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More About This Title Your Google Game Plan for Success: Increasing Your Web Presence with Google AdWords, Analytics and Website Optimizer
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Savvy marketers are always searching for new ways to attract and keep online customers. Google’s array of online tools plus the techniques and tips in this expert guide help you unlock the mystery of doing business in the digital age.
Learn the basics of Google AdWords, Analytics, and Website Optimizer—and then discover how to use this powerful trifecta together to help you track, extract, and analyze data and make necessary changes. Topics include cost-per-click advertising, conversion tracking, how to apply what you’re learning, and much more.
Brings you up to speed on Google AdWords, Analytics, and Website OptimizerShows how to use each tool individually—and then together as a powerful trio to track, analyze, and optimize your Web presenceTopics include the basics of CPC (cost per click) and how to use Google's Ad Planner, the AdWords Editor, and conversion trackingCovers how to install tracking code in your Web site, what reports are available and how to use them, testing, applying what you learn, and much moreStart increasing ROI, online sales, and web site traffic quality with Google tools and the insights and techniques in this expert guide.
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Joe Teixeira is Director of Web Intelligence at MoreVisibility and a Google Analytics Certified Partner. He is a leading expert in the field of web analytics, and is Google AdWords Qualified as well as certified in Yahoo! Search Marketing and MSN AdCenter.
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Introduction xix
Part I Getting Started 1
Chapter 1 What’s Your Game Plan for Success? 3
What’s Your Current Plan of Online Action? 4
Why Did You Build a Website? 4
What Does Your Website Look Like? 4
What Does Your Website Do? 6
How Does Someone Benefit from Your Website? 6
How Do You Plan on Marketing Your Website? 7
How Are You Measuring Success? 8
Visits, Hits, and Page Views 8
Time on Site, New vs. Returning Visitors, and Events 9
Conversions, Goals, and Successes 11
Customer/Visitor Feedback 12
Key Performance Indicators (KPI) 13
Doing It Online Is Different from Doing It Offline 13
Fast, Faster, Fastest! 14
No Charge for Changes 14
Much Higher Level of Accountability 14
Getting Started on Your Journey to Success 15
Part II Google AdWords 17
Chapter 2 Welcome to Google AdWords! 19
Creating a Google AdWords Account 20
Creating a Google Account 20
Opening a Google AdWords Account 21
Creating Your First AdWords Campaign 23
Choosing a Billing Method and Entering Billing Information 24
Becoming Familiar with the Google AdWords Interface 26
The Home Tab 26
The Campaigns Tab 27
The Opportunities Tab 29
The Reporting Tab 30
The Billing Tab 31
The My Account Tab 31
The Home Tab 32
Alerts 33
Account Status 33
Announcements 33
Watch List 33
Keyword Performance 34
Active Campaigns 35
Campaign Performance 35
Help and Tips 36
The Campaigns Tab 36
Functions and Features within the Campaigns Tab 37
The Campaigns Sub-Tab 39
The Ad Groups Sub-Tab 40
The Settings Sub-Tab 40
The Ads Sub-Tab 42
The Keywords Sub-Tab 42
The Networks Sub-Tab 44
The Audiences Sub-Tab 44
The Opportunities Tab 45
The Reporting Tab 46
Report Types 47
Settings 47
Advanced Settings 48
Templates, Scheduling, and E-Mail 50
Viewing Your Report 50
The Billing Tab 51
Billing Summary 52
Billing Preferences 52
Agency/MCC Billing 52
The My Account Tab 53
Account Access 53
Notification Settings 54
Preferences 54
Chapter 3 Cost-per-Click Advertising 55
A Brief Review of Cost-per-Click Advertising Online 55
