When I restarted my blog, I thought the main effort would be writing. It wasn’t. The confusing part started after publishing.
Resetting the timeline
This blog technically goes back to 2016, but that period is not meaningful.
There were a few scattered posts over the years:
- a short “I’ll start a blog” note (10.05.2016)
- my master’s thesis (13.04.2023)
Then nothing. So I consider November 2025 as the real starting point, when I began writing consistently.
The setup phase
I installed WordPress, connected Google Site Kit, and linked:
Everything looked connected.
But when I opened Google Analytics, 0 users
What was actually wrong
At first, I assumed no one was visiting. But the issue was mostly on the setup side.
Here’s what I realized step by step:
- Search Console was already working → I could see impressions
- Analytics was connected but not showing data
- I was checking the site while logged in → those visits were excluded
- There was a mismatch risk between property / measurement ID
So I went back and checked:
- Measurement ID in Site Kit vs Google Analytics → matched
- Correct property selected in GA → confirmed
- Tested the site in incognito mode → activity finally appeared
That’s when I understood: data was being collected, I just wasn’t seeing it correctly
First real signals
Once things were aligned, I started seeing actual data. Still small numbers:
- ~300 impressions
- 2 click
- a few visitors
But this was enough to understand one key thing: My content was already being shown on Google.
The first insight
Very early on, one idea became clear: Getting impressions is much easier than getting clicks.
Your content can appear in search results relatively quickly.
Getting someone to click is a different problem.
Too many tools
At this point, another confusion kicked in: There are too many analytics tools, and it’s not obvious which one to focus on.
You open:
- Google Analytics
- Search Console
- WordPress Stats
and each shows something different.
Instead of trying to reconcile everything, I started treating them as separate layers:
- visibility (Search Console)
- behavior (Analytics)
What matters at the beginning
At this stage, traffic is not the most useful metric.
Impressions matter more than visits in the beginning.
Because impressions mean:
- your pages are indexed
- Google is testing them
- you are starting to appear in search
Clicks come later.
Early observations
After a few weeks:
- Google doesn’t push content immediately
- titles matter more than expected
- without external distribution, growth is slow
- small data is still useful if you interpret it correctly
Why I’m doing this
I didn’t start this blog with SEO goals. No keyword strategy, no content calendar.
I used it to:
- document what I learn
- clarify my thinking
- stay consistent
Now I’m exploring analytics out of curiosity. If I ever decide to turn this into something more structured, this phase will be my baseline.
What’s next
So far, this is just the surface.
In the next part, I’ll go into Google Search Console in detail:
- what the metrics actually mean
- and what my data is starting to show
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