Mastering Search Analytics - Measuring SEO, SEM and Site Search

Many companies still approach Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and paid search as separate initiatives. This in-depth guide shows you how to use these programs as part of a comprehensive strategy - not just to improve your site's search rankings, but to attract the right people and increase your conversion rate.
Learn how to measure, test, analyze, and interpret all of your search data with a wide array of analytic tools. Gain the knowledge you need to determine the strategy's return on investment. Ideal for search specialists, webmasters, and search marketing managers, Mastering Search Analytics shows you how to gain better traffic and more revenue through your search efforts. Focus on conversion and usability - not on driving larger volumes of traffic Track the performance of your SEO and paid search keywords Apply techniques to monitor what your competitors are doing Understand the differences between mobile and desktop search Learn how social media impacts your search rankings and results Audit your site for problems that can affect users and search spiders Create dashboards and expanded reports for all of your search activities

List of contents

Preface;
Audience;
Assumptions This Book Makes;
Contents of This Book;
Conventions Used in This Book;
Using Code Examples;
Safari® Books Online;
How to Contact Us;
Acknowledgments;
Chapter 1: Introduction to Search Analytics;
1.1 How Is Search Data Different from Clickstream Data?;
1.2 Who Are You Optimizing For?;
1.3 What Are Others Trying to Measure?;
1.4 What Do Companies Most Want to Measure?;
1.5 What Challenges Do Companies Face?;
1.6 Business Objectives;
1.7 What Auditing Tools Should I Be Using?;
1.8 An Explanation of Macro, Micro, Value, and Action Metrics;
1.9 Presenting Search Analytics-Who's Your Audience?;
1.10 Setting Expectations;
1.11 Establishing What You Will Track;
1.12 Concluding Thoughts;
Chapter 2: Establishing ROI;
2.1 ROI-The Universal Metric;
2.2 Interpreting Data and Studies to Build a Case;
2.3 Paid Search and ROI;
2.4 SEO and ROI;
2.5 Capturing ROI for Site Search;
2.6 Tracking Offline Sales;
2.7 Concluding Thoughts;
Chapter 3: Tracking and Optimizing SEO and Paid Search Traffic;
3.1 Tracking Visitors and Segmenting Traffic from Search;
3.2 Tracking Pathing Through the Site;
3.3 Landing Page Optimization;
3.4 Measuring Engagement;
3.5 All Traffic Is Not Created Equal;
3.6 Volume of Traffic Versus Number of Conversions;
3.7 Traffic from Search Engines: Not All Engines Are Created Equal;
3.8 Seasonality and Traffic;
3.9 Is There Value in CTR?;
3.10 Capturing Traffic Volume Based on Positioning;
3.11 Tracking Mobile Traffic-SEO Versus Paid Search;
3.12 Tracking International Searches and Linguistics;
3.13 Optimizing Conversion Rates for SEO and Paid Search;
3.14 Concluding Thoughts;
Chapter 4: Tracking Words-SEO and Paid Search;
4.1 Tracking SEO Keywords;
4.2 Tracking Paid Search Keywords;
4.3 Seasonality and Words;
4.4 Concluding Thoughts;
Chapter 5: Coordinating SEO and Paid Search;
5.1 Monitoring CTR from Paid Search and Applying Your Findings to SEO;
5.2 A/B and Multivariate Testing-Applying Insights from the Paid Search Page to SEO;
5.3 Testing Titles and Descriptions in Paid Search;
5.4 Finding Your Gaps and Plugging Them with SEO or Paid Search;
5.5 Running SEO and Paid Search Together;
5.6 When 1 + 1 = 3, and When It Doesn't;
5.7 Concluding Thoughts;
Chapter 6: Site Search Analytics;
6.1 Site Search as Navigation;
6.2 Establishing Your Site Search KPIs;
6.3 What Is the Value of Your Site Search?;
6.4 CRO for Site Search;
6.5 Tracking Trends;
6.6 Site Search Seasonality;
6.7 Concluding Thoughts;
Chapter 7: Correlating SEO/Paid Search and Site Search;
7.1 Pulling Terms from Site Search for SEO/Paid Search;
7.2 Applying Site Search Patterns to SEO/Paid Search;
7.3 Site Search-Capturing and Using the Second Term;
7.4 Testing Paid Search Pages on Site Search First;
7.5 Pulling Terms from SEO/Paid Search to Improve Site Search;
7.6 Testing the Effects of Optimization on Site Search and SEO;
7.7 Concluding Thoughts;
Chapter 8: Competitor Research and Competitor Tracking;
8.1 Tracking Share of Voice;
8.2 Tracking Against Competitors;
8.3 Capturing Competitors' Keywords;
8.4 Capitalizing on User Behavior;
8.5 Tracking Competitors' Branded Keywords;
8.6 Capitalizing on Competitor Spikes and Marketing;