What You’re Actually Charged For 56
Where Your Ads Actually Appear 57
The Critical Role that Landing Pages Play 58
The Google AdWords Quality Score 61
Quality Score for Google and Search Partners 61
Quality Score for the Google Content Network 62
Optimizing Your Quality Score 62
Keyword Match Types 65
“Broad Match” Keywords 65
“Phrase Match” Keywords 65
“Exact Match” Keywords 66
“Negative Match” Keywords 66
The Great Debate: Keyword Match Types 67
Cost-per-Click Ads 68
Standard Text Ads and Restrictions 68
Using the “Keyword Insertion” Function 70
Testing and Experimenting with Different Ads 71
Other Types of Ad Formats 72
Geo-Targeting 73
Selecting a Country, State/Region, or City 73
Creating a Custom Targeted Area 74
Who Actually Sees My Geo-Targeted Ads? 75
Chapter 4 Advanced Opportunities within Google AdWords 77
The Google Content Network 77
Text Ads 78
Image Ads 79
Video Ads 81
Automatic and Managed Placements 83
Tips for Success on the Content Network 83
Display Builder 85
Selecting Your Ad Template 85
Editing and Launching Your Display Ad 86
AdWords Bidding Options 88
Bidding Focus on Clicks (CPC) 88
Bidding Focus on Impressions (CPM) 88
Bidding Focus on Conversions (CPA) 89
Advanced Campaign Settings 89
Languages 90
Position Preference 90
Delivery Method 92
Ad Scheduling 92
Ad Rotation 94
Frequency Capping 95
Demographic Bidding 95
Ad Extensions 96
Location Extensions: Business Owners 97
Location Extensions: Non-Business Owners 98
Phone Extensions 99
Ad Sitelinks 99
Product Extensions 100
Chapter 5 AdWords Tools of the Trade 103
Google AdWords Editor 103
Downloading Your Campaigns 104
Working within AdWords Editor 104
Posting Changes Live 110
Google (DoubleClick) Ad Planner 110
Viewing a Site Listing 111
Creating a Media Plan 112
Ad Planner for Publishers 118
The AdWords Conversion Tracking Tool 118
How Conversion Tracking Works 119
Creating and Installing Conversion Tracking 120
Conversion Tracking Data and Reporting 121
The Search-Based Keyword Tool 123
Other Available AdWords Tools 125
My Change History Tool 125
Ads Diagnostic Tool 126
Ad Preview Tool 127
Keyword Discovery Tool 128
Traffic Estimator 128
IP Address Exclusion Tool 130
Site and Category Exclusion Tool 131
Chapter 6 Google AdWords: Analysis and Insights 133
Measuring Success and Taking Actions 133
Focus on Impressions 134
Focus on Clicks 136
Focus on Conversions 139
General Actions to Take 141
Answers to Common Questions and Problems 143
When Should Ad/Keyword Bids Be Changed? 143
When to Add/Pause/Remove an Ad 145
When to Change Your Campaign Settings 145
When to Create New Campaigns 146
When to Reorganize Your Account 147
Part III Google Analytics 149
Chapter 7 Welcome to Google Analytics! 151
The Google Analytics Account 152
Basic Functions within Google Analytics 156
Date-Range Tool and Comparing Date Ranges 156
Trending Graph Customization 157
Adding Reports to the Dashboard 158
Exporting Reports 159
E-mailing Reports 159
Dimensions (Segmenting) 161
Table Filtering 162
Other Table Options 163
Help, FAQs, and Common Questions 166
The Overview and the Dashboard 167
The Visitors Section 170
Benchmarking 172
Map Overlay 173
New vs. Returning 174
Languages 175
Visitor Trending 176
Visitor Loyalty 177
Browser Capabilities 178
Network Properties 179
Mobile 180
The Traffic Sources Section 181
Direct Traffic 181
Referring Sites 182
Search Engines 183
All Traffic Sources 184
Keywords 185
Campaigns 186
Ad Versions 186
The Content Section 186
Top Content 188
Content by Title 189
Content Drilldown 189
Top Landing Pages 189
Top Exit Pages 190
Site Overlay 190
Navigation Summary 191
Entrance Paths 192
The Goals Section 193
Total Conversions 195
Conversion Rate 195
Goal Verification 195
Reverse Goal Path 196
Goal Value 197
