PPC / CPC

Google Analytics: A Closer Look

by Spencer on December 12, 2011

See how Google Analytics has changed and how it can affect eCommerce

The new version of Google Analytics isn’t exactly new; it’s been available for months. However, many have avoided it for the sake of efficiency, especially those in eCommerce. While the old version runs fine and has become comfortable for many people, the new features and available data make switching over a logical decision. The decision to make the move might soon be made for you, as Google has begun making it the default version and gives me the impression that the old version may not be around for much longer.

The most noticeable change is the new interface. A first glance, especially for those of you who have been using GA for a long time, will likely strike you with terror. You’ve probably thought, “I can’t find anything here,” as you move your cursor to click ‘Use Older Version.’ However, if you take some time to look around, you’ll find some things that might excite you. Everything has been streamlined and the interface is more intuitive. Google has crammed a ton of information into drop tabs that nicely organize into a few main categories. Here are some of the more noticeable changes:

  • Site overlay is now known as In-Page Analytics. It’s also now listed under the content tab. It’s been around for about a year now in Beta testing on the old version and is fully operational in the new one.
  • Mobile traffic tracking has been expanded to show manufacturer, model, interface type, OS and more while featuring all the same attributes as your standard traffic tracking. You can even see how many transactions came from these phones, which has great eCommerce potential.
  • A Visitor Flow graph has been added to show how people are navigating a site and can be sorted by a variety of filters.
  • Multi-channel funnels have been added, as well as assisted conversions, allowing you to see exactly how different channels are working together. Seeing how many conversions are coming from what campaigns is a powerful tool.
  • A Social Media component has been integrated, allowing you to use Analytics to track the effectiveness of your Twitter, Facebook and other Social Media campaigns in conjunction with the rest of your marketing strategy.

It’s important to note that these new features require no additional JavaScript or variables to be added to your site. They all come featured.

My favorite portion, aside from the new interface, is the change in the conversion attribution algorithm, which in turn also changes how GA defines a page visit. Before, a “visit” was defined as the user landing on the Web site. Regardless of how many times the user came back, one session was counted as one visit no matter how many referring sites there were and conversions were awarded to the last referring site before the purchase. The problem with this was that it was impossible to accurately track visits from mailing campaigns, organic traffic, etc. This has all changed.

Session and Visit Metric Changes

Now, a user’s session ends once they leave the website. So, if I use Google search to land on VerticalRail.com, click around a bit and leave the site to go to Facebook then that session ends. It is counted as a visit from Google and a new session begins once Facebook lands me on the page. Even if I use Facebook to turn around and come right back to the same site, it still registers as a visit from Google and now a visit from Facebook. Also, if I don’t leave the landing page and then go to Facebook, this counts as a bounce for Google, even if I use Facebook to take me right back to the site. This also ignores time spent on page. So, if I used Google to land on this blog page, read it, left it open for 15 minutes and then left for Bing, it would still be counted as a bounce. Basically, no matter what engine or link brings a user to a site, that referring site gets credited a visit and the session immediately ends once they leave. There is no longer a 29 minute inactivity period before a session is terminated.

Additionally, a user is only counted as a “new visitor” on their first session on the page. Once they leave the site and arrive again, a new session begins and they are considered a “returning visitor” from now on. Is this indefinite? Will someone be listed as a new visitor again if they clear their cookies? Is it based on a session ID? These are all questions that come to mind but remain unanswered. There is currently a feature that allows Analytics to track Time to Purchase, so I would assume there exists a way to indefinitely track a user’s history with a site, but I can’t be certain. We’ll be keeping an eye on it to see how it unfolds.

All of these things lead me to believe that Google is trying to address many of the accuracy issues that led people to using GA in conjunction with programs like Omniture and the like. It’s important to remember that with these changes, it’s essential to pick one analytics program and stick with it. Google Analytics is going to show different metrics than other programs and it leaves room for error if used in conjunction with other statistics programs. A more streamlined interface combined with increasingly robust data makes it an incredibly valuable and powerful resource, especially for those in eCommerce. Overall, I believe that the direction Google is taking GA is a great step in the direction of being able to use a singular analytics program instead of having to juggle multiple ones. I’m truly excited to see what 2012 will bring to bear.

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Pay Per Click Fraud Leaves Internet Marketers Looking for Better Solutions

by lynbat on May 15, 2009

In the New York Times this week, Susanna Hamner relayed some great information to readers about the true effects of click fraud, related to pay per click advertising. In her article, Hamner focuses on the automotive retailer industry and points to a substantial number of advertising pay per clicks that originate in locations where these retailers are not doing business, such as Bulgaria and Indonesia.

One point that Hamner makes soundly, is that Google and Yahoo differ in reporting to their advertising clients the percentage of fraud to non-fraud that is really occurring. Google reports that the amount of true click fraud is hovering near 1% and professionals from Yahoo indicate that number is closer to 15%. The variance in those numbers is more than alarming and should be considered negligent. It is time for PPC companies, such as Google and Yahoo, to provide solutions to the click fraud dilemma.

Marketing professionals could use this opportunity to explore other and less expensive alternatives to PPC. Hamner points out that PPC is the only division of internet marketing to actually grow in the last year, despite the rest of the national economic decline.

“Because of the troubled economy, companies have shifted their advertising dollars to more cost-effective formats like pay-per-click advertising, which was the only form of Internet advertising that grew last year. It accounted for 57 percent of Internet advertising in 2008, up from 52 percent in 2007, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau, a trade group representing online advertisers.”

Other options for internet marketing are springing up. For eCommerce sites, true data feed optimization can turn your data feeds for comparison shopping engines from steam engines of the past to bullet super trains of the future, helping to reduce the dependence on PPC and increasing your bottom line.

Social network marketing can deliver readership from a whole host of social sites and blogs that can answer that age old question when it comes to successfully marketing your presence on the Web: What’s Next? Whether it be the inclusion of blogs, direct marketing on social sites, embedding video into your site or including news feeds, social network marketing is a huge area that stands currently developed and is waiting for your site to pull out of the station.

So with the unexpected toll booths along the information super highway no longer collecting just simple nickels and dimes, maybe it is time to put the car in the garage and jump on the bullet train.

But don’t take my word for it. Read the current article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/13/business/media/13adco.html?_r=3&ref

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