Google Analytics has brought out new features which make their service even more useful.

Google Analytics (GA) is a free service that produces detailed statistics about the visitors to a website. It has been designed to help marketers track where visitors are coming from as it traces links that lead to a website.

The information provided by analysing web data is essential to any business with an online presence. It enables a company to base its online marketing decisions on the information available.

Google analytics is designed to work alongside Adsense and users can review campaigns and relate the stats to goals and conversions. What is working can be enhanced and things that are not working can be reviewed.

GA can be used by anyone at all even if they have no experience. However, interpreting the more detailed results can be tricky and usually expert help is required, at least initially. Google also offer user help in the form of a Help website and the Analytics Help Forum.

Stephen Newton country manager for Google South Africa writes:

‘This is one of the key philosophies behind why we have chosen to make Google Analytics free. Other than making it available to all website owners, regardless of size, Google believes that customers should invest in gaining insights from the tool, rather than the tool itself.

This means hiring skilled data analysts at the outset (not just after a poor implementation has already been made) who are aware of the online business objectives and reporting requirements for all the key stakeholders and whose job it is to ensure that the correct tool is implemented, and is capable of delivering such insights.’

Some of the new features available are:

Email alerts
Emails will notify you of new statistics and keep you informed.

More goals
Originally it was only possible to have four goals on Google Analytics. Knowing what you want your website to achieve is the basis of all online marketing and being able to use GA to help you to do this is what its all about.

Engagement gaols
Engagement goals allow you to monitor the quality of your leads. Having lots of sign-ups for example that only stay on your website for a couple of seconds is not very useful as they are unlikely to lead to sales. Being able to filter out poorly engaged visitors enables you to see where your more successful leads are coming from.

More and more companies have an online presence and consequently consumers are becoming more sophisticated. A recent survey by bimouthmedia has found that European users are abandoning brand name searches in favour of longer more targeted searches.

bigmouthmedia looked at search behaviour in Germany, UK, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Norway and Denmark and found that most Europeans now use two or three words in a search.

Andrew Girdwood, Head of Search at bigmouthmedia said, ‘Over the past few years consumers have become far more savvy about search, and as the recession drives people to hunt for the very best available deals, we’re seeing them adopt a sophisticated approach with the majority now employing more complicated phrases to find their way around the web.’

The Italians, British and Germans were more likely to use four words (16%, 15%, 15% respectively) whereas only 10% of Spanish people were likely to do this and still favoured the use of mainly one word searches.

Research published earlier this year by Hitwise reported that word searches of over 8 words were up by 22% in the US and overall the number of words had increase by 10% over a one year period. bigmouthmedia found that overall brand name searches were down. This may be related to the recession where perhaps cost has become more important than well known brands.

Girdwood added: ‘Clearly, the way that users approach the search landscape is changing. As consumers continue to become more comfortable with the technology and the sheer volume of online information proliferates it will be interesting to see how this trend develops over the next few years and how it may force many big brand companies to reassess their digital marketing strategies.’

Sophisticated Consumers
Consumers are becoming more sophisticated but there are increasing numbers of businesses vying for their attention. More and more companies are becoming aware that to stay on top of the search engines listings they need to be more specific and hone in on the ‘right’ keywords that consumers are using. Consumers are becoming aware that the more specific they are the more likely they are to get good results from their searches. They are also impatient and want results quickly. And ultimately business wants as much useable traffic for as little effort as possible.

Business needs to keep up with consumer demand
To stay ahead of the search engine game business needs several things:

-A ‘feel’ for what is generally going on the web
-Access to the latest search engine trends
-A detailed knowledge of what search engines need
-Detailed technical knowledge about search engine optimisation that will enable them to link their products with consumer search engine techniques

The web feels like an organism that is growing and adapting quickly to its environment and visa versa and we have a symbiotic relationship with it. For business to rise to the top in this environment it needs to be aware on a micro as well as macro level. So getting a ‘feel’ for what is going on is just as important as analysing search data.

According to Hitwise, paid searches are down by 26% for the same period last year. This is a significant change which is said to reflect the problems of the current economic climate.

What are paid searches?
Paid searches are those where a company pays for its ranking on a search engine. It is something that is very easy to set up but requires a certain level of skill to implement well. Your company’s important keywords are identified (this is a skilful process which takes careful analysis and a degree of creative thought and artistry). Once you have these words you can approach search engines who then charge you for promoting your site according to your keyword choices.

The paid searches appear at the top of the search listings and are usually distinguishable from the natural listings by a difference in size, colour or highlighting. The theory is that the top listings will be clicked on more. Each time someone clicks on your link you pay the search engine company an agreed amount which is dependant on the popularity of your chosen keywords. An accurate keyword campaign can be very lucrative and a misguided one, very costly. Google Adwords makes the process very easy and anyone can set up an account and start experimenting with the results. Google analytics is a programme which looks at your traffic and click-through conversion rates and helps to guide further changes and although available to all, is a complicated and technical programme.

Decline in Paid Searches
The Hitwise survey found that in the four-week period ending in April 2008, nearly 10% (9.84%) of search engine traffic came from paid clicks. This figure declined by 26% for the same period in 2009 to 7.25%. The only sector which reported an increase in paid advertisement was education which saw a rise from 1.39% to 1.45%.

Reasons for Change
Although paid searches guarantee you a top-spot they can be costly. Avoiding high costs means being skilled at choosing the right words and analysing the results and this means either investing a lot of time in getting you or your staff up to speed or employing experts who can guide your campaign within your overall marketing strategy.

