In review of a few clients’ analytics this month I kept running across an inbound referrer I hadn’t seen befoere: msplinks.com. First, I just went to msplinks.com, and saw that there is nothing but a blank page there. After trying a few of the URLs from Google Analytics, one worked. It was this one:
So msplinks are outbound redirections originating at MySpace. But, what is the problem that this truly solves for MySpace? They say it is a security measure, but is it (in whoel or part) to reduce MySpace usage merely for SEO purposes?
On the heels of Yahoo’s announcement of their acquisition of web analytics purveyor IndexTools, Yahoo announced that the tool will be made available free of charge.
There are some caveats. Current IndexTools customers will be required to sign a standard Yahoo! agreement, and at this time the freebie won’t be for everyone. The masses will have to wait until a later release to take advantage of the tool. During that time Yahoo will likely be tightly integrating IndexTools with their complimentary offerings.
So here’s the analytics landscape by search provider:
Limited by how many times a video has been viewed, publishers of YouTube videos have been left largely in the dark about how their video is consumed by the public. Last week YouTube made a step in the right direction for content publishers with the announcement of YouTube Insight. From the YouTube blog:
…uploaders can see how often their videos are viewed in different geographic regions, as well as how popular they are relative to all videos in that market over a given period of time. You can also delve deeper into the lifecycle of your videos, like how long it takes for a video to become popular, and what happens to video views as popularity peaks.
The blog posting on YouTube’s site indicated that new features will be added to the reporting capabilities quickly. That’s good news—the initial roll out features are welcomed, but aren’t all that robust or useful—especially after the drought of information previously available. YouTube, here’s a few useful metrics to add to your list:
Average duration of video view in minutes:seconds
How many times the video was shared
Views on syndication sites by syndication URL
Viewer demographic information
YouTube: if you need more ideas on what your users really want, contact me, or better, look at your user feedback over the past few years.
Oh, and one more thing. I’ve got enough places to track data. Why can’t we just get this data inside Google Analytics?
Google’s analytics tool for measuring how visitors interact with your web site (aptly named Google Analytics) provides an incredible value to the online marketer. If you’re giving Google Analytics a spin for the first time, or you’ve installed it a half-dozen times before, here’s a few tips to get the most out of what Google has to offer your marketing efforts
Use the latest tracking code
Google currently provides two tracking codes to chose from when you implement Google Analytics onto your web site. The stated reasons for migrating to a new tracking code seem to surround technical improvements. Whatever the reason for the change, Google cautions that Analytics will stop honoring the legacy code in less than a year. For that reason alone: go with the new tracking code
Just about ever web site has some sort of desired user task completion (or goal). Google Analytics provides valuable tracking of user completion and attrition of goals as you define them. Goals can range from the (very) common, such as the viewing of a receipt or “thank you” page, to the tracking of file downloads, gameplays, or even the amount of time spent on a given page.
Common goals usually rely on a unique web page being viewed, and may or may not have a specific starting point. These types of goals can be setup very quickly. Conversions which rely on interaction beyond a specific web page being viewed can be setup, they just require spending a bit more time with Google’s help files and forums.Get it setup, and take advantage of all the reports for which Google provides the added dimension of how the data in various reports intersects with the completion of key site activities.
Conversion Goals and Funnel setup takes place by clicking the “Edit” link in the “Settings” column for the site you’re setting up from the Analytics Settings page.
If you sell products on your site, configure e-commerce transactions
Goal conversion tracking provides a valuable perspective into the effectiveness of your web site and online marketing activities. If you have an e-commerce site, you can go one step further and associate the specific dollar value of online purchases with site usage right inside of Google Analytics.Google Analytics Support: Tracking E-commerce Transactions
Configure Site Search
A lesser-utilized feature of Google Analytics is its ability to track what visitors search on utilizing your site’s own search feature. Configuring this feature not only provides insight into what people search for on your site, it also helps you understand how they use (or discontinue the use of) your site after performing an on-site search.Google Analytics Support: Setting up Site Search
Exclude internal traffic
Anything you can do to improve the quality of the data you capture enhances what your reports can provide you in return. Excluding internal traffic from your reports altogether is a step in the right direction, and an easy step at that.
