Intro by Rebecca: Coincidentally, Adam Green submitted this SEM post to YOUmoz last night, and it's very informative so I decided to move it to the main blog and have it kick off SEM Tuesdays. Enjoy!
There have been a number of updates to Google Adwords and Google Analytics lately, so I thought the SEOmoz community might want a summary of them. For the most part, I am impressed with the new features and Google should be applauded for listening to their user base and responding with these additions.
Improvement #1 - AdWords Geographical Targeting with Google Maps
Although geographical targeting is not perfect, this new mapping feature does make it easier for the average user. Google has introduced a new system where users can see targeted areas using Google Maps. I like this feature a lot because it allows me to see the surrounding towns and cities which I might want to include in my targeting for a particular local client. This is especially handy for those who manage clients outside of their geographic area.
Some new improvements include Google's creation of "bundles," where you can bundle together specific regions like Central America or Africa.
Where this system falls short, and this is a long standing issue with geo targeting, is the fact that a user sitting in City Example X, may not have an IP address registered to that location. Thus, when developing campaigns it can be a good idea to develop campaigns with the city keyword as a geographic qualifier and even test the effectiveness of the polygon targeting tool.
Here is what the map targeting looks like for a client looking to target the Toronto region in Canada:
Improvement #2 - Google Keyword Tool
Google has also improved the functionality of its keyword tool by adding features that allow you to filter results, choose which statistics columns to display and select match types at the keyword level. They have also combined the ability to see keyword variations and site-related keywords into one tab, allowing you to see all keywords on one page. This update isn't a huge breakthrough, but the increased functionality is nice for those of us who use this tool on a regular basis.
Here is a screen cap of the tool, using the ever popular "blue widgets" example.
Improvement #3 - Google Analytics Graph Comparison
I really like the increased functionality that Google has included with this update. Comparing date ranges has always been helpful, especially when demonstrating improvements to clients or patterns of behaviour on a site. This new update allows you to compare different metrics like average page views and time on site to each other, and display them graphically.
The metric comparison options change depending on which area of Analytics you are viewing. If you have an e-commerce site, you can compare conversion rates, transactions, revenue, and more.
Here is a screen cap of a dashboard view in Google Analytics:
Hats off to Google for implementing these useful additions. In my opinion, the new comparison feature in Google Analytics will be especially useful. I would be interested to hear if anyone else likes these updates...or if there are features and functions that are sorely needed and should be implemented by Google.
I recently did a mini-experiment on a client site, because I was curious how much geo-targeting had improved (as more people have broadband, etc.). For the particular client, I was able to match IPs to purchases and see if their billing or shipping city came close to the location in the ARIN data.
Long story short, the accuracy came out to about 60%, which was a bit less than I had hoped (and I was fairly liberal in how I judged a "match"). Defintely better than 1999 when everyone lived in Vienna, Virginia (AOL's server farm), and it seems to be improving all the time, but nothing I'd bank on yet.
Wow. That's useful data. Thanks Pete - really appreciate you sharing this. Makes up for all the thumb wars...
Wonder if anyone has similar for the UK (until recently, we appeared to be in Birmingham).
Dr. Pete and davidmihm,
Thanks for sharing your findings about 60% accuracy. I too have been questioning the reports and am glad to get an estimate of how reliable it is.
I am surprised that you got such poor results.
I tend to find that our hit rate is somewhat higher in the UK, but these are good numbers to see.
I should clarify that my numbers were indeed U.S.-based. It's entirely possible that Google is using a wider data set than just the public registry, so their accuracy could be better, but they still have limitations.
One problem I encountered was that geo-targeting could be correct but still not produce a match. For example, if the visitor was connecting from an airport in another city, their IP wouldn't match their purchase details. On the other hand, I counted anything within 25 miles as a match (1 point) and anything in the same U.S. state as a 50% match (half a point), so I think my generosity cancelled out the peculiar cases.
BTW, does anyone know how Google handles sites that don't have sufficient geo-location data? I assume it's liberal and includes them, but the details in the fine print are fuzzy.
Nice algorithm!
I had you pegged as being from The Windy City, rather than anywhere in the UK.
As mobile devices become more prevalent (and your example of the visitor connecting from the airport is a superb example of the perfect catalyst for the mobile search boom) geo-targeting will become more accurate.
That said, there is still a strong case for national exposure of geo-targeted terms, for the visitor who is arriving next week.
I have deliberately avoided any mention of Google becoming an ISP!
The problem with the airport example is that geo-targeting may be accurate and yet not useful. Let's say, for example, that I am indeed from Chicago (which is definitely living up to the "Windy City" name today), but I'm surfing the web while waiting at Heathrow. Two sites want to each locate me to give me customized information:
(1) Provides restaurant recommendations
(2) Provides local real estate news
As an out-of-town visitor, (1) may theoretically be useful. On the other hand I have no particular interest in London real estate, and would prefer information on my own local market, so (2) isn't useful.
Absolutely. Number 2 (yes, yes) is where national exposure of geo-targeted terms comes in.
Geo-targeting is industry dependant but, as a rule of thumb, industries which will not benefit from geo-targeting (and I'll stick with your estate agency example) are equally unlikely to suffer from it.
Shorter term searches, where a user is looking for a swift answer to a pressing question and a handy provider for their requirement are likely to convert after one search. Longer term searches are going to be more inclined to carry out more investigative research and be more willing to follow links, complete forms and specify locations.
The most obvious examples of restaurants or weather forecasts are likely to have a huge number of false positives - users searching to find out where they can eat that evening when they arrive in Minneapolis or wanting to know what the snow is like in Aspen - but getting results which are tailored to one's current location is going to be more intuitive than any other alternative.
If you have never looked at the UK housing market, might I advise against it.
