Category Archives: Analytics

Penguin is your new taskmaster.

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In 2011, Google released a series of algorithm updates called Panda designed to downrank websites providing poor user experience. Panda observed how users moved through sites by following the logic used by Google’s team of testers. It is, for all practical purposes, an artificial intelligence that ranks sites based on usability (and it’s named for its creator, Navneet Panda, and not the non-bear).

It gets better. In April of this year, Google released Penguin, an important algorithm change that targets web spam. When it finds it, Penguin decreases rankings for sites violating Google’s quality guidelines. You see, sites using black hat SEO tactics like keyword cramming have been junked for years now, but less obvious tactics such as including non-related links in content in an effort to drive traffic to specific sites have been getting past previous algorithms . The result has been shady SEO companies getting results with crappy non-content. The result has been more garbage and less useful information.

penguin_imageThankfully, those days are coming to an end.  Penguin is designed to detect shady techniques and flag sites found using them. You do it, you get warned. You keep doing it and you are out of the club for keeps.

Google says:

Sites affected by this change might not be easily recognizable as spamming without deep analysis or expertise, but the common thread is that these sites are doing much more than white hat SEO; we believe they are engaging in web spam tactics to manipulate search engine rankings.

 How can you tell if you’re violating the rules?

They key to finding out how this affects your site is Google’s Webmaster Tools. It is highly advisable that site owners monitor their Google Webmaster accounts for any messages from Google warning about past spam activity and a potential penalty. Penguin has impacted about 3.1% of queries (compared to Panda 1.0’s 12%).

Penguin downgrades sites for:

  • Excessive link building with no regard for quality
  • Deceptive doorway pages
  • Lots of keyword stuffing
  • Publishing lots of meaningless content just to get traffic from search engines

This is good move because it will break the endless self-referential SEO efforts linked blogs and canned articles about SEO. Gaming the system in that way will no longer be valuable because Penguin will detect and downgrade sites that do this.

Not to say that in service of this there hasn’t been some collateral damage. Google states that the Penguin update has affected a small percentage of websites, but many Google-centric SEO operations have felt the sting of the re-ranking and have taken a hit. One could surmise that these were the very firms that were causing the problems in the first place with dubious SEO techniques, but who can really say?

This is obviously the wave of the future. Google’s algorithms will be copied by other search engines and improved, artificial intelligence methods will be refined and the methodology of user experience will get better and better. The quick and dirty SEO for SEO’s sake is on its way out. The only thing that will save you: value. Value means quality content and relevant links. Value means ranked authors, recommended articles and legitimate social media linking. Value means that the media will have to have real, validated content.

The first step: write well and write often.

Despite the recent incursion of streaming media, the web is still very much a text-based delivery system. Good writing will always be better than poor writing, if for no other reason than it’s easier to understand. Writing that is done simply to improve search engine rankings is pretty awful, and in the end it is of no value whatsoever. Robo-generated SEO articles are fading fast, and rightly so. This is a boon for people who actually know how to write, and ever better for ones who know what they are talking about.

With each new update, Google is promoting content that really deserves its place in the ranking index. Nonsense content that has been juiced up with keywords will hit the round file, and the URL that carries it will be right behind.

So what is effective writing? Well, grammar is helpful. Wit is also appreciated, but the greatest thing is clarity. Be clear, be logical… and for God’s sake, be brief.  A few tips:

  • Be smart about keywords: Copy  that has been “optimized” by larding every sentence with keywords not only is hard to read, it triggers Penguin’s spam  sensors. Don’t randomly insert the keywords just for the sake of bringing up density. It doesn’t work anymore and was always uncool anyway.
  • Write for your audience: Cracked magazine is a great example of this, as is The Onion. They know what sort of things their readers like and will share socially. If you write for business, use a businesslike tone and write stuff that is pertinent. You can still have personality, but remember that excessive wisecracking in the boardroom is not a good idea if you wish to be taken seriously.
  • Make yourself useful: People use the web as a device as much as a diversion, and if they are going to the trouble to read your writing you owe them some solid information in exchange. The reader gives you their time, so you need to honor that and give them useful information in return.
  • Create content for other websites and blogs: Prepare an editorial calendar for writing articles and guest blog posts that can be published on websites and blogs other than your own. This helps you gain new exposure and earn quality backlinks . Choose appropriate and trusted venues and have at it.
  • Ask questions: If you can generate user responses in the comments, if you can get social media linking, if you can get the conversation started… well, then, the world is your oyster. Comment threads are todays new forums, but that doesn’t mean that forums aren’t alive and well. LinkedIn has a ton of great, business-centric forums that welcome civic discourse. People rely on them for information, and regular contributions can only improve you and your site’s reputations.
  • Create downloadable newsletters and ebooks: When building out landing pages with conversion as the goal, it’s important to give the reader something in return. Regular newsletters are fine, but you can one better by including a variety of pertinent content for readers. Graphs, charts, how-to articles, tips and tricks and other standbys are great content and are always popular. Just be careful that if you use somebody’s original work that you get their permission and give them credit. We are all in this together.
  • Utilize your analytics: Remember, we’re talking the web here so analytic are everything.  If properly set up, you can immediately tell what’s working and what isn’t. Conversion is the watchword for landing pages, so keep a close eye on which conversions are working. Nobody is filling out the form? Take a look and see if you have clear calls to action on the page. Check to see that the form isn’t too long. Make use of landing pages to really promote what you’re offering.

