I hate that the new GA doesn't show the number of visits, and it's so much harder to make sense. Not sure if it shows up differently in Canada, but at least in Europe so much of the search clauses stay hidden because of the regulatory law. I'd like to see everything and know everything! 😁 But I'm with you, everyone should add GA to their Substack.
Love your tips Kristi! As a food blogger focused on making healthy eating easier, it’s super key for me to research what people are wanting more of. I’ve had Google Analytics connected but usually do my research in other places. Thanks for the nudge to dig into the dashboard.
You're welcome! I used to be hardcore with analytics on my blog. But on Substack I only keep track of their monthly updates, I don't dive too much into it. It's still a nice-to-have!
Setting up Google Analytics gave me such fascinating insight into what articles people were finding on the WWW. It's also helped to occasionally direct what I'm going to write about when I have writer's block.
Hi Kristi, doesn't Substack's own analytics tell you how many visits you've had from Google? It doesn't give much detail, I suppose, like how many visited particular posts or pages.
Yes it gives basic analytica but Google tells you exactly where they entered your site, where they went from there, how much time they spent on each page AND the searche terms they used that landed them on your page. That alone is worth it.
This is definitely the way to get more granular analytics then what Substack offers, although I am having a heck of a time creating “subscripting” as an event to track.
But I’ve been able to see over time, that my newsletter is discovered through organic search more than it’s discovered through substack. So it’s absolutely not being suppressed by substack from being discovered on search engines.
That's interesting to know. When I blogged on Wix and WordPress, most of my traffic came from Google searches, and other search engines. I've been with Substack for two years and it seemed to take a while to start showing up on Google. I get hardly any traffic that way now, most comes from the app or Substack recommendations.
It might be the keyword useage in the post titles for me which are also song titles. But I also always customize the post url to end with /song-title-album-title-band-name-my-name
I don’t know if that’s helpful in your case but I think it tips the scales a little.
Thanks Kristi, I am getting more interested in the analytics, rather than shooting in the dark. I will definitely be doing the google thing and your cockroaches is a great example.
You’re welcome Susan! The main thing is to have some fun with it while being strategic. In my travel days I LOVED seeing the weird and wonderful ways people were finding me!
Great idea - but it costs money. (at least on other websites I am party to they're continually warning you you need to pay to see anything useful.) PS Whoops! I was thinking of Jetpack!
But also, I have Google Alerts on one or two things that I write about and I keep getting notifications from them on my Substack posts. So they must be getting out there somehow.
Kristi, thanks for this. I love that the Jamaican cockroach lives on to send people to you. I tried it and Google analytics says I have a problem...which could be my brain. Checking with my in-house tech support. More soon!
Lol my brain would also be a problem today. This is why I linked to someone else's tutorial lol. I hope you're able to get it installed. It's neat to learn about.
Substack deliberately programs their site to be hidden from the search algorithms (this helps corral the conversations here into echo chambers so they don't contaminate the outward hive mind that can be found with a web search). Here is more information on this and ways to get around it:
I did not write it, it’s just an archive - the handiest one I had available - the author of the article should be listed in the link, please check with him or her for your answer. I hope you are right and that they have.
I've set up Google Analytics on my Substack. Will let you know if and when it's working. Thanks for this resource.
You're welcome, Julie. It might take a month or two to start but it's worth it.
Will be doing this today! And that explanation is brilliant. That goddess for people like them 💖
I hate that the new GA doesn't show the number of visits, and it's so much harder to make sense. Not sure if it shows up differently in Canada, but at least in Europe so much of the search clauses stay hidden because of the regulatory law. I'd like to see everything and know everything! 😁 But I'm with you, everyone should add GA to their Substack.
Oooh I never thought of it being different there in EU. I should log into mine and check more thoroughly.
This was so helpful, thank you! I have GA set up on my own site but not over here 🙄 thanks for the firm nudge 😬
You're welcome! It's always good to know more info.
Love your tips Kristi! As a food blogger focused on making healthy eating easier, it’s super key for me to research what people are wanting more of. I’ve had Google Analytics connected but usually do my research in other places. Thanks for the nudge to dig into the dashboard.