Pete (& all Mozzers),
My "experiment" is actually anecdotal from appx. mid-2006, and not as robust as what it sounds like you did.
I actually got ahold of a rep via email, though, and asked her about the "Vienna Virginia" problem, as you describe it. Here in the Bay Area the problem still exists with certain AT&T customers getting their IP's from Fresno rather than San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, which is a separate metro area. The rep did acknowledge the problem, but I am not sure there will be a solution unless Google and the utility companies partner up (particularly unlikely with AT&T since YP.com and Google are such fierce competitors in the Local arena).
Thanks so much for sharing that.
Good post. Here is something that perhaps others don't know about. If you are wanting to break through the barrier that Google Analytics puts on data exports (i.e. it limits the number of exported rows of data), use the following parameter and value at the end of the Google Analytics string:
&limit=50000
You can change the value to something else but I confirmed with the lead Google Analytics guy (his name is part of my 10%, see previous Rand post) that the current limit is less than 90,000 (I wanted to export the number of keywords to OneCall.com for a given week and couldn't--had to break it down daily).
Hopefully this will be useful to some . . . maybe everyone already knows this though. If you don't and blog about it, name drop me please. ;-)
Brent David Payne
awesome!! You rock! God I was so mad they took that away!
yay! i've been wanting this. thanks! that's damn handy.
Massive tip! Thanks so much for that Brent. Any other gems you have tucked away?
I wish Google made it easier to compare days of the week. By that I mean I'd like it to line up Monday of the first week of the month with Monday of the first week of the previous month when comparing one month to another. Such comparisons currently result in a misalignment of the days such that this month's Monday traffic is compared to last month's Sunday traffic which is not an apples to apples comparison. Just a minor quibble...
Ya I would agree, I actually just started creating my own excel spreadsheets to easily track and view the changes over longer periods of time. It's making a big difference with finding actionable items for us to focus our efforts on.
Brent good tip. I am appreciative of the new features google has implemented. I am not so sure about the keyword tool but I plan to look into further.
That's good. I know the analyse method of google adwords. Thank you. I like search engine optimization seo, I am a new person.
I personally do like Google analytics very much, it's free and there's a lot to learn about Web metrics. It also gives you the idea of some aspects that are being considered important by Google when ranking sites.
These are definitely steps in the right direction. Google's AdWords platform continues to get better and better.
One thing I'd really like to see is PPA campaigns for smaller companies looking to become bigger companies :) Currently Google's PPA campaigns are reserved for ads generating over 300 conversions per month.
That leaves many companies out of the loop. Many companies that could tie ad budgets directly to performance (i.e. generation of revenue) could explode their ad budgets as returns continued to increase.
To me it seems like a win/win, where the more sales generated from PPA campaigns, the more money can be invested in larger PPA campaigns/payouts, resulting in more conversions, higher payouts, etc.
If someone could explain why Google wouldn't want smaller companies to be able use the services in this space, I'd certainly love to hear it!!
Christopher Reeswww.palaestratraining.com
It always amazes me how fast Google can get out updates. It seems like all other companies of this size can barely move.
We recently decided to hold off with Index Tools for measuring our sites Analytics, only to spend more time understanding how Google Analytics works and how to apply the data more into our daily activities. We originally planned on returning to Index Tools, after we had a better grasp on Analytics as a whole. But with Google Analytics frequent updates, I don't know if we'll ever leave.
I am extremely excited to see their next rollout of Event Tracking.
Good to see more updates on this coming through, have i missed the latest follow up on this. Just so that you know, and I know the post is getting old but the links to the images no longer work. Cheers David.
Great post and congrats on being moved up to the big boy page!!! The pressure is on after this one!!
Thanks... I think it was more of being in "the right place at the right time." Rebecca needed some PPC content... and low and behold... there was my post!
Glad you enjoyed the article.
Another spectacular feature at Google Webmaster Tools is the "Content Analysis" section under "Diagnostics"
It gives you information on meta data that may be problematic (too short, too long, duplicate, etc) - VERY useful.
Wow, wonderful post! I didn't know these features were available, thanks.
Thanks for this informativew post... I like very much the new improvement on Google Analytics... really useful.
And also, I agree with davidmihm , the Aaron Wall's new tool is great!
Presumably the geo-targeting tool is going to prove more of an improvement in the near future.
It surely cannot be a coincidence that Google is upping the emphasis on geo-targeting at the same time that it releases My Location into beta?
Mobile search has to be the way forward for our industry and by pushing through the hardware bottleneck Google should ensure that they maintain the lios share as the market moves in that direction.
Adam, this post is too good for you to have written by yourself. Tony must have been standing over your shoulder as you wrote it.
My favorite revisions/update is absolutely the Geographic targeting. At the very least, even though I understood Geo-targeting before, clients can now understand what this entails.
The keyword tool improvements are nice as well, but I'll probably still use Aaron Wall's new tool over at SEObook.com
Tony??!?? Who is that?
The new Geo targeting tool is nice but I am still looking for the industries best practice when it comes to local clients. As I stated above, it all depends on the users IP and thus, not everyone gets covered. How do you deal with that?
See Dr Pete's response below; his experience w/60% accuracy pretty much mirrors mine.
The best thing I've been able to come up with is two separate campaigns:
Pretty standard stuff, and it's not going to capture ALL of the traffic, but it's the best I've been able to do. Anyone else have any ideas?
Great post. I have to say that I too am a big fan of the new ability in Google Analytics to comapre different metrics. It's just so helpful to see multiple things at once; it makes the data much more meaningful. Obviously I'm a numbers geek, so I love my stats. But it's great to see what correlations exist that were perhaps not so evident originally.
Great info our company has just signed up for AdWords. A little confusing at first but a great tool nonetheless!
Thanks for all the great information!