Optimize Your Analytics to Measure Success | PDXDMC | June 2013

Optimize Your Analytics
to Measure Success
June 2013
Speakers:
Ashley Stuart, Craig Galyon, Adam Ware

General Agenda
• Overview of Session & SwellPath
• Part I: Filters & Custom Reports with Adam
• Part II: SEO & Social Analytics with Ashley
• Part III: Analytics for Paid Media with Craig
#pdxdmc @swellpath 1

Overview of SwellPath
Adam Ware
SwellPath CEO

Overview
#pdxdmc @swellpath
• Pay-per-click Advertising
• Organic Search Optimization
• Digital Analytics & Optimization
3
SwellPath is a data-driven web analytics consulting,
and search marketing agency based in Portland,
Oregon. We offer unmatched expertise in the
following services:

Logistics & History
• Founded in 2009
• Headquartered in the Pearl
District in Portland, Oregon
• Staffed with a team of talented
specialists, founded by industry
veterans

Proven Track Record

Part I: Filters & Custom Reports for Non-
Branded Search
Adam Ware
SwellPath CEO

Non-Branded Traffic Report Workshop
• What we’ll learn:
> How to determine and meet analytics needs
> Branded vs. Non-branded SEO traffic
> Using Regular Expression in GA
> Using Report Filters
> Creating Custom Reports
• Tee-up
> Ashley (advanced segments), and
> Craig (custom dashboards)

Meeting Analytics Needs: The Thought Process
• Analytics needs to measure the goals and objectives of the
business
• What are our goals?
> Example: to work with more clients.
• How does that happen?
> Example: more people become aware of us and our services, via our
online and offline efforts.
• Need to break it down by channel and activity.
> Example: we’d garner more global organic search visits to our site, from
people who had not heard about us.
• How would we measure that?
> They would be searching with phrases and keywords that didn’t include
“swellpath” or the names of anyone who works at SwellPath.

KPIs & Key Metrics
• We have a KPI:
> Non-branded organic search visits
• We may also have key metrics; what happens
before, during, and after the visit?
Awareness Engagement Conversion
• Impressions • Clickthroughs/Vi
sits
• Pages/visit
• Time on site
• Newsletter
signups
• Services pages
• Case studies
pages
• Contact us form
• Phone calls

Using Filters in GA
• Problem: How do we isolate non-branded organic
search visits?
• Solution: With regular expression and filters!

Regular Expression
• A regular expression matches a pattern to a string. It is
a “language” that allows for more complex searches in
GA.
• Cheatsheet: http://www.swellpath.com/2012/08/8-
simple-yet-powerful-regex-concepts-for-google-
analytics/
• Example:
> Regex: (s.*path)|(.*adam.*)
> Matches: swellpath, swelpath, swel path, swell path,
SwellPath, swlpath, swellpth, swell pth, adam, adamware,
adam ware, Adam Ware, portland adam where

Using Filters
• Filters enable you to isolate dimensions (rows) in a
report, or filter based on metric values
• Combining regular expression and filters is
POWERFUL
• Activity: Navigate to Traffic Sources > Search >
Organic
• We’re going to filter out some branded traffic from
your report!

Activity I: Advanced Report Filtering
• Navigate to Traffic Sources > Search > Organic
• Select desired date range
• Click on “advanced”
• Select “Exclude”
• Select “Keyword” from “Dimensions”
• Select “Matching Regular Expression”
• Enter regex
• Apply!

Creating Shortcuts & Custom Reports
• Shortcuts enable you to quickly link to a report that
has filtering in place.
• Custom reports allow you to customize the
dimensions and metrics in a report, along with
custom filtering.
• So, for example, you can customize a report to
show the various stages a prospect may move
through…

Activity II: Creating a Report Shortcut
• Click the Customization tab in the orange top bar in Google
Analytics
• Click the “+ New Custom Report” button
• Properly title your report
• Create and name your tabs
• Select what type of report you would like
• Add the appropriate metrics
• Add the appropriate dimensions; use secondary dimensions if
you would like to be able to drill down
• Add the filter we created in Activity I
• Select which profiles you’d like this report to appear in