 

Once you are able to establish a good audience, you will find them to be a loyal group. I have several blogs I read every week because I enjoy the writers’ style and personality, and also because the information is usually valuable. Try it yourself and see. It’s not like Google is giving you a choice here.

Synergy with Analytics and Marketing

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As I have said in an earlier post, analytics should be a powerful component of your overall marketing strategy from the start. Properly used, they can show you how your customers are reacting to your efforts to attract them. This is great information for a whole host of reasons, not the least of which is to know when you’re barking up the wrong tree.

Nothing feels quite as bad as having to justify a loss incurred by an unsuccessful campaign, particularly if you had tools at your disposal that could have warned you of its ineffectiveness before you were completely committed.

Analytics, therefore, should be factored into online and offline marketing efforts from the very start. To properly set up analytics, though, you need to know the places where they can be of most use. Initially, there are three main areas where they can help:

1.      Keywords

For the uninitiated, keywords are the search words with which users find your site. The right keywords will drive the right traffic to your site  ultimately help both your customers and you by giving site visitors what they want and need.

Analytics provide you with insight into which keywords are effective and which keywords are not. A word or phrase that you believe accurately describes your product may not be  the one used by your customers.  Searches can also be affected by context in which the keyword is used. This is especially true now that Google has implemented Penguin, an artificial intelligence-based system that goes a long way toward assessing websites’ value in the same way as real life customers. (I will address Penguin and its impact for SEO in a later column.)

So which keywords are the best for your site? You can use analytics to easily determine this by checking

  1. Which keywords drive traffic to your site
  2. Which keywords drive conversions
  3. Which keywords drive traffic but no conversions

Determining the difference between numbers one and three will give you the answers you need and will  help you adjust your course.  Check the following:

  1. Does the keyword describe your product?
  2. Is the keyword too broad?
  3. Does your site offer quality content around the keyword?

Keywords can drive traffic but not conversions for a myriad of reasons. For example, say you offer websites and a company doing initial competitive research for a new business searches for “startup business websites”  and comes to your site. If your those are your keywords, the user will come to your site more or less by accident and leave without doing anything. The proper content in the description would allow the user to determine a more appropriate site for their needs,

 

Landing Page Content

One of the greatest assets of any analytics software is the ability to break down your website page by page.  You can see how many people landed on a page, how many people exited a page, where they came from, what keyword they searched to get there, how long they spent on a page and most importantly, you can see if they converted.

By breaking down the top landing pages, you can determine just how customers interact with your website and how with the right design and content, you can give them a great experience.

When thinking about your landing pages, consider the following:

  • What are the top landing pages?
  • Which pages have the highest bounce rate?
  • What pages do people spend the most time on?
  • Which pages lead to the most conversions?

Your home page (index.html)  is usually the top landing page; it typically will also have the highest bounce rate because a bigger net catches more fish, but not all of them are the right kind. The home page is also the most indexed by search engines, literally the front door of your website through which every guest passes. If your home page does not have direct calls to action or clear paths to valuable information, users will go elsewhere.

This is where specific landing pages come in. It is very common to create landing pages that contain less general information and more specific direct calls to action. They can also be linked directly to PPC ads and specific search strings.

Using analytics for your landing pages you can easily determine why they are successful.  What keywords did visitors use to get there?  What type of content is on that page?  What calls to action are you using?  Can this be replicated on other pages?

Remember, determining customer behavior on your site  is just as important as knowing what search terms brought them there.

Buying Cycle

How long is the buying cycle for your product or service?  How many times does a customer visit your site before buying?  What are they looking at during that time?  With an online business and website analytics, this information is not just available, it’s invaluable.

To begin, answer the following questions:

  • How many days after the first visit do people convert?
  • Which pages do they visit during that time?
  • What content do the pages contain?
  • What calls to action are you using?

