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SEO Intel Blog · Disclosed first-party proof

Four analytics and Search Console mistakes I found on my own sites

Data going to the wrong business, 698 "sales" that were really 2, a cookie banner describing tracking that was not there, and Google reading a sitemap from May. None of it showed as an error. Here is what I found, and how to check yours.

Daryn Potgieter24 September 20267 minute read
Full disclosure. Every site in this post is mine: my Shopify store Odyssey Camp & Co., this site SEO Intel, and six small free tool sites I run. I own all of them. These are my mistakes, found on my own dashboards, not a customer's.

The short version

Your analytics, Google Ads and Search Console numbers are the evidence behind every decision you make and every pound you spend. On my own sites I found four ways that evidence was wrong: data going to the wrong business, fake sales, a cookie banner that did not match what the site did, and Google reading an out-of-date sitemap. None of them showed up as an error. All four looked fine until I checked.

1. My shop was sending its data to another business's analytics

Shopify's Google and YouTube app had been connected to the wrong Google Analytics property. Every visit and sale on my shop was being recorded in SEO Intel's analytics, not the shop's own. So SEO Intel looked busier than it was, and the shop's own property was missing its history. Nothing flagged it. Both properties just showed numbers.

How to check yours:

  1. Open your site in a private window, view the page source and search for G-. List every measurement ID the page loads.
  2. In Google Analytics, go to Admin, then Data streams, and check that each ID's stream shows your own website address.
  3. On Shopify, open the Google and YouTube app settings and confirm which Google Analytics property it is connected to.

I switched the app to the shop's own property, removed the extra manual tags and noted the date. Numbers before that date in either property cannot be trusted, and I now judge each one only on data from after the fix.

2. Google Ads said 698 sales. There were 2.

A Performance Max campaign on my shop reported 698 conversions in 30 days at a 51.7% conversion rate. Shopify showed 2 real orders. The campaign's "purchase" was a Google Analytics event fired by an old tag every time an ad visitor loaded a page, with no sale value attached. Google's bidding saw hundreds of cheap "sales" and kept buying more of the same traffic: £165.88 in 30 days spent chasing a number that was not real.

How to check yours:

  1. Put the conversions Google Ads reports next to the orders in Shopify for the same dates. They will never match exactly, but they should be close.
  2. In Google Ads, open Goals, then Conversions, and look for anything named like a page load, a basket or a checkout step being counted as a purchase.
  3. In Google Analytics, open Admin, then Key events, and mark only the actions that really matter to your business.

I paused the campaign, removed the old tag from the theme, and cut the shop's key events from eight down to one: purchase. The honest downside: clean tracking did not create sales. It just stopped me paying Google to chase fake ones.

3. My cookie banner described tracking that was not running

My six free tool sites all showed a cookie banner saying they used Google Analytics and ads. Neither was switched on. Both were placeholders in the code that had never been filled in. So the banner was asking people to agree to cookies the sites did not set, and meanwhile nothing was measuring the sites at all. They had around 6,900 appearances in Google search over three months and 4 clicks, and I had no analytics to tell me what those visitors did.

The UK Information Commissioner's Office guidance on cookies: "You must tell people the cookies are there; explain what the cookies are doing and why; and get the person's consent to store a cookie on their device." A banner that describes tools you do not run fails the "explain what the cookies are doing" part. See the ICO guidance.

I switched analytics on for all six sites in their own Google Analytics account, kept apart from my other businesses, and changed the banner to say exactly what happens: Google Analytics cookies to count visits, and no ads. Analytics cookies are only set after someone clicks Accept. With Google's Consent Mode, a visitor who clicks Reject still sends Google an anonymous, cookie-free ping, so the privacy text now says that too.

How to check yours: open your site in a private window, open your browser's developer tools and look at the cookies before and after you click Accept. What loads should match, word for word, what your banner and privacy page say.

4. Google was reading an out-of-date sitemap, or none at all

Search Console showed Google had last read this site's sitemap on 31 May, when it listed 13 pages. The site now has 34. Five of my tool sites had never had a sitemap submitted at all. My shop had three broken sitemap submissions, plus around 200 "not found" errors from 33 old product addresses that had been removed without a redirect.

How to check yours:

  1. In Search Console, open Sitemaps. Look at the Last read date and the Discovered pages count next to each one.
  2. If the date is months old, or the count is well below the number of pages on your site, resubmit.
  3. On Shopify, submit only sitemap.xml. It lists all the others. Submitting the individual product or collection sitemaps directly can return errors.
  4. Whenever you archive or delete a product, add a redirect at the same time, so its old address sends people and Google somewhere useful.

The 10 minute monthly check I now run

  1. Right property: every G- ID on the site belongs to that site's own stream.
  2. Real conversions: Google Ads conversions sit close to real orders for the same month.
  3. Key events: only actions that matter are marked, nothing that fires on a page load.
  4. Honest banner: what loads before and after Accept matches the banner and privacy page.
  5. Fresh sitemap: Search Console read it recently and the page count looks right.
  6. No surprises: Search Console's Security issues and Manual actions pages both say none.

What Search Console cannot tell you

Search Console's Performance report counts how often your pages appeared in Google search and how often they were clicked. It does not count visits, bots, form spam or hacking attempts. If you are worried about suspicious activity, look at Security issues and Manual actions in Search Console, unusual spikes in Google Analytics, and your host's own traffic panel.

Want a second pair of eyes on your store? The free audit runs a Google Merchant Center compliance check alongside your AI Readiness Score, and flags the quiet contradictions between what your store says and what it does. Every finding cites the exact text and the exact policy line.

Sources and references

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Frequently asked questions

How do I know if my Shopify store is sending data to the wrong Google Analytics property?
Open your store in a private window, view the page source and search for G- to list every Google Analytics measurement ID the page loads. Then check each ID in Google Analytics under Admin, Data streams, and confirm the stream's website address is your store. In Shopify, the Google and YouTube app settings show which Google Analytics property it is connected to. Any ID that belongs to a different site is a leak.
Why does Google Ads show far more conversions than my real orders?
Usually because a conversion action is counting something that is not a sale, such as a page load, an add to basket or an imported Google Analytics event with no value. Compare the conversions Google Ads reports with the orders in Shopify for the same dates. If the numbers are far apart, find which conversion action is doing the counting and demote or remove it, so bidding only chases real purchases.
Does my cookie banner have to match what my site actually does?
Yes. The UK regulator's guidance says you must tell people the cookies are there, explain what they are doing and why, and get consent before storing them. A banner that lists tools you do not run, or leaves out ones you do, does not give people accurate information. Check what your pages load before and after someone clicks Accept, and make the wording match.
How do I check whether Google has read my latest sitemap?
In Search Console, open Sitemaps. Each submitted sitemap shows the date Google last read it and how many pages it discovered. If the last read date is months old, or the page count is well below the number of pages on your site, resubmit it. On Shopify, submit only the main sitemap.xml, because it lists all the others.