understanding analytics

legal techsan francisco, caoctober 15, 2013

understanding analytics

you will learn what search engine optimization is and why you should

care the basics of SEO on and off your site how to evaluate SEO providers understanding Google and navigating Analytics advanced analytics tactics reporting to management

what is search engine optimization (and why should I care?)

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) defined:

SEO is any activity an organization undertakes to improve their website’s visibility and ranking for organic search

the basics of SEO on and off your site

onsite v. offsite challenges

onsite v. offsite challenges

onsite challenges

area of focus keyword research basic issues website content website design internal links

onsite challenges

area of focus keyword research basic issues website content website design internal links

what is the main purpose of the website?

divide and conquer

identify low hanging fruit

area of focus

onsite challenges

area of focus keyword research basic issues website content website design internal links

three steps to keyword research

1. get a base lista. talk to strangers

b. read your users minds

2. expand your base list with tools

3. choose high volume/low cost keywords for optimizing!

firm employees ideas of keywords: legalese, legalese, legalese, legalese, legalese

potential clients (strangers) ideas of keywords: layman terms, layman terms, layman terms, layman terms

you need to optimize for the terms your potential clients are using!

if you can’t find any corporate counsel or CEOs to talk to, ask your mom how she would look for a lawyer. She does not speak legalese

talk to strangers

internal site search reading your users minds!

searches used on www.sitemiprove.com.

gives us clues about what users are looking for.

stranger data + user data

=

base list of keywords

expand your base list with toolsboth of these tools are free!

choose your keywords

best keywords will have a high number of monthly searches and a low estimated cost per click

you are doing a cost/benefit analysis for your keywords to get the most bang for your buck (ok time not buck but you get the idea)

onsite challenges

keyword research basic issues website content website design internal links

basic issues

Use good document structure and avoid errors page titles meta descriptions H1 tags avoid duplicates in your titles,

meta descriptions and H1 tags avoid misspellings

what is good for search robots…. is also good for website visitors!

basic issues

basic issues

basic issues

basic issues

basic issues

“Titles are critical to giving users a quick insight into the content of a result and why it’s relevant to their query. It's often the primary piece of information used to decide which result to click on, so it's important to use high-quality titles on your web pages.” – Google Support, http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=35624

basic issues

basic issues

basic issues

are h1 tags important for seo?

• yes but not as much as they used to be due to abuse by seo professionals

• still recommended that you have a unique h1 tag on each page.

• also recommended to use h2, h3, etc. to signify sections and sub-sections on a page

basic issues

siteimprove.com 1-855-SITEIMPROVE info@siteimprove.com

basic issues

search for “sequestration government construction contract”

basic issues

“The description attribute within the <meta> tag is a good way to provide a concise, human-readable summary of each page’s content. Google will sometimes use the meta description of a page in search results snippets, if we think it gives users a more accurate description than would be possible purely from the on-page content. Accurate meta descriptions can help improve your clickthrough.”

– Google Support, http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=35624

benefits of good document structure

• first place on google? not guaranteed, but certainly helps

• makes pages more readable to both people and search engines

• highlights keywords in a way that search engines understand

basic issues

am law 100

first 1,000 pages of AM Law 100 websites average

342 pages with duplicate page titles 625 pages missing meta descriptions 186 pages missing H1 tags 524 pages with duplicate H1 tags 11 misspellings (also not good for SEO)

basic issues

onsite challenges

keyword research basic issues website content website design internal links

website content

make it relevant make it readable, little

legalese make it timely give it a x-factor: funny,

provocative, thoughtful, etc.

website contentsemantic markup – www.schema.org

Use micro data like Authorship to help search engines identify key areas of your content

Why do this?• Attorney visibility• Easy links to other articles of

the same author• Does not impact SEO yet but

Moz recommends using it in their 2013 ranking factors report

onsite challenges

keyword research basic issues website content website design internal links

website design

relevance forms call to action more

show examples

onsite challenges

keyword research basic issues website content website design internal links

internal links

• link in context

• make links relevant and necessary (use common sense)

• have the link text match the destination

internal links

am law 100 sites average 19 internal broken links and 39 external broken links on their first 1,000 indexed pages

avoid broken links both to your own pages, known as internal links and to external resources, known as external links. google (and more importantly people) can’t follow broken links!

