SEO (Google Search Console)

The SEO section shows how your site appears in Google search, using data from Google Search Console. It only shows for a website once a Search Console property has been connected for it.

Connecting a website

• Portal admins see a Connect Google Search Console button on the SEO page of a website that is not yet connected. Clicking it takes you through Google's sign-in and permission screens, then a short property picker, and brings you back to the portal. A banner confirms the connection; data appears after the first sync, usually within a few minutes.
• The connection can also be made from the website's Mage Stats page in Press Mage Manager by whoever manages your account.
• Clients cannot connect. They see a note saying so, and the reports once an admin has connected the site.

Google only grants read access. Mage Stats never changes anything in Search Console.

Dates

Search Console data arrives with a two to three day delay. A notice at the top of each SEO report shows the latest day data is available for. The SEO reports cover the last 30 days by default rather than following the period filter.

The four reports

Use the sub-navigation under the SEO heading to move between them.

Overview. Impressions, clicks, average click-through rate and average position for the period; an impressions and clicks chart over time; the top ten keywords by clicks. Impressions are how often your site appeared in results; clicks how often it was chosen; position is the average rank, where 1 is the top result.

Keywords. Every search query that showed your site, with impressions, clicks, click-through rate and average position. Filter by a word in the query, by device (desktop, mobile, tablet) or by country, then click Apply. Positions of 10 or better are highlighted. The list is paged.

Landing Pages. The pages of your site that appeared in search, ranked by impressions, with clicks, click-through rate and position. Each page opens in a new tab.

Opportunities. Two lists worth acting on:

• High Impressions, Low CTR: queries seen at least 100 times where fewer than 2 percent of people clicked. A better title or description for that page often lifts clicks.
• Near Page 1: queries where your page ranks between positions 11 and 20. A small improvement in content or links can move these onto the first page.