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Big blow for web analytics: Google search is going secure and along the way hiding all referrer data

Google search is currently in the process of beta testing a secure search, check it out yourself at https://www.google.com.
 
Even though this might be commendable from a privacy perspective, the move could potentially have devastating effects for all search marketers and online analysts. Turning the normal Google search results into secure pages will essentially hide all usage information including the referrer string which contains data on the used search term. So if you would like to know what keywords are driving your business, you're out of luck. For all secure searches, standard analytics software packages will no longer be able to see the what domain referred the visitor (i.e. search engine) and what search term was used (see screen shots below).
 
It's rumoured that China may be part of the motivation for the switch as this will prevent filtering of certain keyword searches as well as the ability to packet sniff the usage of Google. The switch hasn't rolled out in Hong Kong yet, but you can safely assume it won't be too far away!
 
For more information check out the following Google and Wired articles.
http://www.google.com/support/websearch/bin/answer.py?answer=173733&hl=en
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/05/google-https-search/

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Filed under  //   china   encrypted   google   hamish ogilvy   https   keywords   privacy   search   sem   seo   ssl   web   web analytics  
Posted by Hamish Ogilvy 

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Google Webmaster Tools gets more transparent, now shows impressions and clicks by result position

In case you didn't catch it, Google Webmaster Tools recently deployed a VERY useful new feature. You can now break your sites search traffic down by the query keywords and also your position in the results. These new stats show how many times you appeared in the results for a given search (impressions) and also how you performed (clicks and CTR). The data also breaks down which pages the users were sent to on your site.

You wouldn't have to be Einstein to know Google is definitely using this information to adjust search result rankings. It's bringing more of an adwords style performance metric into the search algorithm. If people love clicking your link, then it's probably a good result for that search. This type of adjustment obviously helps to weed out crap results, but if it's a well formed result listing to a bad site it may not matter too much (Note: that's likely where Chrome and/or Google Analytics usage data are integrated)

Below shows how the Datalicious web site is performing for the search term "osama bin laden" (Note: We were surprised to see we somehow get traffic off this term too!). For a given query you can see the traffic, and the click through rates for each position. This is not a fantastic example as the click through is too low to compare, but for high traffic terms you will notice wild variations in the click through percentage of each position in the search results. 


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Filed under  //   clicks   CTR   google   hamish ogilvy   impressions   position   query   seo   tools   webmaster  
Posted by Hamish Ogilvy 

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Tynt: Leveraging the copying and pasting of your website content for search optimisation

Tynt is an interesting piece of technology that deals with people copying text from your web site. The software essentially adds a backlink to the copied text that is also trackable. The result is that when people copy the text, more often that not they will also paste your link.
 
The benefits of this technology are pretty obvious, more back links which increases traffic and aids SEO, as well as additional analytics to help you better understand your site content.
 
The company has a patent pending on the technology and it is apparently already used by thousands of sites. It is free and the total javascript payload is only approximately 12k. Worth a try, particularly for content rich sites ... 
 
For more details, see http://www.tynt.com/
 

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Filed under  //   analytics   copy   hamish ogilvy   link   paste   seo   software   tools   traffic   tynt  
Posted by Hamish Ogilvy 

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Google is testing new search results page layout making vertical and local options more prominent

Using Firefox, Safari and Chrome at the same time I sometimes come across some interesting a/b tests and this time it's Google. Looks like the search giant is experimenting with a new search results page design making the local and vertical search customisation options more prominent than before, i.e. the left hand pane is open by default rather than hidden and a location auto-detect function has been added.

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Filed under  //   ab   christian bartens   google   sem   seo   serp   testing   trends  

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WooRank: Free SEO analysis and report

Just came across the below tool which generates some really nice SEO reports outlining what is working well and what could still be improved for each website.

Have a look at our blog report below for a sample, looks like Posterous is doing ok but could still improve some things.

http://www.woorank.com/en/www/blog.datalicious.com

(download)

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Filed under  //   analytics   christian bartens   data   ranking   seo   tools  

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New Google Webmaster tool features including site performance and download speed tests

Looks like Google has given its webmaster tool a makeover and added a few new features with lots more data available now on search terms, back links and internal links.

