Mastering Search Analytics: Measuring SEO, SEM and Site Search, 1st Edition

400 Pages·2011·23.85 MB·English

by  Brent Chaters

Mastering Search Analytics
Brent Chaters
Beijing • Cambridge • Farnham • Köln • Sebastopol • Tokyo
Mastering Search Analytics
by Brent Chaters
Copyright © 2012 Brent Chaters. All rights reserved.
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October 2011: First Edition.
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2011-10-07 First release
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ISBN: 978-1-449-30265-8
[LSI]
1317928147
This book is dedicated to my late mom,
Mary-Lea (Rivet) Chaters, who always wanted to
write a book, as well as my sister, Tricia,
my father, Gary, and the rest of my family
for their support. Lastly, a special thanks to my
better half, Caroline, who has helped me keep
my sanity, supported my late nights, and made
sure I found time to eat and socialize.

Table of Contents
Preface .................................................................... xiii
1. Introduction to Search Analytics ........................................... 1
How Is Search Data Different from Clickstream Data? 2
Who Are You Optimizing For? 4
What Are Others Trying to Measure? 6
What Do Companies Most Want to Measure? 8
What Challenges Do Companies Face? 9
Business Objectives 10
What Auditing Tools Should I Be Using? 11
Website Analytics 11
Link Tracking 12
Page Authority 12
Ranking Position 12
Keyword Search Volume and Competition 13
Social Links and Social Noise 13
Keyword Volume or Keyword Density on Page 13
Mobile and Geographic Traffic Estimations 14
Competitor Insights 14
Multiuse Tools and Sites 14
Spreadsheets 14
An Explanation of Macro, Micro, Value, and Action Metrics 15
Presenting Search Analytics—Who’s Your Audience? 17
Setting Expectations 18
Establishing What You Will Track 19
What Website or Websites Do You Want to Monitor? 20
What Keywords Do You Want to Track? 22
What Keywords Are Considered Branded Terms? 22
What Keywords Are Considered Nonbranded Terms? 23
Concluding Thoughts 23
v
2. Establishing ROI ....................................................... 25
ROI—The Universal Metric 27
Capturing Actual ROI 28
Capturing Estimated ROI 29
Presenting ROI Data 30
Why Search Matters to Sales Online and Offline 31
The Problem of Only Capturing ROI 32
Interpreting Data and Studies to Build a Case 33
Where Do People Click in the Search Results? 33
What’s the Average Spend of SEO and Paid Search? 43
What’s a Visit Worth? 44
An Example of Calculating Values 45
Quickly Identifying Bad Investments 45
Paid Search and ROI 46
How to Estimate ROI for Paid Search 46
How to Capture and Track ROI for Paid Search 49
Conversion Rates by Keyword 50
SEO and ROI 56
How to Estimate ROI for SEO 56
Accounting for the Butterfly Effect in Your SEO 62
Capturing ROI for Site Search 64
Tracking Offline Sales 68
Concluding Thoughts 69
3. Tracking and Optimizing SEO and Paid Search Traffic ......................... 71
Tracking Visitors and Segmenting Traffic from Search 71
Segmenting and Tracking Offline Transactions 75
Using Campaign Segmentation Data 77
Tracking Pathing Through the Site 79
High Bounce Rates 80
Low Bounce, High Site Search 80
Low Bounce, High Pathing Exit 81
Using Pathing and Bounce Data 81
Landing Page Optimization 82
A/B and Multivariate Testing 84
Running a Multivariate Test 85
How Testing Improves Your Search Campaigns 91
Measuring Engagement 92
Example 1 of Engagement 92
Example 2 of Engagement 93
Engagement and Search Campaigns 94
All Traffic Is Not Created Equal 94
Volume of Traffic Versus Number of Conversions 96
vi | Table of Contents
Traffic from Search Engines: Not All Engines Are Created Equal 98
Seasonality and Traffic 100
Is There Value in CTR? 102
Capturing Traffic Volume Based on Positioning 103
Tracking Mobile Traffic—SEO Versus Paid Search 107
Tracking International Searches and Linguistics 107
Optimizing Conversion Rates for SEO and Paid Search 109
Concluding Thoughts 110
4. Tracking Words—SEO and Paid Search ................................... 111
Tracking SEO Keywords 113
Developing Keyword Clusters and Finding the Short Head and Long
Tail 114
Segmenting Keywords in Clusters 116
Keyword Research for New Opportunities 120
How Are People Finding Me Today? 121
Tracking Paid Search Keywords 123
Broad Match 123
Phrase Match 124
Exact Match 125
Negative Keywords 126
Tracking Broad Match Words 127
Tracking Top-Performing Words and Underperforming Words 130
Tracking Paid Search Quality Score 131
Seasonality and Words 133
Concluding Thoughts 134
5. Coordinating SEO and Paid Search ....................................... 135
Monitoring CTR from Paid Search and Applying Your Findings to SEO 136
A/B and Multivariate Testing—Applying Insights from the Paid Search
Page to SEO 137
Testing Titles and Descriptions in Paid Search 138
Finding Your Gaps and Plugging Them with SEO or Paid Search 139
Running SEO and Paid Search Together 140
When 1 + 1 = 3, and When It Doesn’t 142
Concluding Thoughts 142
6. Site Search Analytics .................................................. 143
Site Search as Navigation 144
Establishing Your Site Search KPIs 145
Capturing Terms with High Exits 146
Capturing Secondary Searches 149
Capturing Pages with High Searches 151
Table of Contents | vii
Capturing Pages with High or Low Success Rates 151
Tracking Special Campaigns 152
Tracking Spider Volume 152
What Is the Value of Your Site Search? 153
CRO for Site Search 154
Search and Refinement 154
Language Use 156
Depth of Search 156
Repetition of Search 156
Average Ranking Clicked 157
Tracking Trends 158
Site Search Seasonality 158
Concluding Thoughts 159
7. Correlating SEO/Paid Search and Site Search ............................... 161
Pulling Terms from Site Search for SEO/Paid Search 162
Applying Site Search Patterns to SEO/Paid Search 164
Site Search—Capturing and Using the Second Term 166
Testing Paid Search Pages on Site Search First 168
Pulling Terms from SEO/Paid Search to Improve Site Search 169
Testing the Effects of Optimization on Site Search and SEO 169
Concluding Thoughts 170
8. Competitor Research and Competitor Tracking ............................. 171
Tracking Share of Voice 172
Refining Share of Voice 175
Tracking Against Competitors 179
Capturing Competitors’ Keywords 181
Mining Metadata 181
Mining Links 182
Mining Footers 182
Capitalizing on User Behavior 183
Tracking Competitors’ Branded Keywords 184
Capitalizing on Competitor Spikes and Marketing 185
Tracking the Effectiveness of Your Competitors’ Marketing Through
Metrics 186
Brand Conquesting 187
Concluding Thoughts 188
9. Tracking Off-Site Trends ............................................... 191
Analyze: Explaining the Bumps and Spikes 191
Auditing General Trends 193
Measuring Off-Site Link Diversity 194
viii | Table of Contents