Visitor Intelligence News - October 2001 ======= ============ ==== ======= ==== Welcome to the latest edition of Visitor Intelligence News, the electronic newsletter from Site Intelligence Ltd. The previous edition of this newsletter looked at ways of tracking and measuring the response to online promotion using visitor intelligence techniques. In this edition we take a closer look at one particular form of online promotion - the search engine - and consider referrals from search engines from the visitor intelligence perspective. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - | This is Site Intelligence's electronic newsletter. | | Newsletter contents are copyright (c) 2001 Site Intelligence Ltd. | | You are receiving this email because you subscribed via our website:| | http://www.site-intelligence.co.uk/ | | To unsubscribe or to change your subscription details, contact us | | at: newsletter@site-intelligence.co.uk | - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ANALYSING SEARCH ENGINE REFERRALS You probably already measure the fraction of your website traffic which originates from search engines. But, as with most simple website statistics, that type of measure hides some important detail and can even be misleading. With the right approach it is possible to learn much more from your search engine referrals. Though the following discussion concentrates on the true "search" engines - such as Altavista, Google, Excite and so on - many of the ideas also apply to "directories" such as Yahoo. As we'll see, internal search engines built into your own site can also provide valuable information. -The starting point- When a visitor finds your website via a search engine, your webserver records a considerable amount of detail about how that visitor found you. The exact information depends on the specific search engine, but usually includes: - which search engine was used; - the exact search phrase typed; and - any special search options specified. In many cases extra information is available, such as: - which position in the results listing was clicked; and - how many pages of results the visitor stepped through to find your listing. All of this information is encoded in the referrer string for the click which brings the visitor from the search engine to your site, so can be automatically extracted and analysed using appropriate software. -Search phrases- The search phrases used by your visitors give a fascinating insight into the specific interests and concerns which attracted them to your site. If you have a software system which can list them for you, it is worth spending some time looking in detail at these search phrases. You may find some surprises! It is common to see popular search phrases which often have nothing to do with your business. For example, a software company found that the search phrase "Thames Dinner Cruise" was attracting a large number of visitors to a page which contained programme details for its user group meeting! Visitors reaching your site via irrelevant search phrases are a particular example of the accidental or "spurious" visitors we discussed in the April edition of VIN. These spurious visitors do no harm, other than imposing an extra load on your webserver, but probably don't contribute anything towards your business objectives. Ignore these spurious search phrases and concentrate on those that are relevant to your business. These will give you a good idea of how real customers or prospective customers are locating your site. Again, you may find some surprises. Remember that simple, common search phrases will hit many thousands of websites. It is likely to be more specific phrases, perhaps with unusual search words, which bring the most visitors. The next step is to apply some segmentation. With the appropriate visitor intelligence tools you can distinguish those search phrases and search engines which bring in the most paying customers, as distinct from those which bring in "time wasters". A good measure of this is the conversion rate for each search phrase and search engine - that is, the fraction of visitors who go on to register on the site or to make an online purchase. In our experience it is common to see variations of a factor of 10 or more in conversion rates for different search engines: in other words, a visitor from search engine "A" with search phrase "XYZ" is more than 10 times more likely to buy from you than a visitor from search engine "B" with the same search phrase. If you actively promote your site via search engines, for example with paid placements, measuring conversion rates in this way will allow you to target your promotional expenditure in the places where it will get you the biggest return on investment. -Other information- The search phrase is not the only useful piece of information. Most search engines also inform you of the ranking within the search results of the link which the visitor followed. This provides valuable context. Visitors who follow links that were low in the rankings - say, on the second or third page of results - have had to work harder to find your site and are likely to be more seriously interested. For each such user there are likely to be several less determined searchers who gave up, or who went to a competitor, before they found your site in the search results. If you find a significant number of registrations or sales from particular search phrases where your site has a low ranking in the search results, improving your site's ranking for those search terms would probably drive a big increase in sales. It can be eye-opening to visit a search engine yourself and to type in some of the same search phrases which your visitors are using. This will give you an idea of the other items in the same listings which your website needs to stand out against. -Internal search engines- Many of the above ideas can apply to the internal search engine on your website, too, provided you ensure that the search phrases are properly logged. By analysing the search engine terms a visitor uses in the context of the other clicks they make during their visit you can get important insights into the user experience that your site offers. For instance, if many users turn to the search engine for information which was actually linked from pages which they visited earlier, that suggests that the links are unclear or badly labelled. -Summary- The above discussion is just a brief introduction to a complex subject. Whether or not search engines form an important part of your promotional strategy, search phrases are a very rich source of information which can teach you important lessons about how your site relates to the issues in the mind of the online customer. Armed with these insights you can improve the relevance of your marketing messages and website content. So a thorough analysis of search engine referrals is likely to pay dividends for almost any website. Using visitor intelligence techniques to cross-reference search phrases with other aspects of online browsing and buying allows meaningful segmentation of visitors and so provides more reliable and robust comparisons between different search engines. As with other forms of on-line promotion, the search phrase which gives the most "hits" is rarely the one which has the greatest value for your business! WEB ANALYTICS CONFERENCE You can meet Site Intelligence at the Web Analytics conference in London on October 23rd. Our Chief Executive, Dr John Woods, will be speaking on the topic "Successful implementation of web analytics". Other speakers include Thomas Cook, Cambridge Technology Partners, IBM Software, and Aberdeen Group. The conference organisers are Henry Stewart Conference Studies. For full details, visit: http://www.henrystewart.co.uk/conferences/october2001/E01106/index.html or e-mail the organiser: kierono@henrystewart.co.uk. NEXT ISSUE The next issue of Visitor Intelligence News will be in approximately six weeks' time. If you have any questions or comments about visitor intelligence issues which you would like us to address in future issues, please email the editor: newsletter@site-intelligence.co.uk. SUBSCRIPTIONS To subscribe to Visitor Intelligence News, visit our website at www.site-intelligence.co.uk/vin. To unsubscribe or to change your subscription details, email newsletter@site-intelligence.co.uk