Not necessarily new but still very useful are the crawl stats on how long it took Google to download a page from your site which makes performance benchmarking and basic speed testing available for everyone now.

For more information on how to add this to your own website visit
http://www.google.com/webmasters/

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Filed under  //   christian bartens   crawler   download   google   google webmaster   seo   speed   test   tools  

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Simplot: Omniture SiteCatalyst delivering advanced user preference insights from new recipe website

Challenge

Implement, maintain and manage an advanced web analytics platform to optimise media designed to driving website subscriptions and generate additional customer preference insights.

Solution

Design, implementation and ongoing management of Omniture web analytics platform across Simplot’s set of brand and recipe websites. The final solution enabled Simplot to enrich and verify their user profiles with website behavioural data, feeding into other research projects including the development of more accurate customer segments.

Results
 
Insights generated online are used by Simplot’s test kitchen team on an ongoing basis to further their understanding of the target market and actively shape the company’s product development strategy. Web analytics data has not only helped to improve the company’s search marketing performance leading to a significant increase in its recipe subscribers but also to analyse user preferences regarding recipes and ingredients as well as brands by customer segment. 
 
http://www.simplygreatmeals.com.au/

   
Click here to download:
Simplot_tag_clients_omniture_w.zip (1111 KB)

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Filed under  //   christian bartens   clients   fmcg   implementation   omniture   organic   search   seo   sitecatalyst   web analytics  

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Conductor report: Fortune 500 companies fail at SEO

This is really quite sad to read, why throw money at Google if you could get the same for free? What's holding you back? Email Chris at cbartens@datalicious.com if you want to know how to accurately attribute sales back to paid and organic channels and firmly establish SEO as cost center for your company.

Fortune 500 companies fail at search engine optimization, and many still don't link paid-search keywords to SEO campaigns, although they collectively spend about $3.4 million daily on 97,559 keywords, according to a report.

The Conductor Research Q4/2009 Fortune 500 Report released Wednesday identifies that only 25% of those keywords rank in the top 50 natural search results on search engines such as Google, Microsoft Bing or Yahoo.

Download the full Conductor report here
http://www.conductor.com/resource-center/research/natural-search-trends-fortune-500-q4-2009

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Filed under  //   christian bartens   conductor   fortune 500   mediapost   performance   sem   seo  

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Case study: Making Vodafone datalicious using SiteCatalyst, Test&Target and SearchCenter

Challenge

Implement, maintain and manage an end-to-end analytics and online optimisation platform designed to increase media effectiveness and website conversion as well as overall user experience. 

Solution

Design, implementation and ongoing management of advanced Omniture analytics and online optimisation platform across all Vodafone website properties in general and the online store in particular. The final solution combined data from various different sources, measuring performance across multiple channels above and below the line as well as visitor behaviour down to an individual customer level, both online and through call centres. By combining data sets and technologies that were separate up until then, Datalicious was able to generate additional insights, eliminate inefficiencies and execute highly targeted campaigns which were previously impossible.

Results

Advanced analytics and multi-channel media attribution enabled us to deliver a 400% return on investment on paid search in the highly competitive Telco market and establish organic search as a profitable cost centre. Identification of existing customers allowed us to save 30% of the annual display-advertising budget dedicated to acquisition messaging, which was essentially being wasted on already existing customers and re-purpose it for brand and self-service messaging. The addition of targeting parameters and coordination of on and off page re-targeting campaigns increased response rates by 25% on average. The planning and execution of an online testing strategy increased the visit to sale conversion rate by 5%. All of the above measures combined delivered an approximate return on investment on advanced analytics of over 600%.

Testimonials

“I’ve been working with SiteCatalyst for over six years, 3 years as a customer and 3 years as an employee, consulting to some of our largest customers around the world. The current Vodafone implementation of SiteCatalyst is one of the most impressive I have seen and ranks in the top 10 [globally] from my perspective. It is an amazing foundation for taking action on the data and improving online return on investment.” Adam Greco, Team Lead Business Consulting at Omniture.

