Web Analytics
Analytics : Chrome is the New Website Bling
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Written By Noah Mallin | September 5, 2008 | Share This
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Posts from tech sites a-plenty showing their preliminary numbers for Chrome have been multiplying like Tribbles in my Google Reader now that Google is including its new browser in their analytics. Most tech sites I’ve seen have a similar Chrome share to SearchViews – around 6% of browsers used to visit. SearchEnglineLand has the highest Chrome bling at a whopping 10% - looks like they are regular geek magnets.
So can we deduce from this that after a mere week on the market Chrome is on its way to being the number 2 or even 1 browser by year end? Uh, no. Let’s face it, the audience for SearchViews and SearchEngineLand and most of the sites I (and probably you) track are search industry focused. What’s interesting about SearchEngineLand’s post is that the Chrome % gets lower and lower as the blogs get less tech and search focused. Of course by that reckoning the higher Chrome % you have the greater your GQ, or Geek Quotient.
Search Engine News: In Chrome, Google Reflects Core Search Business
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Written By Noah Mallin | September 2, 2008 | Share This
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Google sure knows how to make a splash. In between a major hurricane, a holiday weekend, the start of a political convention, and a controversial VP nominee announcement the Googleverse let slip via a comic book(!) that Chrome, their much rumored Internet browser, would be available for download today. Look for the leaked comic book to be the new hot marketing and PR tool this year.
This is being played out in the press and to some extent by Google itself as a shot across Microsoft’s bow but I think that the reality from a search perspective is a bit more complex. Google’s internally generated success and profits pretty much begins and ends with search and products directly connected to the search business. Gmail has been an exception to this but compared to Hotmail and Yahoo mail it’s still just another competitor jostling for space, while Google’s search engine dominates the market.
SEM: Using Google Insights to Explore Old Media’s Geographic Reach
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Written By Noah Mallin | August 12, 2008 | Share This
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Newspapers by their nature tend to be local. Their location is even part of their name in most cases. Even so, certain newspapers are so influential that their reach extends beyond their location to other parts of the country and even the world. I thought it would be interesting to see how this might be reflected in Google’s dandy new toy, Insights for Search.
I picked four of the best know daily papers in the United States, The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and the Miami Herald. As a ringer I added USA Today to see if a paper that bills itself as a national one really has national scope online. The timeframe was calendar year 2007.
Search Engine News: Turn On, Log in, Opt Out - The Politics of Online Targeting
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Written By Noah Mallin | August 11, 2008 | Share This
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With Yahoo’s very public and Google’s characteristically more sly announcements that they are going to an “opt out” model for targeted ads, the continued legislative scrutiny of the search advertising and marketing industry ought to be addressed. During these dog days of summer it’s not surprising to find the political class in Washington DC casting about for an issue or to two to ride on home with and give the appearance of having done some actual work.
SEO & SEM: Google Puts Another Bullet in the Chamber with Insights for Search
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Written By Noah Mallin | August 6, 2008 | Share This
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The latest, Insights for Search (I4S to the kids?) is already a hit around the Reprise Media offices – allowing for quick and easy keyword research by geography and comparative volume. That being said, it’s not an adequate replacement for most of the popular keyword research tools for sale – yet. The difference lies in how far you are able to drill down to hard numbers and demographic data.
Weekly Search Roundup: This Week’s Search News Crushed in a Glass with a Splish-Splash of Vermouth
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Written By Noah Mallin | July 11, 2008 | Share This
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What are all us search marketers going to be discussing this weekend at our garden parties, club luaus, and intimate yacht rides? Probably Hellboy 2 but here are a few of the other topics that will be touched upon between canapés and badminton.
Scrabble Scrambles to Squash Scrabulous – Still Needs a “u” to Spell Squash
Hasbro, the makers of Scrabble, have been making an unhappy sound since earlier in the year over top Facebook app Scrabulous. Some bright corporate bulbs realized that merely squashing the Scrabble-aping app would lead to some unhappy Facebookers and that perhaps they ought to have the official Scrabble ® app ready to roll. Pretty sneaky sis. In related news, I’m working on my own Facebook app called Connect 5-bulous. You know where to find me, Milton Bradley.
Search Marketing: Google Does it While Learning
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Written By Noah Mallin | July 7, 2008 | Share This
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Back in the late 90s the only thing we worried about in the White House was a certain dry cleaning bill and a gentleman’s proper cigar etiquette. Yes, times were different. Back then Microsoft was perceived by some as the next great monopoly, with Bill Gates as Cornelius Vanderbilt ready to dominate the desktops of every man, woman, child, and wildebeest. Now in the aught-ies the focus of the Justice department and armchair alarmists alike is Google and Bill Gates has retired to live the life of a full-time philanthropist.
Online Advertising: Will Google Prove That Size Does Matter In Measurement Tools? Ad Planner Gives Glimpse at Vast Data Banks
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Written By Noah Mallin | June 24, 2008 | Share This
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Google’s announcement of their new Ad Planner product today sounded innocuous enough:
“To make your life easier, we’re introducing Google Ad Planner, a research and media planning tool that connects advertisers and publishers. When using Google Ad Planner, simply enter demographics and sites associated with your target audience, and the tool will return information about sites (both on and off the Google content network) that your audience is likely to visit. You can drill down further to get more detail like demographics and related searches for a particular site, or you can get aggregate statistics for the sites you’ve added to your media plan.”
Well, gosh! How thoughtful, it’s all about making my life easier. Of course I’m not comScore , a company whose primary business is aggregating data for their clients for much the same purpose.
Best Practices: Online Marketing Voyeurs and the Consumer Exhibitionists Who Want to Be Watched
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Written By Noah Mallin | June 9, 2008 | Share This
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Cast your minds back to the primordial past – you know, ten years ago when the ‘net was poised to deliver the most personalized user experience imaginable with targeted, relevant advertising at every new page. What happened?
I’ll admit the teeth thing was close to home but my lips are actually quite large. Lip plumping is a very low priority for me. As for moving and storage, I’m not going anywhere or planning on storing anything.
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YouTube Adds More Analytics
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Written By Sepideh Saremi | March 27, 2008 | Share This
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YouTube today finally added a few analytics that go beyond number of video views and backlinks. Called YouTube Insight, the new metrics show the geographic locations of video viewers and a video’s popularity relative to other videos on the site. Search Engine Watch notes that the map looks just like that of Google Analytics and wonders if it will be integrated into that dashboard (our vote is yes). Here’s a look at the YouTube Insight dashboard (click to enlarge):
Here’s how the YouTube Blog envisions its users will use the new data:
Well, using these metrics, you can increase your videos’ view counts and improve your popularity on the site. For instance, you might learn that your videos are most popular on Wednesdays, that you have a huge following in Spain, or that new videos that play off previous content become more popular more quickly. With this information, you can concentrate on creating compelling new content that appeals to your target audiences, and post these videos on days you know these viewers are on the site. (Maybe even post your next video in Spanish?)
Still missing from the analytics is keyword data - I’d be particularly interested in seeing what keywords on Google and other engines lead to certain videos, and to get a view of internal YouTube searches that lead to particular videos.