Kostas VoudourisMaxus / GroupM

Performance-Based Optimisation Using Google Search Console API@kvonweb https://www.slideshare.net/kvonweb

Who Am I?

@kvonweb #BrightonSEO

Why do I love Google Search Console API

• Limited number of keywords tracked• Irrelevant keywords tracked via legacy files• Difficult to attribute traffic increase or

decrease on rankings alone• Snapshot of rankings by 1 IP/location,

device• Needs regular review to maintain an up to

date keyword set

• Retrieve and store all of your available keywords (API lets you download more than 1,000 elements)

• Attribute traffic fluctuations using clicks, impressions, CTR and avg. position

• Identify new keywords and establish available opportunities

• Real time automation of keyword addition when content is indexed.

Traditional rank *extracting

*scraping

@kvonweb #BrightonSEO

Track and analyse the keywords you have content for, not the ones you wish to rank for.

@kvonweb #BrightonSEO

GSC API Reference

Google’s API Explorer: https://developers.google.com/apis-explorer/#p/webmasters/v3/webmasters.searchanalytics.queryReference: https://developers.google.com/webmaster-tools/search-console-api-original/v3/searchanalytics/query

@kvonweb #BrightonSEO

Type exactly as you see on GSC

Last 90 days of data available

Max 5000 rows of data per request. Use start row of 5000 to get the next 5000 records and so on..

3 letter country code (ISO 3166-1 alpha-3)

Your keywords

Use a combination of filters to retrieve the preferred segment of your data

How to download GSC data with just your browser

JSON to CSV Converter: https://konklone.io/json/

1 2 3Add your parameters on Google’s API Explorer and hit execute

Copy the returned response

Paste your JSON response into a CSV converter and download your excel table

@kvonweb #BrightonSEO

Store historical GSC data with this GDocs add-on

Google Sheets add-on: https://searchanalyticsforsheets.com/

1 Enable the Search Analytics for Sheets add-one

2 Configure your parameters and start storing your data

@kvonweb #BrightonSEO

Start harvesting Google Search Console data now

@kvonweb #BrightonSEO

Label newly discovered keywords to unlock insight

@kvonweb #BrightonSEO

Formulason H1 add: =ARRAYFORMULA(MIN(IF(A:A=A1,B:B)))on I1 add: =if(H1=B1,TRUE,FALSE)

Visualise “new keywords” to gain additional insights from your organic search traffic

Visualising your new keyword data will provide instant feedback on new content creation and will help you justify increases in organic search traffic.

Impressions

Clicks

Number of New Keywords

Impressions

Clicks

Number of New Keywords

@kvonweb #BrightonSEO

Do not use Avg. Position as a KPI for a large set of keywords

As a site's visibility increases and ranks for a wider number of keywords, it's average position inversely correlates. This is due to the appearance of new keywords in low positions, effecting the sites median ranking.

Average Position

Number of keywords receiving impressions from

ClicksAverage Position

Number of keywords receiving impressions from

Clicks

@kvonweb #BrightonSEO

The ability to read Google Search Console charts is the single most

important thing you can do to understand your Google traffic

@kvonweb #BrightonSEO

Kick off your optimisation strategy with a GSC-powered Content Analysis

@kvonweb #BrightonSEO

Top Performers Quick Wins Content Gaps

Criteria: Avg. Position 1-3 Criteria: Avg. Position: 4-19 Criteria: Avg. Position: 20-1000

Keywords you are ranking well. Typically your brand terms found in top positions

with high Click-Through (CTR) rate.

Keywords you rank on the first/second page but not within top positions.

Keywords ranking past page 3. The topics are somewhat related to your business

but not targeted with content.

Action: Monitor/Increase CTR Action: Optimise Action: Create Content

Identify your best performing listing for a page using GSC data

Remember: A listing for a single page can differ depending on the keyword it ranks for. Be mindful of how you interpret avg. position. Test over a month and isolate copy changes and seasonality.

@kvonweb #BrightonSEO

1

2

Live for RankedKeywords

Impressions Clicks CTR Daily Clicks

New Keywords

Avg. Position

48 days 1303 100,799 35,279 35.1% 734 +20 45

Live for RankedKeywords

Impressions Clicks CTR Daily Clicks

New Keywords

Avg. Position

24 days 1404 60,699 23,672 39.5% 986 +101 62

Analyse Keywords against Pages – Sitelinks and keyword cannibalisation

Keyword Page Impressions Clicks CTRAvg.

