Top 5 marketing analytics tools for businesses

Having a solid digital marketing strategy is key for any business – and marketing analytics tools play a vital role.

That’s because what can really set brands apart from the competition is their ability to measure and analyse how well their strategies are working.

That’s where marketing analytics tools come in. They can help you get to know your audience, track your performance, and make smart, data-driven decisions that boost growth and give your business an edge.

What is marketing analytics?

Marketing analytics helps you see how well your marketing strategy is working and where you can make improvements. Essentially, it’s all about gathering and analysing data from your marketing activities, whether that’s on social media, email, search engines, or your website.

By crunching the numbers, you get to understand your customers better, see what’s driving sales, and spot trends in the market. This means you can make informed decisions and work smarter, not harder.

Here’s what you should know about five of the best analytics tools around right now.

1. Google Search Console

What is it?
Google Console is a free service that helps you monitor, maintain, and troubleshoot your site’s presence in Google Search results. It’s a must-have for anyone serious about SEO and understanding how Google interacts with their website.

Google Console offers a range of features designed to give you a clear picture of your site’s search performance. From search analytics and mobile usability reports to URL inspection tools, it provides all the insights you need to make your site more Google-friendly.

One of its standout features is the ability to submit sitemaps and individual URLs for crawling. This ensures that Google is aware of all the pages on your site, making it easier for them to be indexed and found by users.

Key marketing analytics features:

Search performance metrics – Track how your site appears in Google Search and identify which queries bring traffic, along with data on clicks, impressions, and average position.
URL inspection – Check the status of URLs on your website to see how Google views them and identify any indexing issues.
Mobile usability – Diagnose and fix mobile usability issues to ensure your site is accessible to users on all devices.

What are the benefits for businesses?
Google Console provides invaluable insights into how Google views your website. By regularly monitoring performance metrics and identifying issues, businesses can make informed decisions to enhance their SEO strategy. This leads to improved search presence, higher traffic, and ultimately, better business outcomes.

How it could work for you:
Imagine you’ve just launched a new landing page aimed at capturing leads for a new product. Using Google Console, you can inspect the URL to ensure it’s indexed correctly and monitor how it performs in search results. This allows for timely adjustments, such as tweaking meta descriptions and content, to improve visibility and drive more traffic.

2. Google Analytics

What is it?
Google Analytics is a free web analytics service offered by Google that tracks and reports website traffic. It’s one of the most widely used analytics tools globally, providing in-depth insights into user behaviour, traffic sources, and conversion rates.

Google Analytics offers a comprehensive set of features that help businesses understand their audience and measure the effectiveness of their online marketing strategies. From real-time data to detailed audience reports, it covers every aspect of user interaction on your site. One of its most powerful features is the ability to set up goals and track conversions, enabling businesses to measure the success of their marketing campaigns and website performance.

In 2020, Google introduced Google Analytics 4 (GA4), which offers several key improvements, including an event-based data model, enhanced cross-platform tracking, AI-powered insights, and improved data privacy features.

Key marketing analytics features:

Audience insights – Learn about your audience demographics, interests, and behaviour patterns, helping you tailor your marketing efforts.
Real-time data – Monitor live user activity on your site, including the number of active users, their location, and the pages they are viewing.
Conversion tracking – Measure how well your site drives specific goals, such as sign-ups, sales, or downloads, and understand your return on investment (ROI).
Enhanced measurement – GA4 automatically tracks events like page views, scrolls, outbound clicks, site search, video engagement, and file downloads without additional coding.

What are the benefits for businesses?
Google Analytics is essential for any business looking to understand user behaviour and optimise their marketing efforts. By providing detailed insights into traffic sources, user engagement, and conversion rates, it helps businesses make data-driven decisions. This leads to better user experiences, higher conversion rates, and more effective marketing campaigns.

How it could work for you:
An e-commerce site can use Google Analytics to track which marketing channels drive the most traffic and sales. With GA4’s enhanced cross-platform tracking, they can now better understand the customer journey across their website and mobile app, allowing for more targeted marketing strategies and improved user experience.

3. SEMrush

What is it?
SEMrush is an all-in-one digital marketing toolkit that provides a wealth of data and insights to help businesses improve their online visibility and discover marketing opportunities. It’s particularly popular among SEO professionals for its comprehensive keyword research and competitor analysis capabilities.

SEMrush offers a wide range of tools designed to cover every aspect of online marketing. From SEO and PPC to content marketing and social media, it provides the data and insights needed to optimise your marketing initiatives.

