10+ different sites configured as properties, therefore unless we go through a massive overhaul we would be unable to link multiple together. I have however found some excellent workarounds if you import segments etc from the gallery in GA to get a general idea of the missing information. If someone finds an alternative way of linking a property to a webmaster account then please let me know.

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