HACKER Q&A
📣 googanalytical

Does removing Google Analytics penalise a website in Google search?


I have a website which does well in Google results. I've been using anonimised Google Analytics but recently thought about removing even that, as what little I'm interested in can be gathered from server logs.

But I’m worried doing so will penalise the website in Google results.

My searches led me to direct answers from Google staff that no, they don’t take Google Analytics into account in rankings[1]. However, those answers are a decade old, from a time Google still touted “don’t be evil” as a motto. The Google of 2022 is one I don‘t expect to keep promises from 2010.

Are there reliable and/or recent sources which elucidate the case either way? Anecdotal reports can also be helpful.

[1]: https://plausible.io/blog/google-analytics-seo

  👤 FinalBriefing Accepted Answer ✓
No, I don't see any reason to think that. If anything, it will improve your Page Speed Insights score, which will improve your rankings.

Google collects all they need and more from users using Chrome. They don't need GA anymore, and I'm pretty sure they said a while ago they were going to stop looking at the data (again, because they collect far more data from user using Chrome).

Good on you!

👤 joegahona
This is less than a decade old: https://twitter.com/JohnMu/status/1389322980547833856

John Mueller is a Search Advocate at Google and has weekly-ish Youtube office hours where you can ask in greater detail, if you'd like.

👤 layer8
It seems to me that Google could get into legal trouble if that was the case.
👤 Signez
Doing so would be a textbook abuse of dominance, and would not fly to any antitrust regulator — I don't think they would try to implement that.
👤 mobilio
There is no connection between GA and search ranking.

Example - Wikipedia, Facebook, Apple and many more. They didn't have GA.

👤 annagrigoryan2
Well i've read a similar report to what you're attaching from another privacy focused analytics.

https://usefathom.com/blog/google-analytics-seo

They argue that it's better (?) because your website will be faster.

"This is because Fathom’s tracking code is super-lightweight and blazingly-fast to load. Our tracker file is tiny whilst Google Analytics’ file is much larger. This is a little funny, because Google’s search engine rewards faster sites, so a case could be made that using Fathom instead of Google for your analytics could potentially increase your page rank in their own search engine!"

👤 freedomben
I try to remove GA as often as I can, and I've never noticed a drop in SEO for a site after removing it. I don't personally think GA is nearly as invasive as many people do, but it's still a nice thing to do for your users.
👤 mattferderer
I know of many people who believe Google Analytics to be unnecessary & poor quality. Many would argue you can get just as good, if not better info from just using Google Search Console. None of these sources I've heard from have been concerned with a penalty. I unfortunately don't have citations for you.

A counter argument would be if you use Google Analytics for more advanced tracking of user features, such as A/B testing & tracking how users interact with your site.

👤 dazc
The only people who really know are not saying anything. If your site is doing OK than any change is going to be a risk.
👤 xnx
Still no.
👤 franze
No.

Thats not how search engine optimisation works. Neither in theory nor in the real world.