Below is live coverage of the Actionable SEO Insights From Analytics Data from the SMX East 2009 conference.
This coverage is provided by Avi Wilensky of Promediacorp.
We are using a live blogging tool to provide the real time coverage, please excuse any typos. You can also interact with us and while we are live blogging, so feel free to ask us questions as we blog. We will publish the archive below after the session is completed.
| Actionable SEO Insights From Analytics Data | (10/05/2009) |
| 1:44 | aviwilensky: Hello everyone! |
| 1:46 | aviwilensky: Starting off is John Maxson from iCrossing, "natural search manager" |
| 1:47 | aviwilensky: What are biggest challenges in analyics? is the data accurate? emarketer asked this question to their readers. Top was verifiying accuracy, then drilling into the data, marketing attribution issues, etc. |
| 1:47 | aviwilensky: Lay the foundation: Attribution model - or assisted clicks. Who is getting the credit? SEO or PPC if someone converts later? |
| 1:49 | aviwilensky: These are important questions. Can't just look at the last click. Must look at the credit that non-branded keywords get. SEO's focus on non-branded terms usually. To give non-branding keywords accurate credit gives you insight for actionable reports. |
| 1:49 | aviwilensky: What are some actionable metrics? Bounce rate, conversion rate, etc. |
| 1:51 | aviwilensky: Tip: Look for keywords that are performing well, add more content on the subject. |
| 1:51 | aviwilensky: Use terms that need a boost for linking efforts. |
| 1:53 | aviwilensky: Evaluate effectiveness of landing page. |
| 1:54 | aviwilensky: Look at what % of traffic comes from P1, P2, P3, from the SERPs |
| 1:55 | aviwilensky: Keyword opportunity report: Self explanatory. What non branded keywords drove traffic from outside of page 1. |
| 1:57 | aviwilensky: Link Base: Tool that looks at the refferers and filters out search engines, SM sites, and other sites that are not good linking partners. Pulls anchor text, PR, # of OBL's from the site. Many times rely on YSE to finding linking partners - why not look at own referrers? Leverage data you already have. |
| 1:58 | aviwilensky: Monitor competitors: DIY work. Analyze trends across varierty of sites. Pages indexed, BL's, PR, Compete, SM sites. Analyze URL's with crawler software to find redirects, broken links, etc. |
| 1:59 | aviwilensky: Data is only good if you can do something with it. Guage yourself against competitors. Develop strategy to bolster weaknesses vs. top competitors. Analyze their trends - design, links, deals - monitor it over time. |
| 2:02 | aviwilensky: Next up is Taylor Pratt, senior search specialist, nFusion |
| 2:02 | aviwilensky: "Gettin jiggy with your analytics" |
| 2:02 | aviwilensky: Analytics are a cheat sheet for how well your SEO efforts are performing. They give critical insight into your SEO campaign. |
| 2:03 | aviwilensky: Expand your campaign. Find new keywords: "Site Search" in GA - gives you insight into language users are searching, helps with usability issues. |
| 2:04 | aviwilensky: Long tail keywords: Look for gems and variations of that phrase. Create pages and content around that term. |
| 2:04 | aviwilensky: PPC testing: Look at paid search KW's and see what people are looking for and how they convert. He always tests keywords with PPC. Great way to test conversions. |
| 2:05 | aviwilensky: Analyzing referring domains: Look at what keywords they are using, again create content around the referrers. |
| 2:06 | aviwilensky: Use the Adwords Tool. Tip: Take long tail KW phrase, broaden keyword lists. Sign out of google account for this to work. Analyze URL using tool to get more recommendations. |
| 2:07 | aviwilensky: Do you have content focused on top converting traffic? |
| 2:07 | aviwilensky: What blog posts recieved the most traffic? |
| 2:07 | aviwilensky: Which content is converting the best? Is there an opportunity to create more or expand on it? |
| 2:07 | aviwilensky: Should you be creating geo targetted content? |
| 2:09 | aviwilensky: Measuring campaign success - transactional vs. informational queries. Understanding engagement vs. conversions. What geo targeted key phrases are performing best? Which search engine is converting best? |
| 2:10 | aviwilensky: Are you targetting the right keywords on the right page?
Analyze low traffic content.
Can you determine an exit page that is costing you organic conversions?
What are your top entry pages from organic search results?
What are your top exit links? |
| 2:12 | aviwilensky: Look for trends over time, not just a single point in time. |
| 2:12 | aviwilensky: Form a hypothesis and then test it out. |
| 2:12 | aviwilensky: Make sure you don't focus on the raw numbers (do comparisons!) |
| 2:12 | aviwilensky: Don't overlook a user's browser type! |
| 2:13 | aviwilensky: Is it time to create mobile site or app? |
| 2:14 | aviwilensky: 3 tools: Insight for Analytics, Yoast's SEO Reports for GA, and Google Analyics Reports Enhancer |
| 2:15 | aviwilensky: follow @pratt @nfusion |
| 2:15 | aviwilensky: Next we have Mike Tekula Pres of Unstuck Digital, about 1 year old company. |
| 2:17 | aviwilensky: A point on keywords: Branches. When compare keywordss, look at entire branch under root term. ie. "financial services" branches to "financial services ny". |
| 2:17 | aviwilensky: Look at metrics for the whole branch, not the single keyword. |
| 2:18 | aviwilensky: Evauating organic search traffic. Revenue is the best metric. Per visit value. |
| 2:18 | aviwilensky: 2nd best = conversions. But for b2b sites it might be a long cycle and only a few big conversions a quarter. Need to look at engagement oriented metrics such as PV and Bounce Rates. |
| 2:18 | aviwilensky: Metrics should match business goals. |
| 2:19 | aviwilensky: Combine metrics for a clearer picture. Bounce rate + pages-per-visit. Measuring search visitor engagement. |
| 2:21 | aviwilensky: Rank + Traffic + Pages-per-visit. Identify long tail opportunities. Use Aaron Wall's Keyword position tool at tools.seobook.com |
| 2:23 | aviwilensky: Find keywords that take users into the conversion funnel. The closer the better. |
| 2:24 | aviwilensky: Segment and slice up your users. Can use GA as a powerful tool for this. |
| 2:26 | aviwilensky: Segment users by KW branches. Look at what pages people are coming to for a particular keyword. Keywords that refer tyour most engaged users. |
| 2:27 | aviwilensky: And that's a wrap. |
| 2:27 | 
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