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June 14, 2007
The Success Is In The Web Analytics
Not sure how I missed this (probably cause I’m really that special), but ClickZ’s Zachary Rodgers tell us that Google is now offering customized Placement Performance reports to tell advertisers where they ads were displayed, giving them site performance metrics by domain, URL, impression, click, conversion and cost. This is very huzzah-worthy news.
With the release of these new reports, search marketers are offered considerably more control over the success of their campaigns. Now, on top of the other Web analytics information Google provides, search marketers are able to see which sites their ads performed well on, as well as identify the sites where the interest isn’t so great. They’re then able to use Google’s site exclusion tool to direct Google to only show ads on the high-performing sites. Even savvy search marketers can’t really ask for more than that.
Director of Product Management for AdSense Brian Axe believes the new report will be beneficial to publishers, advertisers and users alike. We completely agree.
Besides just the increased Web analytics information, advertisers will be excited about the new Placement Performance reports because it ensures they’re getting what they paid for. You may remember a little over a year ago when Ben Edelman outed Yahoo for its click fraud troubles. One of the issues Ben pointed to was Yahoo’s alleged habit of placing ads on known spyware sites, not the high-quality sites users were promised and paid for. This new report from Google increases transparency and helps advertisers to make sure their ads are running on the appropriate sites. In the end, it gives them more control over their pay per click campaigns.
While we’re on the subject of Google Analytics, it’s worth mentioning that the service is now officially out of beta (rejoice!) and has been upgraded with new features, including:
- Hourly reporting
- Clickable URLs
- Cross segmentation by network location
- Easier AdWords integration
- Bounce Rate Increase/Decrease
- More countries and the ability to recognize more search engines
The old Google Analytics interface will be no more as of July 18th.
Wilson Web published 10 Tips for Getting Better Data from Google Analytics that may also be worth a read. If you’re behind the curve on Web analytics, you want to make this one of those weekends where you work from home. Order a pizza if it helps.
Posted at June 14, 2007 9:51 PM
View related entries in: Analytics
Comments
Thanks for the insight on the Google offering for web analytics.
I have tried many tools available on the web like Sitemeter, Statcounter , GoStats, Mint.
GoStats is what I have liked so far.
Will try Google Analytics too.
Posted by: Ayush at June 15, 2007 12:26 AM
I use it, I loved it...
I loved it more before the layout [and structure] update.
Posted by: Respiro Media at June 15, 2007 6:02 AM
The new Google placement performance reports ensure advertisers have transparency of where their ads are being placed - but they do not ensure advertisers are getting what they paid for - that will take consistent, iterative action using the domain exclusion lists.
Advertisers should focus on three things with the new Google placement performance report:
1. Review the sites you receive the most clicks from (top 25) and where performance is very poor and consider them for exclusion based on your goals.
2. Review the large number of sites with poor performance that are managed by MFA and parked domain companies - these sites will exhibit small numbers of clicks per day but cumulatively can add up to a large amount of ad clicks each day. Some advertisers are silently attacked by thousands of these MFA sites each day.
3. Consider using a 3rd party click fraud auditing firm to help you monitor, detect, and mitigate click fraud and click quality issues in paid search and the content networks.
Kevin Embree
SVP, Product Strategy
Click Forensics
Posted by: Click Forensics 
at June 15, 2007 6:33 AM
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