Find out how to create Google Data Studio dashboards using Analytics, Search Console and CrUX data to create persuasive dashboards.

1. Data Studio for SEOs:
Creating Dashboards That
Inform & Persuade
Sam Marsden, SEO & Content Manager, DeepCrawl
Pint-sized Marketing - 25th April 2019
@sam_marsde
n
PintSizedMarketing

3. My first trip to Dublin...

4. I’m here to break bad habits

5. I’m here to
break habits
You don’t have time to waste on
easily automatable tasks.

6. You don’t have time to waste on
easily automatable tasks.

7. Reporting is typically time-consuming
and doesn’t impact and influence

8. You need intuitive & automated
visualisations that inform and engage

9. Agencies: Improve client retention and
capacity to onboard new business.

10. Inhouse: Save time, demonstrate SEO
impact and get more budget.

11. Giving you the framework to automate reporting.
Inspiring you with persuasive dashboards.
Showing you the time and money you can save.
This session is about...
@sam_marsden PintSizedMarketing

12. Automated dashboards
need to be at the
centre of our reporting.

13. This is how we
influence
perceptions and
decisions.

14. @sam_marsden PintSizedMarketin
g
What will we need to deliver
our dashboarding dream?

15. What do we need?
@sam_marsden PintSizedMarketing
Data sources
Storage
Visualisation platform

16. Connecting ALL of the things
@sam_marsden PintSizedMarketing

17. Google Data Studio will be our focus
@sam_marsden PintSizedMarketing
Free Accessible Intuitive*
*For the most part

18. As a rule of thumb...
@sam_marsden PintSizedMarketing
Any data source that can be pulled
into Google Sheets, can be visualised
in Data Studio.

19. Google Analytics - Time saving traffic reports
Search Console - Top level trends & monthly
monitoring
Speed dashboards - Visualising real user metrics
What dashboards will we look at?
@sam_marsden PintSizedMarketing

20. @sam_marsden PintSizedMarketing
Saving time with Analytics

26. Site performance dashboard
@sam_marsden PintSizedMarketing
Global
filters
Top-level KPIs
Monthly
trending

27. Site performance dashboard
@sam_marsden PintSizedMarketing

28. Site performance dashboard
@sam_marsden PintSizedMarketing

30. Content performance dashboard
@sam_marsden PintSizedMarketing
Monthly
comparison
s
Monthly
overview

31. Content type breakdowns
@sam_marsden PintSizedMarketing
Page level
stats
Overall
performance
Content type

32. Saves unnecessary conversations & disruptions.
Encourages more interest from
management/clients, removes friction point.
Drives strategic decisions across content team.
What are the benefits?
@sam_marsden PintSizedMarketing

33. @sam_marsden PintSizedMarketing
Getting more out of
Google Search Console

34. Google’s placing more importance on speed...
@sam_marsden PintSizedMarketi
ng
2
GSC is improving rapidly, but the UI is limited

35. @sam_marsden PintSizedMarketing
Need to extract and re-present this data to
save time and get its full value.

36. Pulling GSC into dashboards (basic option)
@sam_marsden PintSizedMarketing 2
Quick and cheapest option, but limited to
Performance data only.

37. Pulling GSC into dashboards (better option)
@sam_marsden PintSizedMarketing 2
Performance PLUS sitemap metrics, crawl
errors and extensive list of dimensions.

38. Automating the process...
@sam_marsden PintSizedMarketing
Supermetrics
Auto-refresh data
and receive emails
Data Studio
Auto schedule email delivery of
dashboards

39. @sam_marsden PintSizedMarketing
Top level organic
trends

40. Top level organic trends
@sam_marsden PintSizedMarketin
g
Overview for relevant
stakeholders
YoY comparison for
top level tracking
Monthly trending

41. Branded/non-branded performance
@sam_marsden PintSizedMarketing
Filtering Performance data to reveal
branded & non-branded search trends.

42. Break performance down by directory level
@sam_marsden PintSizedMarketing
Use directory level as a dimension to reveal
organic performance for different sections of your
site

43. Surface device & geographic distributions
@sam_marsden PintSizedMarketing
Break down
distribution of
countries Trend device
distributions
month to month

44. Long tail vs. short tail performance
@sam_marsden PintSizedMarketing
How is query length contributing to organic search
performance?

45. @sam_marsden PintSizedMarketing
Monthly comparison
dashboard

46. Monthly comparison dashboard
@sam_marsden PintSizedMarketing
Ideal for daily/weekly check-ins to quickly detect
changes and review overall monthly comparisons.

47. Monthly device, geo and search type trends
dashboard
@sam_marsden PintSizedMarketing
Detect changes in
traffic from
different
devices, countries
or search types
at a glance.
Clicks Impressions CTR

48. Page and query performance
@sam_marsden PintSizedMarketing
Top performing
pages in search
Top performing
queries in search

49. Performance comparison - Biggest wins and
losses
@sam_marsden PintSizedMarketing
Pre-filtered tables
to show biggest
changes in
clicks,
impressions,
position and CTR.

50. @sam_marsden PintSizedMarketin
g
Let’s talk about
fraggles...

51. CTR curves
@sam_marsden PintSizedMarketi
ng
Not these ones...

52. These fraggles...
@sam_marsden PintSizedMarketi
ng
Jump link
to section
of page

53. Why are fraggles important?
@sam_marsden PintSizedMarketi
ng
Filter down URLs that contain
“#”Go after fraggles because they
get searchers to relevant
information faster.

