Internet Marketing - Matt Bailey [260]
Figure 21-5: Weighed sort provides a better method for viewing keywords that attract high visitor numbers and high conversion rates.
The most important thing that site managers and owners gain by evaluating data in the context of conversion goals is direction. Too many are simply not able to figure out a direction of where to start in analytics, because they are not sure what to do with the data. This is the “magic” of reporting to the goals. When the goal information is available in the analytics, you find the direction and information that can help you make more informed decisions. Specific words, pages, and information that previously went unnoticed are now highlighted by a lack of conversions or by great conversion rates. You can now determine whether you need to make a specific improvement to your website by viewing a few simple reports based on conversion data.
Tuesday: Analyze by Segments
To me, analytics becomes fun and easy when conversion goals and segments are developed. The information takes on a different life and is more “real.” Segments can be based on many things: keywords, sources of visitors (websites, blogs, links, and so on), actions, conversions, events—any form of measureable factor can be used to create a segment. More than simply reporting numbers, using segments and goals provides immediate satisfaction to those who need to find improvements and get a direction.
Nothing to me is more revealing than analyzing segments. The only way to understand the big numbers is to slice them into small segments, which then provide better insight as to the cause and remedy of particular situations. Segments are a way of asking and answering questions. When that happens, learning takes place, which brings results, as discussed last Thursday and Friday in Chapter 20. Today is when you take the segments you created last week and apply them to your analytics.
Of course, because you are viewing the available segments, you should be getting ideas and thoughts about how to use and apply the additional options. I find that the easiest place to get started is to segment by search engine keyword referrals. At this stage, SEO has most likely been part of your strategy, and this is where you measure the results of your efforts. Just this starting point will provide a significant amount of information that can be immediately applied to your marketing strategy.
Today’s lesson is not a comprehensive guide to the segments available, but simply beginning with these few segments will be enough to get you started and comfortable with the process. Once you feel comfortable, test and see what else you can find.
Focus on Actionable Information
Remember, setting up segments is great, and you can find a lot of “interesting” information, but that interesting information is not always actionable! Find actionable information, apply it, measure it, and then move on to the next actions.
Analyze by Search Segment
I usually like to start by setting up segments based on keywords and diving into search analytics. Especially when you are spending time on keyword research, optimization, and content development, the desire to see the results for that work is natural. This is particularly true if you have paid someone to optimize your website. Even though you may now have some top rankings, aren’t you the least bit curious to know whether those rankings are doing you any good?
So, the principle of setting up segments is based on starting very general at first and then drilling down into the segments, in other words, segmenting the segments. At the very start, you want to segment the primary or core words and keyword phrases. At this stage, do not be concerned about the individual words like the ones shown in the reports in yesterday’s section. To start, the informational segments will be based on the core terms you have selected. If you developed the keyword graphs, as explained in Chapter 6, then you know your core terms.
To set up a segment in Google Analytics,