When Should We Use? Google Analytics, GSC, GTM, Google Optimize, Google Data Studio

Mike 🎩
Mike's Tuesday Tips:
I am often asked about what tools I use for Search Engine Optimization (SEO). There are a lot and some of them are situation based, but this is a quick list of the tools I use frequently on basically every project.
SEMrush – This is one of only two tools that I log into every single day. I use this for assisting with site audits, competitor organic and paid research, keyword research, and content generation/marketing.
Next, let's get the Google tools out of the way:
Google Analytics
Google Search Console
Google Tag Manager
Google Optimize – If you are not familiar with this one, I use it primarily for A/B conversion testing.
Google Data Studio – I just want to mention that this is one I think is underutilized and under appreciated. With Data Studio you can pull data from Analytics, Search Console, and Google Ads and combine and present it how you want. You can also much more easily segment the data. If you are working with clients, you can make all that data more appealing to the eye and emphasize what you want them to focus on as well (like leads, sales, etc.).
Google Chrome Developer Tools – I have shown in other tips how I use this for identifying things like Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) and Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) issues. That is just scratching the surface of what you can do in it.
Auditing / Monitoring Tools:
Screaming Frog – I know a lot of people like SiteBulb instead. They do pretty much the same thing, but Screaming Frog does it faster and is less resource intensive.
ContentKing App – This has recently replaced DeepCrawl for me. It has great monitoring features, but also lets me easily dig through and segment pages. Too much to cover here, but a great tool.
Other tools:
Jarvis.AI – There are plenty of AI writing tools out there and it seems like new ones popping up each day now. I prefer this one. I use it to boost our content generation. I do not create content in Jarvis and post it straight to websites. Everything gets edited first, but it really speeds things up versus writing from scratch.
I do not use it just for writing articles. I use it for helping to generate ad copy and headline ideas. I use it to help generate title tags and H tags in articles. I don't often use something it generates for these, but I will have it write 20-25 variations of a title tag, and use those to create something myself. I'm constantly finding new ways to use this.
Frase – Love this for generating content briefs for writers and picking apart data, headings, questions, etc. used in top ranking sites for queries. Great tool for writing content. Other people may prefer SEO Surfer, but in my opinion Frase provides a lot more.
It's AI writer is not great right now, but could improve over time. The AI writer does not use GPT-3 unlike all the other popular tools out there right now, which makes it a bit more unique.
Answer the Public – Great tool for generating additional ideas for content and keyword research.
SEOPress – Because I know someone is going to ask what WordPress SEO plugin I prefer. I'm not a fan of Yoast and anyone using it is doing so at their own peril, or the peril of their clients. Yoast has a long history of releasing updates with bugs in it, sometimes site and SEO crippling ones. It's not just the bugs that bother me though, it is the way the company treats its customers and reacts to those issues.
SEOPress basically does everything Yoast does, but is less bloated and has never F'd up one of my sites.
(On a side note relating to that, except for security patches, when it comes to WordPress you should never be updating WordPress versions or plugins when updates are first released. Even in staging areas. Bugs can creep up that you do not catch in staging. Let everyone else be the guinea pigs for a few weeks.)
Monday – Although not directly an SEO tool, this is the other tool I log into every single day. I often get asked how I keep on top of everything and manage clients without anything falling through the cracks. This is how. There are plenty of similar tools out there, and even if you are working solo, I would recommend using one. Taskade and ClickUp would be my next choices.
Octopus.do – Something I have been using a little bit more recently on smaller sites. It helps to visualize the site structure changes I want to make with clients.
There are plenty of other great tools out there, but these are the ones I use most frequently.

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when should we use google analytics gsc gtm google optimize google data studio

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128 👍🏽21 💟151 32 💬🗨

Luz
You're the real deal man. Always a pleasure to read your comments.
Not too philosophical but just straight practical facts to get the work done and rank on top! 🥇
Khan
Thanks for this valuable post Mike. If I switch from Yoast to SEOPress, will affect my structure or anything that would need to be fixed?

Mike ✍️🎩
It shouldn't. SEOPress has a one-click button to import all of your Yoast settings. I would still double check everything after that.

Garrett
Hey Mike would you mine testing out my chrome extension that has many of those functions in one? Basically scans a website for many of those thing you mentioned. Let me know as i would love your feedback

Mike ✍️🎩
Yeah I could probably take a look this week.
Garrett » Mike
Thanks my man i will pm you shortly

Oliveira
Can you give us your LinkedIn?

Mike ✍️🎩
You mean this? https://www.LinkedIn.com/in/mike-friedman-1596653b/
Mike – Owner – Clicked Marketing | LinkedIn
Oliveira » Mike
I would like to find an SEO mentor to get real skills.

Kelly
This is so good thank you Mike any suggestions for an SEO plug-in for Shopify most of my clients are e-commerce

Mike ✍️🎩
The Shopify ecosystem is not my expertise. Lori Appleman may be able to answer that for you.
Lori Appleman 🎓 » Kelly
There are a few people selling plugins but they're pretty much worthless. Ultimately, the store owner has to make sure the content and internal linking plan is optimal and then check the speed and core Web vitals to see what adjustments may need to be done to the theme.
Kelly » Lori Appleman
Thanks yep I've tried a few and they are all pretty rubbish and clunky.
Maybe an opportunity
I've moved approx over 100 retailers onto Shopify this year

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