PositionSitelink or Cannibal?

urlitor / 995 805 80.9% 1 Main

urlitor /web-scraping 995 18 1.8% 1 Sitelink

urlitor /mobile 994 4 0.4% 1 Sitelink

urlitor /tools/yandex-tic-checker 995 2 0.2% 1 Sitelink

urlitor /landing-page-suggester 966 2 0.2% 1 Sitelink

urlitor /about 995 1 0.1% 1 Sitelink

urlitor /contact 964 1 0.1% 1 Sitelink

80.9%

0.2%

0.4%

0.1%

0.1%

0.2%

1.8%

Sometimes impressions and average position are similar when pages rank for the same keyword. This usually indicates that sitelinks appear in the SERP.

@kvonweb #BrightonSEO

Keyword Page Impressions Clicks CTRAvg.

PositionSitelink or Cannibal?

hdmi cables /HDMI-Cables/ 12,343 805 6.52% 2.7 Main

hdmi cables /tv-accessories/hdmi-cables/ 11,323 132 1.17% 8.2 Cannibal

hdmi cables /search?q=HDMI+Cables 837 3 0.36% 19.4 Cannibal

1

6

11

16

21

26

1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29

Ave

rage

Po

siti

on

(G

oo

gle

UK

)

Rankings over time

/HDMI-Cables/ /search?q=HDMI+Cables /tv-accessories/hdmi-cables/

Find multiple URL rankings for the same keyword. If the ranking pages are not sitelinks, consolidate all your ranking power into your preferred page. Use canonicals, 301 redirects, and no index to combat cannibals and boost your rankings.

Analyse Keywords against Pages – Sitelinks and keyword cannibalisation

@kvonweb #BrightonSEO

Create your own custom CTR model to benchmark your performance and forecast traffic

Ranking Group

Blog Articles

Category Pages

Car Hire Flights Hotels

1 20.0% 18.6% 17.2% 15.4% 19.4%2 12.3% 13.7% 15.1% 13.0% 12.4%3 8.2% 8.4% 8.5% 11.1% 8.6%4 5.9% 5.8% 5.7% 6.2% 6.1%5 3.8% 4.2% 4.5% 3.4% 4.5%6 2.1% 2.5% 2.9% 2.3% 2.1%7 1.5% 1.4% 1.2% 1.9% 1.2%8 1.2% 1.2% 1.1% 1.5% 1.2%9 1.9% 1.9% 2.0% 1.7% 1.3%

Ranking Group

Brand Generic

1 23.5% 17.2%2 17.8% 11.9%3 8.6% 8.2%4 6.5% 6.4%5 3.9% 3.9%6 2.1% 2.1%7 2.5% 1.3%8 1.5% 1.1%9 4.0% 0.0%

Ranking Group

Desktop Mobile

1 20.0% 24.0%2 12.3% 16.0%3 8.2% 9.2%4 5.9% 5.0%5 3.8% 2.1%6 2.1% 1.2%7 1.5% 0.9%8 1.2% 0.4%9 1.9% 0.4%

CTR by Page Type CTR by Device CTR by Keyword Type

Create CTR models for the main type of pages, keywords and use them to monitor and benchmark the performance of new content.

@kvonweb #BrightonSEO

CTR Opportunities - from observing trends to quick wins

@kvonweb #BrightonSEO

Use your own GSC data to look for CTR outliers, dive in to find the reason, then identify whether an action is needed.

Forecast revenue using custom CTR models

PositionCTR for

Keyword Group

Monthly Clicks(est.)

Click Difference

(est.)

% of Increase

(est.)

Monthly Conversions

(est.)

Monthly Revenue

(est.)

1 11.50% 55,861 39,248 236% 50 £76,015.52

2 6.47% 31,428 14,815 89% 28 £42,766.99

3 4.59% 22,296 5,683 34% 20 £30,340.11

4 3.42% 16,613 - - 15 £22,606.35

5 2.25% 10,929 -5,683 -34% 10 £14,872.60

6 2.35% 11,415 -5,197 -31% 10 £15,533.61

Use your own GSC data to create custom models and forecast traffic and revenue uplifts.

@kvonweb #BrightonSEO

{ "message": "Thank you"}

@kvonweb #BrightonSEO

Go through the presentation in slow motion: https://www.slideshare.net/kvonweb

Get in touch: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kostasvoudouris/https://twitter.com/kvonweb

Free SEO tools: www.urlitor.comMy GSC SEO Platform: http://isomer.io/