Google Analytics – Google Search Console Account Set-up and Transfers

When building a new website, one of the first things to do once the site is live is to create and add Google Analytics (GA) and Google Search Console (GSC) to the site. This should be done as soon as the site is live. This is in part because we want to be tracking data associated with the website as soon as possible.

Do Not Use a Gmail Account

The account used should not be a Gmail account. Rather it should be based on the website’s domain. In most cases something like social@domain.com is ideal. Just to be really clear this means where “domain.com” is the website’s domain.

Existing Sites with Existing GA/GSC Accounts

Where a website already exists with an existing email account associated with GA and or GSC, the best thing to do is to first add social@domain.com to the GA & GSC account. This is done at the base of the User Management page in GA. Add the email address of the new user in the “Add Permissions” section. Checking all boxes to allow administrator access and hit the “add” button. This means we will be able to monitor and access the account without relying on the original email account. This is especially important in that with a lot of client accounts the original login email is actually the client’s personal account.

• See:
  • How to transfer a google analytics account
  • Changing email address for analytics

New Site and GA/GSC for a Client

When we create a new site and GA/GSC account for a client, and they want access we should give them access using their own email account. That is done in the add account and permissions” section as described above. Only “view” permission needs to be provided in this case (unless otherwise requested).

Generally, we do not want to give the client our primary login. This is because:

• They will typically not want to monitor a second account such as social@domain.com in addition to their own email account
• It helps to avoid the situation where they change the password not realizing that they will also lock us out
• We also use the social@domain.com for other purposes

Where possible, we want to try to be consistent so that we have one email address associated with all marketing-related services. Where possible try to use the same account for services such as Google My Business (GMB), YouTube, Yelp, Houzz, LinkedIn, Manta, Pinterest, Bing, and so on. If the accounts are already in place, try to transfer them to the standard email account. This should be done as part of the normal process of updating the service. social@domain.com should be the first choice unless there is something similar already in place.

Be sure to always document all details and steps undertaken in the website’s SEO spreadsheet.

The main goal is to be able to log in and monitor alerts and changes easily from one domain consistent account for each website.