{"id":133650,"date":"2019-07-18T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-07-18T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.searchenginewatch.com\/?p=133650"},"modified":"2020-02-17T12:57:45","modified_gmt":"2020-02-17T12:57:45","slug":"set-up-google-analytics-annotations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2019\/07\/18\/set-up-google-analytics-annotations\/","title":{"rendered":"How to set up Google Analytics annotations to show Google updates"},"content":{"rendered":"

With Google<\/a> releasing more information of when updates take place, you should see it as a good practice to highlight this information in your Google Analytics account<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

With the use of annotations, you will now have a visual guide in Google<\/a> Analytic’s reports to help understand if you have been affected negatively or positively from the updates made to Google<\/a> algorithm. But you can also use this to mark other important events<\/a> for when changes have been applied to your website.<\/p>\n

\"how<\/p>\n

Source: Google Analytics\u00a0<\/sup><\/p>\n

A four-step guide to creating an annotation<\/h2>\n
    \n
  1. Click on the small down arrow pointing triangle of any graph type of report.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    \"set<\/p>\n

    Source: Google Analytics<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

    2) Click on the “+Create new annotation”.<\/p>\n

    \"create<\/p>\n

    Source: Google Analytics<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

    3) Complete the small form, select the date of the Google<\/a> update and a small note that makes it clear what update\/change took place.<\/p>\n

    4) And last but not least hit “Save”.<\/p>\n

    You can set your annotations to be private or shared (only if you have collaboration-level access the Google Analytics<\/a> account can you select shared annotations).<\/p>\n

    \"twitter<\/p>\n

    Source: Twitter.com<\/sup><\/p>\n

    When Google<\/a> released the June core update in 2019, Google’s search liaison team pre-announced the update via Twitter, this is the first time they have ever done this. You can take advantage of this in the future by adding google<\/a> annotations in advance so that you can see if there was a negative or positive effect on your organic traffic from google.<\/p>\n

    Having the ability to add annotations with a date set in the future can come in particularly handy if you know that there is an update about to go live from Google, or if your development team is about to upload their weekly change at 4.59 pm on a Friday.<\/p>\n

    How to add annotations for future Google updates<\/h2>\n
      \n
    1. Go to the admin section of your Google Analytics<\/a> account<\/li>\n
    2. Select the correct view in the far left-hand column<\/li>\n
    3. Under “Personal tools<\/a> & Assets”, select “Annotations”<\/li>\n
    4. Click on “+ New Annotation” at the top of the table<\/li>\n
    5. Enter the date of the Google update\/change you will see that you are now able to select a date in the future<\/li>\n
    6. Add some descriptive text about the change\/update<\/li>\n
    7. Chose the type of visibility – private or shared<\/li>\n
    8. Click “Create Annotation”<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      \"set<\/p>\n

      Source: Google Analytics
      \n<\/sup><\/p>\n

      List of Google updates to add Google Analytics annotations<\/h2>\n

      Site Diversity Update \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0June 6, 2019<\/p>\n

      June 2019 Core Update \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0June 3, 2019<\/p>\n

      Indexing Bugs \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0May 23, 2019<\/p>\n

      Deindexing Bug \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0April 5, 2019<\/p>\n

      March 2019 Core Update \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0March 12, 2019<\/p>\n

      19-result SERPs \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0March 1, 2019<\/p>\n

      March 1st Google Search Algorithm Ranking Update – Unconfirmed (SER)<\/p>\n

      Unnamed Update \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0November 29, 2018<\/p>\n

      Unnamed Update \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0October 15, 2018<\/p>\n

      Unnamed Update \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0September 10, 2018<\/p>\n

      Medic Core Update \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0August 1, 2018<\/p>\n

      Chrome Security Warnings (Full Site) \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0July 24, 2018<\/p>\n

      Unnamed Update \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0July 21, 2018<\/p>\n

      Mobile Speed Update \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0July 9, 2018<\/p>\n

      Video Carousels \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0June 14, 2018<\/p>\n

      Unnamed Update \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0May 23, 2018<\/p>\n

      Snippet Length Drop \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0May 13, 2018<\/p>\n

