Analyzing Analytics: Choosing the Right Metrics for Your SEM Campaigns

Metrics most vital to your Web site will depend on your goals.

By Chandra Johnson-Greene
Wednesday, December 3, 2008

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There are plenty of analytical tools to choose from when looking to beef up your SEM campaigns, but which tools will work best for your site and what metrics should you be looking at closely?

It really depends on what your goals are, according to Jason Revzon, VP, Taunton Interactive, The Taunton Press. “There are two main reasons magazines have to use [analytical tools],” he told AD. “They are direct response—you’re looking to see how many users purchased a subscription—and traffic—your site is ad-supported and you want to see what areas of the site people are going to and how long they stay.”

For direct response, Revzon says conversion—how many people actually signed up for the newsletter or purchased the subscription—is most important. Conversion rates can help you “determine all of the factors that led to the conversion,” including the position of the ad, the language in the ad and how the landing page looks.

“Google Analytics just came out with these great visualization tools for audience segmentation,” Revzon says. “You can put together all of these ‘motion charts’ that can show you, for example, how people moved across your site based on the keyword that lead them there. It teases out hidden patterns that are otherwise hard to see.”

And if you’re looking at traffic, Revzon added, it’s best to keep an eye on the bounce rate—the rate at which people come to your site, see one page and leave. “If you have great response rates, but your bounce rate is huge—80 or 90 percent—that’s not good,” he says.

The ability to compare your site’s metrics to your competitors’ is also beneficial. Most paid tools offer you a third-party view in the sense that you can see the metrics of specific titles. But if you’re sticking with Google Analytics, Revzon says, you’re not totally out of luck. It now offers a benchmarking tool, where you can compare your site’s metrics to anonymous data from other users.