Reading Time: 3 minutesThe other day I sat thinking about all of the great SEO tools that have come about in the last few years. These online tools and software mashups make it so much easier to see SEO errors and mistakes. But they can also highlight the many opportunities that lie in front of us in the world of SEO, on-page and off-page. I also thought about the advancements in Google Analytics (GA) in the last few years as well as the lack of GA offerings I figured we would have by now.
Now I don’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth, but the same search engine that gave me all these previous offerings also turned me into a mind-racing lunatic as I try to keep up with the search marketing landscape they so heavily influence on a continual basis. I think this allows me to ask for more.
Google, This is What I Want
The following represents the data/analysis offerings I expected from Google by now, but definitely hope to see sometime this year.
Indexed Content by Folder/Page
You know…like Bing has. We began with the site: operator and then moved to the Google Webmaster Tools sitemap section for a number of indexed pages based on sitemap delivery. We now have Index Status which is slightly more granular; but it still is not like Bing’s Index Explorer which shows content indexed by folder or page. This would greatly help indexing issues I have had to investigate in the recent past.
Greater Sitemap Submission Detail
Please let me know what URLs I am submitting to Google Webmaster Tools that are not getting indexed. This gives me an action list of URLs to review potential content quality guideline issues. Additionally, in this same section, Google tells me I have sitemap errors but gives me no download capability, only just a few examples.
Actual Anchor Text Counts
Natural looking link profiles are the in-thing now. Google provides a list in order of the most frequently occurring anchor text of inbound links. Having some numbers associated with this might help us to better understand how many instances of specific keyword anchor text there are between terms. I can see this in other SEO tools but would like to know what Google sees.
Greater Analytical Insight into Image/Video Referrals
Google offers video and image universal results beyond these respective vertical indices, but the analytical insight into these areas seems to be lacking from within Google Analytics. Image referrals from universal search show up in organic search referral data, yet Image search results show up in referring site referrals? Google, if you want us to optimize images and help us help you understand in greater detail which images are performing well we need to know more. I do realize that Google Webmaster Tools allows me to assess search queries through the Images or Video Filter according to landing pages and then by ranking keyword. This helps me in Google Webmaster Tools but has not been passed along in the Google Analytics tie-in with GWT. If I am in Google Analytics there is no way for me to get to this level of reporting, not even through secondary dimension review.
Google Places/Google Analytics Integration
I would like to see the same wonderful analytical insight per local listing page we were given a few years back in Google Local Business Center that was integrated as a tab in Google Analytics. Honestly, I am not trying to be lazy here but it is like the points above. I want to do more in Google Analytics without always having to move to Google Webmaster Tools and Google Local Business Center.
Pretty Please
So there it is, my short list of demands. I don’t think it is too much to ask for. I will also add that I am hoping that there is some functionality that I do not know about. If so, please comment and let me know how I can get this data above, the way I want it.
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