“The Datalicious guys are great to work along side and to have on your team. They have a 'no stone unturned' approach to finding solutions to challenges that come up and were at ease working with different providers. Their knowledge and passion for web analytics and best of breed web optimisation was second to none. The advise on best practice use of the Omniture suite and how to make it work for me personally and Vodafone as a whole made the learning and training of others easy. I would thoroughly recommend Datalicious to anyone and they will be my first point of call.” Steve Brown, Senior Business Analyst, Vodafone

(download)

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Filed under  //   case studies   christian bartens   clients   implementation   news   omniture   optimization   roi   search   sem   seo   sitecatalyst   test&target   testimonials   testing   vodafone   web analytics  

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Oye Modern: Effective search and optimisation strategy backed by powerful analytics

Background
 
Oye Modern is a specialist online retailer of unique jewellery, stocking a range of designer pieces from DJ turntable rings with real vinyl, to sterling silver necklaces styled as crisp pencil shavings. Traditionally the site generated the majority of it’s business via online word of mouth from blogs, social media, and other online communities recommending her products. There was also a limited paid search program that was failing to deliver cost effective conversions and needed some love.
 
http://www.oyemodern.com/
 
Challenge
 
With a budget of $5,000, Oye Modern wanted to ramp up sales and visibility to capitalise on the pre-Christmas period. Datalicious was engaged to stretch this limited budget as far as possible, leading us to think outside the box and employing analytics to show return on investment.
 
Solution
 
With such a small budget, traditional media channels were ruled out quickly and Datalicious looked at how we can use proven tactics within low and zero cost environments such as organic search, social media and complimentary sites, together with tactics to optimise the website experience and messaging to achieve Oye Modern’s objectives.
 
Partner with website Daily Addict which has a small but affluent following in Sydney with a good social-demographic match to customers that had previously purchased. The partnership involved Daily Addict producing video editorial featuring jewellery tips from Oye Modern, and was distributed via social media and emails to followers.
 
Optimisations to the site for organic search by creating additional pages, improving internal linking and simple changes to site copy. Add several proven conversion optimisations to the website such as free shipping, a gift guide and improved messaging about delivery and returns.
 
A small paid search campaign in higher converting countries targeting product related keywords. This campaign was designed to generate learnings and continue to run as a profit centre after the Christmas campaign finished.
 
The Oye Modern team, together with our Datalicious planner Leila Hassan, executed all of the recommendations brilliantly and quickly within budget (excluding labour by their internal team) and put Oye Modern in the best possible position to capitalise on the Christmas gift giving frenzy.
 
Results
 
All marketing efforts combined produced a sales increase of over 400% from the normal baseline sales results of which at least 30% could be directly attributed to paid search managed by Datalicious. 
Organic search increased 100% with almost twice the volume of visitors compared to the pre-campaign baseline - with many top 3 rankings for product terms, particularly the top selling products and names of designers.
 
Searches for “oye modern” (branded searches) increased significantly, together with a much higher conversion rate - it was great to see how the other activity produced an uplift in branded search.
 
The Daily Addict editorial was well received, generating several YouTube honours for being one of the top viewed in it’s category during the campaign, together with positive anecdotal feedback via email and social media comments.
 
With this campaign behind us now, we look forward to looking at new and interesting ways to continue to increase sales for Oye Modern, and allow Jeni the founder to leave her day job and put all her focus towards selling this wonderful and original jewellery to the world.
 
Testimonials
 
"The SEM campaign that Datalicious put in place significantly increased our sales over the Christmas period and also introduced us to new markets we hadn't actively pursued before. The Datalicious team are smart, fun and an enjoyable bunch of people to work with." Jennie Oye, Director.

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Filed under  //   christian bartens   clients   google analytics   jewelry   oye modern   paid   search   sem   seo   testimonials   web analytics  

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