      Unnamed Core Update \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0April 17, 2018<\/p>\n

      Mobile-First Index Roll-out \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0March 26, 2018<\/p>\n

      Zero-result SERP Test \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0March 14, 2018<\/p>\n

      Brackets Core Update \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0March 8, 2018<\/p>\n

      Unnamed Update \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0February 20, 2018<\/p>\n

      Maccabees Update \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0December 14, 2017<\/p>\n

      Snippet Length Increase \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0November 30, 2017<\/p>\n

      Unnamed Update \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0November 14, 2017<\/p>\n

      Featured Snippet Drop \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0October 27, 2017<\/p>\n

      Chrome Security Warnings (Forms) \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0October 17, 2017<\/p>\n

      Unnamed Update \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0September 27, 2017<\/p>\n

      Google Jobs \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0June 20, 2017<\/p>\n

      Unnamed Update \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0May 17, 2017<\/p>\n

      Google Tops 50% HTTPS \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0April 16, 2017<\/p>\n

      Fred (Unconfirmed) \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0March 8, 2017<\/p>\n

      Unnamed Update \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0February 6, 2017<\/p>\n

      Unnamed Update \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0February 1, 2017<\/p>\n

      Intrusive Interstitial Penalty \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0January 10, 2017<\/p>\n

      Unnamed Update \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0December 14, 2016<\/p>\n

      Unnamed Update \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0November 10, 2016<\/p>\n

      Penguin 4.0, Phase 2 \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0October 6, 2016<\/p>\n

      Penguin 4.0, Phase 1 \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0September 27, 2016<\/p>\n

      Penguin 4.0 Announcement \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0September 23, 2016<\/p>\n

      Image\/Universal Drop \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0September 13, 2016<\/p>\n

      Possum \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0September 1, 2016<\/p>\n

      Mobile-friendly 2 \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0May 12, 2016<\/p>\n

      Unnamed Update \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0May 10, 2016<\/p>\n

      AdWords Shake-up \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0February 23, 2016<\/p>\n

      Unnamed Update \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0January 8, 2016<\/p>\n

      RankBrain* \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0October 26, 2015<\/p>\n

      Panda 4.2 (#28) \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0July 17, 2015<\/p>\n

      The Quality Update \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0May 3, 2015<\/p>\n

      Mobile Update AKA “Mobilegeddon” \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0April 22, 2015<\/p>\n

      Unnamed Update \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0February 4, 2015<\/p>\n

      Pigeon Expands (UK, CA, AU) \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0December 22, 2014<\/p>\n

      Penguin Everflux \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0December 10, 2014<\/p>\n

      Pirate 2.0 \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0October 21, 2014<\/p>\n

      Penguin 3.0 \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0October 17, 2014<\/p>\n

      In The News Box \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0October 1, 2014<\/p>\n

      Panda 4.1 (#27) \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0September 23, 2014<\/p>\n

      Authorship Removed \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0August 28, 2014<\/p>\n

      HTTPS\/SSL Update \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0August 6, 2014<\/p>\n

      Pigeon \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0July 24, 2014<\/p>\n

      Authorship Photo Drop \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0June 28, 2014<\/p>\n

      Payday Loan 3.0 \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0June 12, 2014<\/p>\n

      Panda 4.0 (#26) \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0May 19, 2014<\/p>\n

      Payday Loan 2.0 \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0May 16, 2014<\/p>\n

      Unnamed Update \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0March 24, 2014<\/p>\n

      Page Layout #3 \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0February 6, 2014<\/p>\n

      Authorship Shake-up \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0December 19, 2013<\/p>\n

      Unnamed Update \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0December 17, 2013<\/p>\n

      Unnamed Update \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0November 14, 2013<\/p>\n

      Penguin 2.1 (#5) \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0October 4, 2013<\/p>\n

      Hummingbird \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0August 20, 2013<\/p>\n

      In-depth Articles \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0August 6, 2013<\/p>\n

      Unnamed Update \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0July 26, 2013<\/p>\n

      Knowledge Graph Expansion \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0July 19, 2013<\/p>\n

      Panda Recovery \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0July 18, 2013<\/p>\n