8.7 Tracking the Effectiveness of Your Competitors' Marketing Through Metrics;
8.8 Brand Conquesting;
8.9 Concluding Thoughts;
Chapter 9: Tracking Off-Site Trends;
9.1 Analyze: Explaining the Bumps and Spikes;
9.2 Auditing General Trends;
9.3 Measuring Off-Site Link Diversity;
9.4 Tracking Neighborhoods;
9.5 Tracking Diversity of Links;
9.6 Tracking Domain Rank and Page Rank;
9.7 Tracking External Campaigns (TV, Radio, Print);
9.8 Tracking Social Volume and Social Media;
9.9 Tracking Changes in the SERP to Improve Clicks;
9.10 Concluding Thoughts;
Chapter 10: Tracking Mobile Search;
10.1 Do Desktop and Mobile Users Search the Same Way?;
10.2 How Important Is Geography for Mobile Searchers?;
10.3 Do Mobile Searchers Return More or Less Frequently?;
10.4 Tracking Paid Search on Mobile Devices;
10.5 Does Device Type Matter?;
10.6 Do Mobile Users Convert Better than Desktop Users?;
10.7 Concluding Thoughts;
Chapter 11: Social Media and Search;
11.1 Social Media's Impact;
11.2 Social Personalization;
11.3 Measuring Facebook;
11.4 Measuring Twitter;
11.5 Measuring +1;
11.6 Concluding Thoughts;
Chapter 12: Webmaster Tools-Data Direct from the Engines;
12.1 The Basics;
12.2 Google Webmaster Tools;
12.3 Bing Webmaster Tools;
12.4 Comparing Bing and Google;
12.5 Concluding Thoughts;
Chapter 13: An SEO Audit (On-Page Factors);
13.1 Automating Issue Auditing;
13.2 How to Audit a Page for SEO Elements;
13.3 Auditing a Page for Engagement Tracking;
13.4 Performance Monitoring: The Speed of Your Pages;
13.5 Detecting Template Issues Versus Page Issues;
13.6 Auditing a Page for Keywords;
13.7 Auditing a Page for Placement in Your Site's Information Architecture;
13.8 Finding the Bad Stuff-404s, 302s, Multiple 301s, and More;
13.9 Concluding Thoughts;
Chapter 14: Dashboards and Reports;
14.1 Know Your Audience;
14.2 Understand Why Data Is Important to You;
14.3 Understand Why Data Is Important to Your Audience;
14.4 Segment! Segment! Segment!;
14.5 Dashboards for Executives;
14.6 Dashboards for Creating Action;
14.7 Dashboards Versus One-Off Reports;
14.8 Distributing Dashboards;
14.9 Building and Telling Stories with Dashboards;
14.10 One Metric (Why Leading with One Stat Can Create Action);
14.11 Information Paralysis-When Too Much Info Creates Inaction;
14.12 Concluding Thoughts;
Chapter 15: Building Your Own Audit Tools and Enabling Others;
15.1 Rubrics-How to Make Them;
15.2 Answering Questions with Analytics;
15.3 Simplify Your Results;
15.4 Linking Data Sources;
15.5 Creating Alerts and Triggers, Creating Response Plans;
15.6 Overriding Your Alerts: Why and When;
15.7 Checklists of Items to Have for Setting Up an Analytics Plan;
15.8 Building Out Timelines;
15.9 Establishing Roles;
15.10 Being OK with Numbers Going Down;
15.11 Concluding Thoughts;
Tool Listing;
Software Listings;
Colophon;

About the author

Brent Chaters has over a decade of experience in online marketing and interactive multimedia. He has worked with several Colleges to expand and develop their programs and students. He has worked for HP for more than 10 years through various positions, being exposed to the issues large corporations must deal with in online marketing. Working with the Canadian team he helped establish some of the first SEM and SEO programs in Canada for HP as well as worldwide in the company. He currently works with the worldwide team establishing SEO programs across multiple regions and countries based on solid metrics foundations and evangelizing the need to always be improving these results. He resides in Mississauga, Canada where he enjoys coaching hockey and spending time with his friends and family.

Summary

Improve your search strategy, whether it's through SEO, search engine marketing, or site search. With this comprehensive guide, you learn what data to collect, how to analyze it, and how to act upon it.

Product details

• Authors: Chaters, Brent Chaters, Chaters Brent
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 01.11.2011
• EAN: 9781449302658
• ISBN: 978-1-4493-0265-8
• No. of pages: 402
• Weight: 644 g
• Subjects: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > IT, data processing > Data communication, networks; Social sciences, law, business > Business > Business administration; Online-Marketing, Netzwerkmanagement, COMPUTERS / Internet / Search Engines, web 2.0, site design, search engine, web programming, web, web search engine site design web programming web 2.0