Understanding the Analytics Dashboard
The Analytics Dashboard helps you measure the impact of your content updates and identify which articles have the greatest potential to attract more traffic. It combines data from Google Search Console with FreshRank's analysis to show you:
- Traffic Potential: Which articles could gain the most clicks with improvements
- Performance Tracking: How your updated articles are performing after you publish changes
Prerequisites
Before you can use the Analytics Dashboard, you need to:
- Connect Google Search Console - The dashboard relies entirely on GSC data
- Run Prioritization - Click "Prioritize" in your main dashboard at least once to calculate traffic scores
If you haven't completed these steps, you'll see a warning message with a button to connect Google Search Console.
How to Access the Dashboard
Navigate to FreshRank AI → Analytics in your WordPress admin menu.
What You'll See
The Analytics Dashboard has two main sections:
1. Traffic Potential Breakdown (Top 20 Articles)
This table shows your top 20 articles ranked by current traffic (clicks). For each article, you can see:
- How many clicks it's currently getting
- How many additional clicks you could gain by improving it
- Its priority score (higher = more urgent to update)
The traffic potential is calculated using industry-standard click-through rate (CTR) benchmarks based on search position. Articles ranking higher have higher CTR expectations.
2. Updated Articles Performance
This section tracks how your approved updates are performing. Once you approve a draft and publish changes, FreshRank automatically:
- Captures a "before" snapshot of the article's performance
- Collects daily "after" snapshots for 30 days
- Shows you the changes in clicks, impressions, CTR, and position
Note: This section will be empty until you approve your first draft. You'll see a message: "No Updated Articles Yet" with instructions to get started.
How Data is Collected
FreshRank automatically refreshes your analytics data:
- Daily Updates: Every day at 3:00 AM, FreshRank fetches fresh data from Google Search Console
- 30-Day Tracking: Performance tracking runs for 30 days after you approve a draft
- Rate Limiting: There's a built-in delay between API requests to respect Google's limits
Important: You cannot manually refresh the data. The system updates automatically each night.
Common Questions
Q: Why don't I see any data? Make sure you've connected Google Search Console and clicked "Prioritize" at least once. The Analytics Dashboard cannot function without GSC data.
Q: How often does the data update? Analytics data refreshes once per day at 3:00 AM. Changes you make today won't appear until tomorrow's update.
Q: Can I track articles I updated before installing FreshRank? No. Performance tracking only begins when you approve a draft through FreshRank. Articles updated outside of FreshRank won't appear in the tracking section.