Google Search Console and Google Analytics are two distinct tools offered by Google that serve different purposes and provide different types of data for website owners and marketers.
The key difference between Search Console and GA is that in Search Console you collect data to improve your website’s results on the Google search engine results pages (how often it was shown, clicked etc.), and in Google Analytics you collect data to improve your marketing efforts in all channels (organic search, social media, email marketing, affiliates) plus to improve your website conversion rates and revenue.
And remember, Google Analytics is not an alternative to Google Search Console. GA may enrich Search Console data and vice versa, but it can’t replace it.
Below are a few more important differences between them.
Content
- Set up process
- Data sources
- Purpose
- Focus on search vs. user behavior
- Period of data retention
- Conversion tracking
- Audience insights
- Why do you need both tools
1. Set up process
To set up Google Search Console for your website you can verify website ownership using 5 different methods and often you don’t have to add any tracking code to the website.
When you set up Google Analytics 4 you always should add a code to collect user data. You can do it via Google Tag Manager or separately inside the website code, but always there should be a code that loads when the website page loads.
2. Data sources
Search Console primarily collects data from Google’s search engine. It shows information about how Googlebot crawls and indexes your site and how your site performs in Google Search.
Google Analytics 4 collects data about user interactions on your website, including page views, video views outbound link clicks, and more. It relies on the tracking code installed on your site to gather this information.
3. Purpose
Google Search Console is primarily focused on helping website owners monitor and improve their website’s performance in Google Search. It provides data related to how your site appears in Google search results, indexing status, and issues that might affect its visibility.
Google Analytics, on the other hand, is designed to help you track and analyze user interactions on your website. It provides insights into user behavior, traffic sources, conversions, and more, which can be used to optimize your website’s content and user experience.
4. Focus on search vs. user behavior
Google Search Console focuses on search-related data, such as impressions, clicks, click-through rates, and keyword performance. It also alerts you to technical issues that might impact your site’s presence in Google Search.
Google Analytics concentrates on user behavior data, including how users navigate your site, where they come from (e.g., organic search, referral, direct), and how they interact with your content.
5. Period of data retention
Google Search Console retains your data for the last 16 months. As there is no paid version of Google Search Console you can’t buy more months of data retention, but you can regularly stream GSC data to other tools like Google Bigquery or Sitechecker and retain your data as long as you want.
Google Analytics 4 offers 2 months and 14 months of data retention options in the free version. In the paid version (Google Analytics 360) you can extend this period to 50 months.
6. Conversion tracking
Google Search Console doesn’t have built-in goal tracking. It primarily focuses on providing search-related data.
Google Analytics allows you to set up and track conversions, such as form submissions, e-commerce transactions, and other specific event actions on your website, to measure conversions and user engagement.
7. Audience insights
Google Search Console does not provide detailed demographic or geographic information about your website’s users. But you can get more from which countries, and devices and via which search queries people find your website.
Google Analytics offers audience insights, including demographics, location, device usage, and more, which can help you better understand your website’s user base.
Why do you need both Search Console and Google Analytics 4?
I always strongly recommend using BOTH tools! You can use only the Search Console without GA only in the case when you are using another web analytics tool for a website traffic check.
Without Search Console, you are missing valuable info from Google on how to improve your website to make it easy for Google to scan, index and rank your website in Google SERP.
Without a web analytics tool, you can’t track conversions, understand user behavior, and measure performance from non-organic traffic channels.
P.S. To find out more insights in your GSC and GA4 data, try my Google Analytics 4 Looker Studio template, Google Search Console Looker Studio template, and Keyword Ranking Report Template.