onsite v. offsite challenges

offsite challenges

Link building

link building

link building is defined as creating content that people will link to and then encouraging people to do so

link buildingwhen someone links to you (on their website, through social media, etc.) they are indicating two things:

1. they trust you and are showing that they have some sort of relationship with you

2. they find your content valuable

search engines recognize this trust as credibility for your site. if enough relevant and authoritative people (and websites) link to you, your rank will go up!

link building

but my content is boring…..– be inspiring– be provoking– be fun– do the unexpected– bring zombies

link building

what not to do• do not pay for links• do not participate in too many link

directories• avoid having irrelevant websites linking to

you

A couple notes on algorithm changes

337 SEO changes by Google every year

panda

could be great for law firms!

image from www.wikipedia.orgimage image from http://commons.wikimedia.org

quick panda rundown

algorithm update between February and April in 2011

focused on getting rid of low quality content added human review as part of ranking

methodology added engagement metrics as part of ranking

methodology—pogosticking is bad

what can you do?

• start measuring engagement (time on site, number of returning visitors vs. new visitors, bounce rate)

• review and improve what is being indexed for your site– do a google search for site:www.myfirm.com– remove unnecessary pages from the index with robots.txt file or

by using canonical urls

• increase social media shares

• produce quality content

penguin

could be great for law firms!

image from www.wikipedia.orgimage image from http://commons.wikimedia.org

quick PENGUIN rundownannounced on April 24, 2012 with a refresh on May  25

• link spammers• keyword stuffing• cloaking• participants in link

schemes• deliberate creators of

duplicate content• over optimizers

aimed at the cheaters

what can you do?

periodically read the google webmaster guidelines (with a grain of salt)

how to evaluate SEO providers

• Is keyword research part of their strategy? How do they determine the benefit of ranking for a particular keyword vs. the cost of pursuing that ranking?

• Will they share an overview of their tactics with you? If not, move on.

• How have they adjusted their strategies to accommodate the Panda and Penguin algorithm updates?

• What is their approach to link building? How do they feel about buying links?

• What are their thoughts on using Content Marketing as a SEO strategy?

a provider checklist

• How does Social Media figure into their plans for your firm’s SEO?

• Will they ensure that everyone agrees on expectations for the SEO project before signing a contract?

• Does the company make an effort to understand your firm? Do they provide a site audit?

• What data will the company provide to you in order to keep you updated on the progress of the project and the ROI?

• How will the company ensure each of your offices performs well in local search?

• Do they have references that you can call?

a provider checklist

traditional SEOkeyword researchon-page SEOlink building

modern SEOsocial mediacontent marketingdetailed ROIlocal and mobile

where you want to

be!

the balance you want

a trustworthy company will…

share their tactics agree on expectations up front be empathetic to your needs provide references new art on home page

let’s take a tour

Where to start – What’s the overall view of me website’s traffic?

Ok, I see how many visitors I have, but I want to know where the traffic is coming from

A good percentage of my website’s traffic is from search engines – what kinds of keywords are users searching for that bring them here?

I know search engines are a source, but how can I tell which visitors are coming through paid search (AdWords) as opposed to organic SEO?

I’m curious if the locations of my website’s visitors are the same as where our firm offers services?

Now that I know where the traffic is coming from, I want to know the pages they’re going to once they get to my site.

Ok, I see what the most popular landing pages are, but what are the behavioral patterns of visitors once they’re in my website?

advanced web analytics tactics

1. investigate your data2. identify your Key Performance Indicators and Micro

Conversions3. segment your audience

1. investigate your data2. identify your Key Performance Indicators and Micro

Conversions3. segment your audience

investigating your data

what information is missing in the standard deployment of web analytics tools?

missing the following data:● Clicks to documents; PDF and all Microsoft Office documents - $● Clicks to Vcards - $

missing the following data:● Visible clicks of visitors who arrived to your website via email● Clicks to items that do not load new pages (videos, sharing icons, mailto links,

many tab based pages) - $

missing the following data:● Clicks to cached pages (up to ⅓ of all page views!)

Can be fixed

$ - Costs money and/or time

Can’t be fixed

investigating your data

what are events and how are they tracked?

tracking events

an event in web analytics is a user interaction on a website that does not load a new page.

