Anomaly Wizard

What is it?

The Anomaly Wizard is a scan you run from Advanced Analytics. An anomaly is a number that changed much more than usual. The start screen says Find what changed — and why it matters.

Runs 50+ checks across GA4 and Search Console, comparing this period against the one immediately before it. The focus is squarely on SEO signals — organic sessions, rankings, landing pages, queries — with LLM referral traffic checked as a secondary signal.

Why use it?

• To find problems fast, without reading every report.
• To catch data problems, such as tracking gaps or spam hostnames, before you trust a number.
• To get a list of findings sorted by how serious they are.

Before you start

Connect GA4 and Search Console. Pick the date range you want to check. The scan always compares it with the preceding period, even if Compare is off or set to last year.

How to use it

1. Open the tab

   In Advanced Analytics, click Anomaly Wizard. The header shows your project name and dates.

2. Pick your dates

   Choose the range in the date picker first. Changing the range later resets the wizard.

3. Run the scan

   Click Run Anomaly Scan. You see Running 50+ checks across GA4 + GSC… and progress messages.

4. Review the findings

   Start with Critical, then Warning. Click a finding to see its numbers.

5. Run again

   After fixing something, or on new dates, click Re-run scan.

Understanding the screen

Prism

Screenshot coming soon

What gets checked

1. Organic sessions, users, engagement & conversions (GA4)
2. Clicks, impressions, CTR & average position (GSC)
3. Per-page and per-query regressions vs. the prior period
4. Spam / mirror hostname detection
5. Campaign & traffic-source anomalies
6. Data-integrity guards (impossible values, tracking gaps)
7. LLM referral traffic — checked, but a secondary signal here

A "regression" here means a page or query that got worse than in the prior period. Page and query checks look at your top 20 landing pages, pages and queries.

Results summary

The top of the results shows checkpoints run, findings to review, and a coloured count for each of Critical, Warning and Info. findings to review does not count Healthy results.

Severity labels

Some examples of the rules:

A big rise in a good number, such as organic sessions up 60% or more, shows as Healthy.

Finding groups

Each group shows how many findings it has. Click a group to open or close it. See LLM referral traffic.

Finding details

Each finding has a title, a short description and a tag such as GA4, GSC or Data Quality. Click a finding with an arrow to see more. You may see:

• Small boxes such as Current period, Previous period and Change.
• A table, for example a list of hostnames.

Example

For example, you scan the last 28 days. Setup & Data Quality shows a Warning about sessions on other hostnames. SEO — GA4 & Search Console shows a Critical finding about clicks falling for some pages. Check the hostname list on the Analytics screen first, then open those pages in SEO Root Cause Analysis.

Tips

• Run the scan once a week on the last 7 days to catch problems early.
• Read Setup & Data Quality first. If the data is wrong, the SEO findings may be wrong too.
• To find growth ideas instead of problems, use the Opportunity Finder.

Common issues