Goal Abandoned Funnels 197
Funnel Visualization 197
The E-Commerce Section 198
Total Revenue 200
Conversion Rate 200
Average Order Value 200
Product Performance 200
Transactions 201
Visits to Purchase 201
Days to Purchase 202
Chapter 8 The Web-Analytics Industry 203
How Google (Web) Analytics Works 203
What Information Does Google Analytics Collect? 206
Personally Identifiable Information (PII) 207
First-Party vs. Third-Party Cookies 208
Limitations of Google Analytics 209
Web-Analytics Metrics 212
The Web-Analytics Association 212
Web Metrics and Dimension Definitions 212
Metrics 212
Dimensions 213
Unfortunate and Common Misconceptions 214
Misconception: Web Analytics Is Accounting Software 214
Misconception: Google Analytics Publicly Shares and Sells My Information 215
Misconception: A $125,000 Tool Will Solve All My Problems 216
Misconception: One Tool Should Be Enough for Me 216
Misconception: Web-Analytics Tool X Should be Exactly the Same as Web-Analytics Tool Y 217
Misconception: Google Analytics Can’t Handle Large Volumes (Because It’s Free) 218
Misconception: The More Data My Dashboard Has, the Better! 218
Misconception: Too Many Visitors Are Listed on the Top Exit Pages Report 219
Misconception: You Should Use Year-over-Year and Decade-over-Decade Comparisons 220
Becoming a Great Web Analyst 220
Failing 221
Segmentation 221
Comparisons 223
Executive Dashboards/Reports 224
Competitive Intelligence 224
Understanding Your Website 225
Chapter 9 Sophisticated Google Analytics Features 227
Intelligence and Custom Alerts 227
Understanding “Intelligence” 228
Significance and Sensitivity 230
Group by Dimension 230
Creating a Custom Alert 231
Advanced Segments 234
Default Advanced Segments 234
Creating a Custom Advanced Segment 235
Sharing and Editing Your Custom Segment 239
Custom Reports 239
Creating a Custom Report 240
Sharing and Editing Your Custom Report 242
Advanced Segments and Custom Reports Together 242
Motion Charts 243
Site Search Reports 244
Secondary Dimensions and Pivoting 247
Advanced Table Filters 248
Annotations 249
Chapter 10 The Technical Side of Google Analytics 251
The Google Analytics Tracking Code (GATC) 251
The urchin Tracking Code 252
The ga.js Tracking Code 253
The async Tracking Code 254
The JavaScript File 255
The Tracking Code Wizard 255
What the GATC Can’t Track 257
Google Analytics Cookies 258
The __utma Cookie 258
The __utmb and __utmc Cookies 260
The __utmz Cookie 260
The __utmv Cookie 262
E-Commerce Tracking 262
Enabling E-Commerce Tracking 262
The E-Commerce Tracking Snippet 263
Common E-Commerce Tracking Mistakes 266
Event Tracking 267
Categories, Actions, Labels, and Values 268
Event Tracking Reports 269
Custom Variables 271
Schema and Key/Value Pairs for Custom Variables 272
Custom Variables Reports 273
Common Customizations 274
Virtual Page Views 274
PDF and Other File Downloads 275
Sub-Domain and Cross-Domain Tracking 275
Sub-Domain Tracking 276
Cross-Domain Tracking 276
Modifying Cookie Timeout Values 277
Adding an Organic Search Engine 278
Creating Profiles, Goals, Filters, and Other Settings 279
Creating a Profile 279
Editing Profile Settings 280
Goals, Values, Funnels, and Engagement 280
Filters and Regular Expressions 282
User Management 284
Part IV Google Website Optimizer 285
Chapter 11 Welcome to Google Website Optimizer 287
What Is Google Website Optimizer? 287
How Google Website Optimizer Works 289
A/B Experiments 290
Multivariate (MVT) Experiments 292
Reports and Data Available in Google Website Optimizer 295
A/B Experiment Data 295
Multivariate Experiment Data 297
Creating an A/B Experiment with Google Website Optimizer 298
Step 1: Website Owner Buy-In 298
Step 2: Create a Google Account 298
Step 3: Logging in to Google Website Optimizer 298
