To all of those marketing directors looking for a way to measure social media – Google just gave you a gift this week. You can now track the behavior of your visitors that originate from one or more of the many social media channels all thanks to the new Google+1 reporting. For example, following the navigation patterns of people who originate from Facebook could uncover the fact that they are more engaged with your site and are actually looking for specific information – perhaps information that you may need to add more of but never thought relevant before. This offers an opportunity to engage more visitors, giving them what they want and potentially lead to more sales (which of course you can measure in Google Analytics). Understanding the origination of the visitors could impact how and where you place your budget in 2012.
Oh and of course, I am particularly excited about this because it takes some of the mystery out of social media traffic.
Have your marketing analyst read all about the technical details on Search Engine Land:
Today is the day Facebook, Google, Yahoo! and others will be switching over to IPv6 [Internet Protocol version 6) for the next 24 hours – it’s a test drive. And if you are able to read this blog chances are the switch over actually worked.
Why is this important? Well the world is running out of IP addresses on its current network protocol, IPv4. Or in simple translation…our current Internet tubes are full and we need to open up a new tube before all the tubes become clogged. So the major search players are experimenting today to help get websites ready for the switch.
We will be actively watching for signals of issues for all our clients. Many businesses are dependent upon the Internet and hopefully today will be uneventful as the Internet gods work the kinks out of this switch. So if you experience an issue, there actually is a logical answer today.
For the real geeky details check out this article:
Google just announced another way they will charge you when searchers click on the directions found on some AdWords ads. Advertisers do have an opt out option of having their driving directions appear to avoid these charges.
So why is Google doing this? I suspect that they have been watching the patterns of searchers and there has been a rise in people clicking on driving directions and phone numbers via mobile search (a signal of the increase in mobile search). Another revenue model for Google and another way for advertisers to increase traffic to their businesses. So this could be a good thing, but see for yourself! Check your metrics in Google Analytics of course first before making any changes.
Google says “You can see the number of clicks on directions in the same place as your other click metrics (select Segment, then Click type from your summary tables). You can review the performance of these clicks to determine if they’re helping you meet your marketing goals.”
In our open team environment, often there could be two or more analysts working to solve an interesting SEO, Paid Search or Google Analytics question. Deep discussions about the latest algorithm shift can take over entire afternoons. The benefit to this is that you have a few more intelligent perspectives..which inspires innovation and ultimately a solution for the client that increases ROI by a substantial amount. Simply batting ideas around with each other can do all this…oh yes!
Our Director of Happiness shared this wonderful video of her kittens with me and it dawned on me as I watched it how fundamentally it illustrates the ways two analysts work together.
The ball represents the ideas analysts respectfully share with each other. Openly and uninhibitedly jumping on the solution. These kittens have it all figured out! (Of course these are Dunrie’s kittens…doesn’t surprise me:).
If you are a Fortune 1000 company, chances are you actively use attribution management to justify spend in the many marketing channels that are being used to drive leads or sales through your site. (And if you are not, its time to jump on this or you will be left behind.)
What is attribution management? It’s the science of measuring and analyzing the marketing touch points that your target market produces before they turn into a true conversion. With this information intelligent decisions can be made by analysts on which specific channels, within your marketing strategy provides the best return on investment. For example, an email campaign then a newsletter and a specific paid search ad (in that order) may be the best plan for increasing leads for your specific product. You can prove it…your analytics says so!
Now Google Analytics v5 (still in beta) will be giving us more ways to slice your data and understand how your conversions come to be. Search Engine Land provides a great review of the main highlights of Cross-Media Funnels and the reports available. I am particularly excited about this because it offers a chance for marketing analysts to use Google Analytics to answer more questions around which channels are assisting to help make a conversion reality. In the video below Google does a nice job describing it like it is a basketball game with team members assisting each other to score. Go team!
Understanding how many marketing channels assist in your conversions will help you analyze conversion behavior. And at the end of the day if you can repeat what is working faster than your competition…guess who wins the game.
Have you ever thought about how many people are searching for your product or service at this very moment? Do they find you or are they finding your competitors, the companies that have optimized their web site to be found for the right keyphrases at the right moment.
Keeping the sales pipeline bursting with sales opportunities is important right? Each day your company may have the most amazing sales team making calls, setting up meetings, delivering proposals, and closing deals. Your marketing team is responsible for generating many of the leads to keep your sales team scoring sales.
When you look at your leads pie chart 1/4 may come from the web site, another 1/4 from your carefully chosen tradeshows, 1/4 from direct inquiry, and another 1/4 from a referral. These leads are filtered to your sales team so they can qualify and find the leads that will deliver ultimate value to your company.
This is a typical cycle I have seen for several years now. Of course the pie chart varies…and ideally it would be fantastic if you could have 3/4 of your leads coming from the web site you are so proud of and have been working so hard at branding and developing for the past year. WHAT IF…most of the leads were coming from organic search results. You remember that search engine results section where you don’t have to pay Google for placement but is extremely challenging to attain. Radical thought…I know…but it’s possible right?
