Use Data Or Be Used By Data!

The December 22 issue of Seotistics is here for you!

Cool, you have learned GA4, GSC and GTM but still got nothing to show, it's normal.

I will show you some cool projects or ideas to differentiate yourself.

If you think taking a course on GA4 is enough to get you money... try again, the market is saturated.

P.S. Holidays time, I will expand on this issue in January!

​Read this in your browser​

📣📣 Important Announcements 📣📣

I am planning big things for 2026, I have already piled up a lot of new content too.

And... I want to release a new course for Web Analytics done the Seotistics way.

This will be for Analysts or everyone wanting to explore Web Data in general, not only SEO.

The topics I am planning to cover are:

• Coding in general (Python, SQL, R - all aided by LLMs)
• LLMs and how to use them properly
• Auditing websites and deeper business considerations (so not only SEO)
• The topics covered in this newsletter

Vote below and let me know if you would buy a course like this:

If you vote, you may be eligible for future discounts once the course is released 👀

Tools First!

Everyone always asks about the tools to use... and I get it but to start you don't need to spend money.

I'd only pay for Claude since it makes everything easier or even Gemini, if you must.

The rest can be handled by the Google Stack which also happens to be the most popular.

Don't start with niche solutions like Matomo or Piwik Pro, you will reduce your likelihood of being selected.

If you already have experience within a niche or type of business, then it's different.

Even something like Adobe Analytics can be reasonable if you have enterprise experience.

Only then, you can pick other options!

Automation / Scripting

This must be the most common example and the starting point for many.

Automating boring tasks and saving time, aka improving efficiency.

This isn't exactly Analytics but still, you need to be familiar with the basics.

One of the most common projects is scraping websites to retrieve the info you need.

It looks simple but it's harder than you imagine, now with LLMs you can easily do a LOT.

I was just testing a solution to scrape websites I want and retrieve the content I needed as I always show below:

This is a great project if you make it bigger, for example:

Pull scraped data -> store it -> analyze it with LLMs -> action

My friend Lee Foot has built a lot of use cases around Ecommerce SEO and it's a great example of what I mean.

Having something like this makes a big difference when presenting yourself.

Auditing

What's the point of tagging if you can't even use your data for something good?

This is where you should spend most of your efforts as an Analyst.

No, it's not tagging which is a separate discipline, it's Analytics where you should focus.

GA4 (or alternatives) and GSC are mandatory choices but don't use them only.

Tools like Screaming Frog or Sitebulb help you with technical details like status codes, although you could also do it yourself with Python or Javascript.

Log files are NOT beginner friendly and it's hard to get your hand on them but if you already work somewhere, use them!

You can do some nice analyses and the topic isn't that popular as you think.

Data Warehouses & Modeling

This is the current meta and how to run any successful project.

You can't use outdated tools and expect to strive for optimal data work.

BigQuery is our preferred choice because you have the direct exports from GA4 and GSC (and it's much easier than the alternatives).

Understanding the BigQuery interface and basic Google Cloud stuff like authentication is OK.

Once you are familiar with them, you may need to learn some data modeling (article coming out in January).

​GA4Dataform is my go-to because it's free and super simple but we are here to learn so you need to do it manually!

An analysts is NOT tasked with engineering tasks unless you want to go into a super technical path.

In practice being an engineer or having enough skills to temporarily survive without them.

For small projects, you don't even need engineers, if you ask me.

DataViz

The most important part of Analytics is communicating with others and most often, you will craft nice visuals.

If you need a shortcut for your portfolio, this is it!

In reality, most of the visuals that are useful are simple and not complex at all.

If you need something interactive and with multiple filters, it's time to consider Looker Studio or a custom web app.

LS is super easy to learn and you can just toy with it, really. Google did a great job in the last year to add new features.

I don't recommend tools like PowerBI and Tableau because:

• not the #1 choice for Web Data
• Hard to build something with them as a beginner
• no one really cares in Marketing

PowerBI still gives me nightmares, avoid it.

Web apps were quite complex for me in the past but now with AI you can build local samples quickly.

Mind you, if you need to deploy it, then it's not that simple.

Oh Wait, LLMs Exist?

As discussed in my past issue, LLMs are a huge help and you shouldn't sleep on them.

It's true that you need some foundations but most of my marketing friends have been using them with 0 background.

Yes, I say that again, people with ZERO background in data. None.

If you have the expertise in your field but lack technical skills, you live in the best era.

Yes but you still need to develop the capacity to think like an analyst, uh:

The End? For Now

The job market in 2025 has been terrible and it's not even about skills but connections and luck.

Despite that, if you need to upskill in your current position, own an agency or are a freelancer, this is a must.

Living in the old world of Web Analytics means precluding yourself from the new opportunities.

You can believe that LLMs are bad and GA4 is enough or follow what currently works.

Now I am tired, I will continue this in January and next week I do a 2025 roundup!

👥 Join Our Community

Our Discord community offers a small place where we can talk business and web data.

If you hate all the noise of social media, then this place is for you.

I will start posting more there as we have a forum channel now.

This is the best way to stay updated in real time on Seotistics:

🔎 Analytics For SEO Ebook - Course / Ebook

You will:

✅ Use GSC and GA4 Data to their fullest potential

✅ Learn Python/SQL for your needs

✅ Get a complete blueprint for auditing websites

✅ Learn how to 10x your productivity

✅ Learn BigQuery to work on large websites

I teach you what's needed to go from 0 to a professional Data Analyst.

Even if you leave SEO, the foundations are the same for other jobs!

Also in ebook:

📚 Recommended Reads - Peak Content 🗻

Read these to hone your skills:

• ​Content Management & Knowledge Base With Obsidian & LLMs​
• ​The 8-Step Content Auditing Framework For SEO & Marketing​
• ​A Business-Oriented Framework For Web Analytics​
• ​Analytical Skills for AI and Data Science : Building Skills for an AI-Driven enterprise​
• ​Data Literacy In Practice​
• ​Becoming a Data Head​
• ​Storytelling with Data​

As usual, my most recent LinkedIn content is here.

❗️ Feedback and Recommendations

If you have ideas/recommendations for the next issues of Seotistics, you can simply reply to this email.

Marco Giordano
​Data/Web Analyst

Follow me on 🔽🔽🔽:

​​​

Bernerstrasse Süd 169, Zurich, Switzerland
​Unsubscribe · Preferences​