Google is not Google.
Por Deborah Arpino
Nota: este artículo se publica en inglés.
"It's on Google." "Google isn't working." "We have Google." "Can you check Google?"
We hear versions of this all the time.
The problem is that Google is not one thing.
A business can appear on Google Maps, run Google Ads, have GA4 installed and still have no access to Google Search Console.
It can own one account and have no idea who owns another.
The map.
Search, Maps, Business Profile, Ads, Analytics, Search Console, Tag Manager and Looker Studio are different tools with different jobs. Here is how they connect.
Google Business Profile
This is the information people see when they find a business on Google Search or Maps. Name. Location. Opening hours. Phone number. Reviews. Photos. Website link.
For a local business, this can be one of the most important digital touchpoints you have. It is not your website. It is not Google Analytics.
Google Analytics
Usually, when people say "analytics", they mean GA4.
It helps you understand what happens on your website or app after the right measurement has been put in place. Because Analytics can only measure what it receives and what has been configured.
A dashboard full of numbers is not the same as useful measurement.
Google Search Console
Search Console looks at your relationship with Google Search.
What searches are showing your site? How often did people see it? How often did they click? Which pages does Google know about, and which has it indexed?
Google Tag Manager
Tag Manager can help manage the measurement tags and other code on a website. Think of it as a way of managing instructions about what should fire, and when.
Google Ads
Google Ads is where you pay to advertise. It can bring people to your website.
That does not mean the website will convert them. And if measurement between the ad, the website and the meaningful action is incomplete, you may be optimising towards a proxy rather than the thing you actually care about.
So, do you have Google?
Probably.
The better question is: Which Google? Who owns it? Who has access? What is it measuring? What is connected? And, most importantly, what are you trying to understand?
Give us the gobbledygook. We'll figure it out together.