Post on 10-Sep-2014
description
transcript
ANALYTICS FOR SEO
Dan Shure
Owner/consultant at Evolving SEO
SEOmoz Associate@dan_shure
http://bitly.com/mp-analytics
Analytics is like…
Gardening. Cute.
A two-way mirror.
An X-Ray. Clever.
Ahhh sports.
Huh?
What?!
A… Drag Queen?!
Let’s start over.
Analytics…
Analytics Provides Data
(Should) Help Make Decisions
vs. ?
(Should) Measure Effectiveness
Stock Photo Warning
Justifies Decisions Budgets
Justifies Decisions Budgets
“Here’s your budget.”
- Cheesy stock photo guy
But It’s Hard Work.
Why is it hard work?
Because analytics is like…
Analytics Is Like Buying Furniture At Ikea.
Useless Until Assembled
We’ve Made Progress
Analytics Used To Be Like THIS.
Confusing.
Analytics Used To Be THIS.
Poor data.
Then Came This…
We Can Still Do Better…
Default reports not actionable.
Analytics For SEO
Verify Analytics Code
Use Screaming Frog Custom Filters To Check For Code - @rachaelgersonhttp://www.seerinteractive.com/blog/screaming-frog-to-verify-google-analytics
Verify Analytics Code
Use Browser PluginsAnalytics Debugger - http://bit.ly/Pw18sf
Verify Analytics Code
Use Browser PluginsAnalytics Helper - http://bit.ly/XbyJuL
Use Three Profiles
Filter Internal Traffic
Range Of IP Address Toolhttp://support.google.com/analytics/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1034771
Filter Internal Traffic
Using RegEx from the tool, paste into a custom filter.
Increase Sample Size – Site Speed Data
10 is 10% sample rate. Can go up to 100% (although not recommended for very large sites).
Sharing Customizations Is Hard
Do you want to cut and paste all of these segments just to share them?
Managing Accounts With Chrome Logins
Create Chrome Login for each client. Access analytics, WMT, G Docs all from one account/Chrome Login.
Managing Accounts With Chrome Logins
http://www.koozai.com/blog/search-marketing/seo-resources/my-top-tip-for-managing-multiple-seo-clients-browser-accounts/
Set Up Site Search
Finding the query parameter – perform a search on the site and look at URL.
Set Up Site Search
Go to admin->Profile Settings->Scroll Down
Set Up Site Search
Go to content->site search->search terms
Lame.
Custom Report – Top Level
First Level – Visits With/Without Site Search
Custom Report = Super Action-ability
Find high bounce / exit search terms. CREATE that content.
Segment Branded Keywords
Default segment: not totally worthless but close.
Segment Brand Keywords
Create advanced segment (this brand name is a simple example).
Brand Name:VacuumSpot
Segment Non-Brand Keywords
EXCLUDE brand names segment – to measure only generic keywords.
Brand Name:VacuumSpot
Organic Search NEW Non-Brand Acquisition From Google
Brand Name:VacuumSpot
Measure Social Media Traffic(?)
Default GA Social Traffic View
How many of these are actually “social networks”?
Measure Social Media Traffic(?)
Would you call this “social media”?
Segment Social Media TrafficBuild your own social media segment.
Don’t forget short URLs (ie: t.co)
Use this segment as a starting point.http://bit.ly/RzKHdX
Segment # of Keywords In Search
1 Word Searcheshttp://bit.ly/SqSR6j
2 Word Searcheshttp://bit.ly/PwbGrk
3 Word Searcheshttp://bit.ly/WnlUOO
4+ Word Searcheshttp://bit.ly/PPRdPD
RegEx for one word searches - ^\s*[^\s]+(\s+[^\s]+){0}\s*$
More on Avinash’s post - http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/advanced-analytics-visitor-segments-engagement-social-media-search-long-tail/
Site Section Performance – Case Study
Which of these should they do more of? Less of?
Site Section Performance – Case Study
What’s bringing the most traffic for the least effort?
Site Section Performance – Case Study
www.admissionsquest.com
Data Needed:
1. Site sections – Screaming Frog
2. Number of pages indexed each section – Google queries
3. Number of Google visits each section – analytics
Site Section Performance – Case Study
www.admissionsquest.com
Desired End Metric -> Visits From Google Per Pages In Section
Site Section Performance – Case Study
First crawl the site with Screaming Frog. Export HTML to csv.
Site Section Performance – Case Study
In Excel, tag each section (and sub-sections if you want) of the site.
Site Section Performance – Case Study
Hopefully you’ll have about 8-12 main sections.
Site Section Performance – Case Study
Find out how many are indexed for each section with advanced queries. (Might be tricky if site doesn’t have good URL structure)
Site Section Performance – Case Study
Put in spreadsheet – site sections and how many pages indexed per section.
Site Section Performance – Case Study
Create segments for EACH section in analytics. Organic Google traffic only.
Site Section Performance – Case Study
Apply segment to get number of visits from Google.
Site Section Performance – Case Study
Add number of visits to spreadsheet.Divide Visits by Pages Indexed =(C2/D2)
Site Section Performance – Case Study
Graph It. Long form evergreen articles perform amazingly well compared to blogging.
Problem: Four User States
1.Not logged in / not paying2.Logged in / not paying3.Logged in / paid4.Admin
Use Custom Variables - User States
https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/gajs/gaTrackingCustomVariables
Use Custom Variables - User States
Original setup – not ideal.
Use Custom Variables - User States
Reference: http://net.tutsplus.com/tutorials/other/quick-tip-the-power-of-google-analytics-custom-variables/
Improved setup
Use An End To End Report
http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/actionable-web-analytics-custom-reports-advanced-segments/
AcquisitionHow they found you
SourceKeyword
BehaviorWhat they did
BouncesPages/visit
OutcomeWhat happened
TransactionsPer visit value
Use An End To End Custom Report
(Note: yes, I meant acquisition – whoops!)
http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/actionable-web-analytics-custom-reports-advanced-segments/
So Let’s Review
Analytics is could be like…
…assembled Ikea furniture.
@dan_shure
Owner/consultant at Evolving SEO
SEOmoz Associate@dan_shure
http://bitly.com/mp-analytics
Q&A