Finished Product Should Look Similar to This

Part II: Analytics for SEO & Social Media
Ashley Stuart
SEO & Social Media Analyst

Introduction: Ashley Stuart
> Search & Social Media Analyst at SwellPath
> Background in Media Planning/Buying
> Native Portlander
> Pinner, Tweeter, G+ Advocate, & Vine-obsessed
@FancyPants10

Agenda
I. Analytics for SEO
I. Modern SEO
II. SEO KPIs
III. GA for SEO
II. Analytics for Social Media
I. GA for Social
II. Creating an Advanced Segment
III. Site Specific Tools

Analytics for SEO

Modern SEO: Beyond Rankings and Backlinks
• Local Search
• Social
• People-Centric Keywords (v.s. Robot-Centric)
• Content
• Rich Snippets and Semantic Markup
• Web Authority

KPIs for SEO
> Traffic Themes
• Branded (swellpath|swell ?path|swellpath.com)
• Non-Branded (SEO consulting, PCC management)
• Segment Themes (SEO, Analytics, PPC)
> Landing Page Metrics
• Bounce Rate
• Specific Keywords Driving Traffic

Let’s Explore: Google Analytics for SEO

Let’s Explore: Queries
Queries:
> Discover the top searches bringing users to your site

Let’s Explore: Landing Pages
Landing Pages
> Shows URLs that generate the most impressions in Google web searches
> Identify landing pages that have good CTRs but a poor average position

Let’s Explore: Landing Page & Keywords Conversion
Go To: Traffic Sources > Sources > Search > Organic
• Set Primary Dimension as ‘Landing Page’ & Secondary Dimension as ‘Keyword’

The Elephant in the Room
(not provided)

The Wrath of (not provided)
Percent of organic traffic…
Q1 ‘12 Q2 ‘12 Q3 ‘12 Q4 ‘12
May 2013

http://www.notprovidedcount.com/

Accounting for (not provided): The Formula
Estimate = Raw + ((Raw / known) x (not provided))

Activity: Accounting for (not provided)
Example: non-branded traffic
1. Find your total (not provided) keywords
> (not provided): 30,000 visits
2. Find your total organic traffic
> Organic: 60,000 visits
3. Find your raw visits (e.g. non-branded)
> Non-branded: 8,000 visits

Accounting for (not provided): The Math
1. Find # of Known Keywords: Total organic – not provided
> 60,000 – 30,000 = 30,000
2. Take non-branded / Known Keywords
> 8,000 / 30,000 = 0.27
3. Multiply your percentage (0.27) by your not provided
> 0.27 x 30,000 = 8,100
4. Add that to your raw visits (non-branded in this example)
> 8,100 + 8,000 = 16,100
16,100 is our non-branded traffic accounting for not provided

Accounting for (not provided): The Easy Way
http://www.mikearnesen.com/seo-tools/not-provided/

Analytics for Social Media

Let’s Explore: Google Analytics for Social

Let’s Explore: Social Conversions
Measure the success of your social campaigns by aligning
them with specific landing page or transactional goals to
identify which networks impact the bottom-line.

Let’s Explore: Social Plugins
Measure your on-site engagement with “plugins” tab
> Discover what pages are driving the most social shares
> What social sites your content is being shared on

Activity: Creating an Advanced Segment for Social
• Consider the social sites you care to track
> What sites do you have an active brand presence?
> What sites are bringing significant traffic to your site?
> Use the ‘Social Overview’ tab to gain additional insight
• Beyond the “Big Three”
> Reddit
> StumbleUpon
> Instagram
> Quora
> SlideShare
> Pinterest

Activity: Creating an Advanced Segment for Social
• Once you determine the social sites that are most
valuable to your brand, create a Advanced
Segment to track these visits.
• Remember the qualifiers for the following:
> Twitter: t.co
> Google Plus: plus.google.com
> Facebook: Facebook.com, fb.me, m.facebook.com

