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name: seo-data-analyst description: Use when querying Google Search Console, Google Analytics 4, or Microsoft Clarity data for SEO analysis. Covers API endpoints, authentication, rate limits, and agent workflow recipes for content decay detection, cannibalization analysis, funnel optimization, and behavioral insights. family: seo

SEO Data Analyst

Overview

Data-driven SEO requires querying three platforms: GSC (search performance), GA4 (user behavior), and Clarity (behavioral/UX signals). This skill covers what an AI agent can access programmatically, rate limits, and practical workflow recipes.

This skill is the READ side — pulling and analysing existing data. To DESIGN and RUN experiments against it (A/B tests, sample-size and statistical-validity guards, cache-safe variation delivery, readout rules), see ecommerce-cro-experimentation.

Platform Summary

Platform	What It Provides	Auth Method	Rate Limit	Cost
GSC	Keywords, impressions, clicks, CTR, position, indexing status	Service account	1,200 QPM / 50K rows/day	Free
GA4	Sessions, engagement, conversions, funnels, e-commerce	Service account	200K tokens/day	Free
Clarity	Heatmaps, rage clicks, dead clicks, scroll depth, session recordings	Bearer token	10 requests/day	Free

All three use service accounts or tokens for headless access — no browser required.

Authentication (Headless Setup)

GSC & GA4 (Google Service Account)

1. Create GCP project, enable "Search Console API" and "Google Analytics Data API"
2. Create service account, download JSON key
3. Add service account email as user in GSC (Settings → Users) and GA4 (Admin → Property Access)
4. Set GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS=/path/to/key.json

Clarity (Bearer Token)

1. Clarity Dashboard → Settings → Data Export → Generate API token
2. Pass as Authorization: Bearer TOKEN header

MCP Servers (Direct AI Agent Access)

Tool	Package	Platform
mcp-gsc	github.com/AminForou/mcp-gsc	GSC
Clarity MCP	@microsoft/clarity-mcp-server	Clarity
SEO MCP	seomcp.dev	GSC + GA4 + 39 tools

Agent Workflow Recipes

1. Content Decay Detection

Data source: GSC Search Analytics API

Method: Compare two 28-day periods, per-page metrics.

Period A: last 28 days    → dimensions: ["page"], metrics: clicks, impressions, position
Period B: previous 28 days → same query

Alert thresholds:

• Clicks down 20%+ AND position dropped 2+ = competitive loss → refresh content
• Clicks down, position stable = SERP feature crowding → refresh meta/title
• Impressions down, everything stable = demand shift → new angle or consolidation

Content published < 3 months ago is too fresh to diagnose.

2. Keyword Cannibalization

Data source: GSC Search Analytics API

Dimensions: ["query", "page"] → paginate to 50K rows
Group by query → filter where count(distinct page) > 1
Flag: queries where different pages have similar positions (both competing)

Resolution: See seo-keyword-strategist skill for decision framework.

3. Striking Distance Keywords (Positions 4-20)

Data source: GSC Search Analytics API

Dimensions: ["query", "page"]
Filter: exclude branded queries (regex)
Post-filter: position >= 4 AND position <= 20 AND impressions > 50
Sort: impressions descending

These are your highest-opportunity keywords — close to page 1, worth optimizing.

4. Purchase Funnel Analysis

Data source: GA4 Data API (runFunnelReport — v1alpha)

GA4 tracks the e-commerce funnel: view_item → add_to_cart → view_cart → begin_checkout → add_shipping_info → add_payment_info → purchase

Calculate drop-offs:

• Cart rate = add_to_cart / view_item
• Checkout rate = begin_checkout / add_to_cart
• Purchase rate = purchase / begin_checkout

Break down by deviceCategory and sessionSource to find device/source-specific friction.

5. Blog-to-Conversion Attribution

Data source: GA4 Data API

Dimensions: ["landingPage"]
Filter: pagePath BEGINS_WITH "/blog/"
Metrics: conversions, purchaseRevenue, sessions, engagementRate

Identifies which blog posts drive the most revenue — prioritize these for refresh.

6. UX Frustration Analysis

Data source: Clarity API or MCP server

Dimension: URL
Metrics: Dead Click Count, Rage Click Count, Quickback Click, Excessive Scroll

Cross-reference: Pages with high frustration signals + declining GSC metrics = highest-priority fixes.

7. Combined GSC + GA4 Analysis

Join key: URL path (strip domain from GSC URLs to match GA4 pagePath).

Analysis	GA4 Data	GSC Data	Insight
Content gap	High bounce rate	Low impressions	Content doesn't match intent
SEO wins	High conversion pages	Low position	Improve ranking for converting pages
CTR optimization	High engagement	Low CTR	Meta descriptions need work
Keyword intent	Conversion rates	Search queries	Match content to buyer intent

Key Limitations

Platform	Limitation	Workaround
GSC	50K rows/day per site per search type	BigQuery bulk export (free, unlimited)
GSC	~47% of queries anonymized	BigQuery reveals slightly more
GSC	2-4 day data delay	Use dataState: "all" for preliminary data
GSC	16 months retention	BigQuery export (indefinite retention)
GSC	No AI Overview/AI Mode data in API	Monitor Google announcements
GA4	Sampling above ~10M events	BigQuery export (unsampled)
GA4	Segments not available via API	Use audiences instead
GA4	Path exploration not in API	BigQuery for sequence analysis
GA4	Predictive metrics need 1K+ qualifying users	May not activate for small stores
GA4	20-60% data loss in EU without advanced consent mode	Enable Consent Mode v2 advanced
Clarity	10 requests/day per project	CSV export for deeper analysis
Clarity	1,000 row max, no pagination	Filter to specific segments
Clarity	No heatmap image API	Manual dashboard review
Clarity	Copilot AI insights not in API	Raw data only via API/MCP

BigQuery (Power Tool)

Both GSC and GA4 can export to BigQuery for unlimited, unsampled data access.

Feature	GSC Export	GA4 Export
Data	Site/URL impression tables	Raw event-level data
Granularity	Aggregated (like API)	Every event with all parameters
Sampling	None	None
Cost (small store)	~$0/month (free tier)	~$0-5/month
Setup	GSC Settings → Bulk data export	GA4 Admin → BigQuery Links

For small e-commerce: BigQuery free tier (10 GB storage, 1 TB queries/month) is likely sufficient.

Google Trends (Keyword Research)

No official stable API. Options:

• pytrends (Python): Free but unreliable, may break
• SerpAPI Google Trends: $75-275/month, reliable
• Manual: trends.google.com — compare keywords, identify seasonality, geographic demand

Use Google Trends for: seasonal trend identification, geographic demand analysis, comparing keyword popularity, identifying rising topics for content planning.

Anti-Patterns

Don't	Why
Rely solely on search volume from tools	54% overestimated; use GSC actual impressions as proxy
Ignore anonymized queries (~47%)	Nearly half of click data has hidden query strings
Pull Clarity data more than needed	10 requests/day — be strategic
Skip BigQuery for large sites	API has 50K row cap; BQ is unlimited and free
Use GA4 data retention default (2 months)	Change to 14 months; API not affected but Explorations are
Diagnose decay on content < 3 months old	Too fresh — wait for data to stabilize