Advertising and Marketing Blog

4 SEO Metrics for Ad Agency Analytics

Posted on 10/06/2010, by DMC

There are lots of good reasons to support your website with strong analytics. Even in what is still a very young market, analytics have evolved way past just counting eyeballs. Qualified traffic is the currency of web success. It is where we focus our efforts and those of our customers. In our opinion, all the other web oriented metrics that companies are looking at – registrations, demos, purchases even shares and re-tweets – all originate from qualified traffic.

However, that also means that marketing departments and agencies who would hope to be marketing partners must have the strategic marketing and analytical chops to define what qualified traffic is based on the individual site, capture and decipher the data, as well as have the ability to make and execute recommendations. It’s the analytical part that we are most interested in here. For our organic SEO clients, every month we distribute and review an SEO report that trends for months of traffic data across a broad range of analytical metrics. Instead of sifting through the entire report I have highlighted a few of my favorites below. Of course you can always This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  to learn more about our SEO programs and how they integrate with other interactive and marketing communications programs.

Bounce rate
Simple, unbiased and one of the favorite starting points. Essentially, bounce rate measures if visitors come to your homepage and leave without seeing anything else on the site. If you’re bounce rate is high (45%+) then there are a number of potential issues at play. The site could be difficult to navigate, it could fail at helping the visitor identify they belong there or it could just be boring. Bounce rate is a great starting point with clients for beginning to identify who you want coming to your site – AND what action do you want them to take when they get there.

Non-branded organic traffic
Let’s break this down into two parts – non-branded (search results that did not result from the company name) - and organic (URL not typed directly into the search bar, traffic derived from other indirect means like keyword searches for example). In this case, and for our purposes with clients, we look at the total amount of non-branded, organic traffic over a period of one month. In addition, we look at how that monthly traffic compares with the preceding three months. Remember – good SEO is not a sprint. This type of traffic is SEO gold – these are visitors who have come to your site without typing in or searching the company name. They are by their name and nature far more qualified visitors to your site. Obviously, we like to see the number trending up over time. When it does, that means all the other SEO forces (which we won’t go into here) are working in harmony and bringing a client very positive returns.

Organic traffic percentage
In addition to the total amount of organic traffic we also pay close attention to the percentage of overall traffic coming from organic sources. This metric, I will admit, can be viewed a bit as self-serving for the agency/marketing partner. However, watching this trend closely can provide all kinds of analytical insights. Is the money being spent on organic vs. paid search delivering the balance of traffic the client is hoping for? Are there parallel trends to the growth of organic traffic in the conversion metrics discussed earlier? If organic traffic is up and conversions are either flat or declining, that provides a spotlight on areas to fix in the site.



Referrals
Again, this one is a no-brainer. How much traffic comes directly from other sites. We all know how important link building is to the SEO process, but for our team, referrals mean more than that. In an integrated search program, referral traffic is also an excellent way to provide some baseline measurement on the effects of social media campaigns. How successful is Facebook, Twitter, etc. at driving traffic away from the social media platform and to the client site? In addition, how does referral traffic compare with regular traffic? Just looking at some basics – # of pages visited, length of stay and, of course, bounce rate.

A strong SEO program can have dramatic affects on the overall performance of a client’s website and of course, any marketing communications programs tied to web conversions/qualification.

Understanding Online Advertising Metrics

Posted on 05/11/2010, by DMC

Online advertising. You just got a bit scared didn’t you? Well don’t. Many times companies big and small begin to get sweaty palms when their agency suggests including an online component in their mixed media campaign. There has been myriad research into the effectiveness of online advertising and just how to track that effectiveness. While the jury may still be out among the self styled ‘gurus’ of the web, one can turn to well respected journals and research and begin to form a clearer picture of the landscape of the digital world.

Since its advent (AT&T ran the very first online ad) in 1994, online advertising has grown leaps and bounds in some areas while remaining static in others. I could write a book on the various research focused on advertising effectiveness in the online space but I’ll try to give a brief rundown or a 30,000 foot view to try and give you the proper lens through which you should understand online advertising.

There are two metrics through which one can understand online advertising: click-through and impression. Let’s take a quick look at both.

