Annotations - What are they, and how do they work?
This guide will explain Annotations on the SEOTesting app.
Annotations are a feature within SEOTesting that allows you to add descriptive annotations directly onto your data from Google Search Console, as shown in the screenshot below.
SEOTesting takes its data directly from the Google Search Console API, meaning the data you see within SEOTesting is precisely the same data you’d see in Google Search Console. We allow you to add annotations to the site, page, query, or content group.
Adding annotations to your Google Search Console data lets you and your team know about events, changes made to your site, or any other outside factor that might affect how your website performs within search results.
SEOTesting offers four annotation types:
Page annotations
Query annotations
Site annotations
Content group annotations
We know that implementing an annotation across your entire site data may not be necessary in some circumstances, so we have added alternative options for you.
Page annotations allow you to add annotations that only appear when you search directly for that page within SEOTesting. This is useful if you experience outside factors that impact the organic search performance of the page in question.
For example, we experienced a spike in traffic to this page on our website when there was an issue with Google Search Console, causing delays in processing new data. We were able to add an annotation to this page within SEOTesting to show this:
SEOTesting also offers the ability to add annotations to queries. For example, if a current event has spiked search traffic for a certain query, you may want to add an annotation to the query rather than the impacted page or the site.
Sometimes, it will be necessary to add an annotation to your entire site.
This feature is helpful if your website has experienced a significant change, such as a hosting issue, site migration, or leadership change. These events can significantly impact search traffic, so annotating them on your Google Search Console data is a great way to add context to traffic gains and losses.
SEOTesting offers the ability to add annotations to your content groups. These types of annotations will appear when you are viewing content groups but will not appear anywhere else within your SEOTesting account.
This annotation type is useful when an outside event or a change to your site will only impact a certain group of pages you are monitoring within a content group.
Go to the Annotations tab.
Click the 'Add new annotation' button.
Fill in the Annotation details:
The type of annotation you are adding
The page URL, query, or content group you are adding the annotation to
The date you wish to display on your graphs
A name for your annotation
A description for your annotation
Click on 'Create' to finish.
Note: We encourage you to add descriptive information for your annotations to give the maximum context to an annotation on your SEOTesting account. This way, if you return to the annotation in the future, you will know precisely what that particular annotation was referring to.
If you created an annotation but can’t find it, please read our guide about missing annotations.
Go to the Annotations tab.
Select the Annotation to edit.
Click on the Edit button.
Edit the Annotation and then save the changes.
What are Annotations?
Annotations are a feature within SEOTesting that allows you to add descriptive annotations directly onto your data from Google Search Console, as shown in the screenshot below.
SEOTesting takes its data directly from the Google Search Console API, meaning the data you see within SEOTesting is precisely the same data you’d see in Google Search Console. We allow you to add annotations to the site, page, query, or content group.
Adding annotations to your Google Search Console data lets you and your team know about events, changes made to your site, or any other outside factor that might affect how your website performs within search results.
Annotation Types
SEOTesting offers four annotation types:
Page annotations
Query annotations
Site annotations
Content group annotations
We know that implementing an annotation across your entire site data may not be necessary in some circumstances, so we have added alternative options for you.
Page Annotation
Page annotations allow you to add annotations that only appear when you search directly for that page within SEOTesting. This is useful if you experience outside factors that impact the organic search performance of the page in question.
For example, we experienced a spike in traffic to this page on our website when there was an issue with Google Search Console, causing delays in processing new data. We were able to add an annotation to this page within SEOTesting to show this:
Query Annotation
SEOTesting also offers the ability to add annotations to queries. For example, if a current event has spiked search traffic for a certain query, you may want to add an annotation to the query rather than the impacted page or the site.
Site Annotation
Sometimes, it will be necessary to add an annotation to your entire site.
This feature is helpful if your website has experienced a significant change, such as a hosting issue, site migration, or leadership change. These events can significantly impact search traffic, so annotating them on your Google Search Console data is a great way to add context to traffic gains and losses.
Content Group Annotation
SEOTesting offers the ability to add annotations to your content groups. These types of annotations will appear when you are viewing content groups but will not appear anywhere else within your SEOTesting account.
This annotation type is useful when an outside event or a change to your site will only impact a certain group of pages you are monitoring within a content group.
How to Add Annotations
Go to the Annotations tab.
Click the 'Add new annotation' button.
Fill in the Annotation details:
The type of annotation you are adding
The page URL, query, or content group you are adding the annotation to
The date you wish to display on your graphs
A name for your annotation
A description for your annotation
Click on 'Create' to finish.
Note: We encourage you to add descriptive information for your annotations to give the maximum context to an annotation on your SEOTesting account. This way, if you return to the annotation in the future, you will know precisely what that particular annotation was referring to.
If you created an annotation but can’t find it, please read our guide about missing annotations.
How to edit an Annotation
Go to the Annotations tab.
Select the Annotation to edit.
Click on the Edit button.
Edit the Annotation and then save the changes.
Updated on: 23/10/2024
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