One of its standout features is its Keyword Magic Tool, which helps you find the best keywords to target for your SEO and PPC campaigns. SEMrush’s Site Audit tool also provides a detailed analysis of your website’s health, identifying issues that could impact your search rankings.

Key marketing analytics features:

Keyword research – Identify the best keywords to target for SEO and PPC campaigns, along with data on search volume, difficulty, and competition.
Competitor analysis – See what your competitors are doing and how you compare, including their traffic sources, top-performing pages, and backlink profiles.
Site audit – Check your site’s health and identify areas for improvement, including technical SEO issues, broken links, and duplicate content.

What are the benefits for businesses?
SEMrush provides comprehensive data and insights that can help businesses enhance their SEO strategy, understand market trends, and stay ahead of the competition. It’s a must-have tool for anyone serious about digital marketing, offering everything from keyword research and site audits to competitor analysis and social media tracking.

How it could work for you:
A digital marketing agency can use SEMrush to conduct an in-depth competitor analysis for a client. This helps the client understand their market position and identify opportunities to outperform their rivals. By analysing competitor keywords, backlinks, and top-performing content, the agency can develop a targeted strategy to improve the client’s online visibility and search rankings.

4. STAT

What is it?
STAT is a powerful SEO analytics platform that specialises in large-scale keyword tracking, SERP (Search engine results page) analysis, and competitive intelligence. It provides businesses and agencies with comprehensive insights to improve their organic search performance.

STAT offers a range of features designed to give users a competitive edge – its large-scale keyword tracking capabilities allow for monitoring thousands of keywords across multiple search engines and locations. The platform also provides detailed SERP feature tracking, identifying over 60 features and how they impact organic results.

Key marketing analytics features:

Large-scale keyword tracking – Monitor thousands of keywords across search engines and locations to gain comprehensive insights.
Real-time SERP tracking – Stay on top of SERP changes as they happen, providing up-to-date competitive intelligence.
Customisable reporting – Create tailored reports to meet specific business needs, providing actionable insights.
Frequent parser updates – STAT undergoes 100+ parser changes per year (this involves updating the algorithms and methods used to analyse search engine data) to keep pace with Google’s evolving search landscape.

What are the benefits for businesses?
STAT helps businesses and agencies make data-driven decisions by providing large-scale SEO insights and competitive intelligence. Its powerful keyword tracking and SERP analysis capabilities allow users to understand their market position, identify opportunities, and develop targeted strategies to improve organic search performance.

How it could work for you:
Imagine you’re a digital marketing agency looking to boost a client’s SEO strategy. With STAT, you can conduct in-depth keyword research and competitive analysis, tracking thousands of keywords and monitoring SERP changes. This helps you identify the most valuable opportunities and develop a comprehensive SEO strategy.

Plus, STAT’s customisable reporting features allow you to present insights tailored to your client’s specific needs and goals, making it easier to demonstrate the impact of your initiatives over time.

5. Ahrefs

What is it?
Ahrefs is a comprehensive SEO toolset that offers powerful features for link building, keyword research, and content analysis. It’s widely regarded as one of the best tools for understanding and improving your website’s search rankings.

Ahrefs provides a range of tools designed to help businesses improve their SEO and content marketing strategies. From backlink analysis and rank tracking to keyword research and content discovery, it covers every aspect of SEO. One of its standout features is its Site Explorer, which provides detailed insights into your website’s backlink profile and organic search traffic.

Additionally, Ahrefs’ Content Explorer tool helps you discover popular content in your niche, providing inspiration for your content marketing efforts.

Key marketing analytics features:

Backlink analysis – See who links to your site and your competitors, providing insights into your backlink profile and opportunities for link building.
Content explorer – Discover popular content in your niche, providing inspiration for your content marketing efforts.
Rank tracking – Monitor your search rankings over time, allowing you to track your progress and identify areas for improvement.

What are the benefits for businesses?
Ahrefs helps businesses improve their SEO by providing insights into backlink profiles, content performance, and keyword opportunities. It’s particularly useful for helping businesses improve link-building strategies and content marketing initiatives. By understanding your website’s strengths and weaknesses, you can develop a strategy to improve your search rankings and drive more organic traffic.

How it could work for you:
A content marketer can use Ahrefs to find high-performing content in their industry. By analysing this content, they can create similar high-quality pieces that attract backlinks and improve their site’s authority. Plus, the backlink analysis tool can help identify opportunities for link building, enhancing the overall SEO strategy.

Choosing the right marketing analytics tools – and understanding how to leverage the insights – can make a huge difference in how you reach and engage your audience.