Step 4: Choosing the Experiment Type 298
Step 5: Review Experiment Checklist 299
Step 6: Identify Experiment Pages 300
Step 7: Tag Your Experiment Pages 300
Step 8: Review Settings and Launch 301
Step 9: Follow-up Experiments 302
Creating a Multivariate Experiment with Google Website Optimizer 302
Chapter 12 Elementary Statistical Concepts 305
Elementary Statistics 306
Why Is Elementary Statistics Important? 306
Types of Statistical Data 306
Types of Surveys and Samples 309
Histograms and Normal Distributions 310
Mean, Median, Mode, and Midrange 311
Averages and Outliers 312
Standard Deviation and the Range Rule of Thumb 313
Z-Scores 315
Confidence Intervals and Margin of Error 315
How to Approach Your Data After Reading This Chapter 316
Chapter 13 The Technical Side of Google Website Optimizer and Experiment Ideas 319
The Google Website Optimizer Tracking Code 320
Tracking Code for an A/B Experiment 320
Original Page Coding 320
Variation(s) Page Coding 322
Conversion Page Coding 323
Tracking Code for a Multivariate Experiment 324
Test-Page Coding 325
Conversion-Page Coding 326
Creating MVT Combinations and Editing HTML 327
Part V Executing Your Game Plan 329
Chapter 14 Google AdWords and Google Analytics 331
Syncing Google AdWords and Google Analytics 331
Step 1: Administrative Rights 332
Step 2: Destination URL Auto-Tagging 334
Step 3: Syncing and Applying Cost Data 334
The Google AdWords Report Subsection 337
New AdWords Segmentation Options 337
The Overview Screen 339
Campaigns Report 340
Keywords Report 341
Day Parts 342
Destination URLs 343
Placements 343
Keyword Positions 344
TV Ads 344
Other Ways to Combine AdWords and Analytics 345
Importing Your Google Analytics Goals into Google AdWords 345
AdWords Search Funnels Report 346
Running Multiple AdWords Accounts at the Same Time 347
Chapter 15 Google AdWords and Google Website Optimizer 349
Using AdWords for Your Website Optimizer Experiments 350
Experiment: New AdWords, New Landing Pages 350
Experiment: New AdWords, Existing Landing Pages 352
Experiment: Existing AdWords, New Landing Pages 352
Experiment: Existing AdWords, Existing Landing Pages 353
Ideas for Landing-Page Experiments 353
Designing for Usability vs. Designing for Conversions 353
Calls to Action 355
Landing-Page Headlines 357
Selling/Value Propositions 358
Short, Medium, and Long Forms 359
People, Places, and Things 360
Chapter 16 Google Analytics and Google Website Optimizer 363
Tracking Code Compatibility 363
Using GA and GWO on One Domain 364
Using GA and GWO on Sub-Domains 365
Analyzing Google Website Optimizer Data in Google Analytics 366
Annotations 367
Advanced Segments 367
Custom Reports 368
All Traffic Sources 369
Map Overlay 370
New vs. Returning 370
Mobile Devices 371
Goals Overview 373
Reverse Goal Path 373
Creating a Duplicate Profile for Your Google
Website Optimizer Data 374
Part VI Wrapping It Up 377
Chapter 17 Google Programs to Add to Your Game Plan 379
Programs for Analysis 380
Google Insights for Search 380
Google Trends 384
Programs for Your Website 388
Google Webmaster Tools 388
Google FeedBurner 390
Programs for Advertising 391
Google TV Ads 392
Google Merchant Center 395
Google AdSense 396
Chapter 18 Programs to Add to Your Game Plan Outside Google 399
Manual URL Tagging 399
The Five Query Parameters 400
Tips to Ensure Your Query Parameters Work Properly 403
Pay-per-Click Programs 404
The Yahoo!/Microsoft Search Alliance 404
Ask Sponsored Listings 405
Some Other Tools to Add 406
URL Shorteners 407
Klout 407
Twitalyzer 408
PercentMobile 410
CrazyEgg 411
Appendix A Resources and a Thank-You! 413
Getting in Touch with the Author 413
Thank You, Reader! 414
Google Resources 414
Non-Google Resources 417
Blogs to Subscribe To 421
Index 425