Avoiding high costs has led people to look at cheaper ways to market their online presence. A greater awareness of how search engines like to rank has led to people making more of their sites in a bid to increase natural listings. The search engines are super-open with information on how to make to most of your site naturally.

Social networking sites have created a platform from where to funnel visitors to your site and their increasing popularity is having its effect. The same applies to bloging which is a cost effective way to gather cross-market traffic. Additionally email marketing has increased in popularity as it is a highly personal and cost effective way to target your market.

Conclusions
We will more than likely see an increase in creative, natural and viral marketing campaigns which will reflect the needs of the current economic climate.  However with the high levels of competition that are set to increase in the natural search listings market, paid listings are still a very serious option.  We may see a reduction in costs for pay-per-click as there will be less competition for keywords.  The important point is that whatever you do it needs to be cost effective.  Implementing the right campaign and analysing the results to capitalise on your successes and minimise your risks will be essential and seeking expert guidance in order to do this is highly recommended.

Rankings for large or corporate sites rely on capitalising on the good name and trust that consumers already have in you. There are numerous ways to improve your position and gain a larger percentage of the market share. For larger well established sites internal links will have the greatest impact so focusing on these first will bring you the greatest return.

1. Careful Planning
   Its important to have a well defined strategy for web changes in place. What are your overall objectives? Who will implement them and when will you know if they are successful? A large site will require systematic and carefully planned changes.
2. Your Audience is King
   On the web every move you make needs to have your consumer at its heart. Even meta-tags (the words that you see when you appear on the search engine) need to be written for your audience and lower ranked pages may get a better if they are more relevant and appealing.
3. Content! Content! Content!
   Good content is the cornerstone, particularly for Google. Search engines do not rank a website, they rank each page individually so you need to focus getting as much quality content on each page as possible. This means that if you have a large site you have many more opportunities to attract traffic to you. Each page needs to be as different in order to make it more attractive to the search engines.  The search engines will penalise repeated content.
4. Keep Your Ranking
   When redirecting pages make sure you don’t loose your current ranking. There are two different codes that tell Google about redirections: 301 and 302. A 301 code will inform Google that the old URL has been updated and this should trigger a new indexing of your page and hopefully ensure you don’t slip in the rankings. A 302 is only a temporary redirect .
5. Put Your Company Name in the Title Tag
   Leverage the trust your brand already has by placing your company name in the title tag of each page. Searchers looking for other things may click on your page when they recognise a trusted name.
6. Have a Blog
   A blog is a great way to add content to your site. You can either have it on your site or create separate one that links to you. Blogs create valuable content for your site and that’s what the search engines want.
7. Internal Links
   Internal links which help visitors to navigate around your site are very important. The idea is to create a ‘web’. Search engines like internal links and if your website is already established then internal links are even more important. If your site is very large then a site-map will be useful, not just for your visitors but also for your rankings.
8. External Links
   The search engines like external links too. Your objectives here need to be the quality and quantity of links. The aim is to develop one-way links from sites that are highly ranked. The links need to use your targeted keywords.
9. Social Media
   Social media, such as Twitter, Facebook and MySpace, are being used by more and more individuals and companies are capitalising on this growing form of marketing. With Facebook, for example, you can submit adverts which provide links to your site or open an account where you can attract ‘fans’ and potentially create a ‘buzz’ about your brand.
10. Testing
    When you are making changes testing is important so that you can monitor your progress. Using advanced web tools such as Google Analytics, makes this easier as you will be able to see which pages are being spidered and which are not. Having this information allows you to target any further adaptations more effectively.

Search Engine Strategies is an excellent conference series, spanning the globe, which shares information and strategies for companies for whom an online presence is a vital part of their business portfolio.  Organised and advised by top marketing industry writers, thinkers and practitioners, the conference’s content and speakers are carefully selected to provide the best experience and information – most of which is not available online – for attendees.  So you have an online presence. but what is the point of attending a conference like SES, especially in this market?

Eleven business reasons for attending Search Engine Strategies London 2009:

1. Differentiation:  learn at your own level.  With beginner, intermediate and advanced sessions for most tracks, you can be sure to get the information you need at the level you need it.
2. Learn from industry experts:  the coffers are opened to attendees so that you are taught direct from people who do this every day for a living.
3. Understand what exactly is involved in a campaign to rank your web site and know what first steps you need to take
4. Speak directly to the search engines:  Google, Microsoft & Ask.com will be there!
5. Understand the difference between paid search (advertising on the search engines) and search engine optimisation (ranking organically on Google for your product or service keywords and keyword phrases).
6. Get to grips with the ranking factors for your web site:  what do you need to look at / work on to get more visitors to your site and sell more products.
7. Understand how video, news, podcasts, blogs and press releases can help your company’s products or services be put in front of potential clients. 
8. Got sites in different languages?  Want to sell to non english-speaking markets? Understand the impact of multilingual search engine optimisation and search marketing on your business and the factors to consider and implement.
9. Learn how to track your visitors from how / where they come to your site, through to purchase or abandonment of the buying process.  Start to interrogate your data.
10. Find out key tips and tactics for looking impartially at your site with the open site clinic featuring the frank and forthright Dave Naylor, Microsoft’s Mel Carson and moderated by the highly experienced Amanda Watlington.
11. Go away feeling empowered to ask the right questions of your marketing and IT teams and eel confident that you know how to interrogate and interview a digital marketing company to help you rank your website.