54. Getting fraggles is relatively straightforward...
@sam_marsden PintSizedMarketin
g
But are you reporting on
them?
https://builtvisible.com/implementing-named-anchors-to-improve-your-serps/

55. Fraggle performance
@sam_marsden PintSizedMarketi
ng
Filter down
GSC Performance data
to URLs containing “#”
to show
fraggle performance.

56. Top performing queries and pages with fraggles
@sam_marsden PintSizedMarketin
g
See which pages and queries are showing jump to links in search.

57. Organic blending opportunities
@sam_marsden PintSizedMarketing
Organic insights combined with:
Analytics - Engagement metrics
Log files - Crawl behaviour
Google MyBusiness - Local interactions
Google Ads - Paid activity

58. CTR curves
@sam_marsden PintSizedMarketi
ng
Bread and butter stuff, but by putting these
processes in place we will save time and
money in the long term

59. What can it save me?
@sam_marsden PintSizedMarketi
ng
Set up time:
4 hours
Cost:
€0 with native
GDS connector
Or
€60 per month with
Supermetrics
Annual time saving:
1 hour per week
=
52 hours per year
= €988 saved
annually

60. The key benefits
@sam_marsden PintSizedMarketin
g
Don’t need to continually reconfigure
filters.
Trend performance data by month
and year (not daily).
Access organic insights faster.

61. Find out more...
@sam_marsden PintSizedMarketing
bit.ly/
gds-gsc

62. @sam_marsden PintSizedMarketing
Speed dashboards
using CrUX data

63. Google’s placing more importance on speed...
@sam_marsden PintSizedMarketing

64. Accessing CrUX data
@sam_marsden PintSizedMarketing 2

65. Getting to the CrUX of the matter
@sam_marsden PintSizedMarketing 2

66. Why should you use the raw CrUX data?
@sam_marsden PintSizedMarketing
● Flexibility to manipulate how you display
CrUX data.
● Inexpensive to query and store data.
● Easier for comparing multiple domains
(competitor analysis).

67. Getting to the CrUX of the matter
@sam_marsden PintSizedMarketing
1. Write the SQL query.
2. Run the query.
3. Export the data.
4. Visualise in GDS.

68. Alternatively, for automated CRUX
dashboards...
@sam_marsden PintSizedMarketing
1. Write the SQL query.
2. Run the query.
3. Store the data.
4. Visualise in GDS.

69. Getting buy-in from management & clients
@sam_marsden PintSizedMarketing
Competitor comparison
Revenue impact calculator

70. Informing development teams
@sam_marsden PintSizedMarketing
Highlight metrics causing performance issues
and poor UX to flag with developers.

71. Communicating the impact of optimisation
@sam_marsden PintSizedMarketing
Overlaying performance and business metrics
e.g. % fast FCP with conversion and bounce
rates.

72. What can it save me?
@sam_marsden PintSizedMarketi
ng
Set up time:
4 hours
Cost:
Minimal BigQuery
costs for
data query and
storage.
Annual time saving:
2 hour per month
=
24 hours per year
= €461 saved
annually

73. Essential reading for creating CrUX queries
@sam_marsden PintSizedMarketing
● Paul Calvano - CrUX query tutorials
● Rick Viscomi - CrUX cookbook
● Oliver Mason - Misusing the Chrome User
Experience Report

74. Watch out for the Whiteboard Friday...
@sam_marsden PintSizedMarketing
Howdy
Moz fans!

75. Wrapping it
all up...

76. Identify your
reporting time sucks

77. ...focus on getting
you to the insights
as quickly as
possible

78. ...and communicate data in impactful
ways to influence the people that
matter.

79. This will allow you to:
@sam_marsden PintSizedMarketing
Improve time management and cost
effectiveness.
Get insights across many digital
properties.
Free yourself up to devote time to
other areas/learning new skills.

80. @sam_marsden PintSizedMarketing
Notable Data Studio
resources

81. Migration monitoring - Simon Cox
@sam_marsden PintSizedMarketing
Ensuring HTTPS migrations go to plan,
blending Analytics and GSC data.
https://simoncox.com/article/using-google-
data-studio-to-review-your-http-to-https-

82. JavaScript error tracking - Tom Bennet
@sam_marsden PintSizedMarketing
https://builtvisible.com/data-studio-template-
track-javascript-errors-in-google-analytics/
Track real-world
JavaScript errors
through GTM and
GA.

83. Comparing rendering differences - Rory Truesdale
@sam_marsden PintSizedMarketing
Comparing
differences in
important
crawl metrics across
rendered and non-
rendered crawls.
https://twitter.com/RoryT11

84. Internal linking opportunities - Rory Truesdale
@sam_marsden PintSizedMarketing
https://twitter.com/RoryT11/status/110617974318187315
2
Surface opportunities for improving internal
linking within site architecture using crawl data
and GSC.

85. The Dashboard of dashboards - Lee Hurst
@sam_marsden PintSizedMarketing
A MONSTER dashboard cataloguing all of the
dashboards and resources worth knowing about.
bit.ly/2SIUz7S

86. Learn about automating
SEO reporting using
GDS:
bit.ly/seo-automation

88. THANK YOUANY QUESTIONS?
Sam Marsden
SEO & Content Manager
@sam_marsden PintSizedMarketing