Activity: Creating a Social Media Roll-Up

Site Specific Tools
Facebook Insights
Page Level
• Daily People Talking About This
• Daily New Likes
• Daily Total Reach (Organic + Paid)
• Daily Reach of Page Posts
• Daily Total Impressions of Your Posts
• Tab: Daily Like Sources for Tracking
Mobile Use
• Tab: Daily Talking About this By…
• Tab: Daily People Who Interacted…
Post Level
• Lifetime Post Reach
• Lifetime Post Impressions
• Lifetime Talking About This (post)
• Tab: Lifetime Talking About this
(comments and Likes the post
received)

Site Specific Tools
Facebook Conversion Tracking
Track the behavior of your Facebook audience.

Twitter Analytics for All!
• Favs, Retweets, and Replies
• Sort by Best (top 15%), Good (top 75%)
• Discover what type of messages/content gain the
most engagement

Site Specific Tools
Twitter Counter:
Compare your
follower growth with
your competitors
over time.
Attribute follower
spikes to specific
posts or campaigns.

Site Specific Tools
FollowerWonk
• Find optimal times to Tweet
• Demographic & Geographic data
• Social Authority
• Tweet Recencies
• Tweeted Content
• Commonly Tweeted Topics

Site Specific Tools
Pinterest Analytics
Pinterest Audience Insight = Better Content Decisions
> Must have Pinterest Business Page
> Adaptation of Pinterest's New Look
> A Verified Website (denoted by a checkmark next to your URL on your profile page)

Other Social Measurement Tools: Social Mention

Other Social Measurement Tools: Simply Measured
Tons of free data at the cost of a tweet or follow

Part III: Analytics for Paid Media
Craig Galyon
Sr. PPC & Media Specialist

Who Am I?
Craig Galyon – Sr. Media Specialist
What Do I Do?
• PPC
• Display
• Retargeting
• RTB – Behavioral
• Direct Publisher Placements
• Paid Social Media
• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Twitter

Hour III: Analytics for Paid Media
What we will discuss
4 useful tools in Google Analytics to make your
advertising go further and your day easier:
1. Attribution – why it matters
2. Position Analysis – how to maximize ROI
3. Mobile – how to bid with enhanced campaigns
4. Dashboards – workshop

Hour III: Analytics for Paid Media
What we will NOT discuss
Transitions. You’ll understand shortly.

Attribution – What Is It?
Attribution is the
assignment of an event to
a source.
Attribution is used to
evaluate ALL interactions
which contributed to an
event.
An example…

Attribution – See It In Action
Imagine the following path to conversion…
Goal Completion!
Who gets the credit?
If you are only using last-click (default for Google Analytics)…

Attribution – For PPC Campaigns
The same applies to Campaigns within a PPC Account
Goal Completion!Is your Branded campaign your top performing campaign?
How about Remarketing?
Why bid on Non-Branded?

Attribution – Richie Rich Don’t Give A Shit
If you’re this kid, you have too much money to
care where it gets spent.
For the rest of us, we need to know how to
best allocate our ad dollars.

Attribution - Where does the $$ go?
In this example, we might make the decision to cut the Display budget in favor of more
Email marketing.
Would that person even be a subscriber if they weren’t introduced to the brand through a
display ad?
0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 100%

Attribution – Solving Problems Since 2009
We know the problem, what’s the solution?
Where do I spend? How much?
As with everything, it depends…

Attribution Models
Bell Curve
A hybrid of the Last
Interaction and First
Interaction models.
Instead of giving all
the credit to either the
first or last interaction,
you can split the credit
between them. One
common scenario is to
assign 40% credit each
to the first interaction
and last interaction,
and assign 20% credit
to the interactions in
the middle.
Time Decay
Most heavily credits
the touch points that
occurred nearest to
the time of
conversion.
Linear
Gives equal credit to
each channel
interaction on the way
to conversion..
First Interaction
Attributes 100% of the
conversion value to
the first channel with
which the customer
interacted.
Last Interaction
Attributes 100% of the
conversion value to
the last channel with
which the customer
interacted before
buying or converting.
Google Analytics uses
this model by default
when attributing
conversion value in
non-Multi-Channel
Funnel reports.

