Evergreen

The Connections section is where Evergreen links up with your external accounts to pull in additional data and enhance its insights. Currently, Evergreen supports connecting to Google Analytics 4 (GA4) and Google Search Console (GSC) – two invaluable sources of information about your site’s performance. By integrating them, Evergreen can incorporate real traffic, engagement, and search data into its analysis and recommendations.

Let’s break down each integration and how to set them up:

1. Google Analytics 4 (GA4) Connection

GA4 provides data on how users visit and behave on your site – pageviews, session duration, bounce rate, conversion events, etc. Evergreen can use this to, for example, show page performance statistics or validate if content changes improve engagement.

How to Connect GA4:

In Project Settings > Connections, find the Google Analytics 4 panel or option. Click the Connect button (it may say “Connect to Google Analytics”).
A popup or new window will open asking you to Sign in with Google. Choose the Google account that has access to your site’s GA4 property. (This might be your work email if it’s tied to GA, or a personal Gmail if you set GA up that way.)
Evergreen will request permission to view your Google Analytics data. You’ll see a list of permissions like “View your Google Analytics data”. Approve these by clicking Allow. (Evergreen only needs read access – it won’t be able to change anything in your Google account.)
After authenticating, you’ll be brought back to Evergreen. Now, you need to select the specific GA4 property (and possibly data stream) that corresponds to this project’s website. If your Google account has multiple Analytics properties, you’ll see a dropdown or list. Choose the property for your site (it will likely be named after your website or app).
Confirm the selection. Once done, Evergreen will establish the connection and start fetching data. You should see the GA4 integration marked as “Connected” or a status indicating a successful link.

What to Expect After Connecting GA4:

Evergreen will import relevant analytics data. This could include metrics like total users, sessions, pageviews per page, top pages, bounce rate, etc.
In the Insights Hub, you might now see a traffic overview (e.g., “1.2k users last 30 days”) and possibly engagement metrics.
In the Pages section, as noted earlier, you might see per-page analytics like how many views each page got in the last period, or maybe an engagement score. This helps you identify which content is performing well or poorly.
Evergreen could also use GA data to contextualize recommendations. For example, if a page has SEO issues but zero visits, it might prioritize a fix on a page with high visits first.
The data refresh frequency: typically, tools fetch GA data daily or on-demand for reports. GA4 data is near real-time for basic metrics, but Evergreen might pull it on a schedule (say once a day).
Disconnecting or Changing GA4: If you need to switch the GA4 property or stop using it, in the Connections area you’d click Disconnect next to Google Analytics. This will revoke Evergreen’s access (and it will stop updating GA data). You can then connect a different property if needed (like if you initially picked the wrong one or moved to a new GA account). Revoking access on the Google side (via your Google account’s security settings) is another step if needed – but simply using Evergreen’s disconnect should suffice for our app’s purposes.

2. Google Search Console (GSC) Connection

Google Search Console offers insights into how your site appears in Google search: the queries people use to find you, your average rankings, click-through rates, and any index coverage or enhancement issues from Google’s perspective. Integrating GSC allows Evergreen to show you SEO performance data straight from Google.

How to Connect GSC:

In the Connections tab, locate Google Search Console and click Connect.
Similar to GA4, a Google sign-in window appears. Use the Google account that has access to your site’s Search Console property. (Important: make sure your site is verified in Search Console under that account. If not, you’ll need to set that up on Google’s end first.)
Grant Evergreen permission to view your Search Console data. You’ll see a request to allow access to Search Console – click Allow.
After authorization, return to Evergreen. Now select the website property from your Search Console profiles. If your Google account manages multiple sites, pick the one corresponding to this project’s URL (it should match the domain you set in General Settings ideally).
Confirm the selection. Evergreen will connect and indicate success (e.g., a “Connected” status next to Search Console).

What to Expect After Connecting GSC:

Evergreen will retrieve search performance data. This typically includes:
Search Queries (Keywords): The top queries that led users to your site, along with impressions (times seen in search), clicks, average position, click-through rate (CTR).

Page Performance in Search: For each page, how many impressions and clicks it got from Google search, and for which queries (to some extent).

Index Coverage Issues: If Google has trouble indexing some pages (like found some 404s, or pages blocked by robots.txt, etc.), Evergreen might surface those. Possibly under SEO Insights or a special section.

Core Web Vitals Field Data: GSC provides a Page Experience report (with field data on CWV – how real users experience your site). Evergreen might integrate that in Performance Insights to complement its lab tests. For example, it might highlight “Google reports poor LCP for 20% of users on page X” even if in lab it looked okay, so you know the real-world situation.
In the Insights Hub or SEO Insights, you could see overall search clicks and impressions for the last 28 days, your average position, etc. It’s a nice way to gauge SEO progress without leaving the app.
On specific Pages, you might see how many clicks each page got from search, or maybe its top keyword.
Search Query Analysis: Evergreen might add functionality to query this data, like asking Eve “What keywords is my homepage ranking for?” and since GSC is connected, it could answer with actual data.
Data refresh: Search Console data usually updates daily with a ~2-day lag. Evergreen likely pulls new data daily or when you request. Just note it won’t be up-to-the-minute – it’s based on Google’s provided data.
Disconnecting GSC: If needed, click Disconnect by the Search Console integration. This stops Evergreen from accessing that data (and you might lose that data in the interface). You can reconnect later if you change your mind (you might need to re-authorize if the token expired). Ensure to also remove access via Google account permissions if you want to fully revoke.

Best Practices & Tips for Connections:

Make sure the Google account you use has the correct permissions. For GA4, you need at least Viewer access to the property. For GSC, you need to be a verified owner or full user of that site property.
If you are an agency or working on a client’s project, you might need them to grant you access to their GA4 or GSC first, or have them log in during the connection step.
After connecting, give it some time for initial data sync. If you don’t see data immediately, it might be processing. Check back in a little while.
Double-check that the data showing in Evergreen makes sense (e.g., the traffic numbers roughly match what you see in GA4 for that period, etc.). Small discrepancies can happen if time zones differ or if Evergreen is focusing on certain segments, but it should be generally consistent.
Use the enriched insights: With these connections, Evergreen becomes much more powerful. For instance, you can prioritize SEO fixes based on pages with high impressions but low CTR (data from GSC), or identify content gaps by seeing queries with lots of impressions but no dedicated page (hint to create new content).
Security: Evergreen uses read-only access, and you can revoke it anytime. It stores some data to display trends to you. The app’s privacy policy (not covered here) would detail how your connected data is used. Generally, only integrate what you’re comfortable with and disconnect if you no longer use the project.

Other Integrations: At the moment, GA4 and GSC are the main ones in scope. Evergreen might add more in the future (like Google Docs for content, or social media analytics, etc.), but if they do, they would appear in this Connections area too. The process would be analogous – authenticate and authorize, then data flows in.

By connecting these services, Evergreen becomes a central hub for both your content planning and performance monitoring. It bridges the gap between planning content and seeing results. The setup might take a few minutes, but the payoff is huge in insights and time saved switching between tools. Happy integrating!