MKTG2001 · Digital and Social Media Marketing
Search-Engine Marketing: Website Analytics
Week 6 turns to search-engine marketing and website analytics — the second half of the analytics toolkit. You learn organic versus paid search, Google's E-E-A-T quality criteria, the rise of AI Overviews and zero-click search, and the Google Analytics 4 AEM+R reporting model (Acquisition, Engagement, Monetisation, plus Retention). The GA4 metrics and CTR calculations here are exactly what the Performance Analytics task asks you to interpret and recommend from.
What this chapter covers
- 01Search-engine marketing = organic (SEO) + paid search; trade-offs (paid = fast/targeted, organic = sustainable/trusted)
- 02GA4 'AEM+R' reporting model: Acquisition, Engagement, Monetisation, plus Retention
- 03Engaged session (GA4) = a session > 10 seconds, OR with a key event, OR with ≥ 2 page/screen views
- 04E-E-A-T — Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness — and the shift toward answer-engine optimisation
- 05AI Overviews & zero-click search — AI summaries above organic results erode click-through; success shifts to citations
- 06Click-through rate (CTR) = clicks / impressions; keyword rankings via Search Console (clicks, impressions, CTR, position)
- 07Web traffic sources: direct, organic search, paid search, referral, social
- 08Measurement in the privacy era: Consent Mode, observed vs modelled data, first-party data
Interpret a GA4 and Search Console snapshot for the analytics task
- +1Engagement rate = engaged sessions / total sessions × 100 = 8,000 / 10,000 × 100 = 80%.
- +1Interpret 80%. A high share of sessions clear the engaged-session bar (> 10 s, a key event, or ≥ 2 views), so landing content is broadly holding attention — a strong baseline to protect.
- +1CTR = clicks / impressions × 100 = 240 / 6,000 × 100 = 4.0%.
- +1Recommendations. Engagement (80%): keep the content model that works and extend it to weaker pages. CTR (4.0%): the query is seen 6,000 times but clicked 4% of the time — rewrite the title and meta description (and pursue an AI-Overview citation) to lift click-through without needing more impressions.
Key terms
- Search-engine marketing (SEM)
- Increasing a site's visibility in search results through two routes: organic search (SEO) and paid search (e.g. Google Ads).
- GA4 AEM+R model
- Google Analytics 4's reporting structure — Acquisition (where users came from), Engagement (events and interactions), Monetisation (revenue), plus Retention (returning users).
- Engaged session
- A GA4 session that lasts longer than 10 seconds, includes a key event, or has at least two page/screen views — the basis of the engagement rate.
- E-E-A-T
- Google's quality criteria — Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness — that content should signal to rank and to be cited by AI systems.
- Click-through rate (CTR)
- Clicks divided by impressions, expressed as a percentage; in Search Console it measures how often people who see a result actually click it.
- Consent Mode / modelled data
- A privacy-era approach where tags adjust to user consent and unobserved conversions are statistically modelled rather than directly tracked, distinct from observed (real) data.
Search-Engine Marketing: Website Analytics FAQ
What is the GA4 AEM+R model and why does it matter?
It is the way GA4 organises reporting: Acquisition, Engagement, Monetisation, plus Retention. It matters because the analytics task asks you to read a real GA4 report and recommend action, and AEM+R tells you where to look — where traffic came from, whether it engaged, whether it converted, and whether it came back. Structuring your analysis around it keeps the report coherent.
How do AI Overviews change how we measure search success?
When an AI Overview answers a query above the organic results, users often do not click through (zero-click search), so click-through rates fall on informational queries. The success metric shifts from clicks toward being cited and mentioned in the AI answer — earned through E-E-A-T signals like clear facts, structure and author credibility. Note this shift when you interpret CTR trends.
What counts as an 'engaged session' in GA4?
A session that lasts longer than 10 seconds, or includes a key event, or has at least two page or screen views. The engagement rate is the share of sessions that meet this bar, and it is a more meaningful attention metric than raw session counts — useful when you argue which pages are working.
Can AI help me interpret GA4 and Search Console data?
Yes — Sia can define each GA4 and Search Console metric, walk a CTR or engagement-rate calculation step by step, and help you turn a metric into a defensible recommendation. It teaches the interpretation; it will not produce your graded analysis, and integrity rules apply. Always confirm the task's data source on Canvas.
Exam move
Search analytics is the other half of the 30% task, so get hands-on with a GA4 demo account and Search Console early. Practise the two calculations that recur — engagement rate (engaged / total sessions) and CTR (clicks / impressions) — and always finish a metric with a recommendation, since interpretation, not computation, earns the marks. Structure any report around AEM+R so it reads coherently, and note where AI Overviews and zero-click search would depress CTR on informational queries. Remember the hurdle sits on this task. Confirm the exact data and rubric on Canvas, and ask Sia to set GA4-style snapshots to rehearse interpretation.
Working through Search-Engine Marketing: Website Analytics in MKTG2001? Sia is AskSia’s AI Business & Marketing tutor — ask any MKTG2001 Search-Engine Marketing: Website Analytics question and get a clear, step-by-step explanation grounded in how MKTG2001 is taught and assessed. Read this chapter free, then take your hardest questions to Sia.
