Expanding and growing in new international markets is a challenge for many businesses around the world.
Often, significant effort and resources are dedicated to international strategies, whether through PPC campaigns, social media, or SEO. But do we analyze the results of these actions effectively?
Google Analytics 4 (GA4) can be a useful tool for analyzing and optimizing international SEO strategies.
By using GA4’s features effectively, businesses can analyze actionable insights to refine their approach and better connect with their audiences.
Relevant Metrics And Dimensions For Analyzing International SEO On GA4
To better understand user behavior and interactions when implementing international SEO strategies with GA4, it’s important to be familiar with a series of metrics and dimensions provided by this Google tool:
Continent: Provides an overview of the performance of users across continents.
Continent ID: Offers the UN M49 ID associated with the continent from which user activity originated.
Subcontinent: Offers more detailed analysis within each continent. For example, South America.
Subcontinent ID: Shows the UN M49 ID associated with the subcontinent from which user activity originates.
Country: Shows from which user activity originated. This is the most used dimension for comparing the performance of each market in different countries.
Country ID: Displays the ISO 3166 ID associated with the country from which user activity originated.
Region: This is the geographic region from which user activity originated. It is used to understand user behavior in particular areas within a country.
Region ID: An ID for the geographic region from which user activity originates.
City: Shows the city or town from which user activity originates.
City ID: An ID associated with the city from which user activity originated.
Additionally, for analyzing international SEO campaigns, you can examine the following dimensions:
Language: Indicates the language of a user’s browser or device. This is a key metric for developing multilingual content strategies.
Language code: Represents the language setting of a user’s browser or device, displayed in ISO 639 format (e.g., en-us for U.S. English or en-gb for UK English).
All of these metrics and dimensions will help us properly analyze our international SEO strategies, in combination with other relevant metrics, to better understand our campaigns.
Key Reports For International SEO Strategies On GA4
Geographic Filtering On The Acquisition And Engagement Reports
Filtering reports by geographic dimensions, such as country or region, enables a detailed analysis of user behavior.
This segmentation is especially useful for identifying high-performing regions and optimizing strategies for areas with lower performance.
GA4 allows you to filter geographic dimensions depending on what you want to analyze:
Acquisition Report: This report shows how users from different regions discover and arrive at your site. Filtering by geographic dimensions, such as country, region, or city, enables the analysis of traffic across key markets.
Screenshot from GA4, December 2024
Source: Demo Google Merchandise Store, December 2024
Engagement Report: On the other side, this report reveals how users interact with your site. Metrics, such as average engagement time per session and engaged sessions, offer a deeper understanding of how your content performs. By applying geographic filters, you can analyze content performance across different regions.
Source: tiodenadal.online, December 2024
User Demographic Details Reports
These reports provide detailed insights into your audience by combining geographic data with attributes such as age, gender, and interests.
This information helps you understand who your users are within specific regions, making it easier to identify the most relevant demographic groups in various areas and adjust your content and strategies to better align with their needs and preferences.
Image from author, December 2024
Image from author, December 2024
Search Console Integration On GA4
GA4’s integration with Google Search Console is very useful for analyzing international SEO strategies.
Reports, such as Queries and Google Organic Search Traffic, provide insights into search terms and the organic performance of URLs, which can be filtered by specific countries.