      Multi-Week Update \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0June 27, 2013<\/p>\n

      Panda Dance \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0June 11, 2013<\/p>\n

      Penguin 2.0 (#4) \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0May 22, 2013<\/p>\n

      Domain Crowding \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0May 21, 2013<\/p>\n

      Phantom \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0May 9, 2013<\/p>\n

      Panda #25 \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0March 14, 2013<\/p>\n

      Panda #24 \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0January 22, 2013<\/p>\n

      Panda #23 \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0December 21, 2012<\/p>\n

      Knowledge Graph Expansion \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0December 4, 2012<\/p>\n

      Panda #22 \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0November 21, 2012<\/p>\n

      Panda #21 \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0November 5, 2012<\/p>\n

      Page Layout #2 \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0October 9, 2012<\/p>\n

      Penguin #3 \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0October 5, 2012<\/p>\n

      August\/September 65-Pack \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0October 4, 2012<\/p>\n

      Panda #20 \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0September 27, 2012<\/p>\n

      Exact-Match Domain (EMD) Update \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0September 27, 2012<\/p>\n

      Panda 3.9.2 (#19) \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0September 18, 2012<\/p>\n

      Panda 3.9.1 (#18) \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0August 20, 2012<\/p>\n

      7-Result SERPs \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0August 14, 2012<\/p>\n

      June\/July 86-Pack \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0August 10, 2012<\/p>\n

      DMCA Penalty (“Pirate”) \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0August 10, 2012<\/p>\n

      Panda 3.9 (#17) \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0July 24, 2012<\/p>\n

      Link Warnings \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0July 19, 2012<\/p>\n

      Panda 3.8 (#16) \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0June 25, 2012<\/p>\n

      Panda 3.7 (#15) \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0June 8, 2012<\/p>\n

      May 39-Pack \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0June 7, 2012<\/p>\n

      Penguin 1.1 (#2) \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0May 25, 2012<\/p>\n

      Knowledge Graph \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0May 16, 2012<\/p>\n

      April 52-Pack \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0May 4, 2012<\/p>\n

      Panda 3.6 (#14) \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0April 27, 2012<\/p>\n

      Penguin \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0April 24, 2012<\/p>\n

      Panda 3.5 (#13) \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0April 19, 2012<\/p>\n

      Parked Domain Bug \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0April 16, 2012<\/p>\n

      March 50-Pack \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0April 3, 2012<\/p>\n

      Panda 3.4 (#12) \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0March 23, 2012<\/p>\n

      Search Quality Video \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0March 12, 2012<\/p>\n

      Venice \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0February 27, 2012<\/p>\n

      February 40-Pack (2) \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0February 27, 2012<\/p>\n

      Panda 3.3 (#11) \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0February 27, 2012<\/p>\n

      February 17-Pack \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0February 3, 2012<\/p>\n

      Ads Above The Fold \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0January 19, 2012<\/p>\n

      Panda 3.2 (#10) \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0January 18, 2012<\/p>\n

      Search + Your World \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0January 10, 2012<\/p>\n

      January 30-Pack \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0January 5, 2012<\/p>\n

      December 10-Pack \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0December 1, 2011<\/p>\n

      Panda 3.1 (#9) \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0November 18, 2011<\/p>\n

      10-Pack of Updates \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0November 14, 2011<\/p>\n

      Freshness Update \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0November 3, 2011<\/p>\n

      Query Encryption \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0October 18, 2011<\/p>\n

      Panda “Flux” (#8) \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0October 5, 2011<\/p>\n

      \u201cMinor\u201d Google Panda Update On November 18th (SEL)<\/p>\n

      Panda 2.5 (#7) \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0September 28, 2011<\/p>\n

      516 Algo Updates \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0September 21, 2011<\/p>\n

      Pagination Elements \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0September 15, 2011<\/p>\n

      Expanded Sitelinks \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0August 16, 2011<\/p>\n

      Panda 2.4 (#6) \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0August 12, 2011<\/p>\n

      Panda 2.3 (#5) \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0July 23, 2011<\/p>\n

      Google+ \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0June 28, 2011<\/p>\n

      Panda 2.2 (#4) \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0June 21, 2011<\/p>\n