You're welcome! I used to be hardcore with analytics on my blog. But on Substack I only keep track of their monthly updates, I don't dive too much into it. It's still a nice-to-have!
Setting up Google Analytics gave me such fascinating insight into what articles people were finding on the WWW. It's also helped to occasionally direct what I'm going to write about when I have writer's block.
Yessssss 👏👏👏 This is exactly what I'm talking about! It's really neat and sometimes productive insight!
This was super helpful, Kristi! I just created a new property and set things up in my Substack settings. Now we wait!
Awesome! It does take some ramp up time but you'll really enjoy it when it starts working!
PS: Thank you for upgrading your subscription and for such a kind message. I truly appreciate you and I'm glad to know my content is helping! 😊
This is such great info. I know I should be doing all this tracking but I find it stressful-- like watching the stock market.
Lol well the good news is, once you install it you don't have to look if you don't want. They email basic stats each month.
Oh! Thats nice. I can peer thru the gaps in my fingers.
Hi Kristi, doesn't Substack's own analytics tell you how many visits you've had from Google? It doesn't give much detail, I suppose, like how many visited particular posts or pages.
Yes it gives basic analytica but Google tells you exactly where they entered your site, where they went from there, how much time they spent on each page AND the searche terms they used that landed them on your page. That alone is worth it.
Yes, definitely... and probably quite amusing at times, too! Thanks Kristi! 💕
This is definitely the way to get more granular analytics then what Substack offers, although I am having a heck of a time creating “subscripting” as an event to track.
But I’ve been able to see over time, that my newsletter is discovered through organic search more than it’s discovered through substack. So it’s absolutely not being suppressed by substack from being discovered on search engines.
That's interesting to know. When I blogged on Wix and WordPress, most of my traffic came from Google searches, and other search engines. I've been with Substack for two years and it seemed to take a while to start showing up on Google. I get hardly any traffic that way now, most comes from the app or Substack recommendations.
It might be the keyword useage in the post titles for me which are also song titles. But I also always customize the post url to end with /song-title-album-title-band-name-my-name
I don’t know if that’s helpful in your case but I think it tips the scales a little.
I think that's very clever, Chase, perhaps it's something I can adapt for my site, too. Thanks for replying and sharing your tips! 💕
Thanks Kristi, I am getting more interested in the analytics, rather than shooting in the dark. I will definitely be doing the google thing and your cockroaches is a great example.
You’re welcome Susan! The main thing is to have some fun with it while being strategic. In my travel days I LOVED seeing the weird and wonderful ways people were finding me!
I am up for some weird and wonderful too. I will let you know how it goes Kristi , have a great weekend.
This is great. Thanks, Kristi!
My pleasure!
Great idea - but it costs money. (at least on other websites I am party to they're continually warning you you need to pay to see anything useful.) PS Whoops! I was thinking of Jetpack!
But also, I have Google Alerts on one or two things that I write about and I keep getting notifications from them on my Substack posts. So they must be getting out there somehow.
Kristi, thanks for this. I love that the Jamaican cockroach lives on to send people to you. I tried it and Google analytics says I have a problem...which could be my brain. Checking with my in-house tech support. More soon!
Lol my brain would also be a problem today. This is why I linked to someone else's tutorial lol. I hope you're able to get it installed. It's neat to learn about.
I'm gonna do this when I get back to my desk next week.
That's awesome, Julie. Yours will probably have some cool search results since you write about travel.
Substack deliberately programs their site to be hidden from the search algorithms (this helps corral the conversations here into echo chambers so they don't contaminate the outward hive mind that can be found with a web search). Here is more information on this and ways to get around it:
https://tritorch.com/degradation/HowIGotMySubstackToBeGoogleSearchableAndSadlyYouProbablyCannotGoogleWontFindYourBlogUnlessYouTellItWhereToLookAndSubstackWontLetYouTellItApril2021.html
I disagree with Substack suppressing outside views. Obviously you can see I'm being found on Google.
I see you wrote that 4 years ago. Have some of these things changed since then, perhaps?
I did not write it, it’s just an archive - the handiest one I had available - the author of the article should be listed in the link, please check with him or her for your answer. I hope you are right and that they have.