While both impressions (page views) and click-throughs are easy to put a number on through analytical tools, to understand them is a much more difficult task. First, what are you trying to accomplish by your online or mixed media campaign? Awareness building? Instant, direct sales? Building a Brand? Depending on your goal you need to look at these metrics very differently. In almost every area but direct sales, you shouldn’t pay much attention to click-through. Half of you just gasped. Stay with me. Research shows that impressions are much better at building brands, awareness and credibility among audiences. A click-through gets you a sale (maybe), an impression builds mental consensus.

Research has shown that even depending on the mindset of the web user (goal oriented or surfing) ads build brands whether the user even consciously registers that they saw the ad. The process in the mind that occurs during this lack of attention or intentional ad avoidance is called implicit memory (as opposed to explicit in which the user notices your ad but doesn’t click) which over time, with repeated exposures, can build a positive mental attitude of a brand even if the user isn’t paying attention to your ad.

So when running online or mixed-media campaigns – remember to be realistic with your expectations of acceptable metrics in light of the goals of the campaign. And don’t make the mistake of only measuring online advertising & interactive marketing in terms of click-through.

-g.d.

Five Important SEO Questions

Posted on 05/03/2010, by DMC

We talk constantly with clients and prospects about the value of applying strong analytics to the marketing programs we engage in. It’s an easy sell really – ask good questions up front, come to consensus on which metrics should be used for sales, leads generated, conversions, whatever the case. Then partner together to come up with meaningful ways to quantify the results. However, for some reason when organic search engine optimization (SEO) comes up, there are still those willing to take it on faith.

I know that SEO is a confusing marketplace for many customers – led in no small part by the lack of consistent product offerings, prices, etc, etc. So let’s set a baseline. In our eyes a good SEO program drives QUALIFIED traffic to your website – delivering people, business, whatever who are interested in the types of products/services you sell. And then working with the other related components of marketing – the website, advertising, landing pages, social media (yes, but more on that later) to drive conversions. Those two goals – qualified leads and increased conversion rates – I think we all can agree are important to any business.

So when you’re told your site is performing well because your Google PageRank is a seven (never mind that the world has begun to realize that PageRank is irrelevant since at least early 2009) or you get e-mailed a blind Google Analytics report, ask for the following:

How has my website performed, month over month, in categories like average time on site, new vs returning visitors, total organic traffic and total referral traffic.
How is the balance of traffic to my website between organic, direct, referrals, etc.?
How are my keywords performing overall and month to month?
How can I measure the SEO results against other marketing programs (direct mail, e-mail, PPC, etc.). What do you see and are there recommendations that can help save money or increase performance?
What can be done to improve the performance of any of the above?

Being able to be found online by people who want to buy what you sell is incredibly important. And I’m not saying Google Analytics couldn’t do a lot of this. It can and does. But if you’re spending money with a vendor to gain better SEO performance, you should get some strategic thinking with your monthly report. I’m just saying . . .

What kind of TV show are you?

Posted on 04/12/2010, by DMC

I know, sounds like one of those silly, “if you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be” type of questions. Oak if you must know. But what I’m really talking about is the changing landscape of how we measure the performance of a website and its content. We recently attended the Search Engine Strategies 2010 conference and expo and heard a great keynote by David Meerman Scott about some of the new rules for marketing and PR. While Mr. Scott covered a number of topics I was intrigued by his assertion that distribution and syndication are becoming more important than on-page media data for SEO purposes.

You’re probably working very hard to make sure there is fresh, new content on your Web site. And while for many organizations it can be a tough exercise to come up with content you feel happy about week in and week out (I share your concern). Don’t let all that content wither and die from living only on your blog page. Adding distribution and syndication channels to your content can have a dramatic impact on your organic SEO results. Think of all these channels are referral engines, recommending your site and content to an ever expanding audience. Some examples include:

Twitter – Are your blog posts automatically feeding your Twitter account?
Facebook – Fan pages are great ways to build referral traffic as well as thought leadership on issues surrounding your company/products.
RSS feed – Hopefully you allow people to subscribe to your blog. FeedBurner is our method of choice here.
YouTube – Did you know that YouTube is the 2nd most used search engine? Think about that and then re-evaluate how important video is to your brand.
Your own site – Are you promoting new content on your own site? I’m just saying...

Just getting a website up and running is not enough in such a competitive environment. As the bar continues to get raised support the foundational on-page SEO work with distribution and syndication channels that delivers referral traffic and a greater voice for your content.

So what show are you? Studio 60 by the Sunset Strip (what a potentially great show and how disappointing what they did with it) or MASH?