Digital Marketing Priorities 2013 Summit11th January 2013. Brought to you by:

Tips for using analytics to support SEO

James GurdOwnerDigital Juggler

This talk will discuss key ways to use web analytics techniques & tools to help you evaluate and improve your SEO performance.

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Agenda Setting goals, objectives & KPIs Benchmarking your data Evaluating keyphrase performance Evaluating impact of external links Evaluating assisted conversions Interpreting your data Key take-aways Useful resources

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About me >14 years’ e-commerce experience B2B/B2C, Client-side, Agency, Consultant Owner of Digital Juggler since 2009 Work with brands like House of Fraser,

Argos, Sweaty Betty, Smythson, The Watch Gallery…

Guest blogger for Smart Insights & Econsultancy

Author of industry best practice guides on E-commerce RFP, B2B Content Marketing, SEO, Landing Page Optimisation etc

Co-host of #ecomchat on Twitter (Mondays)

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Setting goals, objectives & KPIs Give yourself clear targets

Goal – broad target e.g. Increase brand awareness

Objective – concrete & measurable e.g. Increase number of visitors using social sharing buttons by 100% within 2 months

KPI – measurement target

Volume / Value / Quality

Image from trendhunter.com

Volume Value Quality

Total visits Average order value

Bounce rate

Total newsletter sign-ups

Per Visit Value Conversion rate (basket-to-order)

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Benchmarking your data

Why do you need to do this?

No clear focus = Poor decision making

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Quick Poll

1. Free web analytics package e.g. Google Analytics.

2. Paid web analytics package e.g. Webtrends / Omniture etc.

3. Proprietary analytics package inc log files.

4. SEO specialist software e.g. Majestic SEO / SEOMoz / Raven Tools.

5. Other / None of the above

Which tools do you use to benchmark SEO data?

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10 Steps to benchmarking data Step 1 – agree your KPIs Step 2 – map which tools contain data for each KPI Step 3 – Identify gaps & plug them Step 4 – define reporting requirements Step 5 – export historical data (ideally last 12 months) Step 6 – create KPI dashboard Step 7 – create helpful visuals (charts/graphs) for trends Step 8 – sense check data: valid? Step 9 – define data update schedule Step 10 – start collating new data!

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Example: using Excel

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Example: using Excel

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Example: using Excel

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Example: using Excel

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Evaluating keyphrase performance

The obvious

Ranking Impressions Visits Click through rate Transactions Revenue Average order value Per Visit Value New vs. Return customers

Further reading from Smart Insights:

http://bit.ly/UD1FYQ

http://bit.ly/Woi95f

The overlooked - context

Top landing pages Relevance to landing page Share of market (% of total

searches) Revenue potential based on

increased market share Seasonality Market trends

Use keyword research tools like Google Keyword & Google Trends

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Keyword opportunity gap

Work out where the ‘big wins’ are

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Example: Advanced Web Ranking1

Plot ranking against competitors

2Monitor multiple keyphrase targets

3Monitor multiple search engines

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Example: Google Analytics

Report: Traffic Sources > Sources > Search > Organic

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Example: Google Analytics

Report: Traffic Sources > Sources > Search > Organic

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Example: Google Analytics

Report: Traffic Sources > Sources > Search > Organic

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Evaluating external links You need a full picture – rank /

traffic / value / impact Links aren’t just about keyword

rank Links also:

Drive traffic. Support customer acquisition &

retention. Increase brand awareness. Generate revenue. Provide competitive positioning.

Further reading from Smart Insights:

http://bit.ly/13dTG8D

What type of link works best for your

website?

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Quick Poll

1. Specialist SEO software e.g. Majestic SEO / SEOMoz.

2. Free web analytics package e.g. Google Analytics.

3. Paid web analytics package e.g. Webtrends / Omniture etc.

4. Proprietary analytics package.

5. Other / None of the above.

Which tools do you use for external link analysis?

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Example: Open Site Explorer1

Compare link portfolio against competitors

2Profile links based on link source authority (impact)

3Identify linking pages and anchor text

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Top tip for link analysisAdd campaign tracking codes to each link so you can use analytics reports to evaluate the impact.

Useful tool:

Google Analytics URL builder.http://bit.ly/RCa1kU

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Quick Poll

1. Yes – all the time

2. Occasionally

3. No

4. I don’t know!Do you use campaign tracking codes to support SEO analysis?

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Evaluating assisted conversionsWhich keywords/phrases are giving your conversions a helping hand?

A visit from a matched search query doesn’t guarantee a conversion.

Buying cycles can be multi-stage. There are often time lags between

first interaction and final sale. Last click analysis misses the

bigger picture.

How do you calculate the ‘real’ impact of an organic keyphrase?

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Example: Google Analytics

Report: Conversions > Multi-Channel Funnels > Top Conversion Paths

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Example: Google Analytics

Report: Conversions > Multi-Channel Funnels > Top Conversion Paths

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Interpreting your data Is your data trend positive, negative or neutral? Think about visitor intent:

What keyphrase has driven them here? What would they be expecting? What are the logical next steps to take? Are these steps being taken?

A decline in performance can have multiple causes: Internal – website conversion issues / poor campaign targeting External – industry decline / search engine algorithm update

Combine multiple data source to validate assumptions: Web analytics data – the ‘what’ Voice-of-customer – the ‘why’ Industry / Aggregate data

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Quick Poll

1. Yes

2. No

3. Maybe – it depends on the context

4. I don’t know!Is a high bounce rate for a keyphrase a bad sign?

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Example: bounce rate

A high bounce rate can be positive or negative

PositiveLocal search goes to local store landing page

NegativeOrganic listing for product keyphrase goes direct to product details page

Please note HoF webpages used only to illustrate the point, not as case studies as data on these pages unknown

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Example: keyword market trends

Is your data in line with market trends?

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Example: search engine updates

Are changes the result of industry developments?

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Key take-aways Planning puts you in control Understand what you want to measure & why

before you start doing anything Make sure you benchmark data to give you

something to compare future performance against

Get your analysis toolkit set-up Do analysis regularly – be proactive as well

as reactive Learn to interpret data using context Stay in touch with industry news &

developments – SEO is fast moving

Image from phys.org

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Useful resources

Smart Insights

James Gurd’s SEO article series (12 parts):

http://www.smartinsights.com/author/james-gurd/

Guide - 7 Steps to Successful SEO:

http://www.smartinsights.com/guides/seo-7-steps-to-success-guide/

Other industry resources

SEOMoz blog

http://www.seomoz.org/blog

Search Engine Land:

http://searchengineland.com/library/seo

Google Webmaster Central blog:

http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.co.uk

History of algorithm updates:

http://www.seomoz.org/google-algorithm-change

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Thank you for joining inYour questions please

Please ask questions and rate this webcast

For more Answers to your Digital Marketing Questions use our free community

Best wishes for 2013!

http://www.smartinsights.com/answers

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THANK YOU!

For more information:

E: james@digitaljuggler.comM: +44 (0) 7794 539 399

W: digitaljuggler.comT: @jamesgurd

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