The Difference Between Google Analytics and Google Webmaster Tools

I've seen several questions from people regarding these two data collection tools that Google offers, and there seems to be confusion. Maybe this will help.

There are two tools that you need (at the very least) to truly understand what's happening with your web site. One is Google Analytics and the other is Google Webmaster Tools.

Google Analytics tells you who is actually visiting your site on a daily basis. Here's what the main page looks like once you've got it all linked to your site:

Analytics can help you understand how many visitors you have per day, and which ones are new and which are repeats. It tells you how many pages they're looking at, for how long, and what your "bounce rate" is. This is important - the higher the bounce rate, the more likely people are clicking on a Google search, but not finding what they think they were going to find. Google HATES that, and will punish you for it.

Google Webmaster Tools is very, very different. What it tells you is how people are FINDING your site, and then how many are selecting it from a list of results. I see so many people desperate to get their page ranked on Page 1 of Google (and yes, it's a good thing). But it doesn't do ANY good if people aren't actually CLICKING on your link.

Here's an example of great search results divorced from clicks:

I created a new post that involved baking powder - it's uses and how you can substitute things for it if you don't have any. Pretty simple. But the keyword I used was TERRIFICALLY low-hanging and it caused my impressions (the number of times my site appeared in search results) to skyrocket for a time. Lovely, right? Well, not really.

You see, the number of impressions is MEANINGLESS if it doesn't result in more clicks. And in this case, it really didn't. Google recognized that and bumped me back down to normal. This is my "organic" traffic, and it actually results in more clicks, lower bounce rate and a good increase in time on the site.

My advice? Go for the organic traffic and focus on clicks. Clicks get people to your site. People on your site lead to sales. Sales lead to income. THAT is your focus. Don't get too distracted by page rankings if it's not resulting in sales.

After eight months I'm seeing around 60 visitors to my site per day. In the last month I've had over 70 clicks on my ads (no Adsense). But I'm still struggling with "sealing the deal" on sales. I'll keep you informed on what I learn.