Many SEOs have mixed feelings about Google Analytics… while it is regarded as being the best analytics tool, there are some who don’t use it because it is Google.  Likewise, there are some SEOs that do use it, especially for popular sites, for the sole reason that they feel Google is using the information for ranking purposes.

This was one of the many questions raised by Danny Sullivan at SMX Advanced earlier this month during the Google AMA with Gary Illyes.

Gary Illyes was quite emphatic in his response that Google does not use any kind of Analytics data with their ranking.  “We don’t use that,” he said.  He then put his hand on his heart and said, “I can do this and say that we don’t use Google Analytics.”

In the same conversation, Illyes also said they do not use click data from the search results in ranking either.

When it comes to Google rankings, many are always looking for signs that Google is using data from one of its other products, whether Google Analytics, AdWords, AdSense, Google+ or any of the other many products they offer.  They have previously said that the use of AdWords or AdSense has no bearing on   But according to Google, they do not use Analytics in their rankings.

 Added: Adam Singer from Google Analytics also confirmed it.