Clicks to play video/audioClicks to tabs that do no load new pages Clicks to sharing icons

why is it important?1. organizations are adding more video and audio (like

podcasts) to their websites2. sharing functionality is now standard on most websites3. utilizing tabs and expandable menus is becoming

commonplace because it enhances the user experience

4. other functionality will continue to be introduced that will not load pages

how do you know what is working if you cannot measure it!!!

Orrick can now understand over time what videos are being played on their Careers page. This can help determine the content for future videos as well as helping them understand which videos to keep on the page and which to remove.

can’t we just pick these things up with our standard web analytics javascript?

no!javascripts for web analytics tools require a page to load in order for the javascript to execute and then collect data.

events do not require a page to load

no page load = no data

additional coding is needed in all analytics tools to pick up events. talk with your analytics provider to determine setup.

investigating your data

why campaign tracking is critical to law firm web analytics

tracking campaigns

clicks from email, paid advertisements and offline cannot be tracked without campaign tracking

here is the problem…

This is better

how do you get there?

• determine what marketing channels you use– email, social media, etc.

• add tracking parameters to your urls that you send out in those channels

• analyze your new campaign data!

current url:http://www.orrick.com/Events-and-Publications/Pages/Class-Action-Settlements-Rule-68-Offers-of-Judgment.aspx

http://goo.gl/67bzw

Event Tracking URL:http://www.orrick.com/Events-and-Publications/Pages/Class-Action-Settlements-Rule-68-Offers-of-Judgment.aspx?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=class+action+event&utm_campaign=october2013

Orrick could now see what links within their enewsletters are driving traffic. This can help them understand what to do in future mailings.

Email marketing tools provide great data on “open rate” and “click through rate” but not enough information about what people do once on your website.

Campaign tracking helps complete the picture.

guidelines for campaign tracking

● be consistent with how you name them○ all newsletters have the source “newsletter”

● be aware of case sensitivity○ “Email” and “email” will show up differently in your

report● request a free white paper on tracking campaigns at the

siteimprove booth

when to use campaign tracking

• email blasts• client alerts• linkedin posting• twitter campaigns• online advertising (sponsoring events, ads in publications, etc.)

2. Identify key performance indicators and micro conversions

what is a key performance indicator (kpi)?

wikipedia: key performance indicators are financial and non-financial metrics used to help an organization progress towards organizational goals identify

siteimprove: numbers you can use to measure whether or not your website is performing in line with your objectives

identifying your kpis1. talk with leaders in the firm to determine

how the website contributes to overall business objectives

2. identify what you are currently doing and plan on doing in the future on the website to achieve those goals

3. select metrics in your analytics tool that help you measure that progress (these metrics are now your kpis!)

what makes a great kpi?

● simple● relevant● timely● instantly useful

good rule: have no more than 4 kpis per business objective

getting beyond KPIs

micro conversions

● signing up for a client alert● subscribing to a newsletter● vcard downloads

definition: micro conversions are metrics that indicate the website is performing to its desired intent but are not strong enough to be kpis on your website.

potential examples of micro conversions

setting targets is key

targets - numerical values you have predetermined as indicators of success or failure.must have yearly targets, better to have quarterly or monthly.

3. segment our audience

there is too much data out there!!!

what makes a good segment?● it makes a metric or kpi more relevant● it gives you the clarity necessary to

recommend action

three buckets: acquisition, behavior, outcomes

what is a segment in web analytics?

looking at sections of data rather than all the data at once.

why do this stuff?

• events and campaign tracking– completes the data picture

• kpis and micro conversions– ensures you are measuring what is important

• segmentation– allows you to focus your efforts

all of this leads to the generation of a great report with recommendations you can present to management and then improve the website!

why do this stuff?

reporting to management

or: get busy executives to listen today…so they will fund your efforts tomorrow

define your goals, do your homework

define the purpose of your site

firm brand awareness recognition client information source a way to validate Orrick’s expertise (via legal news,

articles/blogs/webinars, bios, legal experience, service descriptions)

find attorneys (who are understandably focused on their own practice)

as a client information source, tabulate

visitors that visit at least four pages related to the IP practice (news items, attorney biographies, practice pages, etc.)

total email subscriptions for IP news, etc. total subscriptions to Trade Secrets Watch blog visit duration over four minutes on Trade Secrets Watch

blog (knowing that the average person takes one minute to read 300 words)

brand awareness/recognition

review Orrick’s overall traffic against three competing firms (Jones Day, Mofo, Covington) to understand its relative market position

tabulate total organic searches for IP attorneys by name plus searches containing “Orrick” with some form of “IP” in the keyword. Measure month over month to evaluate Orrick’s growth as IP brand.

