Analytics Blog Posts

Analytics

If you’re in the SEO world, you’ve heard a lot about the ‘not provided’ statistic: Google is now hiding the key phrases logged-in Google users enter to find your site. So, if you go into Google Analytics (or any other analytics software), you’ll see something like this: Instead of a full keyword report, you get… Read More

Analytics

A long time ago, alchemists tried to turn lead into gold. They were pikers. Compared to digging keyword data out of the Google’s lovely (not provided) statistic, lead into gold woulda been a cinch. But I’m stubborn. So, I’ve pulled a bunch of keyword analytics data from Google Analytics, and the Search Queries report from… Read More

Analytics

I’d promised myself I’d stop ranting about Google’s ongoing analytics assassination. But I checked my data for this blog, today, and I’m missing 19.5% of my keyword data: Google. What. The. Hell. I know, I know: I’m supposed to use Google Webmaster Tools to look at search queries. So, I toddle over there and take… Read More

Analytics

Google Analytics now has this cool, real-time stats dashboard. At first, I thought it was just fluff—something to use up my spare 2 minutes/day. But, it’s really handy. I’ve found five good uses for it so far: Test social media posts in real time: Send out a tweet, and then watch the result. Send a… Read More

Analytics

Multi-Channel Funnels (MCF) can provide a lot of valuable data about the entire multi-touch conversion process. But the most common question I’ve heard from people in this industry is – okay, but what do I do with this? Today I’m going to step through using MCF for opportunity analysis both in Paid Search and Organic… Read More

Analytics

I was sure I’d get crushed by a falling NASA satellite today. It didn’t happen, but it was very motivating. I completed my legacy to the marketing world: A Google Spreadsheet that automatically grabs everything from Linkscape data to Google Analytics numbers to Twitter follower counts. It’s purty: More important, I’ve provided a link to… Read More

Analytics

Prospective clients always want to know: What kind of impact will SEO have? How much traffic will I get? I’m an empirical guy. I want to give an answer. But based on what? Well, I did some serious digging into traffic patterns over time across 200 Portent clients, and I have some answers. Warning: This… Read More

Analytics

Since I ranted about internet marketing training yesterday, I thought I’d post a video I just did for the team. This one’s a really quick look at Google Analytics, and how to do a fast analysis of lost organic search traffic: Quickly find and diagnose lost keyword-specific traffic in Google Analytics. I never build these… Read More

Analytics

Update! We’ve got a new and improved version of the Cheat Sheet for 2015! Google Analytics is Hard Google Analytics is tricky. There are cookies, utm_codes, and lots of counterintuitive definitions. As Kanye West would say, “It’s enough to drive a sane man biz-erk.” Can’t Someone Put This All in One Place? When I was… Read More

Analytics

It’s no secret I’m a Google Analytics fan. But Google Analytics version 5, coming soon to a browser near you, addresses some major shortcomings. Here are ten features you’ll want to check out, the moment they’re available: 1: Multi-touch attribution Important note: This is a separate beta and is rolling out on its own. So… Read More

Analytics

Yep, today only, Ian’s Tame Google Analytics ebook is on AppSumo for just $10. That’s a 41% savings! What You Get Buy this e-book and learn how to: Set up Google Analytics Define business goals Set up tracking for those goals in Google Analytics Calculate the $ value of one visitor to your web site… Read More

Analytics

First, a brief interlude: AUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGHHH OK. I’m good now. Primal scream complete. The documentation for Google App Scripts is… less than perfect. So I have to start by thanking Tom Critchlow of Distilled. He sent me the initial script that made Google Spreadsheets play well with the LinkScape API. Otherwise, I’d be in a small,… Read More

Analytics

I’ve been building some custom reports for Portent in Google Spreadsheets. They do fun stuff like grab Google Analytics data, insert data from other APIs and such. One thing that nearly drove me batty, though, was figuring out how to automatically add a new row below the last row with data. Turns out, Google App… Read More

Analytics

Hootsuite just launched a new analytics tool, and it’s pretty slick. It doesn’t do anything new, but it integrates Hootsuite, Google Analytics and other data in a really elegant, white-label-able interface. Cool features include: Nice PDF report export; Basic branding: Put in your logo, contact info; Track Google Analytics against retweets; Track Facebook likes/unlikes all… Read More

Analytics

I want the perfect marketing dashboard. But I can never seem to find it. Here’s what it needs to look like: Why is that so hard? If I’m missing something, let me know.