Just in case you need to convince yourself that you are missing opportunities run a keyphrase check with Google’s keyword tool and see how many searches have been performed in the last month for your favorite keyphrase. Then compare how well you rank for your special words on Google. Look at all that competition – out of all those listings there will be one chosen. And you know one thing for sure, you were not chosen. But what if you could have taken even 5% of those searches. So what can you do about it now?
Competition is growing and staying on top naturally continues to grow more challenging. Everyday there is an exciting new search engine update like the very recent Google’s Farmer aka Panda update. This update pushed many web sites with low-quality content off the first page – and all due to poor content. Now that the spammers are out of the way, you need to seize the moment and start developing great content for the difficult topics you have been targeting since day one of your strategy. Timing is everything! The door is wide open to great opportunities – start writing!
PS. Our clients did not experience any setbacks from the Panda update because our wonderful team ensures their content is original and relevant at all times! Gooo Team!!
Posted by Linda Girard at 03:20 pm | Friday, October 1st, 2010 | Filed in SEO
We really feel its important to learn, share, and repeat in order to grow as knowledge workers. It’s also very important to our clients that they know we are on top of the latest search engine marketing (SEM) strategies. Therefore, we support industry conferences like SMX East because it gives us a chance to challenge like-minded individuals about the world of SEM.
So I really want to introduce you to one of our amazing analysts, Jeremy Lopatin. We are sending him to SMX East on Monday because he wants to arm wrestle with a few other analysts on the topic of SEO. Using my convenient mobile device – – I took a spontaneous video of him this morning on why SMX East is the place to be on Monday.
You have heard the excitement by now about Google Instant – the new development where Google is reading your mind – predicting what you really want faster. What does this mean for your SEO strategy?
Google Instant is not going to change your rankings, which means that the fundamentals of SEO still apply. The words you decide to use on your site and in your paid search campaigns have just become even more important. Remember, your web site persona needs to match your user persona. This includes the language and words used on each page. You have to be on page one for these important words or you will not reap the rewards of Google Instant.
Long-term user experience could be affected. The way users search may change based on what Google thinks they should be searching for. The top keywords tend to be the top brands – when you type “T” you immediately see Target…subconsciously I have to believe this affects your thought process…or interrupts it if you are not totally focused.
When I see the word “Target” I immediately revert to that never-ending shopping list in my head…wonderful for Target but not great for their competitors or for the letter “T” which my daughter will now be programmed to think the letter “T” stands for Target when she searches on Google.
You can turn this feature off. In the screen shot, if you gaze over to the right of the search box the option is available. I wonder how many people will turn it off?
Our analysts will be avidly watching how Google Instant affects conversion rates and user behavior over the next few months. So please stay tuned!
Ever wonder if your Facebook Fan Page could appear in a search result on Google? Your dreams have come true…if you use Google’s Real Time Search you will now also see Facebook Fan Page posts included.
According to Search Engine Land’s Danny Sullivan, Real Time Search also includes:
* Twitter tweets
* Google News links
* Google Blog Search links
* Newly created web pages
* Freshly updated web pages
* FriendFeed updates
* Jaiku updates
* Identi.ca updates
* TwitArmy updates
* Google Buzz posts
* MySpace updates
* Facebook fan page updates
So what does this mean for your company? Because you have to know about selecting the “show options” link on your Google search results page. I would like to see the statistics on how many people are selecting it, and actually using the Real Time Search Results. I have a feeling it is under utilized because it is so new, however time will tell!
I am a big believer that the Internet is a tool that needs to be used more for the good of mankind. Watching the Haiti trauma unfold before my eyes on Twitter and Facebook, listening to the connections between survivors, loved ones and lost ones – it made me think about how the Internet has no borders. Humans all over the world build applications to help others survive disaster. Here are a few great examples that I found:
Connecting Vital Resources to the Haitian Victims
1. As you are reading this blog post, a volunteer organization called Ushahidi is helping survivors connect and communicate with the outside world. Ushahidi is a free open source project comprised of developers from Kenya, Ghana, South Africa, Malawi, Netherlands and the USA. Their engine is a platform that allows anyone to gather distributed data via SMS, email or web and visualize it on a map or timeline. Their mission is to create the simplest way of aggregating information from the public for use in crisis response. The site is http://haiti.ushahidi.com/. It shows a crisis map – where people are trapped, where food’s needed, and where they need help from police immediately. In addition, they list out what you can do online to help volunteer.
2. Google created an application that can be embedded in your web site to help missing people reconnect with their family called the Google Person Finder.
2. Salesforce.com allows you to donate through their site and will match your donations.
3. Amazon.com has added a box on its home page that customers can click to donate to the Haiti Relief Efforts of Mercy Corps.
4. And even missionaries in Michigan, like Great Commission Air raised $15,000 from an email and Facebook campaign. They are now in Haiti helping transport food and fuel.
So please spread the word about these efforts; helping is contagious!
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