By knowing where your customers are in the buying cycle, you can really refine your online marketing efforts (this is especially true when it comes to paid search). If you know a typical customer comes to your site and reads 5-7 information-based pages before they convert, you can gear your initial messaging and calls to action around that. Instead of saying “Buy now” you can say “Get more information.”

For paid search campaigns, determine which keywords correspond to which point on the buying cycle and drive users to landing pages with the content they need at that point in the process.  Using the same example we used in the “Keywords” section, drive the person searching “business websites” to a page that provides ideas on creating a business website.

As always, a usable, informative website that has the customer needs will be revisited when they do decide to buy.

So a guy walks into an office and offers UX services…

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Doing a first-time UX consultation, I sometimes feel like an auto mechanic walking into a buggy shop circa 1905 and trying to tell the carriage maker that the horses will soon be outclassed. It’s hard to consult from a defensive position, even when the writing is on the wall that things are changing. The main issue is that the service I offer is often seen as either redundant to current efforts or entirely unnecessary… or even nonexistent.

Even with the prevalence of social media in our culture and the fact that customers are becoming extraordinarily sophisticated in their methods and ability to access online media, there still remains a level of disconnect. The old methodologies of dealing with customers is amazingly stuck in the past. It is often driven by the marketing department and utilizes communications techniques used in traditional advertising. The message is broadcast, the results are monitored and changes are made to correct any missed opportunities. Analytics suites and lead tracking software have added useful tools to find and collate information,  but the the overall method itself hasn’t changed in its basic philosophy. One thing that has changed is the speed with which a customer or user can change direction: one click and they are gone, usually for good.

This isn’t because businesses don’t want to change. The technology is everywhere… most people carry a computer in their pocket that is much  more powerful than the most expensive desktop machines of ten years ago. The relationship businesses hope to have with customers through these new devices is clear, but the method being used is, at its root, one-sided.

Brian Solis of Fast Company Magazine wrote in a recent article :

“Rather than examine the role new technologies and platforms can play in improving customer relationships and experiences, many businesses invest in “attendance” strategies where a brand is present in both trendy and established channels, but not defining meaningful experiences or outcomes. Simply stated, businesses are underestimating the significance of customer experiences.

…As smart and connected technology matures beyond a luxury into everyday commodities, consumer expectations only inflate. As a result, functionality, connectedness, and experiences emerge as the lures for attention. For brands to compete for attention now takes something greater than mere presences in the right channels or support for the most popular devices. User experience (UX) is now becoming a critical point in customer engagement in order to compete for attention now and in the future. For without thoughtful UX, consumers meander without direction, reward, or utility. And their attention, and ultimately loyalty, follows. “

It comes back to the simple questions that businesses need to be asking:

  • Who are your customers?
  • Why do they like you?
  • How do they buy from you?

One problem is that marketing departments often believe they know the answers to these questions, but when pressed will admit that there is little empirical evidence to support their beliefs. Creative campaigns are often based on clever concepts, but don’t incorporate engaging experience design. Sometimes this can pay off and a campaign will be incredibly successful, but sometimes it can bomb. It need not be random because a clever idea can be paired with an engaging experience every time…  but only if  it is designed that way from the start.


Analytics methodology

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This is an analytics methodology and task list I have found to be successful for a wide variety of applications.

  1. Have a clear understanding of the client’s business, website objectives, and organization structure

  2. Evaluate, recommend, install and configure  the web analytics tools

  3. Collect pertinent data

  4. Analyze data to make continuing recommendations for adjustment

Some clients have assigned staff and management to handle Web analytics, so this methodology must be flexible enough to accommodate the existing workflow. Everyone needs to row in the same direction.

The first is to understand the client and how the client would measure the success of  the website. Communicating with key stakeholders in the organization is crucial to both get an overall understanding and make sure they understand what is being done… and why. The also helps determine the types and frequency of reports that will be most useful for the client. For example, there may need to be granular daily reports that go to the account contact, while less-frequent high level reports are prepared for the executives. This makes sure proper communication and accountability are established.

Choosing the proper tool can have profound impact on the entire project. In certain cases, the client may have  already invested in a specific tool,  so we would need to get up to speed on the tool and make sure that the ball was kept rolling. Fortunately, most of the successful tools work pretty much the same; it is largely a matter of learning the interface. Often, the tool determination is left to us, so we can make a recommendation based on a review of requirements, budget and desired results.

Data collection  and data auditing work in tandem to weed out irrelevant traffic and make sure the ROI is maintained. Since some traffic to websites is irrelevant, frequent audits can help maintain the integrity of the data. When necessary, filters can be employed and adjusted to further increase efficiency.

As the data is acquired, we begin the reporting, analysis and recommendations process. Reports can be generated as needed and in varying degrees of detail. The reporting process is accompanied by recommendations and plans of action to maintain ROI.