      Schema<\/a>.org \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0June 2, 2011<\/p>\n

      Panda 2.1 (#3) \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0May 9, 2011<\/p>\n

      Panda 2.0 (#2) \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0April 11, 2011<\/p>\n

      The +1 Button \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0March 30, 2011<\/p>\n

      Panda\/Farmer \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0February 23, 2011<\/p>\n

      Attribution Update \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0January 28, 2011<\/p>\n

      Overstock.com Penalty \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0January 1, 2011<\/p>\n

      Negative Reviews \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0December 1, 2010<\/p>\n

      Social Signals \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0December 1, 2010<\/p>\n

      Instant Previews \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0November 1, 2010<\/p>\n

      Google Instant \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0September 1, 2010<\/p>\n

      Brand Update \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0August 1, 2010<\/p>\n

      Caffeine (Rollout) \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0June 1, 2010<\/p>\n

      May Day \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0May 1, 2010<\/p>\n

      Google Places \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0April 1, 2010<\/p>\n

      Real-time Search \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0December 1, 2009<\/p>\n

      Caffeine (Preview) \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0August 1, 2009<\/p>\n

      Vince \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0February 1, 2009<\/p>\n

      Rel-canonical Tag \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0February 1, 2009<\/p>\n

      Google Suggest \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0August 1, 2008<\/p>\n

      Dewey \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0April 1, 2008<\/p>\n

      2007 Updates<\/p>\n

      Buffy \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0June 1, 2007<\/p>\n

      Universal Search \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0May 1, 2007<\/p>\n

      False Alarm \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0December 1, 2006<\/p>\n

      Supplemental Update \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0November 1, 2006<\/p>\n

      Big Daddy \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0December 1, 2005<\/p>\n

      Google Local\/Maps \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0October 1, 2005<\/p>\n

      Jagger \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0October 1, 2005<\/p>\n

      Gilligan \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0September 1, 2005<\/p>\n

      XML Sitemaps \u00a0<\/a>\u2014 \u00a0June 1, 2005<\/p>\n

      Personalized Search \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0June 1, 2005<\/p>\n

      Bourbon \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0May 1, 2005<\/p>\n

      Allegra \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0February 1, 2005<\/p>\n

      Nofollow \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0January 1, 2005<\/p>\n

      Google IPO \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0August 1, 2004<\/p>\n

      Brandy \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0February 1, 2004<\/p>\n

      Austin \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0January 1, 2004<\/p>\n

      Florida \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0November 1, 2003<\/p>\n

      Supplemental Index \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0September 1, 2003<\/p>\n

      Fritz \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0July 1, 2003<\/p>\n

      Esmeralda \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0June 1, 2003<\/p>\n

      Dominic \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0May 1, 2003<\/p>\n

      Cassandra \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0April 1, 2003<\/p>\n

      Boston \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0February 1, 2003<\/p>\n

      1st Documented Update \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0September 1, 2002<\/p>\n

      Google Toolbar \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0December 1, 2000<\/p>\n

      Source: moz.com<\/sup><\/p>\n

      And remember<\/h3>\n

      Generally speaking by adding annotations to your Google Analytics account you will be able to see more clearly if you have been affected by any Google updates<\/a>.<\/p>\n

      Paul Lovell is an SEO Consultant And Founder at Always Evolving SEO. He can be found on Twitter @_PaulLovell<\/a>.<\/em><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      With Google releasing more information about updates, you should see it as a good practice to highlight this information in your Google Analytics account.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1092,"featured_media":133654,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,7],"tags":[228,22905,37,89,482,386],"content_type":[],"class_list":["post-133650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-analytics","category-industry","tag-analytics","tag-annotations","tag-google","tag-google-analytics","tag-google-updates","tag-seo-tips"],"acf":{"tad_independentcommercial":false,"tad_content_format":false},"post_info":{"name":"idris.nagri@blenheimchalcot.com idris.nagri@blenheimchalcot.com","title":"","thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/shutterstock_1340491538-120x90.png","category":"Analytics","timeago":"7y"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1092"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133650"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133650\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133650"},{"taxonomy":"content_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content_type?post=133650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}