Connect GA4 + Google Search Console (FR-035)

[jmservera]

Parent epic: #594
PRD: docs/prds/claracle-data-observatory-relaunch.md — FR-035 · NFR-007/008
Wave: 1 (Foundation) · Type: Chore
Primary owner: Zapp (SEO) · Co-owner: jmservera (account access) · Reviewers: Hermes (privacy/consent)

Discovery must be measurable. Connect Google Analytics 4 and Google Search Console for the production domain and capture the near-zero launch baseline.

Dependencies

• Blocked by: none — start immediately (needs jmservera for Google account verification).
• Blocks: measurement of every other issue's impact (soft).
• Parallel with: everything.

How to work this issue (in order)

1. Research — Zapp: Confirm the production domain vs. hugo.toml baseURL (currently https://claracle.com/) and that params.ga_measurement_id is empty.
2. Plan — Zapp + Hermes: Decide GA4 wiring that respects the existing cookie-consent flow (data/cookieconsent.json); plan GSC verification method (DNS or HTML tag).
3. Implement — Zapp: Set ga_measurement_id, ensure GA4 loads only after consent, submit the Hugo sitemap to GSC.
4. Verify — jmservera: Complete GSC property verification (owner action).
5. Baseline — Zapp: Capture a dated snapshot of sessions/sources/query impressions (near-zero) to anchor the KPI trend line; note it in docs/growth/.
6. Privacy review — Hermes: Confirm analytics is consent-gated and no PII is collected.
7. PR — Zapp: branch squad/599-ga4-gsc, PR referencing this issue; request review from Leela + Hermes.

Acceptance criteria

• GA4 receiving data (consent-gated); GSC property verified and sitemap submitted.
• Dated baseline snapshot recorded.

Likely files

• hugo.toml (ga_measurement_id), consent partial/layout, docs/growth/ baseline note.

[github-actions]

📋 Assigned to Zapp (SEO Specialist)

Issue: #599 — Connect GA4 + Google Search Console (FR-035)

Zapp will pick this up in the next Copilot session.

For Copilot coding agent: If enabled, this issue will be worked automatically.
Otherwise, start a Copilot session and say:
Zapp, work on issue #599

[github-actions]

📋 Marked as release:backlog — assign a release target when ready.