First of all What are Unique users in SEO?
In the context of SEO, “unique users” are individuals who visit a website within a specific time frame, such as a day, week, or month. This metric is important because it helps website owners and marketers understand the reach of their content and the size of their audience.
Unique users are tracked by assigning a unique identifier, typically through a cookie, to each visitor’s browser. Google Analytics and other web analytics tools use this identifier to distinguish between new and returning visitors. In terms of SEO, a higher number of unique users can indicate that a website is ranking well in search engines, attracting a broad audience, and that the SEO strategies employed are effective.
It’s also important to note that unique users are different from pageviews or sessions. A single user can have multiple sessions and view multiple pages, but they will still be counted as one unique user within the given timeframe.
Understanding the number of unique users can inform SEO and marketing strategies by indicating the effectiveness of content, identifying how well a website is attracting new visitors, and how engaging the website is in terms of prompting return visits.
Overall, tracking unique users is a valuable part of measuring a website’s performance and the impact of SEO efforts.
To find unique visitors in Google Analytics 4 (GA4)
Which are referred to as “Total users,” you should access specific reports that provide this data:
- Open GA4 and go to the ‘Reports’ section.
- Click on ‘Engagement’ under the ‘Life cycle’ section.
- Select ‘Events’ or ‘Conversions’ from the drop-down menu.
- Look for the ‘Total users’ column in these reports to see the number of unique visitors.
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“Total users” in GA4 refers to the unique visitors, which GA4 defines as the total number of unique users who log an event. GA4 focuses on unique users for events, rather than page visits, which means that it tracks how many individual users interact with the website in specific ways.
It’s also essential to understand that in GA4, “Users” generally refers to active users, which isn’t directly equivalent to unique visitors, and “Returning Users” includes anybody who revisits the site and may be active or not.
For a broader overview, the ‘Audience’ section under ‘Users’ on the Home tab shows the number of unique visitors, and you can dive deeper into the behaviours of these visitors by analysing metrics like New vs. Returning, Sessions, and other engagement data.
For more detailed insights, custom reports in GA4 can be created to track unique page views or unique events, giving you a clearer picture of how individual pages or actions are performing. You can set up these reports by navigating to the ‘Customisation’ section and selecting ‘Custom Reports.’
Remember that the way GA4 tracks unique visitors can be affected by several factors such as cookie settings, incognito browsing, using multiple devices, or clearing browser cookies, which may cause some inaccuracies in the data.
For any further deep dives or specific configurations, it may be helpful to work with your development team to set up User ID tracking or to configure and interpret the insights from Google Signals and device IDs.We’re here to help and often give out free advice. Polyspiral is run by me: Abbie Thoms, who has 26 years of professional experience in the field of web design. Feel free to contact me on abbie@polyspiral.com, I’m always happy to help