tabulate number of visits to Orrick website from award-granting organizations’ websites

report in a way management will understand

the elements of this report:memo to leader: what do we look for?

executive summary what are the trends in our website traffic? where does our traffic come from? how do we influence traffic? what are our most popular pages? what are buyers most common search terms? what cities are people coming from? what mechanical fixes were made this past

month? what content improvements did we make?

executive summary: what do we hope to see?

site traffic improving some correlation between

our marketing efforts and our traffic

executive summary for July 2013

traffic is down 10% from our annual monthly average across all measures

traffic report trends

visits 3,364 3,712 3,750.5

unique visitors 2,786 2,982 2,912.3

pageviews 11,709 13,685 13,613,92

pages per visit 3.48 3.69 3.63

time on site 02:00 02:23 02:08

new visitors 75.59% 74.14% 76.34%

bounce rate 31.9 ^ 31.55% 30.06%

July 2013 July 2012 monthly ave/yr

why these categories for our traffic report?

visits 3,364 3,712 3,750.5

July 2013 July 2012 monthly ave/yr

traffic month-to-month to keep our short-term attention focused and strategy on track in order to make adjustments on the fly

against the same month from a year ago because time-of-year matters; it keeps us sane (don’t get depressed at July/August numbers)

the average monthly traffic across a year to keep our long-term strategy in perspective

we want to track…

where does our traffic come from?

search engines 51.7% 51.5% 55.9% —

direct to site 30.3% 28.1% 23.9% <1%

referred from others* 11,709 13,685 13,613 15%

July 2013 July 2012 monthly % ave/yr increase

with search engine optimization, you want to see the overall percentage of organic searches increase even as direct traffic and referrals increase.

*top referral sources

gb mobile 156 unavailable 223

twitter 25 unavailable 43.1

linkedin 19 unavailable 26

facebook 13 unavailable 7.8

Law Marketing (blog) 17 unavailable 35.3

Legal Profls 15 N/A N/A

website credits 21 unavailable 11.4

July 2013 July 2012 monthly ave/yr

what CEOs want to know

how are we influencing traffic sources?

our e-communications efforts, blog posts and other social media (twitter, facebook and linkedin) are supporting our traffic but not providing a bump in traffic. How then do we bump traffic?

what are the most common search terms?

“not provided” 639 unavailable 800

greenfield belser 86 113 154

greenfeld belser 10 5 5

marketing firms in DC 9 4 2

burkey belser 8 5 9

greenfield/belser 8 3 7

greenfield belser web design6 N/A 1

greenfield belser reviews 6 5 1

July 2013 July 2012 monthly ave/yr

what are our most popular pages?

home page 1,178 1,401 1,726

our people 337 460 675

the firm 307 414 523

case studies 296 376 446

our offices 291 376 436

Big Idea 251 308 N/A

Brand Thinking 185 295 237

Industries 159 178 228

July 2013 July 2012 monthly ave/yr

popular paths

home page industries the firm case studies

home page the firm burkey bio

brand thinking big idea joe bio offices

brand thinking blog post big idea tech platforms

home page case studies tech platforms hot button issues

brand thinking capabilities case studies the firm

tech platforms choosing right enhancing sitecore

home page the firm capabilities market compass

brand thinking researchdigital outlook

landing page first jump second jump third jump

what cities are buyers coming from ?

washington, dc area 205 205 225

new york city 164 147 171

“not set” 100^ 88 33

chicago 61 62 76

boston 49 63 51

los angeles 43 37 34

san francisco 34 25 N/A

london 31 25 N/A

tampa fl 31 17 14

July 2013 July 2012 monthly ave/yr

what mechanical fixes were made this past month?

misspellings 0 29 22

broken links (crawl errors)59 224 175

duplicate page titles 5 22 N/A

duplicate HI headings 3 18 N/A

301 redirects 0 4 7

505 errors 150 150 150

today this month monthly ave/yr

what content improvements did we make?

industry pages rewritten; sidebars updated populated CMS SEO module content resubmitted site maps 3 new case studies new art on home page

kpi

share your takeaways; questions?

fin