Attribution – Top Conversion Paths

use this equation in excel to do the same thing
=COUNTIF(H2:XFD2,"PaidSearch")/COUNTA(H2:XFD2)
Attribution – Linear Formula
Linear Value =
(PPC)
PPC Interactions
Total Interactions
( ) X Conversion Value
or

Attribution – Real Values
Soon you’ll get charts like this…

If That Seems Like Too Much Work…
There’s a Google for that

Google Analytics Attribution Modeling Tool

Google Analytics Attribution Modeling Tool
Google Analytics Attribution Modeling tool is not available to everyone. You can get access
by putting your name on this list:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewfor
m?formkey=dEJrTVNSN2RBUm03MUVHLWRwc
E1jT1E6MA#gid=0

Mobile – How to bid with Enhanced
Campaigns
Overview:
• February 2013 – Google announced upgrade to “Enhanced Campaigns”
• Will automatically begin transitioning campaigns on July 22nd, 2013
• Average CPC in Mobile is 16% lower than Desktop
• New settings:
• Desktop and Tablets considered the same
• Mobile targeting activated for all campaigns
• Bid Adjustment set as a percentage modifier of standard bid
• Campaigns not manually updated prior to July 22 will have percentage
set automatically by Google based on “similar advertisers”
• Bid Adjustment ranges from -100% to +300%

Mobile – Defining Mobile
Google Analytics:
Mobile = Mobile Phones + Tablets
Non-Mobile = Desktop
Google AdWords:
Mobile = Mobile Phones
Non-Mobile = Desktop + Tablets

Mobile – Determining Value of Mobile

Create A Mobile Custom Segment!

Mobile – Custom Segment – Mobile (No Tablet)
+Create New Segment
Advanced > Conditions
Include:
Mobile (Including Tablet) >
exactly matches > Yes
Exclude:
Tablet > exactly matches > No
Save
Mobile (including tablet) – Tablet = Mobile Only

Mobile – Desktop/Tablet/Mobile
Let’s take it a step further…

Mobile – Custom Segment – Desktop + Tablet
+Create New Segment
Advanced > Conditions
Include:
Mobile (Including Tablet) >
exactly matches > No
OR
Tablet > exactly matches > Yes
Save
Non Mobile + Tablet = AdWords Non-Mobile

Mobile – Value of Mobile Defined by AdWords
Sitewide
Mobile visit value low
30%
PPC
Mobile visit value high
104%

Mobile – How to determine Bid Adjustment
Mobile Bid Adjustment =
Per Visit Value (Mobile)
Per Visit Value (Desktop/Tablet)
To exclude Mobile entirely: -100%

Congratulations! Go celebrate…

Maximize ROI by Position
Which position is the best?
2
PLA
3
4
1
5

Maximize ROI by Position
Naturally we assume it’s
better to be 1st than 2nd
Not necessarily the most
efficient…
What are your goals?
• Increase volume
• Maximize ROI
• Reduce CPA

Cost to increase position
What does it cost to move from position 4 to position 1?
Average Pos. Avg. CPC % Increase
4 $1.21
3 $1.66 37%
2 $2.38 43%
1 $3.64 53%
Considerations:
• Start with a 10/10 QS keyword
• Change in QS did not affect test
• Competition
• Competitive term with
advertisers in 1-10 positions
• Search Volume
• Enough search volume to
perform test in 1 week,
without competition adjusting
bids too much

Let’s see what Google Analytics has to say
Position 3
• Highest Per Visit Value
• Lower CPC than
position 1 & 2

Cost to increase position
Average Pos. Avg. CPC % Increase Value Per Visit ROI
4 $1.21 $2.72 224%
3 $1.66 37% $4.33 260%
2 $2.38 43% $1.72 72%
1 $3.64 53% $1.51 41%
Incorporating what we learned from Google Analytics Position 3 Wins!

Dashboards – Report Less. Be Happier.

Optimize Your Analytics to Measure Success | PDXDMC | June 2013

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